Chores

We came close to pitching our chores and doing another hike yesterday. In fact, we got everything together to leave and at the last minute reality set in. We had to get some things done around here and another hike would leave us too tired to do what had to be done. Oh, well.

Josie did laundry and I did some repairs on our water system, including replacing the kitchen faucet. Our original faucet has been leaking around the handle for a long time while turning on or off. We have been delaying the inevitable and yesterday was the day. I went to ACE hardware in town to buy a replacement and did the job. There weren't a lot of choices of places to go - no Lowe's or Home Depot. It wasn't without problems though. The new faucet had different hose connectors than the old one and I had to return to ACE to get a couple adapters. We eventually got our chores done at around 5:30.

We went to the store to get some things for lunches this week and took the truck to gas up. We have been waiting to accumulate the maximum "points" at the grocery store - Smith's - so we could get a nice discount on diesel fuel. The points expire after today so we had to use them now. It amounted to a $.40 per gallon discount and we got a total of 35 gallons at $3.09 per gallon before the pump shut off. That should last us the whole summer for the truck.

It was time for dinner so I did some BBQ chicken on the grill. While doing the chicken, I looked up to see a paraglider coming down from the mountain next to the campground. He was just about down by the time I got the camera, but I did get this shot as he was landing about 150 yards from us:

It's back to work today and we start at 7 AM. There is a gun show at the Lodge this weekend and I would like to find some time to go - probably after work today at 3 PM...

Hike to Phelps Lake

One of the main goals on our days off was to take a trip where we could use both cameras to get a good comparison of their capabilities. I was disappointed with the initial tests for the new camera and wanted to get a true comparison of the relative capabilities of the old and the new. We settled on a hike to Phelps Lake in the Laurance S Rockefeller Preserve. It was very close to us and just inside the National Park at the south end.

We arrived for our hike at 11:30 and started out on the 3 mile loop trail into the Preserve:

The Visitor Center was a new building that gave a nice introduction to the area and a review of the history of the Rockefeller's involvement in the Grand Teton National Park:

There were several options to hike into the lake and we chose the 3 mile loop of the Lake Creek Trail and Woodland Trail which is the loop described in the above link on the Preserve. The trail going to the lake followed the creek that was the runoff from the lake:

The trail crossed the creek in a few places and this was one of those locations:

We were surprised when the trail - which took us through the forest most of the way - came to this huge clearing that was beautiful with the mountains in in the background:

We finally arrived at the lake:

This gave us a chance to provide the first real test of the differences between our cameras. In the first shot of lake above, you can see some white specks in the center of the photo. This was an area where the trail that went around the lake had some rocks on the shore where people could walk out to the water. The two shots below are taken with the two cameras on maximum zoom. The first is with the old camera, and the second was taken with the new camera:

There is a clear advantage in zoom shots with the new camera. We took a total of 88 shots with the 2 cameras, and we compared the shots from each camera. The new camera was clearly better in most situations, but the old camera was almost equal to the new one in other situations, with the exception of the zoom shots, which is the reason we purchased the new camera in the first place.

We sat and had our lunch while at the lake and enjoyed glassing the shoreline and mountains with our binoculars. We started back at around 1:30 and the trail that would take us back went into the forest, away from the creek, and took us past the area where the water ran off into the creek:

There were beautiful wildflowers all along the trail and we took many photos of some of the ones we hadn't seen before. Below are a few parting shots of some of these flowers. Starting with this variety of Columbine:

a Giant Hyssop:

and the Wild Blue Lupine:

So ends our hike to Phelps Lake. The exercise was wonderful, and the weather was fabulous. There were no health issues and we were happy with the results of the camera comparison.

Today is our day to complete our chores so it will be a different kind of day from what we are used to doing - and not as much fun...

Testing New Camera

We were anxious to get some practice with our new camera yesterday so we took a short trip to the same genearal area of Grand Teton National Park where we saw lots of wildlife - near the barns. The results were mixed, but, from my standpoint, somewhat disappointing. It is a 14 megapixel camera and it appears in some of our shots that the added resolution has created some "grainy" details in the foreground of some of the shots.


