Friday, July 27, 2012

Grand Teton Without The Hikes

Twitter
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.
♥♥
Facebook Twitter StumbleUpon Digg Delicious Reddit Technorati Mixx Linkedin

26 comments:

  1. Fine, magic views. I am greeting

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think most people just stop for wildlife and miss the wildflowers and other beautiful scenery. Your pictures show you don't have to wander far to see spectacular images.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like the moose picture..
    the pic is very close up.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gorgeous scenery Betchai! I have heard that question "what do you see" many times when I aimed my camera at the sky or at a tiny wild flower.

    You have eyes for beauties in nature, and that's a blessing for me as you shared them here.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I was asked some countless times when doing this "silly" shooting job at Cerok Tokun.

    Ahh....

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jackson Lake is absolutely beautiful (I have never been but your photos are lovely)! The moose eating grass is adorable. I have always wanted to see a moose.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Fantastic picture, many people just don't see these shots and do not understand. It is just great.

    Greetings,
    Filip

    ReplyDelete
  8. the reflection at the pond shot is what I love most here Betchai but of course the lupines which remind me of the start of our friendship when you would thoughtfully bring shots from your hikes for me :-)the moose make me think of how beautiful wildlife really is...when I saw the wild sunflowers at Jackson lake shot I knew the rest will be such joyful nature shots!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Love the photo, and we are going to do a virtual field trip to Grand Teton this next school year. Since we probably won't get there in person, it is the next best thing.

    ReplyDelete
  10. i think i prefer without the hikes. haha. hiking with all these photography paraphelnalias would be a no no. i think you are living in heaven ms beth

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love the beautiful view!! I guess some people do not know how to appreciate such scenery : )

    ReplyDelete
  12. "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." - i learned that from you Beth. thanks always for the inspiration. i have never appreciated nature more until i met you. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Just an Awesome post! The captures are all so stunning. Its so good that you enjoy little things that others miss. Beautiful part of the world, clean water, high mountains, wildflowers...
    Have a wonderful week ahead:)

    ReplyDelete
  14. People do that to me too. It is so sad that we live with so much beauty and so few truly see it. I love, love your photos.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Your photos are great! Now I’m determined to pursue my photography lessons. Thanks for the views!

    ReplyDelete
  16. the moose and the plant reflections in the water caught more of my attention, now I am more eager to learn more about photography, I lack the technique in angle shooting lol

    ReplyDelete
  17. Great photography skill. The photo of the grass at the pond with reflection is nice

    ReplyDelete
  18. Oh the sight of the moose is awesome. You don't get to see that often.

    ReplyDelete
  19. it looks great even if you are just not hiking, you'll eventually feel relax just by observing those green place and the wonders and peace of the place.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I love sunflowers! I've always been drawn to them. Must be the vibrant yellow color?

    Great shots as always!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Without hikes? Work for me. The place is so beautiful, am sure there are more grandeur during your hikes.

    ReplyDelete
  22. So refreshing! Every photo tells me of heaven! :) We have been planning of going to this place but has never made it a reality yet. If we can't go to Philippines this year's summer, or if we couldn't move somewhere, maybe it will be our perfect chance. :)

    Thanks for sharing these snaps, Ms. Betchai! It added more thrill to what we already feel as we plan our Yellowstone/ Wyoming escapade. :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. The wild flowers are beautiful Sis :-) The lake is so inviting :-) It looks refreshing too :-) The moose looks gigantic.

    ReplyDelete
  24. The Jenny Lake photo s so superb. As always, your amazing photos made my gloomy day bright.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I love the quote! I think I am going to put it somewhere so I can always remind myself that it's not the destination but how you travel. Anyway, I love seeing wildlifes in parks too. I remember seeing a baby bear in Luray, Virginia! It was so fun yet scary. LOL! Yes, lots of people stopped to take some photos though we were not allowed to use flash to avoid scaring the little black bear! :D Sometimes, we take for granted how nature can offer us marvelous experiences. Sometimes too, we need not travel, we just need to look around. :P

    ReplyDelete
  26. The places you have been... all very stunning! You are very blessed to have been there. ^_^

    ReplyDelete

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!