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:

Beat Goes On

The beat goes on as we sold out early again last night. We definitely did not have the number of sell-outs last year, this late in the season. There wasn't the weather to blame for the early sellout yesterday although it did get very cold. The low last night was 30 degrees and it hasn't been his cold since the morning of June 15 when it went down to 31. We brought our plants in from outside when we got home from work at 11 PM last night.

There was a program at work where folks were invited to bring in clothing for aide to the victims of the flooding in the Denver area. We had a huge participation and there were plastic bags everywhere in our meeting rooms. We sorted out our own clothes yesterday morning and brought in 5 plastic bags full off clothing that no longer fit us and we were going to donate to the Goodwill location in AZ. This was an excellent cause, and we are delighted that we could be part of this program.

It will be clear today and still cool as we plan to leave for Yellowstone. We had hoped to leave by 8 AM, but as it is already after 8, we will miss that target. After talking about what we planned to take along on our trip to eat, we saved a trip to the grocery store by settling on food we already have. There are fruit and healthy "munchies" that should satisfy our cravings today. We need to be careful about eating any junk food which we don't keep around the rig anymore.

Our next to last weekend starts today and we are beginning to wind down on the planned outings. Today is one that we have discussed for several weeks and will certainly be our final visit to Yellowstone for the year. It should be fun, so were off to see the sights in Yellowstone...

Not Over Yet

We got the grass mowed yesterday for - maybe - the last time. Just as we were finishing up the mowing, the rain came. We had the most severe thunderstorms yesterday afternoon that we have had all season. There were times when we had hail and rain so heavy it caused temporary flooding in the parking areas. Once again today there is a threat of more thunderstorms. No matter how much rain we get though, it is nothing in comparison to the amount that was received in the Denver area. That's OK as long as it is all gone by tomorrow when we plan to go to Yellowstone for our final visit this season.

Just when we think we are over the busy season we sell out again. The weather probably contributed to our selling out all the rooms last night before 8 PM. There were two buses that came in plus a third bus that was a stay-over from the night before. The most significant outcome from last night was confirmation - from our manager, Judy - that we are invited back for another year in 2014. She indicated we were her first choice for next year, so we plan to return unless something comes up between now and then that we just can't ignore. Right now, this is our choice.

There are a few items that we need to get for our trip to Yellowstone tomorrow, so I guess a visit to the grocery store is in order for this morning. We like to take along food for a picnic lunch on these trips and, of course, some healthy snacking food. As this will be our final trip to Yellowstone for the year, we will be gone the entire day. Hopefully, we'll have some nice photos of wildlife to show on Friday...

Cruise Control

Josie did some laundry yesterday morning and we considered cutting the grass for possibly the last time, but did not. With all the rain we have had the last week, the grass was still wet and would have been a problem mowing with wet clumps created by the wet grass. That is a task we have on the agenda for today.

We are about to set our time at work on cruise control. The last super busy night should have been yesterday with the arrival of 3 more buses, making a total of 4 in-house for the first time this year. We had lots of walk-ins last night and we only had a few rooms left to sell. From now until the final weekend in September, it should be slow, and we will see fewer buses.

We have most of October all planned with our travel to Lake Pleasant beginning on the 2nd and our flights to Chicago after we arrive there. Josie will be in contact with the General Manager at Phoenix Flower Shops to inform him of our schedule and offer her services for (full) part-time work for the winter. This was a commitment she made to him before we left in May of this year. We are on the lookout for other possibilities, but for now, nothing else is in the works except for maybe another year working the spring training games. Should we decide to re-visit that opportunity, it would most likely be at the Peoria Stadium instead of the Surprise Stadium where we worked this last spring. The trip to work from Lake Pleasant would be much easier with that change. Throw in some fun trips to familiar places and visits with family, and it looks like a great winter season ahead...

All Reservations Complete

The most important task yesterday was to finalize the last reservation required for our trip which begins on October 2. We will stay at the same location we stayed last year in Provo, UT, at the Utah Lake State Park on site number A010 as seen in the photo. This year, we don't have the Jeep to park in the space, so we are able to take a smaller space. The price increased $5 though, from $20 to $25 for the night. Since it is only for one night, it isn't too important where we stay except it must be convenient to the Interstate (I-15) we travel through Utah. You may recall that on last year's trip, we drove around Provo and took pictures of the Mormon Temple there. This year, since we don't have the Jeep, we will stay hitched in the site and just hang out at the campground.

Our fingers are crossed that the weather forecast holds through this week. We plan to take a trip through Yellowstone on Thursday which will be our final visit there for this season. We keep hearing from folks about grizzly bear sightings and that is the only animal we haven't seen yet this season. Timing is everything when traveling through the parks and we just haven't been at the right place at the right time to spot these creatures. Of course, we have seen lots of Moose which some people would be happy to see.

There are eleven days left to work at the lodge. It has reached the point where we are counting the days and almost the hours. Four months of working at the same location is about all we want. We are always anxious to move on, even though we love the area and the job...

Sold Out Again

We had another sellout at the lodge yesterday. There were no rooms available in most of Jackson last night and we turned away people for the next to last time this season. It was also a sellout for the RV Park for the last time this season. The reservations for the next 12 days leave about 40 rooms for us to sell each night, and that just won't happen with the diminishing tourists. There is only one more weekend - the last of the month - that we expect to sell out the lodge and then it will be over for another year. I'll give an analysis of the year as we approach the final bell for the 2013 season.

There is a rug company - Skyhawk Rugs - that comes to the lodge several times a year. They set up a display on our front lawn and sell beautiful rugs with a western theme. They had their final show this weekend and last night we popped for one of their nice area rugs that has a rodeo cowboy on it that will go perfectly in our living area. We have been discussing the possibility of getting an area rug for our living room area for a long time. The one we purchased has to shipped from their warehouse in Albuquerque, NM ( special size) and we don't expect to receive it until the final week we are here. We hope it doesn't get delayed as it would be difficult to have it delivered any other place. We'll take pictures of this beautiful rug when it arrives.

Finally, we are seeing a forecast that has sunny skies and no chance for rain on Thursday and Friday this week. We will definitely take advantage of those nice days this week. We are getting tired of the rain that arrives almost daily in the afternoons. It could be worse though, the folks in the Boulder, CO area are really getting more than their share of the rain...