Graceland: Weekend in Jackson

Monday, September 15, 2008

Weekend in Jackson

What a great weekend. Cynthia invited us to stay with her in a condo someone had offered her for the week. It was so nice to get away. The weather was perfect- was a little chilly which is great for hiking. We were afraid it would rain, but we had blue sky the whole time. I hauled my camera around but didn't take many photos. Luckily Rick had his iphone and picked up my slack. Here's a sampling...

This is just before our first hike outside of the park. That is Jackson in the background.

This is hike #1 on Friday

Saturday we did a hike/walk from String Lake to Bear Paw Lake. This is us by Leigh Lake.

As we were hiking we heard something moving in the bushes-- turned out to be a big bear! You can see is on the bottom left coming out of the woods.

It walked up the trail we had just come down.

It was exciting and a little scary!

Here we are Saturday afternoon in front of Jenny Lake just before leaving for home.

Good times!!!

10 comments:

Heidi P said...: Those pics are so cute of you two. Looks like perfect hiking weather.

And about the bear, I think 1% exciting, and 99% scary. Glad you got a pic, and you are still alive. :)

Are you really still up?!; September 15, 2008 at 11:04 PM
Afton said...: When you said you heard something in the woods, I was totally thinking, "Holy Crap it's Bigfoot!!!" So glad it was just a bear. (And even though you already mentioned the bear to me earlier, I was still kind of surprised) Very cool. Even better that it was a black bear and not grizzly, or worse, Polar because that would be both dangerous and sad...global warming sucks.

Second, love the phone self- photography by Rick. Nice job. My cell phone is not a fancy camera type. In fact, it's pretty low tech...like it types in pencil! (kidding) Maybe with a fancy phone it's easy to take great pictures, but it seems like it could be challenging, so good job on the snappy pics. They look great.; September 15, 2008 at 11:08 PM
Betty Grace said...: Ah man- Big Foot would have been SO COOL! The truth is out there!!!; September 16, 2008 at 7:59 AM
abi said...: a little scary? a LOT scary! We saw a SLEEPING bear from the side of the road while we were in our CAR at Yellowstone. That was even scary. Love the pictures. Makes me miss the mountains.; September 16, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Scully said...: Looks like it was gorgeous! And look how cute you guys are together!; September 16, 2008 at 10:32 AM
Jill said...: So pretty!..and yes, a little scary too! I am glad you have someone to go on adventures with...well, actually you have always had SOMEONE because you've always gone on adventures, but this is the kind of someone you can kiss and cuddle with! lol; September 16, 2008 at 2:31 PM
Mindy said...: I love Jackson. I worked there at the Lodge for two summers during college. Thankfully, I never ran into a bear. If I would have been with you on that hike I would either still be rocking on the ground in the fetal position or I would have pushed you both down and ran for my life! I really hate bears you know...seriously, I dream about them coming to get me at the grocery store and I have to jump up on the isles and throw canned goods at them to get them to leave. The good thing about Jackson and Yellowstone bears are that they tend to be used to the sites and smells of tourists and are not suprised by them enough to come and attack you out of fear...at least thats what they told me...
Did you make it up to Jackson Lake Lodge or Coulter Bay?; September 16, 2008 at 10:55 PM
Chardell said...: You two are a very nice looking couple. What a nice trip. I would love to see a bear. As long as my kids were safe at home.; September 17, 2008 at 11:28 AM
Darren Hintze said...: I have ALWAYS wanted to see a bear in the wild! Very cool!

Great pics! Looks like a fun trip!; September 20, 2008 at 7:26 AM
Heather said...: Betsy...you are so pretty!; September 21, 2008 at 12:34 PM

