Contrasting Days

The last two days were about as different as they could possibly be. Saturday night was filled with the effects of the soccer tournament in town - kids everywhere, and a lobby full of people most of the night - and yesterday, when we only had about 20 reservations, had few walk-ins and it was a fairly boring night. Donna said they processed over 100 check-outs yesterday morning. It was so boring last night that Josie came back to our fifth wheel and picked up her crocheting to do at the front desk. Tonight will be a repeat of last night and it will be our final day at the lodge.

Josie took some shots of the lodge last night that will remind us of the place we have worked for the last two summer seasons, and will most likely return for a third season:

and yours truly behind the front desk:

There is so much to do yet to prepare for our departure but the weather has been a detriment. We will go to the grocery store today to pick up "traveling" food and to top off the gas tank in the truck. It is still raining and cool. It looks like we will have to hope for a good day tomorrow to clean the grill and the chairs before packing them away.

Our final work day is today and we will say our farewells to the office staff. The RV park is emptying out for the last time this morning so I will get some photos of the park and the lodge parking area for tomorrow. The season flew by and we were happy that we returned again this year...

Soccer Kids

The entire morning yesterday was spent installing the new receiver from DirecTV. We were excited to be able to get rid of the annoying rolling and distortion in the picture on our TV. When it was installed, I had to call DirecTV to complete the installation and complete the re-programming on the receiver. What a disappointment. The problem still exists which means that there is a problem somewhere in the cabling or a connection somewhere that needs to be located. Since we are leaving this week and DirecTV couldn't schedule a technician to come out and check out the system, we have to wait until we return to AZ for the winter - following our trip to Chicago. We have a phone call scheduled with DirecTV for October 17 when we will be settled in AZ for the winter. They will re-open the case at that time and schedule a technician to come out to our site to check out the system. In the meantime, we have to live with the problem. I packaged up the old receiver - along with 41 movies and 3 shows we had taped on the hard drive on the receiver - and took it to the FedEx office in town to be returned within the 10 day requirement so as not to be charged for the new receiver. We now start over with taping shows on a new hard drive.

There is a huge soccer tournament in town this weekend and we were sold out last night. There were kids everywhere in the lobby all night and they practically drove us crazy. They would come in and out to get hot chocolate at our beverage counter and Josie was kept busy all night cleaning up hot chocolate messes and spills at the counter. It was a challenge to keep up with the activity at our beverage counter and to keep it clean. Everybody checks out this morning and will be gone by the time we start work at 3 PM. Today and tomorrow - our last day - will be very slow and boring.

The weather has prevented us from doing any outside work to organize things for our departure. We need to clean the grill and clean the chairs before packing them away for the trip. The forecast is for more cold weather and rain the next two days, so we aren't sure when we will get those chores done...

Another Moose

It remained cold and stormy yesterday but we wanted to try and see how much snow fell in the mountains. After breakfast and watching the Weather Channel for awhile, we went for a drive out to the park. On the way to the park, there were cars all over the side of the road leading up to the park and along the Elk Refuge at the north end of town. Sure enough, there was a big bull moose inside the fence at the Elk Refuge working his way north:

We followed him all along the fence and we found an opening where we could catch a couple more shots:

You can see the snow flurries in those pictures as it was still snowing near noon when these shots were taken.

We continued on into the park and really couldn't see much with the skies so gray and the clouds enveloping the mountains. We did get some shots of the beautiful fall colors, especially along the river bed:

We returned home and decided to return late in the afternoon and possibly catch the mountains before sunset. We did get some nice shots and you can see from these that the snow level was about half way up, or at about 7500 feet:

Our two days off were wrapped up last night with a knock on our door from the maintenance guy at the lodge who brought a package to us that was sitting in the lobby - our replacement receiver from DirecTV. It was delivered sometime during the day and we didn't receive any call that it arrived, but that will be the project for this morning - installing the new receiver.

Our final three work days begin today, so we are on the final leg of our stay at Jackson...

Snow and Bar-J

The cold weather arrived with a vengeance and the snow continued - mostly in the higher elevations. Our high was only 43 yesterday and the snow that was falling accumulated only in the mountains. The small amount that we received in Jackson was gone in about an hour, and the rest of the day was rain for us.

We did get a shot of the snow that was all around us as we traveled to Teton Village for our show, about 15 miles away:

As you can see, we didn't miss a significant accumulation by too much.

