Jackson, WY (aka Jackson Hole)

Brent and I recently (like on Sunday) got back from almost a week long trip to Jackson, WY with NO KIDS! I have to say, this is the FIRST TIME we have done this since we have had Ezra. Ezra is THREE!!  Even though it took us  a while to finally do it, it was well worth the wait!
I have never been to Jackson, but have heard many times that it is such a great place to go. Well, now that we have been, I can officially say, it is one of my FAVORITE places we have been. There was so much to do. The little town is filled with great shops (not just the tourist t-shirt shops) and SO MANY great places to eat! We had two favorite places to eat, 1. Sweetwater (thank you Jennifer) and 2. The Silver Dollar. We had lunch at Sweetwater two times. We went to the Sliver Dollar for a date night and had the BEST FOOD in I don't know how long! It was so good I finished my whole plate even though I was so full. Brent even said it was his favorite day because the food was so good. I am sure he meant to say because it was a great date night with ME, however, I will let it slide because I agree!
We were up in Jackson for Brent and a work conference. We stayed at Snow King Resort, which is one of three snow resorts in Jackson. The resort was at the base of a mountain and about a 1/2 mile walking distance to the town square. When Brent was at the conference, I would walk to town, get a smoothie or iced coffee, go window shopping and then sit in the square park and read. The weather was so nice. It was in the high 60's/low 70's during the day and 30-40 at night. So nice!!
We rented a car for a day and drove up to Yellowstone National Park. We drove through the park (well, some of it. It's a really big park) saw some bison, elk and a wolf. We also saw some falls, basins and Old Faithful. It was really pretty. I think it would be fun to go back to Yellowstone and stay a couple days in the park to be able see everything. One thing we didn't see, and really wanted to, was a moose. They are really hard to see in the summer because it is too hot for them. Near Jackson, they have an Elk Refuge that consists of 2500 acres that is FULL of elk and moose in the winter. I bet that is a site to see!!
We also did some fun things around the resort. They run the chair lifts during the summer so you can take a scenic chair lift ride up the the top of the mountain and enjoy the views, so we did that. We also rode on the Alpine Slide. It is this huge slide (like a bobsled track) that you take a chair lift up to the top of the mountain and get on this seat with wheels and a brake and ride it down the slide which goes down the whole mountain. It was fun! My slide was so slow. You can control how fast or slow you want to go and I guess I wasn't pushing on the handle hard enough to go fast. Brent and I were supposed to "race" down, but he was already down the mountain, off his seat thing and recording me coming down before I made it down. SLOW POKE!!
Anyway, we had a really good time. The day we were leaving, They were setting up a stage at the bottom of the mountain for the Bob Dylan concert that evening. So, we got to go "back stage" while they were setting up and walk by Bob Dylan's tour bus. We never saw him though. It was still pretty neat. Oh ya, the airport was such a small airport (4 gates) and you got off the plane onto stairs that took you down on the tarmac right next to the plane. So neat. I hadn't done that since I was a little girl in California.
So, Jackson, I loved it and want to go back!

Town Square (ark made of REAL Elk Antlers that are shed and found by boy scouts)

Town

going up the scenic chair lift ride

view going up

from the top

Yellow Stone National Park (in the 50's this day)

Old Faithful Geyser (goes off every 60-90 min. that's why its called old faithful)

Our lone wolf spotting (recently reintroduced into the park)

Bison 

Elk

One of the Hot basin's running into the river

Grand Teton Mountains

Creek in the Elk Refuge (we were able to walk around in there)

Million Dollar Bar (seats were horse saddles)

Part of the Alpine Slide

Alpine Slide

Brent getting ready

At this point I thought I had a chance at beating him down the slide (HA!)

Bob Dylan (his bus is on the right)

Our airplane