Day One - Jackson Hole

It was an early morning for Donna and me, who left for the airport at 4:30 am. We connected with Rick in Dallas, and flew into Jackson Hole about 11:30 am.

A Runway with a View

Jackson Hole airport has one of the most stunning runway views around. You land in a valley along side of the Grand Tetons, and deplane onto a stairway that lets you take in the vista. Since Gail was delayed arriving on a different plane via Denver, we had fun playing message tag with her. Then we drove into Jackson Hole downtown to check things out a bit, returning to pick her up a few hours later.

Since Gail was with us now, our first travel priority was going back to Jackson to find food - Bubba's barbeque. (I will make a separate entry detailing our culinary and lodging adventures.) Here you can see part of the downtown area.




Jackson Hole probably was the busiest place of the entire trip. Traffic was crazy. Tons of shops (everything from t-shirts to stuffed animals - both fake and real- to every imaginable product made from huckleberries) and restaurants (from cowboy bar to gourmet). We girls used up some serious shopping points here! The square in the center of town has an arch in each corner made of antlers. Very western cool. More upscale than your typical tourist town.

After we were done shopping, we hit the local grocery store. We stocked up on fruit, breakfast food, bread, snacks, and cookies for the trip.

Then we headed out to our rustic log cabin in Coulter Bay in Grand Tetons National Park. We were just a short walk from the water on the bay, where we watched the sunset over the boats in the marina. Had an early night to recover from jet lag and prepare for hiking tomorrow.

Sunset at Coulter Bay
KLB