This was one of our most busy days of the trip. We began the day by driving to Signal Mountain Lodge and Colter Bay to see what they had to offer. Both surround Jackson Lake which has the Teton Mountains creating a gorgeous backdrop for it. Most any time a picture is taken of the Tetons, it is around Jackson Lake.
As we pulled our coolers and food over to some picnic tables, a bald eagle swooped over our head. It looked like it was ready to land as it had its talons extended. Seeing us though, the eagle flew past along the shore of the lake and perched on a lodge pole pine in the distance.
After lunch, we decided to head back toward our camp. The lady at the desk of the visitor’s center of the campground had recommended to go see Gros Ventre slide. This is a giant rock slide that occured on the mountain in 1925 and dammed up the Gros Ventre River, forming a lake on one side. Apparently, years later a slide occurred again and caused a massive flood that swallowed up the small town of Kelly. 6 people died of drowning. Many others were spared because they were at church that day.
We walked a short trail to the scene of the slide. It looked like a bomb had gone off as rocks of various sizes extended for a long way. The kids collected a few interesting rocks and then we headed back to the campground.
Just for fun, on the way to the campground we stopped at "Shane's cabin." This is the farmhouses that were used in the movie Shane.
We had planned today to be a shower day. We had heard that Jackson had a public rec center that you could pay $25 to get in and swim and shower. The kids loved this place. It had an Olympic sized pool with a diving board, a shallow heated pool, a hot tub, and most importantly, an 80 foot slide. The kids had a blast and didn’t really want to leave. Lilly was too scared to ride the slide initially, but Mikah convinced her to do it eventually. After that, she was hooked. We all got a much needed shower and got ready for dinner.
We had used resturaunt.com ahead of time to get some a gift certificate to the Teton Steakhouse in Jackson Hole. The food was pretty good and we shared some good laughs as we reflected on our day.
Our day wasn’t done, however. Every Wednesday and Sunday there was a rodeo in Jackson at 8:00. We left the restaurant, and headed straight there. It had been a perfectly timed day and we were there early enough to get a good seat, but not too early.
They fired up the crowd with some music as they paraded around some cowgirls and cowboys on horses. The first event was the bull ride. The kids were on the edge of their seats as the bulls bucked and twisted in the air. Only a couple cowboys were able to stay on for the required 8 seconds.
Next they did an event where two cowboys tried to rope the horns and back legs of a calf. Next came the bronco busting. Cowboys rode wild horses and, like the bull riding, only a few were successful staying on for 8 seconds.
The announcer introduced the next cowboy as an “20 year old, up and coming young cowboy” and he flew out of the chute on the back of a gray bronco. Something appeared wrong right away as horse bucked and the cowboy fell off to the right of his horse. Right after the horse rolled to its right and fell on top of him. The crowd let out a unified gasp of horror as the horse rose and raced away. The cowboy laid down in the dirt motionless. The rodeo clowns surrounded him immediately to protect him from the horse and motioned for medical help. Soon a whole crew of people surrounded him. The medical staff began giving him cpr for several minutes as they waited for an ambulance to arrive. In the ambulance, cpr continued and they hurried him to the hospital.
Sadly, we found out a couple days later that the cowboy did, in fact, die. Article link. It was a very somber way to end what otherwise was a great day.
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