Or, as the locals say, Jackson! What an amazing trip. Danny and I just returned from a winter getaway that couldn’t have been any better.
From the moment we touched down at the airport to the moment we lifted off on our return every part of this vacation was simply amazing. Neither of us are skiers so we were a little skeptical of what activities to plan in a ski town. As I researched “things to do for non-skiers” I was delighted to find a host of activities that piqued my interest. We narrowed down our outings to two major ones and then a slightly less labor-intensive activity.
Jackson Hole Iditarod
Our first full day was spent dog sledding. We’ve watch documentaries about Iditarod sledding and racing and thought it would be a neat experience. Our guide and the team of 12 dogs were simply amazing. The dogs live to run. They are conditioned to the temperatures and love pulling the sled. Danny was able to be our musher on our sled, there are two sleds pulled by one team of dogs. He did say it was harder work than he anticipated holding on to the sled for that long.
What I didn’t plan for was for the temperature to be minus 20 degrees below zero. It did warm up to a cool temperature of 0 degrees by the time we made our way up to the Granite Hot Springs 2 1/2 hours later. Once we reached the hot springs, we changed into our swimsuits in the non-conditioned bath house, which is actually a room with one door and benches lining the room, then we hurried down to the hot springs and jumped in the 104 degree water. We stayed in about 30 minutes before jumping out to freeze important body parts off while getting re-dressed in the freezing bathhouse. Definitely this was one of the crazier things I’ve ever done. After eating our lunch prepared by the guides, we returned back down the mountain. The scenery was indescribable.
Our second big adventure was snowmobiling Yellow Stone National Park. This was my favorite day. The snow-capped mountains, and snow covered trees were enchanting. We rode for 45 miles up the mountain. It was 3 hours of total tranquility (once I got the feel of the snowmobile and relaxed). No cellphone, radio, email, or other human noise for the entire trip. Our guide did make stops to point out scenic areas and to let us stretch our legs. Once we reached the top, we ate lunch then walked over to the area to watch Old Faithful erupt. Such a cool experience. The earth is filled with wonder! We made our way back down the mountain just before sunset and again saw so many incredible views.
Two other days were spent in the town of Jackson Hole, and at Teton Village. We rode the tram up to the top of the ski slope at Teton Mountain. The trams hold up to 100 passengers. When we exited the tram, we were blasted with 30 mile an hour winds and temperatures again below zero. I could not imagine strapping skis to my feet and flying down off of the mountain. Lucky for us, Corbet’s Cabin “top of the world waffles” is at the top of the mountain. The waffles are pretty amazing. Then another day we toured the National Elk Refuge in a horse drawn sleigh. (we would call it a wagon in our part of the country). There were probably 1000 elk in the refuge as they had just started to make their way to the refuge for winter.
On our last night, we dined in White Buffalo Club restaurant, which is on the bottom floor of the hotel we stayed in. The food was amazing. I had the beef filet and Danny had the bison filet. I highly recommend you try this restaurant if you are in Jackson. They brought us knives that were engraved with the logo from the restaurant. We could tell they were special knives not only by how they cut our meet but by the handle and the engraving. Our waitress took the time to tell us they were made locally and that we could visit the shop ourselves, just off the square. We visited early the next morning before our flight out. We are currently awaiting the arrival of our custom made and engraved steak knives. You can read about the technology and shop on line here.
Jackson Hole is definitely a trip I look forward to taking again soon.