Donna and Rachel (her daughter) came to our fifth wheel at 4:30 to leave together for the dinner and show at the Bar-J. We never get tired of making this visit as the group is very entertaining and the dinner is a super value. The dinner and show cost us only $32 each, and the dinner was a terrific rib-eye steak, baked potato, beans, apple sauce roll and dessert.

Here is a shot of us waiting for the doors to open:

We have become very good friends with Donna (second from left), and Rachel just started to work the front desk this year. Rachel was the individual that checked us into our space last year at the Zion RV Park and Resort on our way to AZ from Jackson. She is living with Donna now in a small town outside of Jackson and they both are moving to Jackson for the winter. They both will work at the lodge during the winter months this year.

The show was terrific, as usual, and here are a couple shots of the group:

We got home at almost 10 PM last night and Donna and Rachel headed home while we watched a little TV and went to bed.

The weather is improving this morning and maybe we will be able to get out and see some areas where the snow has changed the landscape in and around the Teton National Park....

Snow

All day yesterday the snow fell in the mountains while we were drenched with rain. The snow level yesterday was not quite down to the Jackson level, but was starting to appear in the hills behind us:

We ended the day with over .50 inches of rain - maybe more, since my rain gauge was clogged - and probably had over a foot of snow in the Tetons.

This morning is much colder than yesterday - it is 35 outside right now - and here is the status of the snow, as it has reached Jackson and is starting to stick on the ground:

We don't know how much of this will be around by the end of the day, but we have plans to go out to dinner with Donna and Rachel (her daughter) at the Bar-J Chuckwagon tonight.

The snow has stalled our outdoor activities, but we hope to get some shots during the day of the status of the storm.

Our week ended last night with a (relatively) small number of walk-ins and there was an entire section of our lodge that had to be closed down as a result of a leak that was allowing water to enter several rooms along the southern side of the lodge. It's a good thing that we didn't need that block of rooms to sell last night. With only three working days left, we anticipate only one sellout - on Saturday night for the scheduled soccer tournament this weekend. Sunday and Monday should be very slow and boring to end our season. We will spend a lot of time between now and Monday getting things organized for our departure on the 2nd of October...

Winter Storm Warning

The weather forecast not only changed last night, there was a winter storm warning issued for all of Western Wyoming. There is a storm coming today and tomorrow that will dump 6-12 inches of snow in the elevations above 8500 feet, and 3-6 inches below 8500 feet. We are at 6800 feet here at the lodge. It has started raining - heavily - already this morning and as of 8 AM we have had over .30 inches of rain for the day. Our high for today is forecast at 50 degrees with an overnight low tonight of 30. It seems like we will have some photos coming of snow in the Tetons when it all ends by Friday. All of the current radar reports show snow in the mountains occurring as I write this entry.

Our TV has been acting up recently and following a long conversation and attempts to diagnose the problem with DirecTV yesterday, they are shipping a new (replacement) receiver to us. It will take 5 business days to arrive here via FedEx. We hope that it arrives in time for us to install before we have to leave. We were hoping it would be some setting that needed to be changed, but it is a progressive problem that cannot be fixed. The picture is jittery and the picture rolls on occasion with other annoying distortions thrown in.

As we reach the final week of our stay, we are looking at a couple deliveries that need to occur. Aside from the TV receiver, we are expecting delivery of the rug we purchased over a week ago that needs to arrive from New Mexico. That is suppose to arrive today, and we are concerned that we are not able to get any status updates on that shipment. Our phone calls to the company have gone unanswered. They are a company that comes to our lodge a couple times a year to market their rugs outside on the front lawn at our lodge, so it should be easy to get their attention if there is a problem.

Our final work day for this week is today with only two more days of "off" time before finishing up with our last three days at the lodge. We will hang on and hope that the snow doesn't create too many problems in the area...

Forecast Change

As we wind down another week - two days to go this week - we are anticipating more fowl weather. There is rain and snow (mixed) now in the forecast for tomorrow and the next day. There was only the possibility of snow in the forecast for Thursday, but the forecast has changed. The good news is that there is a warming trend following this week's weather that will arrive in time for our departure. It is getting to the point now where we are anxious for the week to end and be on our way back to Arizona, and on to Chicago.

