Dear Wanderluster, Jackson Hole

Now that I’m getting back into the swing of blogging, I’m going to go back in time a bit, and post items that I never had a chance to share prior. Also because the content laying around my house after 2 months of lockdown is becoming more and more limited…I’m going to go back in time and pull out some archives.

Somewhere in East-Jesus-Nowhere Wyoming in route to Jackson

So let’s take it back about 6 months ago when we took our fall trip to an old/new location for us and headed out to Wyoming, Montana, Salt Lake City and ultimately made it to Yellowstone. This is probably going to be 2 or 3 part blog post as I have my mother’s DNA and ability to take millions of photos so I can’t just chop this down to the top 5 shots. I’ll try to narrow down the first leg of the tour to just the highlights as we ventured from Salt Lake into Jackson Hole so I don’t overwhelm anyone, particularly myself.

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Road trippin’ in from SLC, over the mountains and through the woods, to a gas station with wagons out front – you know you’re in a different part when…

As a closet tree hugger and cowgirl (not sure why I’m closeted at this point) these regions always speak to my soul. Or it is the fact that as a child my parents idea of a family vacation was going to desert regions, ghost towns, and rural abandoned parts with NOTHING to do including parts of Wyoming so I feel right at home somehow. I find some sort of surreal beauty, peace and love for flat/rural spaces like these and just like the quiet overall. We’ll just contribute that to my upbringing because when you are fighting for HOURS with your little brother in the back seat of a Chrysler Lebaron convertible in the late 80’s, dad cursing at the helm of the wheel all while chain-smoking, and clicking away on the camera …. you look forward to getting out of the car even if its in the middle of nowhere. So, finding wagons at a gas station feels like childhood all over.

Anyhow, fast forward to the present, and now it’s my own kid whining/complaining in the backseat of the car (karma anyone?) until we arrive at our first designation, Jackson Hole. I have no memory of this place as a kid and haven’t been as an adult, but it did not disappoint. In fact, it was better than I ever imagined and more majestic than the pictures give it credit for. I fell in love the minute we rolled over the mountains and through the woods to The Bear Lodge which was an ideal lodging option and right outside the main town square area of Jackson Hole. This was a fantastic hotel that was quaint, charming, and rustic goodness all around and great for kids – although I would not define this as a “kid hotel” just to clarify.

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My child’s pool obsession is part of our vacation journey always … we book hotels based solely on the pools and then rate them (seriously folks) since, when you have a young child, you spend a LOT of time at the hotel in the pools typically. More of my own Karma. This one was a favorite for sure because of the indoor/outdoor “garage” style door that you can swim underneath.

Amazing Sushi and Asian Fusion at Noodle Kitchen … yes, sushi in Wyoming and it was KILLER

I should also mention that we went on this vacation for my birthday and it did not disappoint. SO much better than the year prior where I sat on Main Street Disneyland, in crowds of thousands packed like sardines, watching a parade and eating park food. Don’t get me wrong….we love Disney trips too but it’s just not the place I’d pick for my own birthday. Wyoming made it up tenfold for me this past year and I could barely sleep that night I was so excited to see what this town was all about the days ahead.

Moose Junction Area…

Insert the Tetons and my next morning. If you have not seen this cascading mountain range in person, you have to add this to your travel bucket list as the pictures simply don’t do them justice. I’m officially shopping ranches now as it’s a dying dream of mine to once live on a ranch, river, or both and now preferably in Jackson Hole. Also, did I mention there are free roaming herds of moose in this part? The Moose Junction local sector is incredible (where these photos above were taken) and I’m just going to add to my extreme bucket list wish items to live where I have free-roaming moose in my backyard just once in my life as well.

Exploring beneath the Tetons…we had no clue this was a black bear area yet and the next day would encounter one in this same spot in our cars (see below) – def CA tourists here. Definitely realize now why they had signs selling bear spray everywhere we went.

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Side note: My child insisted on wearing the neck cozy from the flight this day and my beanie – I have no idea why but there you have it.

I’d like to point out at this point that we are Californian’s and took this trip at the end of September. For us, that’s warm weather. We looked at the weather in Jackson Hole ahead of time and saw it was sunny and clear, 70’s, so we packed our shorts, flip flops, and t-shirts with lighter jackets or a sweatshirt. Once we arrived though, a freak small snow storm was moving in and hit the NEXT day, so the evolution of snow will begin to show in these posts and also, equally important to note: we had NO warm clothes on us and there is not a mall etc, so we are all in the same outfit for pretty much the entire trip. These photos are not all in the same day we just had no other warm options to wear…this quickly became a quest more for warmth survival than looking good. Thank goodness we each at least brought a pair of jeans!

