It’s about eighty
miles from here to Jackson Hole ,
Wyoming . Usually in the winter this trip takes a
little longer than the usual hour and a half because of snow over Teton Pass ,
elevation, 8,431 ft (2,570 m). But when
we went a week ago the snow was late in coming.
DH and I had
been talkin’ ‘bout Jackson
for a while. We needed a break from the same ‘ol so we got in my Subaru and
headed for Wyoming .
Accommodations
are reasonable there in late November since it’s between tourist season and ski
season. But this also means there’s not a lot going on.
But they were
lighting the Christmas lights that night so we gathered with the crowd waiting
for the arrival of Santa, the countdown and the official throwing of the switch
to light up the town square.
The antler
arches which decorate the four corners of the square are the iconic symbol of
the town.
Each arch is made out of thousands of pounds of elk antlers collected by boy scouts from the Elk Refuge.
Bull elk shed their antlers each spring so no animals were harmed in the making of the arches.
After the main
event DH and I wandered off to do a little window shopping in this town still
working to hold on to its image of the Old West.
Instead of
sidewalks, there are boardwalks. There
are also a lot of beards, boots and big dogs.
Speaking of
antlers, the stores have them. Just in
case you want a chandelier, wine rack, gun rack, or hunting knife made out of
antlers, this is the place to shop. You
can also find lots of fancy fine furs with movie star prices. I don’t think those fashions can make the
same claim as the antlers about the safety of animals.
Here we see a
Jackson Hole Christmas tree decorated with cutesy moose and bear
ornaments. And, yes, that is a dead,
stuffed bobcat keeping guard.
Here is another piece of taxidermy; a big, bad, black wolf rug draped over a chair made out of rustic tree limbs.
Here is another piece of taxidermy; a big, bad, black wolf rug draped over a chair made out of rustic tree limbs.
Rocking chairs
for your hunting lodge made from chunks of twisted branches. The prices were up
there with oil paintings by master artists.
Frontier clothes
to make any city slicker look just like Davy Crockett.
Of course every
western tourist town has plenty of boots to take home.
Boots for the
ladies in all kinds of candy colors.
Even though
there wasn’t any snow, there were still plenty of snow boots to wear to the ski
hill.
Yes hats. I always like to take photos of the hats.
Some of these
straw hats already had that broken in, sweaty look so you won’t look like a
dude when you wear one. (Yeah, right.)
Head gear for
the skiers but not much in the way of color selection.
Since the only snow on the Jackson Hole side of the Tetons was thin and being made by machines we went to the west side to visit Grand Targhee resort. The visitors to these ski hills were there less to be seen and more for serious skiing. Plus the lift tickets were less.
Real powder snow
from heaven.
Since we visited
last week, a big storm dropped another foot or so of snow.
Hey, Byron,
the runs are deep and fast. Think about
that while you soak up the sun and sand in California .
What a mouth watering selection of items in those stores.
ReplyDeleteNow THAT'S a dog!
ReplyDeleteSomeday...someday I'll get there! It looks like beautiful skiing weather, with that beautiful blue sky and the crisp, white snow.
ReplyDeleteI LOVED the antler tree & the rocking chairs!
ReplyDeleteThat looked like another fun trip. Did you get to visit your favorite thrift store?
ReplyDelete800 woohoo congratulations my friend you have had me laughing at your humour and drooling over your water colours and admiring your many talents.So happy I found you or you found me who knows:)
ReplyDeleteNow I laughed I thought that dog was a horse oh yes it is early in the morning but wow I need coffee.
Lots of antlers and I love that old chair. Reminds me I need a hat. HUG B
I think we all love seeing the other side of the country. May we never have mountains so high or snow so deep! Other than that, wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI think the black wolf is a little too real looking! I loved the arches!!
ReplyDeleteLinda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
¸.•*¨*•♪♫♫♪Merry Christmas ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥
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The antler arches are so cool...and the hats are neat, too. Laughing at the pre-worn look. :) Is it like Calgary, Alberta where everyone is in a cowboy hat and you just have to look at the face beneath the brim to know who's authentic and who's tourist. :) Glad you didn't have to deal with crazy snow on the drive.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the satire of, I mean tour of, Jackson Hole. I've been there and it is right on. All the old-West-lodge stuff is so appealing until you realize it's so expensive you can't even look at it.
ReplyDeleteI was drawn to your post b/c I recently posted about the Johnny Cash song. And here I thought they were going to Jackson, Tennessee...