Wild Wild West Vacation Part 5

And then it was the last full day of vacation.  The next 2 days would be consumed with travel as we drove back to SLC and then flew home the following day.  This was the final day of vacation shenanigans. 

Just to be sure we had gotten what we paid for in the weather department......

 

It snowed.  A lot. 

 Sadly, this was also the day we decided to take family pictures.  Not the best choice we made while on vacation.  Oh well! 

These pictures very clearly summarize our vacation so there is that I suppose.  Snow, snow, and more snow!  It was great to see especially considering I've seen all of 1 inch or so in North Carolina this year.

 

We also took a group visit to see our mountain goat friends again since not everyone had been on the first outing. 

Nephew snowboarded perfected his snowboarding skills while the rest of us had lunch in town at Cadillac Grille.  Bison burgers all around.  If you are ever in town and want a good bison burger this is the place to go.  It was yummy!

After lunch, we burned off a few calories doing some last minute shopping in the best tourist fashion possible before heading back to watch the newest professional snowboarder come down the slopes for a bit.

Do you see all that snow?  It was snowing!  Crazy right?

At this point, it was nearing time for figuring out dinner and then packing up to head out the next morning for our drive back to SLC.

So long vacation.  Until next time!

Wild Wild West Vacation Part 4

The next day it was finally time for the rest of our group to hit the slopes.  Again, the rest of our group.  Not I, said the one who gets scared when going downhill with no brakes.  I'm just here for the pictures.  Don't mind me.

We all packed up as group to head over to the ski resort.  It was just around the corner from our house.  Definitely 5 miles or less. 

There are no photos on my computer of the weather that day but it was snowing.  Hard.  Even if I enjoyed skiing, I'm not sure I would have done it in these conditions.  This was the day where it wasn't sunny and it wasn't just snowing.  It was actually the nastiest weather day we faced.  At any point during the day, it was raining, sleeting, and/or snowing.  It was actually kind of yucky but hey whatever works right?

Once at the resort, we got everyone who was skiing setup with their rentals then did lunch as a group.  Once we were done eating they all headed up to the top of the mountain on the gondolas.

I stayed in the lodge and watched L nap while having a couple of beers.  I'm no fool.  The wind was blowing and the visibility was near zero.  There was no way I was getting in a box and riding up to 10,000 feet especially knowing full well there was no way I was coming down with any pictures worth having.

So I waited.  Drank beer. L napped.  It was actually pretty glorious.

Upon their return, we parted ways with the guys.  They were off to ski/snowboard and the girls were off to town to shop.

We visited every.single.store in the town along with every coffee shop we could find. 

Tourists.  That was us.

Finally, it was time to head back to our condo to meet up with the guys and discuss dinner plans. 

Just before the turn off to get on the road that led to our condo, some other tourists stopped their car abruptly.  After saying a few choice words, I realized they must have spotted some wildlife. 

I looked off to the right and spotted this guy!  Bullwinkle!

My wildlife mission for the trip was almost complete.  Now I just needed to locate a bison and I'd be all set to head back home.

 We enjoyed a dinner of leftovers along with some relaxing before heading to bed. 

One more day in Jackson Hole to come and then it would be time to start our journey back home.

Wild Wild West Vacation Part 3

In the wee hours of the next morning, we all awoke.  The rest of the group, minus myself and the 2 youngest girls, were headed out to snowmobile through Yellowstone National Park.

I've done it and we had a toddler in tow so I made the choice to stay behind with her and our niece.

The van was scheduled to pick them up at 6:15.  We were all awake.  All of us.  The entire house.

As soon as they left, I looked at my phone to see what time it was....

They won't be home for 12 more hours and I'm responsible for 2 kids.  Ruh roh.

Soooo, we had breakfast, picked up a bit, and got dressed to walk to the coffee shop.

I made both kids walk uphill both ways the quarter mile or so to the coffee shop in the snow.  Well, one rode in the stroller while the other walked.  Either way, I needed coffee so I could map out a plan of attack to get through this day.

Upon our return, I still didn't have a plan of attack.  Honestly, I was kind of tired because we had been on the move since Friday essentially so the thought of packing them up to go anywhere seemed a bit daunting.

While pondering this dilemma, I decided to take some photos from our living room.  This was our view each day from our condo.

Truthfully, we only had 3 sunny days the whole trip.  The good news is they could not have been better time to fit our needs.  The drive from SLC to JH, the day everyone snowmobiled, and the day we drove back to SLC from JH all looked like this.  Every other day it snowed all day long.

It was all beautiful whether it was snowing or sunny.  There was only one day that was kind of iffy.  We were greeted by a very mercurial Mother Nature one day which included rain, snow, and sleet with changes from one type to the other with little to no notice.

This condo was just perfect for our needs.  The way it was setup worked wonderfully for our group.  Our little family stayed in the master downstairs while the rest of our group had the 2 bedrooms upstairs.  We hung out in the living area on the middle floor. 

