Great Night at the Bar-J

We watched the clock most of the day yesterday to get through our "Friday" of the work week. There was a presentation - as there is every Tuesday at the Visitor Center - of birds that are common in the Jackson Hole area. These shots were taken during one of our breaks and shows a couple of the birds that were there:

These presentations are well attended by the visitors and are very educational.

The main event yesterday was our dinner and show scheduled with our visiting friends, Eileen and Ed Ortagus from Florida. They have never been to the Bar-J Chuckwagon and we wanted to share one of our favorite activities in Jackson. We knew they would enjoy the dinner and show and that is exactly the way it turned out.

We picked them up at their camp-site at 3:15 (following our workday) in order to arrive at the Bar-J early enough to get in front of the line for when the doors opened at 5:30. That is a necessary step to secure the best seating for the dinner and show. This is a shot of us sitting on the bench in the waiting area:

The time went very fast as we enjoyed conversation with all the folks that were sitting around us waiting for the opening.

We went through the process of checking-in, getting our table assignment (B2, up front), and ordered our meals. The next step was to place something at our table to reserved our place while we walked around the grounds to see the Bar-J amenities. Our jackets were placed at our table to reserve our spot. The time spent before the meal was occupied with conversation and a chance to get a couple other photos:

This one of the two ladies:

and this one of the cook grilling the steaks for the night:

The cook provided samples of the steaks to all onlookers.

These shots are of our group at the table:

And of the performance:

It was a typical, fantastic performance by the group and our friends thoroughly enjoyed the evening. They are driving to Yellowstone today to spend the day and we plan to get together again before they leave the area on Sunday....

Bar-J Chuckwagon

It was so cold in the morning (35) that we cancelled our scheduled bike ride. It only went to 64 as a high yesterday, so it was a stay-home-and-keep-warm day. Our scheduled event for the evening - the Bar-J Chuckwagon and Western Show - was scheduled for the night, so we were ready to go and headed out at 4:30 for the 15 minute drive to Wilson, near the Teton Village. There was a clear view of the mountains as we crossed the Snake River south of Jackson:

It was a short time before we arrived at the entrance to the Bar-J:

The last time we came here in 2012, we arrived at just about 5 PM and were among the first to arrive before the gates opened at 5:30. This year, we arrived earlier - at around 4:50 - and were shocked to see the number of folks ahead of us waiting for the opening:

All of the seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis, so we ended up getting assigned seats on the fourth row of tables. They were still pretty good seats to watch the show. We walked to our table to place our jackets on the seats we chose at our table and then walked around for a bit in the gift shops outside the stage area. These two shots are of the entrance into the Chuckwagon area:

and of the crowd inside just before the dinner started at 6:30:

The room was filled to capacity.

Josie and I had a steak dinner with baked beans, baked potato, apple sauce, biscuits and lemonade and enjoyed the meal. The show did not disappoint:

With our comp tickets, the night only cost us $20 as we upgraded the meal from BBQ Beef to steak. It is a must-do activity for anybody visiting this area as the group has been doing this show for 36 years and have become synonomous with Jackson Hole entertainment. They perform seven nights a week from Memorial Day to the last day in September each year.

It is another chilly morning this morning so we decoded to make a much needed trip to Idaho Falls to Sams Club to restock our meats and fish plus other staples, and to get haircuts at the Walmart in town. We have one more weekend in June to complete our June comp activities, so we are hoping for a nice weekend next week...