Colter Bay to Jackson Hole

John D. Rockefeller Jr. and architect Gilbert Underwood designed and built the Jackson Lake Lodge. It was completed in 1955. The site Rockefeller and Underwood chose has sweeping views of Jackson Lake and the Tetons.

Inside, the lodge combined modern and western elements that featured Native American designs. Today, the lodge offers guests 385 rooms at the lodge as well as cottages in the surrounding woods. It also provides conference rooms, bar and lounge, restaurant, grill, and numerous recreational opportunities. Finally, Grand Teton National Park was connected to Yellowstone National Park via the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway in 1972.

We continued on our journey down the mountain to Jackson Hole. There is a historic chapel built in 1937 called the Chapel of the Sacred Heart. The landscape was changing with scrubbier trees and brush, but still the mountains in the distance.

Jenny Lake was named after a Shoshone Indian who assisted the 1872 Hayden Survey. The expedition named this lake in her honor. Jenny and her husband Richard were expert guides who know Jackson Hole well from summers spent hunting, trapping, and gathering native plants.

Next stop was the National Museum of Wildlife Art just outside o Jackson Wyoming. Outside there are a lot of large sculptures of animals. There is more sculptures inside plus lots and lots of paintings.

We didn't realize how extensive the place was until we started wandering through the galleries inside. We were pretty tired by that time though and so could only make it through a small portion of the exhibits.