Pinnacles & Cowboys

View Map

Four of us and the dog piled into a minivan and toured Grand Teton National Park.

First stop was the Rockefeller Preserve.  In 1932, John D. Rockefeller quietly bought all the open land leading up to the Tetons in order to save it from commercial development. His son, Laurence, recently donated a few thousand acres to the National Park, and this center was opened in 2008.

This magnificent structure is a contemplative center, meant to enhance your experience within the park. There are several rooms to wander, each presenting a different perspective. One of our favorites is the meditation room, in which the sounds of Tetons are played; rolling thunderstorms, trumpeting elk, eagle cries, and birdsongs. There is a large backlit mosaic of the mountain range, and on close inspection you discover with delight the picture is composed of 21,000 thumbnail images of the flora and fauna of the park.