Grand Teton Without The Hikes

Let me start this post with this travel quote from Lao Tzu: "A good traveler has no plans, and is not intent on arriving."

Wild Sunflowers at Jackson Lake, Wyoming By The Roadside

When we explore other places, especially National Parks, hiking is always in our "must do" list. Hiking allows us to see and experience places that are not ordinarily seen unless one leaves the main road. It also allows us to experience deep peacefulness in nature. Sharing nature with other nature lovers as well is very inspiring because you get to see the efforts other do to experience and preserve nature. 

However, it does not mean we do not open our eyes and other senses to the majestic scenery and sounds around us if we are simply on the road. Whenever we are on the road, we do not focus on our destination, but rather we enjoy seeing scenery one moment at a time. If we need to stop, we would, as long as there is a safe turn-out, or there is a legal parking by the roadside. And the pictures here of Jackson Lake is by the look-out point which has legal parking lot. While photographing this scenery (all landscape shots here of Jackson lake were taken by cell phone), some cars stopped, looked around, and one asked me, "what did you see?"

Lupines and Pink wildflowers (?) at Jackson Lake By The Roadside

I simply replied, "this!" pointing to the scenery which includes the wildflowers, the lake, the majestic mountain range all together." Very similar to our experience in Alaska, which I narrated in my old post "Will you stop for this?", I got similar response, "oh I see! I thought you spotted wildlife!" And then, they got into their car and zoomed away! It's our gain, we enjoyed the wildflowers, the lake and the mountains all to ourselves. :)

More Lupines

Like in Alaska, most tourists here stop for wildlife! You know there is wildlife spotted if there are so many cars on the road. We would not have known there is a moose by the pond in the picture below because the pond was about 0.2 mile away from the road. But there were so many cars parked! We stopped, because of course, we were not in a hurry to reach our destination. We asked what is it about! And we were told, "moose!" Because it is a wildlife, we took our dslr camera out with the zoom lens because we know our cell phone won't do anymore in far distance. And we do not want to come closer always to wild animals. We prefer to observe them from a safe distance.

Moose Close Enough To The Roadside 

( all wildlife shots here and the reflection shot below were taken by camera with zoom lens )

We waited for a while hoping for the moose to swim, hoping we could get a picture similar to our swimming moose in Alaska, but it seemed the moose was really enjoying the grass! I saw the beautiful reflection of the grass on the pond (picture below), so I took a picture of it as well. 

Reflection at the Pond

For me, the beauty of our natural world is not focused on one thing alone. Of course, it is very exciting to see wildlife, but I do not close my eyes to the other relaxing gifts and beauty of nature. Anyway, here are more pictures we took of Grand Teton by the roadside, without the hikes.

Jenny Lake and Cascade Canyon

In my next post, I will share Grand Teton with the hikes.

Meanwhile, you may want to check my previous post on planning for Grand Teton-Glacier-Yellowstone trip.

♥♥