Over the Pass

With the rain still in the area, we couldn't take a chance on getting caught while on a hike or a bike ride. In fact, it has been so cool that we probably wouldn't have done either of those anyway. So, we took a short drive to Victor, over the pass, into Idaho. Josie has been trying to locate a good source for yarn and that is one place we haven't checked. It is also the only place to buy lottery tickets within a short distance of Jackson. There were no yarn places in Victor, but it was a nice drive anyway.

Even with the rain in the area, the skies were clear enough to get a decent shot of Jackson from the summit:

The trees are beginning to show their fall colors and in about another week or so, we should have some nice pictures of the changing colors.

We also stopped at the grocery store to pick up some items on the way home and put some gas in the truck. It won't be long until we have to fill up the tanks and hit the road south to AZ. There are two more weeks to go and we are starting to think about organizing the interior of the fifth wheel for road travel. In over four months of being in the same location, there is a tendency to spread out and have a lot of loose items to pack away.

There is finally some sunshine in the long term forecast - for next Thursday and Friday - so we are hoping that the forecast is accurate. It will probably be our last weekend for trips locally, so we are looking forward to our next days off...

Moose

It was another cloudy and cool morning yesterday. We had rain again - .25 inches - and rather than waste a day off, we decided to take a drive to try and find a large moose that had been spotted in the southern part of the Teton National Park. We took the route through Teton Village to the west of Jackson which is mostly a gravel road through a heavily wooded area of the park in the southern-most portion.

Here is a shot of the Tetons, with the clouds hiding the peaks:

Our drive through Teton Village and along the Moose-Wilson road took us through the gravel areas and wooded sections, but there were also areas of clearing along swamps and creeks. We came across this particular area where cars were lined up along the side of the road - a sure sign that wildlife was present.

We parked along the side of the road and walked along a short path to this clearing, where we could see a bull moose in the distance:

 

Sure enough, it was a huge bull, and was probably the same bull we spotted a couple months ago while he was still in velvet:

He was in no hurry to go anywhere, so we waited around until he stood up and began moving around.

As soon as he stood, we could see that he was a trophy size bull and one of the largest we have seen anywhere:

He was obviously in this area to prepare scrapes to attract females for the mating season, which is taking place now. We caught several poses of him preparing these scrapes and have this one where he is beginning to "scrape" an area prior to urinating on the spot:

All males in the deer family - deer, elk and moose - perform this ritual at this time of the year.

We watched him for quite awhile before moving on. Just before leaving this area a small black bear was seen running through the bushes and across the road. Josie saw him and I just caught a glimpse, but neither of us could get close enough to get any pictures. Our search for bears continues without a picture this year.

Before heading home, we traveled on a road behind the barns on Mormon Row where we have seen lots of elk and bison. Sure enough, we spotted a small herd of bison in the meadow behind the barns:

 



 

It was a nice, short drive on a bad weather day. We are in the middle of another wet pattern and the forecast is for more rain today. We need to go to the grocery store today, so maybe we can combine that trip with another activity before we head back to work tomorrow...

Reservations Almost Complete

Our tickets to Chicago are purchased, reservations at the Bryce Canyon RV Park (Ruby's) are made, Thousand Trails reservations at Verde Valley are made, and we are almost done with the final details for our trip in a couple weeks. The only thing left to do is to decide where we will stay the first night out on October 2nd and make those reservations. It looks like we will be staying at the same location as we did last year on Utah Lake in Provo Utah, but haven't decided yet. I also made the reservation for an early arrival at Lake Pleasant. The site where we will stay for the winter is the same one we lived on for a year - site 183. The original site assignment was one along the same row, but almost at the end of the park. It would have been nice to try a different location, but we are satisfied with the location.

It has been a revival at work with the sold out conditions the last few nights. Just when it seemed like the season was winding down, we get people looking for rooms that we must turn away. Last night we were done with the check-ins earlier than usual. All the rooms were filled by 9 PM and we had nothing else to sell. It seems like we had the identical condition last year. With all the late season conventions and shows, it is the last gasp before the town clears out for the winter.

We would like to take a couple short trips through the Tetons and Yellowstone before we leave. The rain has been a constant threat again this week, and it rained again last night. The chances for rain over the next couple days - our days off - range from 40% to 60%. I'm trying to figure out what the difference is between "scattered" and "isolated" thunderstorms that have been forecast. Hmm.

The task of organizing the rig for our departure is also facing us. If it continues to rain, that chore will be completed sooner, rather than later...

Change in Travel Plans

The entire morning yesterday was spent evaluating the different options for travel when we leave here in early October. The original plan to drive to IL, visit Patty's family and drive to AZ for the winter was scraped. It was about half the cost for us to drive to AZ from here, set up in our space at Lake Pleasant and fly from Phoenix to Chicago. Instead of 3200 miles of travel, it amounts to around 850 for the new plan. We will still leave on the 2nd of October and will arrive in AZ on the 7th. There will be stops in Utah - probably the Provo area - and then at Bryce Canyon which is on the way. From there, we will take the route east of the Grand Canyon to Flagstaff and on to Camp Verde where we will spend a night at the Thousand Trails campground. Our tickets were purchased for the flight to Chicago on the 9th, returning on the 16th. We will check into the campground at Lake Pleasant about two weeks earlier than planned. Since we have already taken the proposed route from here to Patty's, we will not miss anything that we wanted to see along the way and we get to visit Bryce Canyon which we missed last year. The only thing we would miss is the trip to AZ from Patty's where we had planned to stop in Branson, MO and Dodge City, KS where we have never been. Maybe we can do those places next year, or sometime while traveling through those areas to some other place in the country.

