So the special lady and I are back in old VT after a non exactly restful but very solid vacation in the Tetons, Yellowstone, and finally Big Sky, Montana. Of course it is 94 degrees and 150% humidity causing me to sweat standing still, but I digress...
Anyway, our odyssey began w/ a super special flight into Jackson, WY which seems to be almost impossible to get to. We sat for awhile on the tarmac at Burlington fretting about our connection in Chicago or the next one in Denver... both of which were being hit w/ heavy thunderstorms. We made it to Chicago 2 hours late only to find that our flight to Denver was one of the few to leave on time... 20 minutes earlier! Next step, get in the 700 yard line with all of the other people stranded in Chicago. We waited forever but then actually found that United did us a solid and gave us a direct from Chicago to Jackson?! Lucky! Anyway, we made it into Jackson in the evening and checked into a so so joint downtown, The Lexington. It was clean so that was good, and right downtown. 2 thumbs sideways. Jackson was pretty cool, we actually had 2 solid meals. The 3 Piglets provided a surprisingly fresh and very delicious Mexican meal. They had an excellent assortment of tequilas and a generally friendly service staff. My pork tacos were really quite good. The other winner was the Bunnery where we had a hearty no frills breakfast that was folksy, inexpensive, and a ton of food. What we quickly came to realize is that you cannot get small amounts of food in the Midwest... apparently by law! The one disappointment was the Snake River Brewery. The beer was great and the food was pretty good but our salads came within 2 minutes of ordering and our entrees followed 5 minutes behind. Again, there was too much food and not nearly enough time to eat it. I had to chug my beer (not really a problem) and the fast eating pace made us a little ill. Too bad.
While in Jackson we did make a quick trip up over Wilson and into Idaho where we saw our first cool animal, a bald eagle cruising around... probably for chicks. Get it? We then shot over to Teton village for a quick hike up and around the ski mountain. It was a nice day and we got an up close and personal w/ animal #2, a huge fox only a few yards away without a care in the world. We then had a couple really good beers at the Mangy Moose in the sunshine on the deck. Pretty good day all around.
So, next step was a trip into the Grand Tetons! Seriously, beautiful country with amazing steep jagged mountains jutting up from clear lakes and lush forests. We spent our first day on a 12 mile hike that nearly killed me. Is was a nice hike to a lovely glacier but we had to walk through snow which kept getting in my shoes and did nothing for my hangover! It was hot to the point I could not stop sweating... my lady joked me pretty hard about it. We stayed @ the Signal Mountain campsite and ate at the lodge. Do yourself a favor and skip the "fancy" dining room, service and food suck.
The real gem was the camping. We had been warned about bears from all sides and besides my trusty bear spray we had resolve and steely nerves! So imagine our, should I call it fear? when we heard the growling snarling noise just outside our tent at 2AM! Louder... it was ready to attack! A bear? A wolf? A cougar? Nope... the drunk hick in the tent 20 yards away snoring like it was a job. There were 2 other people in his tent... how the f*** were they sleeping? We thought we were under attack?!
Well, part Deux to come!!!
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