Starting with our first encounter of a large herd of bison that was in a field and starting to cross the road at the time we arrived at this section in the road:

We saw a couple pronghorn off in the distance and it gave us a chance to test the zoom capabilities of this new camera. They were about 300 yards away and this shot was a bit better than we would have gotten with our other camera:

There were other pronghorn antelope that we came across and these shots were taken of that group:

Finally, we took some more pictures of the barns and here are a couple of those:

The pictures here are actually a good representation of the cameras abilities, although some of the more "grainy" looking shots were omitted. We took 37 pictures during our short trip.

Today, we will take another trip to a different area in the Tetons and we plan to take both cameras and get the same shots with each of them so we can compare them side by side. It's nice to be at our "weekend" for the work week, so we will have some fun and also get some chores done...

Lunch in Town

There are a couple places in Jackson Hole that are known for their pizza so we went into town yesterday and tried one. The Mountain High Pizza parlor has been one mentioned more than others and was the only one located smack in the middle of downtown. It was a little pricey, but well worth the money as we sat outside on the deck and had a large pizza that we came within 2 slices of completely devouring. We always measure the quality of an eatery by the size of the crowd that is there and this one had a line out the door waiting to order a pizza. We didn't get a photo though as we forgot the camera.

Speaking of cameras, our new camera arrived yesterday when we went into work at 3 PM. I charged the battery at work and took a couple test shots but they weren't indicative of what the camera can do. If we can't get in a short trip before work today, we will almost certainly give it a real test tomorrow.

Our 2 evening shift days are spent with a 37 year old divorced guy - Jim - who always has us shaking our heads. He is difficult to work with as he seems to have an attitude that can rub people the wrong way. Sometimes we run into people like that but that comes with the territory. He's nice enough most of the time and that's all we care about. He was having one of his "Get out of my way" days yesterday.

The plan for tomorrow is to do some some chores, but that may change since we got our new camera. We may switch days and do some fun stuff tomorrow and the chores on Friday...

Ho-Hum Day

It was just a normal and very busy day at work yesterday. We went home after work at 3 PM, went to the store to pick up some fruit and miscellaneous stuff and watched TV the rest of the night. We are caught up on all the shows we taped during the week while working and all that's left on the DVR are movies that we need long stretches of time to watch. We constantly discuss the extra money we spend on the satellite system. but are always thankful we have it when we look at what it does to keep us entertained with shows and movies that we would otherwise miss. Maybe we would read more though if we didn't have it. Hmm.

We look forward to Tuesdays during the work week as this is the first of our 2 days of evening shift - 3 to 11 PM. That means we get to sleep in a little bit and relax for a few hours before going to work. It is probably the best shift for us to work anywhere. There are lots of options for spending the hours leading up to 3 PM and we will probably take advantage of them on most days by taking some local side trips.

One thing we noticed that is frustrating to us is when we have pictures that we want to take from a distance, we don't get enough zoom from our camera. We've ordered a new one that will increase our zoom from 8X to 20X. We have been pleased, overall, with our current camera, but when we see animals - bears, for example - that are in the woods, we don't get the detail we would like. We'll see how it works in those situations. It should arrive this week in time for us to test on our days off on Thursday and Friday. Cameras are a whole different subject for another day.

It's time to decide how to spend our free time today, so it's so-long for now...

Having a Heat Wave

We see where just about every area in the west - or northwest - is having a heat wave. Records are being set for high temperatures in most areas of Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, and it was 90 degrees here yesterday for a high. It only went down to 49 last night which was the highest low temperature for a night since we arrived. The air conditioner was on when we went to bed last night, but shuts down sometime during the night as the weather cools outside. No matter how hot it gets outside during the days, the nights become great for sleeping and we always need covers on the bed. Then, in the mornings, we turn on the fireplace to get some heat.

