Gloria's birthday

Gloria has been very concerned that she would be having a birthday without the presence and attention of all her friends--after all, these things are very important to a five-year-old princess. The night before her birthday, Papa and Grandma came home with a cake, topped with strawberries and the "Happy Birthday, Gloria." We ate it by a campfire with "Moose Tracks" ice cream. They also gave her binoculars, a laminated field guide, and a kid's guide book to the park. She was in heaven.

Today, for the actual birthday, we took a boat ride across Jenny Lake and climbed first to Hidden Falls and then on to Inspiration Point. It's about 1 mile each way, but parts of the trial are fairly steep and rocky. Gloria hiked the whole way by her self, telling everyone she met that today was her birthday and that she is 5 now. Two-year-old Leona cajoled her Papa into carrying her about 25 percent of the way, but she did well, too.

The girls listened and described the sounds they heard in the woods, they imitated bird calls, and were gleeful over the marmots, chipmunks and ground squirrels that seemed to pose for us. We heard that a mother grizzly was spotted with her cub just a little beyond Inspiration Point, but we didn't go far enough to see them.

Waiting on the boat dock to ride back across the lake, we ran into some of the people who had heard about Gloria's birthday, and about 20 hikers sang happy birthday to her. She said it made her "a little shy."

We visited a historic ferry and homesteaders' site, and then at park headquarters, the girls both became official "young naturalists" (the version of junior ranger they have here).

To finish the day, we went to Chinatown Restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming--Gloria's pick. She's adjusted very well to regular picnics and meals around camp, but for her birthday, she really wanted to go out. The food was surprisingly good--really good--but mild on the spiciness scale. It is, after all, Wyoming. The girls had watered-down jasmine tea and felt very special.

We made it through the birthday with smiles and excitement. Gloria had a lot she wanted to tell Drew when he and Auntie Rhonda called to sing Happy Birthday.