Top to bottom, left to right:  Family portrait, E paddle boarding on Jackson Lake, little boys fishing, family portrait on Signal Mountain dock, friendly neighborhood moose, pizza at Leek’s Marina, Jimmy the ski boy (the lake was a tit bit nipply this year), pulling out, Seth the boat driver, sling shots, family portrait, 5 kids!, Thai Chicken Pizza at Leek’s, morning fishing, Jimmy paddle boarding, traditional dock jump

One of the best weeks of the year is when my little family spends a few days on the shores of Jackson Lake in Teton National Park.  It has become a tradition over the last 7 years.  It started in a canoe with a lot of portaging and paddling, and has evolved into packing the ski boat down with all sorts of camping gear and buzzing off to a remote back country camping site.  For years James and I would stuff one canoe with four kids, and all our gear and canoe up String Lake and then have to unload everything and portage across to Leigh Lake to finally paddle to a beautiful little camp site at the base of Mount Moran.  It still is the most stunning camp site on the planet, but after I shared it one year with a cute grizzly bear I asked if we couldn’t find a way to evacuate our camp site a little easier than paddling our canoe back three hours to the car.  Bears can swim you know.  So now our lake of choice is Jackson Lake where motor boats are permitted.  We are usually the only boater on the lake.  Actually I feel like the only humans on the entire planet most years at Jackson Lake.

I have never seen more beautiful water than Jackson Lake.  The trip is magical.  The kids laughing, and getting along, and playing non-stop Uno.  Fishing, and whittling, and eating camping treats.  Roasting marshmallows, and drinking unlimited hot chocolate on each chilly morning, and just staring at the most beautiful surroundings in the world.  The trip is perfection.  Do you ever get that feeling, where you don’t think you could be any happier than right at that moment in time?  I have that every year.

The annual camping trip has evolved over the years.  I first tried to do some pretty fancy camping meals, but over time I’ve realized that simplicity is key to a fabulous trip.  And I’ve also realized that there is the best little pizza joint right on the lake and it’s only a 10 minute boat ride to get there.  It’s become the highlight of the trip.  We play hard all day, jump in the boat and enjoy the water as we head to Leek’s Marina on the North end of Jackson Lake.  There they have the best pizza on the planet!  Really!  We always get the Thai Chicken Pizza, and the Margherita Pizza as well.  We eat to our hearts content and then jump back in the boat to head back to our campsite for smore’s or eclairs.  Nothing can beat this.  So if you’re traveling to Yellowstone by way of Jackson Hole you’ll go right past Leek’s Marina in Teton National Park.  Tell them I sent you.  Just kidding.  They won’t care.   But I promise the pizza is superb, and your tummy will be happy all the way to Old Faithful.

this is the pizza made at home