Day 11 – Jackson

Miles traveled: 80
Hours on Road: 7
States covered: 1 –Wyoming

For breakfast Jeff made breakfast tacos. They were pretty yummy for being cooked over a gas grill. We also had our usual two cups of coffee, thanks to Folgers coffee bags.

We didn’t get going until 11 a.m. today. I’m getting so exhausted I can barely function. Thank goodness Jeff and John are here now to relieve me of some of the responsibility.

Our goal today was to visit Jackson. One thing I’ve noticed out here is that the breezes coming across the plains are extremely powerful. You’re driving along with your window down with the usual breeze you get from having an open window and suddenly, swoosh, this wind comes whipping in, driving air into your brain through your ear and making it impossible to take a breath. I have to admit, I kinda like it. Parker keeps complaining and begging for the air conditioning to be put on. But there’s nothing like the fresh country air, so I keep my window down.

Turns out, Jackson Hole is the whole area in which lies Jackson, Teton Village, Moose, Wilson, and a couple other places. Still, it’s appropriately named, since they all pretty much sit within a hole the mountains have made.

Jackson center is a small, square area that has antler arches on each corner. The arches are made of hundreds of antlers woven together. After posing under one arch, we walked around to check out the town. We saw an old-fashioned stagecoach that provides rides around town, and we went into a couple of shops. Then we headed for the brewery where we got nachos and glasses of ale, stout, and lager. The boys had rootbeer floats. After the beers, we headed back to the van, stopping at an amazing furniture store that had thousand-dollar log-cabiny furniture made of animal parts. To end our visit, John treated us all to homemade ice cream.

On our way to Teton Village we saw a bull moose. We got up pretty close to him. He was munching on grass on the other side of a pond. I think Jeff’s life is complete now.

Our destination at Teton Village was the aerial tram that goes to the top of Rendezvous Mountain. Like Jeff said, if anyone told him to meet them at the top of Rendezvous Mountain, I’d tell him, “I’ll meet you at the bottom.” The tram can hold up to 100 people, is powered by 1,970-horsepower engines, and climbs almost two and a half miles in 10 minutes. I swear they’re trying to kill me. Skiers actually jump off the cliffs at the top and proceed to ski down. The top of the mountain has an elevation of 10,450 feet. When I was at the top, every time a breeze blew, I felt like I was going to fall off the mountain. The top is large – there’s even a shop up there where you can get waffles or souvenirs – but I really felt like I was going to fall off. We walked around a while and saw Idaho off to one side. The boys all walked down to where there was still snow; they thought that was pretty cool – snow in July.

There’s another restaurant a short distance from the top, but still up very high, where, according to a man we spoke with on the tram, you can get dinner for a set price of $85 a plate, and kids are only $57. We opted out of that.

For dinner we had sandwiches, courtesy of John. They really hit the spot. The kids made s’mores over the nice fire Jeff made. Another great day.

For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1830997027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/