Jackson

I returned to work for one day last week (which sucked) and then we packed up for our trip to Jackson Hole, WY. Monday and Tuesday evenings were a flurry of activity to get our gear ready after the yurt trip. We had to wash all the ski gear, pack our stuff for the week, and wax wax wax. Doing 2 pairs of skis and a snowboard took a while but Petro was able to help out and put the wax on while I was at work. We finished up the rest in the evening. I got up early on Wednesday morning so I could run power wires in Christine's car for the radar detector. It was a royal pain, but proved to be very worthwhile as we had a couple close calls with the Wyoming State Patrol radaring on I-80 (but fortunately we didn't get pulled over).

We were pretty unlucky with the snow on this trip. It had snowed quite a bit in the previous weeks, but there was no new snow while we were there. Plus, it was super cold (10 below in the mornings), which made most of the snow pretty hard in the mornings. I took a lot of spills on my snowboard the first couple days because I couldn't get a good edge into the snow. Mostly, it was due to my lack of time on the snowboard this year. I need to take it out around here and fuss with it some more to get comfortable on it again. I took out my skis for the third day, and had a much easier time on the hard stuff. Despite the lack of snow, the mountain is still great. The mountains in that area have a different look and feel about them than the ones around here. One of the most striking things is how steep it is. There's a lot of fast groomers as well as steep bump and glade runs.

Dining guide:
If you're ever in Jackson, check out the Snake River Brewing Company. We stopped there multiple times for food and/or beer and we were never disappointed. The food was great, and the prices were better than most places.

We ate dinner at the Silver Doller one night. Eh. That about sums it up. The food was decent, but I don't think it warranted the high price. The Moose Drool Brown Ale was really good though.

Pearl Street Bagel Shop: Big thumbs down. We went there for breakfast on Saturday and were thoroughly disappointed. They don't toast bagels! Who ever heard of a bagel shop that won't serve you a toasted bagel. Plus they didn't really hasve any breakfast-y items and their bagels sucked. Christine and I both got raisin bagels, and I think there was a combine 3 raisins between the two of our bagels. Don't go.

Shades Cafe: Christine, Jessie, and I walked around town Saturday morning (because we wanted to wait for the mountain to warm up) and stopped at Shades for brunch. We still needed some breakfast after that awful bagel shop experience. This place was pretty good. I had a breakfast burrito and Christine had something with spinach and tomatoe that looked healthy.

Mangy Moose: This place is the apres ski bar of choice at the resort. We sat down for and enjoyed the ambiance with some nachos and beer. Worth checking out if you feel like hanging at the mountain for a while.


View from the top of the gondola


Big plate of nachos at the Mangy Moose


And, of course, a stop at Little America