August 12th Day one in Grand Teton National Park

We pulled out of Earthquake Lake campground about 8:00am and headed back into Yellowstone for our commute down to Grand Teton National Park. As we drove through we once again admired its thermal features, mountains and many bison. Boy, I love everything about Yellowstone except the large crowds of tourists. I'm thinking it may be time for the park to limit the number of visitors that are allowed in each day or to come up with some other plan that would reduce the number of vehicles that travel the main roads within the park. While we were there we sat in a buffalo jam, it wasn't the bison that were blocking traffic but the tourists who stopped in the middle of the road to take photos of the beasts. After a few hours we made it through the south entrance (exit) for Yellowstone and entered the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway which connects Yellowstone to Grand Teton. We stopped at the little visitor center for the parkway so that I could collect my NP Passport stamp and then we got right back on the road only to end up being stuck in our second traffic jam of the day. This time it wasn't caused by tourists or bison but by major road construction that was taking place on the parkway. It was a dusty, noisy and hot 30 plus minute wait before we were given the signal to pass through the construction area where our truck and trailer were covered with the dust and grime from the temporary dirt and rock road. Man, was I ever glad to finally get out of that mess and enter into Grand Teton National Park. While we were at the park's entrance booth we inquired about the availability of campsites and the ranger directed us to Colter Bay which still had plenty of space available so we traveled down the loop road about 16 miles (catching glimpses of the beautiful and rugged mountain tops through the trees) to the campground where we paid our fee and set up camp. After we enjoyed some lunch we headed out to the visitor center so I could collect my first Grand Teton NP Passport stamp and to see what ranger programs were being held that night. After the visitor center we went down the road a bit to the Jackson Lake Lodge which is considered a historical site. We got there to find it is a hotel that was built in the 1960s which is not one of my favorite eras for architecture and besides that it could use a good scraping and paint job. Oh well, we decided to have a drink at it's bar so that we could enjoy the spectacular view of the Grand Teton range. After we were done at the lodge Leon wanted to travel down the loop road to do some exploring but I was not feeling 100% so we returned to camp. We both read for a good portion of the afternoon and for dinner I just threw some leftovers into the oven. Leon spent his time in the early evening outside watching a doe and her little fawn grazing just a few feet from our trailer. I stayed inside, feeling pretty crappy.