This is almost at a point at work where we will be at the busiest point every day that we will see every day this summer. There were only a few rooms available again yesterday and we were again challenged with almost 100 check-outs and a similar number of check-ins in the afternoon. When we work the mornings (7 to 3 PM) we handle all the checkouts and a few check-ins. When we work the afternoons (3 till 11 PM) we handle all the rest of the check-ins. It's always better to be busy.

Our plans are still not finalyzed for our days off this week. We have decided though that one of the days needs to be set aside for some local chores. Josie wants to do a thorough cleaning inside the fifth wheel and I have some minor repairs to complete that have been put off long enough. Even with our day of local chores, there will be a trip to somewhere in this area. There is just too much to see and do without wasting any time. There are many side roads and parts of the Grand Teton National Park that we need to discover. Then, we will be returning to Yellowstone and renewing our love affair with that area...

Filling Up the Campground

There is no question that this area gets an overflow crowd of people each summer. The campground here is another testimony to the popularity of the area. For the first time since we arrived the space next ours was rented for the night and it was the last one in the campground to be rented. The RV office, which is separate from ours, has been keeping all the spaces in our area open until the very last to be rented. Not only is the RV park full, we were almost 100% full in the Lodge yesterday. That is with no special event or activity in town.

Our schedule in the office included working with another newer person - Senna (pronounced Sen-ya) - who is a young girl who came from Holland 5 years ago. She is only working 4 days a week for the summer and conducts guided snowmobile tours in Yellowstone in the winter. Her husband is a guide and Outfitter for hunting trips in the winter. It was interesting talking with her during our very busy day at the front desk.

We heard from another couple we worked with at Cody a couple years ago. They are Brenda and Hank, and they worked at Amazon with us 2 years ago following our stint at Cody. They are once again working at the Buffalo Bill Village in Cody and want to get together on our common day off, which is Thursdays. The plan is to meet them halfway, somewhere in Yellowstone, and visit for awhile. It may be this Thursday or one coming up very soon. You may recall that Hank is the one who was the professional bowler for many years in his younger days.

That's about it from Jackson Hole on this Sunday, June 24...

Spring Creek Horseback Ride

The highlight of the day was, of course, our scheduled horseback ride at the Spring Creek Riding Stables. We putzed around until just after noon and then rode over to the stables that were only about 15 minutes away. The drive was down a road that we haven't been on before and we discovered many nice houses along the way and more beautiful countryside.

We arrived at the stables at 12:30 and did all the paperwork - more disclaimers - and waited for the ride to start. The stables are in a nice area on the hillside that is just over the main road as you leave Jackson. Following are a couple shots of the stables area:

There were a total of 5 riders scheduled for our time slot. Here is a shot of Josie getting on her mount:

It's a good thing I had the camera or there would have been another similar shot of my mount.

The ride started out at around 1:15 and we went through some areas that were just fabulous scenery:

The center shot has a great view of the Snow King area where we took the chair lift to the top of the mountain.

Another area we passed by while on the crest of this mountain was the National Elk Refuge that surprised us with all the water ways that were not visible from the ground level:

The ride lasted over the scheduled hour and as we were returning to the stables, we headed toward the Grand Teton side of the mountain and we had this view:

As mentioned before, our ride was complimentary, and there was a photographer that was moving to various points along the way to take shots for the riders to take home - at a price, of course. The photographer offered the full set of pictures of Josie and I to us at no cost as part of the complimentary ride given to us as employees of the Virginian Lodge. The following shot is perhaps the best of the collection which we were given on a CD:

It was a great ride and an excellent stable which we will recommend to any guests asking for an opinion. We returned home at 3:30 and this was a special ending to a bumpy 2 days of wonderful experiences. It's back to work today and more planning for our next 2 days off...

