Jackson Hole

Our trip to Jackson Hole was just what the doctor ordered.  We picked Jackson Hole because it was the option that best allowed us to use our frequent flier miles and hotel points.  I needed a place where American Airlines flew directly to from DFW and I also needed a town that had a Hilton property, as I had Hilton points I wanted to use.  Forrest then used our American Express credit card points to buy the lift tickets and ski rentals, and we ended up with one very cheap vacation!

Although our flight didn't leave until the evening, we drove in to Arlington that Thursday morning and ate lunch at Pappasitos and then got massages at Daired's.  Then we caught a 5:30pm flight to Jackson Hole.

I really loved Wyoming.  It had more of a western feel than Colorado and the people were extremely friendly. 

I took these pics on the way to the mountain on Friday morning.

This is what the base of the resort looked like.

We skied on Friday and Saturday.  I snowboarded and had a hard time.  I got the hang of it after a while, but my first couple of runs were no fun at all.  I started wondering if I'm too old for that sport!  I think I'll stick with it, but hopefully the next few mountains I ski have more beginner terrain than Jackson Hole.  It was too hard for me.

Anyways, we were told to take the gondola up on our first run, as it led to some easy (ha!) intermediate terrain.  We mistakenly got on the Sky Tram which only accesses difficult terrain.  I ended up having to ride the Tram back down while Forrest skied down.  However, one of the resort workers advised me to hike up to the peak (just a few yards past the top of the tram) to see the views off the back side of the mountain.  They were excellent views of the Grand Tetons, which are posted below.

I took this pic some time on Friday right before I went down a slope.  You can see my board in the bottom of the pic.

We skied the entire day on Friday, then went home and showered and got ready for dinner.  We ate at a restaurant ironically named Gun Barrel Steak and Chop.  It was in an old taxidermist shop that had been converted to a restaurant.  The ambiance was fantastic.  We ate right in front of a fireplace, which had a very warm (too warm by the end of dinner!) fire crackling the entire dinner.

This was hung directly over my head (above the fireplace).

By lunch on Saturday, Forrest and I were both pooped.  We turned in our skies a couple hours early and headed in to town for some shopping.  Jackson Hole has a wonderful downtown area with all kinds of shops (leather, jewelry, western wear, sheepskin, regular tourist shops), restaurants, and bars.  We shopped for a couple hours then found a bar and enjoyed happy hour. 

Do you know I don't take the time very often to really talk to and enjoy my husband?  Sometimes, you just have to sit us down in a bar and put a couple of cold beers in front of us to get us to really talk to each other.  We are just so busy with life, and it's a good life, but still it makes us so busy that we don't take the time to really enjoy each other.  Drinking beers with Forrest that afternoon was the best part of vacation for me.  I sure do love that sweetie!

These are pics of the town.  In the center square, at each corner is an arch made of antlers.  At Christmas they cover the arches with Christmas lights.

This is the view walking down the "jetbridge" (NOT) at the Jackson airport.