We have been very busy at work with some special events that are in town for the final push before the slow season. There Is a high school rodeo and a medical convention in town that is taking all the rooms. There will be no rooms available anywhere in town for the next several days. It is tough to have to tell folks that are traveling to Jackson from faraway places - especially older people - that there are no rooms for them anywhere in town. The only chance for them is to stop at a hotel where a cancellation was received. Not only are rooms scarce, but they going for top dollar.

I need to make some final reservations for our trip to AZ - Campgrounds especially - and to call Lake Pleasant to make sure we can get our space a couple weeks earlier than planed. Our "Friday" is today and the countdown has reached two weeks remaining before the end of this second summer in the wonderful area of Jackson Hole, WY...

Trip Planning

It's that time of the season when we begin to think about the details for our next trip. There are only 3 weeks to go and we are planning to travel from here to Naperville to visit Patty and her family for a week or so in October. While figuring the distance from here to her home and then on to AZ for the winter, the total distance amounts to about 3200 miles of travel. The real challenge is to figure out the best route where we can conserve the most fuel - now at about $4 per gallon for diesel - and maximize the efficiency of the truck towing the fifth wheel. It looks like the southern route, through southern Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa is the flattest and most economical. The northern route, through northern Wyoming, South Dakota and Minnesota offers more sight seeing opportunities but is a lot more costly as a result of the many mountains we would have to cross. Another option is to drive straight to AZ and fly to Chicago for our visit. That is not the preferred solution, but is one that we will look at from an economical point of view. We love to travel with the fifth wheel, but we also need to look at expenses. At any rate, we will begin looking at those alternatives.

It is also that time of the season when we begin to think about a possible return to this location next year. It is our favorite location - so far - to spend summers, and that is why we have returned to this spot for a second year. Do we want to return for a third year? That's the big question, and one that we have time to answer. We will probably commit to returning next year, but will also look at other opportunities between now and next February or March to keep our options open. We love the area, but are a bit disappointed in some aspects of our experience this year. The staff at the lodge seems to be preoccupied with internal problems (?) this year and there are more conflicts among the work staff at the front desk this year. Not to mention that the overall experience with the guests hasn't been as enjoyable as last year. Time will tell.

We would like to get in a visit to Yellowstone before we leave, and possibly combine it with a visit to Cody to see our friends that are working there again his year. If we are going to put that trip together, we need to make that happen soon.  In some ways, it is a little sad to be at this point in the season, but in other ways, it is turning up the excitement level again...

Stretch Run

The lousy weather has resulted in our "hitch-itch" to worsen. We had rain again yesterday in the form of afternoon thunderstorms, and this morning there is a thick fog. We were busy at work and almost sold out for the second straight night this week. With about three weeks to go, we are about ready to move on. It doesn't matter where we are when we are forced to stay inside.

There was an interesting group that arrived at the lodge yesterday afternoon. There is a group of 12 motorcyclists that are riding from Anchorage, AK, to Argentina. They are taking 105 days for the trip and stopped in Jackson for one night. The entire trip is on their cycles except for one leg where they are scheduled to take a sailboat from Panama to Columbia. What a cool adventure.

It is the time in the season where we get almost as many walk-ins as we do reservations. That creates more work for us at the front desk as we need to gather the same information that is already in a reservation - phone number, address and credit card info. There also seems to be more "grumpy" guests this year. For the last two days, the first hour for us - between 3 PM and 4 PM when the "official" check-in begins - people are angry with us for not having their rooms ready when they arrive. There are signs all over the lobby - and on reservations for the people that have them - that check-in is at 4 PM. For some reason, they take out their frustration on us when they are forced to wait on housekeeping to ready their room. They don't understand that between check-out at 11 AM and check-in at 4 PM, the housekeeping crew has to clean and turn-around up to 170 rooms for the next night. It comes with the territory, I guess.

The fog doesn't seem to be lifting very fast outside and it is 44 degrees. Our heater is running for only about the third time since we arrived, and for the first time since May. The trees will be turning to their Fall colors in the next couple weeks, so we hope to get some pretty pictures of them on our days off...

Big Events This Weekend

We were sold out yesterday at the lodge and could have sold another 25 rooms or so if we had them available. It was the most unusual day of the season for us. Even though we had one bus - from Caravan - we had reservations from at least two other groups, plus the normal tourist reservations. There were a total of over 80 reservations from the big events - the LOTOJA (Logan to Jackson) bike race, and the HS Rodeo. Each year these events draw huge crowds to Jackson and you can't find a room anywhere. We feel sorry for all the folks we had to turn away last night, but it is another example of how you must make reservations in this town, no matter what time of the year.

The bike race was the same event last year where there was a fatality when a biker hit a bad spot on one of the Snake River bridges and was thrown off his bike over the side of the bridge to his death. The big difference, aside from the larger number of reservations, is that the arrivals were spread over the entire evening. We had people arriving right up until our quitting time at 11 PM. The normal flow is to have almost all of the reserved rooms filled by about 9 PM.

We had more rain yesterday and there seems to be no end to the isolated storms that are being forecast for almost every day of the week. It's cloudy again this morning, and there is another 30% chance for rain today. Last year we dealt with the fire just south of town at this time, and this year we have the wet weather to deal with. We could have used some of this rain last year to help douse the wildfires.

Our new phones are providing us with some fun distractions at work. We are learning the ins and outs of the features and are enjoying all the new functions and enhanced capabilities. The camera is super and may be the main source for pictures in the future. Below is one shot taken with the new phone of the lobby at the lodge:

It's nice to have such a good camera as part of the everyday phone.

We  will take a short drive to the post office this morning to mail our rebate forms for the phones. Then, it's back to work for day two of this week...