The best bargain in Grand Teton National Park is the little boat trip across Jenny Lake. Smile for the camera! I'm tellling Bao.

You're meant to take the boat to the far side of the lake and then hike up to Hidden Falls, and that's what we originally intended to do. Then a returning hiker told us about the bears he'd seen along the way. A Mama bear, with her cub. So cute! I looked at Bao and Bao looked at me and we got back on the boat.

The Grand Tetons are magnificent. You drive round a bend and suddenly there they are, veined with snow and gleaming in the distance. And it just keeps getting better. The view at Ox Bow Turnout is simply unbelievable.

We spent the day driving around the park, stopping at all the turn-outs. It's cooler, here in the mountains. I was actually able to turn off the air-conditioning and open the sun roof. We drove up to the top of Signal Mountain and looked at the glaciated plains below, and we had a great lunch at Jenny Lodge.

I asked a Ranger about the dying pine trees. (Throughout the park you see mature trees that appear to have suddenly turned brown and died) It's because of the drought, she told me. The trees are stressed and threfore, vulnerable to attack by pine beetles. So they're gathering seeds from the trees that don't get sick, germinating them and replacing trees that die with beetle-resistant seedlings.

An ecological response to an ecological problem. I guess pine beetles have to eat, too.