Hike and Health Issues

The first news of the day yesterday was that the Jeep was finished early and we walked to the dealership and picked it up at 10:30 AM. Before we went to get the Jeep we had decided that we would take a relatively short hike in the Tetons. There were a few things we needed to pick up before hiking - like a back pack, socks, water bottles and insect repellent before going on any hike. We had already purchased the other necessary items for hiking - poles, shoes, etc. - a couple years ago. One item we were going to buy was bear spray until we discovered that it cost $40 for a can of pepper spray that is good for one 10
second spray at a maximum distance of 35 feet. I don't think so. We'll take our chances.

There are so many hikes, of all lengths and degree of difficulty that it is hard to choose which one to start with. We chose to do a 2.5 mile trail around a part of Jenny Lake that ended at the Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point locations. The trail actually circles the whole lake, but you can hike the 2.5 mile portion from the visitor center to the Hidden Falls/Inspiration Point area - or you can take the shuttle boat that they have and costs $10 per person for a round trip to the dock where the falls is located.

It obviously was a beautiful area to spend some time hiking and the description of the hike was that it was not strenuous. That was enough for us. We arrived at the visitor center parking lot at 2:15 and followed the signs to the trailhead. We passed the boat dock at the beginning of the trail:

and then began the trek around the lake. The views were spectacular and the trail just followed the lake:

We took lots of pictures and it was difficult to decide which ones to include here. We also took some shots of the mountains as we had some open areas, like this one at an area that is called the Moose Ponds:

There were some areas where the trail became a little steep, and with the afternoon temperatures in the low 80's, caused us to stop frequently for a rest. We were over halfway there when I suddenly had an attack of heat exhaustion. I became dizzy and nauseous, and had to sit down. The mistake I made was that I wore a vest under the backpack and was perspiring more than normal. We ended up spending a lot of extra time until I became able to move on and Josie was concerned that I would need to have help to go any further. There was no choice - I had to manage to get to the location where we could take the boat back to shore and to the starting point. While sitting and wating to feel better, Josie caught this shot of a chipmonk that was waiting for a handout:

She also captured some of her favorite subject - flowers:

These were called Colorado Combine's and were just about everywhere, along with lots of other wildflowers.

As we were slowly walking along the trail, we ran into a couple that said there was a moose and her calf just ahead of us. They were right. A cow and her calf were walking on the trail toward us. The mother turned off just ahead of us and we got this shot of her:

and the calf was right behind her and was still on the path:

The calf jumped off into the brush as soon as it saw us and we didn't get a good shot of it running to catch up to mom.

We also passed a spot where this marmot (or other varmint) was running to hide under this rock:

It seemed like it was taking forever to reach the point where we could catch the boat back to shore. I was not feeling well at all and wasn't sure I could make it, but we continued on as there wasn't any choice. This shot is the approximate area where the boat dock is located near the Hidden Falls:

We arrived at a location where the sign pointed up hill to the falls, or to the right toward the boat dock. I sat down while Josie attempted to climb the final distance to capture photos of the falls. She returned to where I was sitting after about 15 minutes because the climb was too long and steep and there were other trails off the main one and she wasn't sure which one to take. Anyway, we started walking to the dock and took this shot of the rapids coming down from the falls:

It's a shame that we couldn't see the falls on this trip, but we'll be back.

Here is a shot of the boat that is used to shuttle people back and forth:

It's not a great shot, but is the best we could do by the time we reached the clearing. Anyway, I was very happy to get back to the starting point - at 5:45 PM. We found out that the last boat leaves at 6 PM to shuttle people back from the Falls. Whew! We made it by 15 minutes. There is no way I could have hiked back from there feeling the way I was.

Finally, we were back in Jackson Hole and, on the way home, took this shot of the stagecoach that runs all day, every day in town during the summer:

Today is our horseback riding trip and I feel much better and up to the adventure...