My Movie Reviews

Quiet Earth. B-. Another SciFi recommended by Netflix, although this one was actually interesting and enjoyable. A guy wakes up and everyone is gone. Made in New Zealand, it claims to be one of the top ten movies in the US in the year it came out (sometime in the 1970s). After it was over, we agreed that it was good, but the ending was a little confusing, so we watched the ending again with the directors comments. Lame. Apparently the whole movie was supposed to have an anti-nuclear message and the director takes credit for his movie making New Zealand nuclear free. So.... pretend you don't know that and enjoy the movie.
Sunshine. C-. Netflix. That's it. We are not trusting Netflix's rating of sci-fi movies again. The sun is dying so a crew is going with a nuclear missle to "re-start" it. I kept hoping aliens would show up or at least something would happen to draw me in. A lot of things almost happened, but when they did, it did not make much sense.
Warm Bodies. B. Red Box. I was surprised by this movie. I'm a fan of a good zombie flick, but when I heard about the plot, it seemed a bit too much. It turned out to be very entertaining. I'd rate it pretty high on the must see zombie film list and very high on the cheesy teenage romance film list.
Wolverine. B. I'm a fan of the X-Men movies. I'm also a fan of Hugh Jackman. It was hard to go wrong going in with those two biases. The fighting sequences were too long, but that was expected. If you've like the X-Men movies, you should like this one too.
The East. B. I forget how much I love the indie flicks at the Broadway. This also had an environmentalist-based plot, but was written well and I liked how it ended. A women goes under cover in an environmental terrorist group. It goes with the obvious plot of her having sympathies for members of the group and trying to balance that with her personal beliefs. Worth seeing.
World War Z. B. I was in the middle of the book and didn't want to see the movie until I finish, but I couldn't help it and saw it opening weekend. Not a big deal as they are very different. This is a different kind of zombie movie. While most are horror flicks, this was more of a suspense movie. They cut out the gratutious gore associated with most zombie movies and gave it more of a plot. Fun for zombie fans and non-zombie fans.
Silent Running. D. Netflix. I have no idea why this is rated so well on Netflix. Sci-fi movie made in the sixties with blatant environmental message. Forests have died on the earth so they are growing them in a space station orbiting Saturn. Earth decides to abandon the project and for some reason that means they have to blow up the forests. One man understands the impact of losing all our forests so he kills everyone. My description made it seem way better than it is. At one point, he programs his robot helpers to play cards and you watch them play cards for about 10 minutes. Skip this one!

My Book Reviews

The Rent Collector. B. I loved this book while I was reading it. Then the author's comments on the back disappointed me. It was fiction! I was so inspired by the "true" story of this woman living at the dump in Cambodia and learning to read. The whole way through I thought it was true. I was mad when it wasn't. Although toward the end, it started getitng a little unbelievable. It was based on real people which bothers me wondering how much is true and how much is fiction. I still recommend the book, but know what you're getting into.
Divergent. B+. Fun, quick read. YA fiction. Your basic strong female in post-apocolypic world fighting to make change. Even though the story's been told over and over, this one was very engaging. I can't wait to read the next in the series!
World War Z. B+. For staters, this is very different from the movie. It's 10 years after we won the zombie war. The book is a series of interviews with survivors. I was hesitant about the way it was written and that I wouldn't stay involved without a central character. However, the book created a very real world. So much so that when I was getting off the freeway one morning and saw some homeless people waking up under a bridge, for just second, I thought they were zombies. I also wanted to bring it up in conversation. Like when someone was talking about North Korea, I wanted to say, "Did you hear how they handled the Zombie Apocalypse?' It was a fun book. I've never read a zombie book before and I may never again, but I'm glad I read this one. It also was welcome to read a book that isn't a strong female character overcoming incredible odds. I'm seriously weary of that plot line.
Waiting to be Heard. B+. I've followed the Amanda Knox case for several years. I thought, since I knew most details of the case, this might be boring. I was surprised at how engaging and well written it was. She is a quirky girl and, while the complete lack of physical evidence makes me sure she is innocent, I can see why people think she is hiding something. The book was haunting to think the someone who doesn't understand a culture coupled with a corrupt prosecutor could put an innocent person in jail for years.
Girl Gone. C-. Maybe it was called Gone Girl. I don't remember. Book club book. I've never gotten into mysteries. This one took a while to get into, then I couldn't put it down, then it ended and I wished I never picked it up. Ridiculous ending.
The Kitchen House. B-. I have no idea how to rate this book. It was slow to start. Once things started to happen (murder), I found myself sucked in and not wanting to put it down; however, once I did put it down, I didn't look forward to picking it up again. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's similar to a bunch of other books I've read. I'm just getting weary of the genre and need to mix it up a little. Overall, an interesting read. The story of a young white girl who is indentured when her family dies on the boat from Ireland to America. Her relationship with her new family (the slaves whom she is sent to live and work with) and how her life is different from them because of the color of her skin.
The Happiness Project. D. I'm reviewing the book, but I'm not going to finish it. I knew this wasn't my favorite genre, but it was the book club pick this month so I thought I'd give it a chance. I didn't see the point of reading someone's goals. I sometimes feel like these "self-help" books are an excuse for people to feel like they are doing something to be happier, when really they are an excuse to avoid working on yourself by living through someone else's experience. Instead of reading the book, how about spend that time working on your own "happiness project". As I read, I kept thinking it should have been a workbook for readers to complete their own project while reading hers. I'll be interested to hear how others in book club liked it.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Weekend in Jackson

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