We have scheduled one last trip this year to the Bar-J Chuckwagon with Donna and her daughter Rachel for Thursday night. We work with both of them at the lodge and they invited us to go with them before the season ends next week. That should be a fun farewell night out for us.

Most of the planned outings for the remainder of our time involve driving through areas where the fall colors are at their peak. We were about a week premature last week, so we should see more this weekend.

That's about it for now, with two more days to work this final full week...

Possible Snow on the Way

The forecast for this week is not encouraging. It will get progressively cooler each day, with increasing chances for precipitation until at least Sunday. In fact, Thursday calls for a 70% chance of precipitation with a high only in the 40's, and a low of 27. The precipitation could include snow. We had hoped for some warmer and clear weather to finish up our activities for this season, but I guess we will just wait and see what develops.

We are beginning to say farewells to folks that we work occasionally with at the lodge and that come in regularly with tours that are winding down. The Caravan bus tours are the ones we see every day, and the regular Tour Directors are making their final trips to Jackson this week. We get to know each of these Tour Directors during the season as they come through on a weekly basis. Our favorite one was in last night and she will make her final visit with us next Monday on our final day. She was the one that gave all of the front desk workers a jar of huckleberry jam to thank us for our efforts to help make their tours successful.

The hunters are beginning to show up at the lodge and the deer and elk seasons are underway. We give special rates to these hunters and, for the most part, they are nice folks that become regulars every year at this time. It would be nice if I could someday be one of those hunters in Wyoming, but unless you are a resident of the state, the tags are expensive. It's great to hear about their hunting adventures.

There was a huge delay late yesterday for folks driving through the Teton National Park. An individual hit a bison crossing the highway and delayed traffic in both directions for almost an hour while the animal was cleared from the road. We don't have many details yet, but I'm sure there was severe damage to the vehicle. It is a common occurrence in this area for drivers to hit wildlife on the roads. Donna and her daughter Rachel - both  workers at the lodge - have each hit a deer along the canyon highway this year. She has had to buy replacement parts for her car to replace damaged headlights and grill components. Any time you travel along these roads in the early morning or evening hours, there is a good chance for encountering an animal of some kind.

Our week is moving along at a seemingly fast pace and we are looking forward to a week from today when we have our final shift at the lodge for the 2013 season...

Signs of Season End

It's time for most seasonal functions to end. There are closures of the lodges and visitors centers at the park locations, and many of the activities within the parks are ending this weekend. In about one week, it will be like a ghost town in the areas that were overflowing with visitors. The temperatures are rapidly dropping to fall norms and the trees are losing their leaves. This is the time of the year when the bears are eating everything they can to fatten up for the winter and there are warnings everywhere in the parks to be aware of the bears. Nature is fascinating.

Even though our lodge is not selling out this week, we are getting a huge number of walk-ins and it actually makes for busier nights for us. I mentioned before that there is more work involved in checking in a person that has no reservation than for those that are scheduled arrivals. A guest's information is already in the system for a reservation, but we have to gather all that information at the front desk with a walk-in. Last night we had 33 walk-ins. While looking at the figures last night for the lodge performance compared to a year ago, we are far ahead of last year's numbers. We finished August ahead by 366 guests versus the same month last year, and we are ahead by 165 through last night for September.

While looking outside from our window this morning it looks like the cooler weather has slowed the grass growth - good news. If there is any negative to staying in the RV park for free, it's the lawn maintenance that we are responsible to perform. Josie will argue that it is good exercise for us, but I still think that our relatively small area in the overall RV park is nothing that the paid workers couldn't handle as part of their duties to keep the rest of the park mowed. Besides, we have to walk clear across the park to the maintenance shed to pick up, and return, the mower and weed-eater each time. Oh, well.

This is our final full week of work and today is our "Tuesday". Before we know it, we will be hitching up and be on our way...

Fall Colors

It was another beautiful, clear day. Even though it went down to 29 degrees the night before, we brought in the plants and put them back out early in the morning. We decided to take a short drive to the Hoback Canyon which is the area along the Snake River on the way to Alpine where we had our whitewater float trip back in June. Last year, we drove through this area about a week earlier and saw some beautiful fall colors. This year, we may have missed the peak of the fall colors in the canyon, but they were still nice.

