Zane was in the Teton Mountains in Wyoming for a full week with other kids and teachers from CPS from June 4-11. What an amazing opportunity!! We said goodbye to him at 2:30pm in Columbia, he boarded a coach bus (one of 3), and was on his way by 3pm. They drove through the night and reached Jackson Hole the next afternoon. Each night the organizers emailed a blurb about what each group did that day and a link with a bunch of photos! Zane was in a group with 11 other boys and 2 guides. I've copied and pasted the blurbs here along with photos that don't show too many other kids:
Sunday: Today was mostly a travel day and we arrived in Jackson, Wyoming at 1:30 pm. We formed our groups, ate pizza, and got to explore and shop in the town square. We left for the Teton Science School at 4:30 pm. Once we arrived at the Teton Science School, we had orientation, got into our field groups, and got all of our gear we need for the field. Next, we got to move in and then relax or play. So much more tomorrow.
Zane said he played a lot of basketball in his down time, but it was difficult because one of the hoops was 9ft and the other was 11 - haha! Beautiful setting though!
Monday:
Today we got to canoe on String Lake. This is a beautiful glacial lake located at the base of the Teton Mountains. The water is so clear that you can see all the way down to the bottom. We had so much fun canoeing as a group after learning some canoe techniques. The other part of the day we hiked around String lake and looked for signs of animals.I was thankful for the kid in Zane's group who wore the Santa hat most days. It made it really easy to pick out their group in the hundreds of photos that were posted each night!
He saw a moose!! So jealous!
Tuesday: Today we explored Death Canyon trail to Phelps lake. We saw some marmot and a grous (type of bird - think mini Turkey). We learned about how fire is beneficial to the forest. We also learned about glaciers and how it carved the canyon and melted to make Phelps Lake. We hiked about 4.5 miles in total. We ended the day at Teton National Park Visitor Center.Wednesday:
We don't do group reports on Yellowstone Day as they are in different groups based on what they want to see. In general, the students woke up at 6 am for breakfast and then boarded the bus at 7 am for the trip to Yellowstone. The views along the way were amazing as the clouds parted to reveal all of the Tetons! Once in Yellowstone, the students explored the Upper Geyser Basin, which includes Old Faithful. In addition to watching Old Faithful erupt, students got to choose between a hike to a waterfall with viewing of many hot springs along the way or hiking around the many hot springs of the Upper Geyser Basin. Students also got to shop!
After exploring the geysers and hot springs, we traveled to Colter Bay where Mike Szydlowski, Andrew Kinslow, and the interns, made our traditional from scratch beef and bison chili (and a vegan option) and hot dogs. The students got to wade into Jackson Lake, play games, relax and just take in the view of the most incredible sunset location in the park.
Today is another beautiful day with a full day of field explorations!
We were glad Zane got to go to Yellowstone - his week was the week before all the flooding. The group following his had to divert their itinerary. Luckily, they were able to do other cool stuff.
Thursday:
Today we did our field exploration at the Snake River. We caught different types of invertebrates that live in the water. We then went to Rendezvous Park Pond and compared the different species we found and shared with three other groups for our evening program. We skipped rocks in the river and climbed on the driftwood troll. S'mores was the best way to end our night.
Friday was pack up and leave day. They drove through the night again to be back in Columbia by 9am on Saturday with all their stinky laundry. He got home, ate something, took a shower, and then a long nap. We are so, so happy to have our boy back and love all the stories that are slowly coming out.
