Teton Time

Sun-Oct 11

Jon, Amanda & Sarah at Cokeville park

It is the U's Fall break so Jon & I loaded our bikes and Amanda and Sarah and headed to the Tetons. Jon had reserved a condo for 3 nights in Teton Village. The weather was crisp and cool and the scenery gorgeous. Jon has been bringing his girls here for years and it's also one of my favorite spots. We stayed in "Tensleep South" this time.

Jon likes to bring our own food for breakfasts and lunches then eat a dinner or two out. We stopped for lunch in a park in Cokeville then made it to our condo around 3:00. The next morning Jon and Amanda went for a run and I went for mine while Jon was on a conference call for work. I jogged along the paved path to the park entrance and back and then explored the village a bit. After lunch we loaded our bikes and drove over in the Gros Ventre area. The ride through the vast meadow was especially exciting as a herd of buffaloe decided to cross the road all around us. The biggest one I've ever seen stopped right in front of the car and starred us down. I was sure glad we were in the car! They are sure impressive animals.

Sarah & Amanda

We rode our bikes up to "Shadow Mountain" for 4 miles. The girls decided to head back to the car and wait for us. The single track trail back down was pretty technical and much of it in a ravine. I felt lucky to make it to the bottom in one piece. I only fell once and that was walking my bike over a root drop off. Turns out I'm safer on my bike!

Afterwards we got cleaned up and drove into Jackson for dinner at El Abuelitos. I highly recommend it. I think there is a paved path nearly all the way around Jackson Hole now and I must add it to my bucket list!  We walked around town. It was nice with the summer crowds gone. I can't believe how much the place has changed since I worked there 40 years ago. FORTY YEARS??? Seems like yesterday. In 40 more years I will have been gone for who knows how long!

Tues Oct 13

Today we drove into the park to the trailhead for "Two Oceans Lake and Matilda Lake." The weather was perfect. We always have been drawn to the mountains but this was a trail around the lake East of the mountains. It was a six mile mostly flat walk and really wonderful. Afterwards we ate a picnic lunch at the trail head and amused ourselves feeding the birds potato chips. I put a chip on the arm and waited for one of them to land on it. I could feel one swoop near but then I got sort of freaked out.















Our next adventure was to drive to Flagg ranch and try to find Huckleberry Hot Springs. I've heard about them but never been there. It turned out to be a very short hike. We enjoyed the hot water but the best part for me was the refreshing dip in the river to wash off all the gunk.

After cleaning up we went to dinner at the Mangy Moose. It was really expensive but we figured we could splurge since we have tried to make almost all of our own meals.

Wed Oct 14-Today we headed home stopping at the Cokeville park again for lunch and then we took a 14 mile detour to Fossil Butte. There was a visitors center there and a bunch of displays and amazing fossils. It was definitely worth the trip.

During the drive I read the book, "The Seamstress." It is so good we can hardly put it down but only made it half way through the book. What now?  I don't know if and when the 4 of us will be traveling together again.

Jon as usual did an amazing job planning a great vacation for us.