Beautiful Fall in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Downtown Jackson Hole is actually very lively and much larger than this photo (above) shows. TONS of amazing stores and restaurants abound – so many good ones it was hard to pick where to eat. Also, very cool hipster hotel vibes abound that all have a mountain modern design flare to them which I fully appreciated. If I was child free on this trip, I’d have had more time to explore and document each one, but we were only here for two nights then on our way north to Yellowstone. As well, this is where the famous Antler arches reside and there are four of them (one on each corner) of the town square and all PACKED with tourists. In the middle of nowhere. I cannot tell you how hard it was to get this shot below without one other person we didn’t know in it:

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and the freezing our butts off begins…and my actual birthday

For my birthday, I wanted to have lunch at the Jackson Drug Store. Yes, a drugstore if you can believe it, and it did NOT disappoint. I also happened to check in with my Grandmother, who’s from these parts originally, on this exact day and she told me all kinds of stories about her times in this area and couldn’t believe how ‘chic’ it was now. She also told me my grandfather used to go into the famous Million Dollar Cowboy Bar and get into (or watch – I wasn’t too clear on this ) fights with other cowboys when he was a teenager with his buddies. I can’t even imagine this but I’m so glad I got to check that place out and it was totally unreal – you HAVE To go there if you stop through.

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The famous Million Dollar Cowboy Bar

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The Mountain Modern design elements were everywhere and I LOVED it all. Even the freaking taxidermy started to grow on my by the end as when you are out in these parts you realize it’s an ode to the culture there and when done in a more modern space, kind of looks cool actually. I don’t know – maybe I was just in the sticks too long on this trip, but I found some space in my design heart for these bizarre prizes…even though I still wouldn’t want one on my own wall. Lots of glass fixtures, metals, vintage fonts, and cool signage abound as well.

The stores are endless and being from the valley, I really miss seeing stores like this that are so quaint, one of a kind, and individual. It made me feel like I was back in my own heyday where finding one of a kind, beautiful treasures was so much easier than now. No Amazon trucks, people on cell phones, or electric scooters mowing you down the road…I loved the rustic feel of this town.

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Fast forward to the next day and we put on our finest (LOL) for dinner. We stopped downstairs in the hotel for some family photo ops in the reception area and headed out on the town.

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There is no such thing as too much antler or taxidermy in Wyoming…

For my birthday dinner we went to one of the best rated places around, and next to our hotel by pure coincidence, called The Gun Barrel, which did not disappoint. The line is out the door for this place and you better have a reservation. It is like being in a time warp full of taxidermy in every nook and cranny, with this Outback Steakhouse kind of vibe throughout it, but the food was amazing rustic-gourmet…ah, take me back to the 90’s please! Plus, I happened to pack a camo print sweater so I blended right in with the locals. A fun experience for us and can’t say a place like this exists in Cali.

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I’d like to note here that any photos of just the Mr. and myself are taken by the wee-one

The Mr. had to politely tell me to put my cell phone away as NOBODY in the restaurant had one at their tables. Silicon Valley in the house.

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MORE taxidermy…nothing like Rams staring at you while you eat

Now folks, this is the part of my story where I tell you about our encounter with a black bear. We didn’t have any luck spotting the mysterious moose (on my bucket list still) but we did see bears. This did not suck. BUT it did terrify me to know that they are right there in town with you and abound…thankfully not too interested in you but I kind of kept in the car after this first spotting under the Tetons. This guy (look close below) was swinging from a blueberry tree and having his breakfast right alongside the road. I have never encountered something this free, up close and personal so it was pure awe. We pulled over and just watched for awhile and he eventually just strolled down the road.

Ollie, the Lolli-blueberry breakfast bear…ten feet from us. People hiking on that trail right there. I’ll stay in my car with the windows up, thanks.

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But that’s the thing about being out in real natural environments…these kinds of sightings don’t become a big deal and the locals acclimate with the animals with respect. Everyone seems to leave each other alone for the most part. They do sell “bear spray” (no joke) and now I know why at all the stores…

The Teton’s and Snake River…there is no better view in my mind. I could have sat in this spot all day. The pictures don’t do it half its own justice.

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Cole gave us an academy award winning photo of us at the age of 6, we thought

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Where’s a Bob Ross kit when I need one ? I could paint happy little trees all day long right here

I found the local floral shop and it did not lack on the inspiration for fall foliage ideas.

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On our last day there (it was a really quick stay) we went back up to the Tetons through the national park where animal sightings are abundant. A lot of what you do here as a tourist is find animals in their natural environments which is so much fun with a young one – kind of like the best treasure hunt of their lives. We still didn’t find a moose but saw more bears, deer, Elk, and what not. Our favorite part was at a visitor center where it started to snow lightly and dusted the grounds. We aren’t used to snow at all, so this was really cool for us to experience in the Tetons.

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Back to the Lodge and into the hot pool before we packed up and moved north to Yellowstone.

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Goodbye Jackson Hole – we can’t wait to go back and explore more. What a fantastically mountain chic town in the middle of nowhere. You are a stunning place in the world. My bucket list now includes returning in the summer to explore more of the snake river, fishing, and boating excursions since the time of year we went this was not an option. Next time though, I do hope to find my mysterious moose out in that grotto…

Coming up next: Yellowstone and Montana

#Moose #JacksonHole #MountainModernDesign #Wyoming #Wanderlust #Birthday #Travel