Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Jackson Hole is the name given to the valley cocooned by surrounding mountain ranges including the Grand Tetons. So beautiful and majestic. We were thrilled that the last snowfalls occurred late this year, and most of the mountains still had snow on them.

Our first visit to Jackson Hole was in late 2003 when we drove past with Benn en route to Cheyenne and didn’t have time to park and look around. I knew it was one place I wanted to revisit.

We found a large free public parking area a block north of the main part of town where we parked and then explored the area on foot. The main town area is only small, a few blocks in either direction, and I think I walked most of it. I found a unique Christmas Shop and bought a few gifts, before moving on and purchasing a few items in a bead shop. Fun! I left Murray in the Million Dollar Cowboy Saloon to watch the semi-finals of the Euro 2008 (World Soccer). When I came back to meet up with him we had our photo take on the saddles (bar stools) and then under the Elk Antler Arch in the town square just across the road. Would you guess that just under 2000 antlers were used in the arch? The elk drop their antlers each year, and have new ones by the next spring, complete with one extra point for each new year of plentiful feeding and good health. There is a market held each year in the square, and collected antlers are auctioned to the highest bidder. The antlers are used to create unique furniture ie coffee tables, chandeliers, lamps, and also used for belt buckles. Asians grind them up for special potions!
There was a rodeo on at 8pm, so we drove in to the parking area thinking we would just stay the night, but noted the signs saying no overnight parking and offenders would be towed away. We knew if we attended the rodeo, it would be dark when we got out, and we would have still had about another 30 miles to travel to the nearest National Park campground, and as it turned out, it was full as were all the hotels in town. No fun trying to find a campsite in the dark, so we had no choice but to keep driving. As it was, a few drops of rain were falling, so we took that as an omen. The last rodeo we attended in Belt, Montana had us with umbrellas up and down the whole time. As the first campground we came to was full, we drove on another 20 miles and at 9.30pm we reached a vacant campsite in Grand Teton National Park. The last rays of the sun blinked out as we parked. Don’t you love the late sunsets of summer??