Rick got a new ski set-up for his birthday this year, and since there is NO SNOW here in Utah, we headed North to find some. After contemplating several spots, Jackson was our chosen destination. It was lovely!
Day 1: We arrived by 11AM and were pleased that the hotel let us check in early. We made a sandwich for lunch and headed out for a short ski before it got dark.
We headed over to Moose Wilson road into Grand Teton National Park (the annual National Park pass has served us well this year!). With no new snow for several days, the main trail was pretty torn up, but once we got off on a side trail, it was wonderful. We skied to Phelps Lake and had the trail almost to ourselves. The temps were below freezing, but with the air perfectly still, we were unzipping our coats and taking off our scarves once we got moving.
Some of it was pretty steep, but we managed. I admit, I'm very out of shape, so after a couple of hours of skiing, I was ready to be done.
Day 2: We headed up to Colter Bay. It was completely frozen and we enjoyed skiing across the snow covered ice. We left the ice and skied around one of the peninsulas for a bit, but came back across the water when we realized we were heading in the opposite direction as the trail we had planned. (Also, we had to ditch two other skiers who were following our trail. Hello? We are the only ones out in this huge area- go a different direction! Can you tell I like the solitude of xc skiing? :) ) We ended by finding a trail on the shore and skiing around the back of the lodge to the car.
Self portrait: us, Colter Bay, Tetons, my finger.
Skiing across the bay.
Tetons across the frozen bay. Breathtaking. The snow was sparkling in the sunlight and my hilarious hubby said, "Look, the ground is made of vampire skin."
On our drive back we had to stop and snap a couple of photos of the sunset.
Day 3: Since the town shops closed early evening, we spent Saturday morning walking around town. The last time we were in Jackson was just before we got engaged. That trip was when we both knew we'd get married and started making plans. It was fun to go back into the jewelry stores where we had looked at rings. We also enjoyed some art galleries. Neither of us are really into Western Art, which is typical of the Jackson galleries, but we fell in love with these guys.
Tim Cotterill is known as the Frogman. He makes bronze frogs that come in various sizes, colors, and styles. We decided we'd love to start a collection. This guy would be our first piece.
After another pb&j in the hotel for lunch, we headed out to ski. With our late start and the longest ski planned, we were a little concerned about time and light.
We skied to Jenny Lake, which was our favorite ski of the trip. The trail was pretty flat and, again, once we were off the main trail, the snow was great.
Over the river and through the woods.
Sorry for the bad photo. I just wanted to show that the snow was deep! Rick is in to his thigh and not touching the ground. Nice to know that there is snow somewhere.
Rick with Tetons in background. That little cloud stuck around the peak all day.
This day turned out to be more of an adventure than we planned. For part of the route we skied on the frozen river- at least we thought it was frozen. We could see some water on the ice up ahead so we decided to move onto the shoreline. Just as I was about to side-step up the bank, my ski fell through the ice. Because it was so cold outside, the water immediately froze around my ski when I pulled it out. (Yay for waterproof boots so my feet didn't get wet.) It took us a while to get all the ice off so I could ski again. Brrrr.
Darkness fell about halfway back to the car. It turned out to be perfect as the full moon came out early and bright. It was a beautiful ski back with the snow glistening in the moonlight. Rather romantic.
Sunday we went to church then headed home. We stopped in Randolf to have dinner with Aaron and Crystalyn and to see the new baby, Olivia. I love old friends! It was so fun to catch up and see their cute family.
I can't think of anything I'd change about the weekend. It was perfect!
1 comment:
Love it! What a great tradition. Maybe . . .
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