Horseback Ride Scheduled

Prior to going to work yesterday at 3 PM we scheduled a horseback ride for 1 PM on Friday. There are several stables in the area, just as there are several float trip companies. We selected a stable that appears to be in an area where there will be better trails for the ride. The other choice offering a free ride was the one at Snow King just down the road where we went on the chair lift ride a couple weeks ago. The problem with that one is that the ride is along a switchback trail that crosses under the chair lift all the way and would be in an area we've already seen. Our schedule says it will be a one hour ride and that's probably long enough to sit on the saddle.

The fact that the Jeep is still sitting in the service shop puts a kink in our schedule. We would like to schedule longer trips for the days off but the truck gets such poor mileage, it doesn't make sense to go too far. That, plus now there is a leak in the truck that we don't want to aggravate. The latest word is that the Jeep will be ready on Friday, or Monday at the latest. So, we will probably do something close by today and do the horseback trip tomorrow.

The weather is turning really nice now and the days, for the most part, are sunny and near 80 degrees. It still gets cool at night which makes for great sleeping. The nights still can get down into the high 30's and low 40's - we'll take it...

Planning Our Days Off

It was another day of increased activity at work yesterday. We had 25 walk-ins on top of about 30 reservations and there were 2 tour buses that came in with another 70 or so guests. It was busy right up to our quitting time at 11 PM. We also had some drama late in the shift when we heard footsteps on the roof above the front desk. We tried to see if there were any people that got into the secured area in the upstairs offices, but there were none. There were no visible people but we contacted the Jackson Hole Security force to come out and check out the situation. As we left the Lodge last night we saw that the security people were watching from a spot outside but nothing was discovered as of 11 PM last night.

Prior to going to work yesterday we stopped at the Jeep dealership to get an update on the progress on the service being performed. It turns out that there was a part required that had to be ordered by the shop in Idaho Falls that is doing the rebuild on part of our differential. That means it will be at least until Friday, and probably Monday, before we can pick it up to use again. In the meantime, I discovered a small leak somewhere under the radiator on the truck. We've had absolutely zero problems with that vehicle since I bought it in October of 2007. So, when the Jeep comes out of the shop, we'll probably take in the truck for repair. Once these are all done, we should have 2 vehicles in perfect shape.

There are 2 weekends left in June for us to plan and use the remaining free passes we have. One is for horseback riding and another is for a second whitewater rafting company. This morning we will contact the horseback stables to see if we can go on our days off on either Thursday or Friday. The other rafting trip will be scheduled for next week if possible. That leaves a lot of time the rest of the summer for more visits to Yellowstone, the Tetons and other great areas in Northwestern Wyoming. July and August should be perfect, weather wise, for all outdoor activities and we have added hiking to our to-do list, so we look forward to the rest of our time here...

Bar J Chuckwagon

Another busy and uneventful day went by yesterday between our work hours of 7 AM and 3 PM. As we get busier, the time seems to flow by faster, which is good.

The main activity for yesterday was a return visit to the Bar J Chuckwagon for a BBQ Supper and western show. We last came here on September 1 of 2010 and we have to say it was better this time. The problems last time were: 1- we didn't know to arrive at least an hour before the gates open in order to get the best seats, and 2- the food was not as good. Since our complimentary tickets were for the basic BBQ Beef dinner, we upgraded to the Rib Eye steak with an upgrade that cost us $20 total. So, we had the best meal and front row seats for a total of $20. Last time, we had to pay the full price for the (lesser) meal of chicken and BBQ beef, had lousy seats and spent $56.

Below is a shot of the entryway to the complex:

There was the usual full house and you can see from this picture of the group, our table was right up front:

It was a terrific show and the total time spent there was about 4 hours, including wait time, dinner and the show. We were home by 9:30 and it made for a very pleasant evening. We may even go one more time before we leave here in early October.

Day number 4 for the work week is today beginning at 3 PM and we are still waiting to hear back on the status of our Jeep that is in service. We are kicking around some options for our days off this week but that depends a lot on when the Jeep is ready. We don't like taking the truck on longer trips as it is the gas hog. We'll see what happens and just take it a day at a time until we know for sure...