The drive from Jackson to the canyon turnoff was full of mostly yellow trees (aspens) that are in the peak of their fall colors:

Once we reached the canyon, the colors were there, but it seems like we may have missed the peak by about a week. The red bushes that were vibrant last year, were starting to turn brown which disappointed us. Here are some shots of the fall colors in the canyon:

Even though the reds are visible, they are pale in comparison to last year.

We still enjoyed, as always, the drive through this canyon along the Snake River. The timing was perfect for this rafting trip on the river which is the same one we took, months earlier:

The river is a pretty sight, and these shots are just a couple of the Snake River:

I wanted to transfer our bike rack from the truck to the fifth wheel earlier than usual since I wanted to make sure we didn't need any extra parts that may have to be ordered before we leave. The transfer was smooth and there are no additional parts required:

It is now ready for the bikes and for travel to AZ in October.

The final activity yesterday was another short drive last to the location in the Tetons where we thought the sunset might create a better picture than we had from Thursday night. The picture was nice, but still not what we had hoped:

 

 

We did, however, get a good shot of the Sleeping Indian at sunset which highlighted the Indian:

 



 

 

That wound up our two days off this week. There are only two more days of free time until we head out on the 2nd of October. Actually, there are 8 days of work at the lodge remaining, and they will fly by, I'm sure...

Yellowstone Trip

We left here at about 8:30 yesterday morning for our final trip to Yellowstone for this year. It was a terrific day in all respects. The weather was fantastic and the wildlife and scenery were, as always, worth the trip.

The trip started out with a stop at one of the areas within the Grand Tetons that we haven't seen before - the Cattleman's Bridge:

This is a location where the area cattle ranchers built a wooden plank bridge to cross the Snake River with their herds in 1950. The bridge is no longer there as it was not maintained and many years of flooding has all but removed any remaining sign.

As we returned to the main road north to Yellowstone, Josie yelled out that there was a bear running across the field to our right. Sure enough, there was a huge grizzly bear trotting across the field to the area where we previously spent several hours searching for bears:

 It's ironic that our first sighting of a bear this year would be so close to the area we searched on several other occasions. It just goes to show that timing is everything, and you just need to be at the right place at the right time.

As we proceeded north, we stopped again at a location that we haven't seen before - the Leeks Marina - which is also the location where our RV Park managers, Lynn and Wayne, kept their boat for the summer. We were shocked to see how low the lake (Jackson Lake) had become by this time of the year. Jackson Lake is also a reservoir and the water is released into the Snake River. Below is a shot of the Marina:

We spotted our first herd of many bison as we headed north through Yellowstone:

One of our favorite areas in the park is the Canyon area where the Upper and Lower Falls are along with the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Here are some shots of those stops, beginning with the Lower Falls:

This is the area where the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone lies, and here are a couple photos for that area:

There is an area in Yellowstone where we have visited only once before - the Lamar Valley - which is the road from the Northeastern entrance to the park. We ran into several areas during the day - one of which is shown below - where there still was evidence of the snow that fell the day before - on Wednesday. We had folks coming into our lodge on Wednesday evening that told us they drove through a snow storm while coming through Yellowstone to Jackson:

As we approached the Lamar Valley area, we ran into some road construction which delayed us a bit, but allowed us to see and photograph these sheep that were along the side of the road:

That's the first time we have seen sheep in Yellowstone.

We turned around about halfway through the Lamar Valley because we wanted to try to get back to the Grand Tetons in time to capture the sunset behind the mountains. The return trip took us through the same area we drove on the trip north, but we spotted more wildlife which is the standard for trips through Yellowstone. There was a huge bison grazing along the side of the road:

and these other bison sightings we had along the way:

There was another stop we made at an area we have passed by on many occasions but never took the time to check. It is the Mud Volcano which had the Dragon's Mouth Spring as part of the stop:

We didn't spend a lot of time here as we wanted to reach the Tetons by sunset. There was another spotting of wildlife - this time a cow elk - that was close to the highway:

Finally, as we entered the Tetons just as the sun was setting, we spotted this herd of Pronghorn:

Our return to the Tetons was maybe a little bit late as the sun was setting behind the mountains:

The best location for photos would be the Teton Point turnout, and we captured this shot as we arrived there at about 7:35 - about 15 minutes past the prime time:

What a great trip and what a great day. We will never get tired of traveling through these beautiful areas of our country. To have it end at 8 PM with this shot of a Harvest Moon made it all the more special: