Friday, October 2

Two wonderful days of vistas.  We traveled from Vernal, UT to Jackson, WY on Thursday.  It was ridiculous the number of times we stopped to take photos in the first hour.  The scenery was a compression of all that is western.  It started with mountains, rocks and prairie lands.  I was waiting for the Calvary to come galloping around the corner.  In one section on the highway, where we couldn't stop because the road was too narrow, we saw a flock of sheep, perhaps 300 in number.  Then we looked to the north and sitting on a small plateau was the herdsman sitting on a pinto horse.  He was wearing chaps and a large cowboy hat.  I thought we were traveling through a movie set.  We arrived in town about noon, early enough to go window shopping.  Jackson is filled with small stores.  However, the goods are on the high end.  Decorator stores and galleries dominate.  Next to our motel is a deli so we ate in our room for a change.

Today was a highlight day for me.  We were up before dawn to see the sunrise on the Tetons.  Then by 8 p.m. we were watching the horses being driven into the corral at the dude ranch.  Traveling though the Teton Park was filled with snow covered mountain peaks.  The snow resembles powdered sugar when you get closer.  The Tetons are fairly young mountains and they seemed to just grown out of the plains.   We viewed the peaks from every angle and all were great.  When we went to Jenny Lake, the lake was surrounded by trees and then you would get a glimpse of mountains and the lake.Very pretty.  One trail looked well paved until you got about 5 miles into it.  Syracuse would be proud of the ruts we discovered.  They had a sign that said rough road but that hardly described the experience.  One excellent sight on the road was a moose feeding in a pond.  I really like seeing moose.  We saw another 2 before the day was over.  We had lunch at a ski resort and enjoyed that very much.  Dinner at the Gun Barrel was a great ending to a terrific day.  Tomorrow we head to Yellowstone in the morning and finish up in Bozeman MT having dinner with a former SU colleague.