We walked down to what corresponds to downtown Colter Bay Village for our showers, and discovered that showers cost three bucks. Lesson learned for tomorrow. Wary of the service, we assumed that the breakfast buffet at the restaurant was a safe bet. The food was okay, but we couldn't get coffee or silverware from our exceedingly incompetent waitress. This set a new standard for bad service: bad service at a buffet!
There was yet more to do at Colter Bay Village before we went south for the day: we visited the Indian Arts Museum and gift shop. I got a new appreciation for how dangerous bears are after seeing a necklace made of bear claws. We learned that the Indians liked to dress up, and they really liked using the beads made in Europe. I asked the woman who was demonstrating crafts if any companies owned by Indians made beads, and she seemed surprised by the question. Come on, guys, it's been literally centuries now--make your own beads! I asked where she got the beads that she was using, and between her and the man beside her, they came up with "Michael's" and "Wal-Mart". Am I the only person to think that's funny?
We drove south to Jackson on Highway 191 and were stopped to see the Cunningham Cabin historic site on the way. It was amazing to think that people lived in that tiny little cabin. The site is now overtaken by a prairie dog village, which I thought was as interesting as the cabin. Those little dudes make a lot of holes in the ground.
Jackson, Wyoming is bigger and more upscale than West Yellowstone. We ate lunch at the Sweetwater Restaurant; Andy had a reuben, and I had a Monte Cristo. Wow. Good. Really good.
We took the alternate eastern route back to Colter Bay Village: as in Yellowstone, the park's roads can be described as basically a figure eight, and we went up the left side of the 8. We were closer to the mountains this way, and we got some good pictures of them.
There's an aerial tramway in Teton Village, but we skipped that. We visited the Menors Ferry Historic Area and the Chapel of the Transfiguration. Whoever preaches at the chapel has a really difficult task: keep the focus on the activity inside when you've got a really amazing view outside the chapel's main window. Our picture doesn't do it justice; you'd need to darken the picture a bit to see the mountains outside more clearly.
Dreading another meal at Colter Bay Village, we ate dinner at Jenny Lake Lodge. To our immense relief, the service was competent and the food was good.
We stopped by the Jackson Lake Lodge on the way back just to see what it was like, but we never got close; we were distracted by the moose on the grounds.
It was late (and getting cold) when we returned to Colter Bay Village, so I lit another fire and we turned in for the night. The fire was much more successful when the damper was open.