GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK AND AMERICAN SMALL TOWNS

May 25, 2008. It was a beautiful day. We were in Grand Teton National Park. In this park there are eight large lakes and many smaller ones.It was first photographed by William H. Jackson, a member of the Hayden expedition sent by the government to survey the area in 1872.

We woke up in the morning and started driving inside the rest of this park. When we drive, we saw one of the most beautiful place. It was Jenny Lake.By the lake, the snow covered mountains had such a stunning scenery. Spring may be the best time to see those mountains with snow covered.If you don't like to camp on the snow ground , there are lodges inside the park to spend the night.

We arrived at a small town named Driggs in Idaho. It was around 2 PM so we wanted to have lunch.During our stay in the parks we have been eating turkey sandwiches for lunch so this time we needed something different.

We stopped by a pizza place . Andy and I entered in to the room. There was only one guy working there and asked him whether he serves pizza or not. He said , " It is for TAKE AND BAKE". We asked him if there is another restaurant opened. He said, " Well, today is Sunday so most restaurants are closed but there might be one restaurant opened" and told us the name of the restaurant and got directions how to get there.

When we got to the restaurant, in front of the door there was a post reads " Opened". When we opened the door there was a woman cleaning the room and said, " it will be opened by 3 PM". Apparently, by the time we talked with this woman it was 2:59 PM. Only one minute to go:-)

We left that restaurant and started driving in that town looking for any restaurant opened. There was none.So we headed to a nearby mountain to sit down and fix our lunch.It was a beautiful place. We enjoyed that place and our lunch.

Then we started driving towards south in Idaho to spend the night camping in Caribou National Forest.In our way,we saw many small towns by the road. It is a great place to live in this area. I would assume most of the residents are farmers and some small business owners. This is totally stress free living area.

I imagined sitting down after work either in front yard or back yard of a house in this area, grabbing beer, doing some grill and just seeing spectacular mountains in any direction.It is enjoyable. You are not also going to worry driving back and forth to work and spending more or less than one hour a day. Everything is available at walking distance. Shops, restaurants, bars etc,..No worry also for getting traffic ticket for drinking and driving. It is a simple life. I would assume the living expenses are minimised too. Nothing is complicated,living in a small town !!!

In Idaho we visited a dam for Hydro Electric Power generation. What most impressed me was , the watershed which was totally covered with trees. It was ever green. Andy and I estimated the length of the reservoir area as 10 miles. Erosion is minimised here so that the quantity of silt building up in reservoir would be small. In Ethiopia, a lot of dam for Irrigation and Hydro power have been built. However,much emphasis has not yet been given for erosion and sediment control. As a result some Dams are unsuccessful. What a waste of time and money !!!

We spent the night at Caribou National Forest camping by Crow Creek. It was a wonderful night if not for the rain in the morning. It looks like here in West Coast is still winter. A lot of snow. More stories coming up about Mormons in Utah and small towns in Nevada. Keep in touch.