At this point, I've been happily snapping away when I realize the kids are still in the living room looking at me like ummmm, lady what are we supposed to do while you take pictures?

So outside we went.  It was only 8:15 at this point.  Crap.

We get outside and L decides she isn't really a fan of the cold white stuff. 

10 more hours.

We decided to walk around the neighborhood for a bit.  I think that lasted 5 minutes?  Once that commenced, the older one decided she was having a sock malfunction and wanted to sit down and take her shoe off to fix it.  Having been down that road with her brother at another time and place in my life I decided it was time to go back inside.

I surrender. 

Once back inside, I decided we needed to regroup.  L needed a nap (as did I) and our niece is too old for naps.

Sooo, I did what any genius adult would do....

I put L in bed and set our niece up in her bed with my laptop, some movies, and as many pretzels as she could eat.

The rules were we will all "rest" in our own space quietly until L wakes up.

Thankfully, she slept 3 hours.  In that 3 hours, I was able to regroup considerably.

Once she woke up, we did lunch and then packed up to go exploring. 

We were headed to the Elk Refuge again. This time we were going to look for moose and bison instead of gazing at the elk.

We found deer.  This was in a neighborhood on the way to the Elk Refuge.  There were 3 of them just standing in someone's front yard.  It kind of felt like I was at home.

We found mountain goats.

And pretty scenery.

No moose or bison.  It was getting close to sunset, so we headed back after a quick stop at McD's for ice cream to reward ourselves for making it through the day.

Not long after we returned so did the rest of our group.  We chowed down on baked spaghetti and garlic bread before crashing for the evening.

Wild Wild West Vacation Part 2

For our first full day in JH, we decided to play tourist as much as possible since we had a a lot of plans in the days following such as snowmobiling, skiing, etc that didn't lend themselves well to group trips into town.

First stop was the National Elk Refuge.  It did not disappoint. 

 Look at those antlers!  Each time I go through these pictures again, it makes me wonder what it feels like to carry around a set of antlers like that each day.  Amazing!

 One of the elk eating vegetation off the bank of the river.  We actually watched him get up out of the snow and wade through the river to get bank.  The sleigh driver told us why their legs do not actually get cold in the frigid waters but I was too busy watching this spectacle unfold.

 Some of the lead horses.  They use a different team each day in order to make sure each team is adequately rested.

 More of the lead horses.

 Another elk.  Again, the antlers.

 L was not impressed.  She took a nap while on the sleigh.  It was snowing and a balmy 15 degrees.  This kid likes to sleep and will go to sleep wherever she is once the mood strikes her.

 The RESS family with one of the lead horses from our sleigh.

 Our little family with the lead horses from our sleigh.

A Trumpet Swan swimming in the river with an elk in the background.

After we had completed the sleigh ride, we decided it was time for lunch so we headed over to Snake River Brewery.  The food we enjoyed was your typical restaurant fare.  Pizza and chicken nuggets with fries for the kids and the rest of us had burgers, soup/salad, and nachos.

The beer though......

I drank their beer all week.  My favorite was actually Pako's Eye-P-A.  It may have been the best beer I've ever personally tasted in my entire life.  It was citrusy yet still a beer.  Yum! 

Once that was done, I'm pretty sure we visited the grocery store and the AT&T store since someone who will remained anonymous left their phone on the plane (ahem..husband).

Then it was back to the house for dinner and more relaxing because the majority of the group had a big day of snowmobiling schedule for early the next morning.

Wild Wild West Vacation Part 1

We are back!  Our family, along with some extended family, took off out west on an 8 day long journey.  It was definitely a trip we will remember for a long time because of the beautiful scenery we saw along the way.

Our departing flights left RDU at 6:15 am on Saturday.  That made for an early wake up call to make sure we were prepared for the 4 am shuttle ride to the airport.

I think I got up at 2:30 am after finally falling asleep around 10 pm.  Ouch.

We all arrived at the airport on time and got checked in successfully.  Score!  We then waited to board.  Coffee and breakfast for all while we waited.  Thank goodness for Starbucks opening at 4:30 am! 

Our flight from RDU  took us to DFW, where we had a 3 hour layover before continuing on to SLC.  Once in SLC, we would be driving 5 hours to Jackson Hole, Wyoming after a 1 night stay in  Park City, UT.

Crazy right?  Totally worth it.

Our flights went off without a hitch.  4 adults and 3 kids ranging from 16 months to 12 years old.  They were all very well behaved, especially considering how long of a day it would be for all of us.  When it was all said and done, we arrived at our Park City hotel for the night after being up and on the move for 12+ hours.  It was a lot for the adults but the kids....they rocked it!

Nonetheless, we made all of our flights on time and arrived in SLC just in time for the beginning of a massive snowstorm to surprise the city with blankets of snow.  When I say just in time, I mean it was raining when we arrived and snowing as we pulled the rental car out of the parking garage.  Mother Nature flipped a switch.  Driving up the mountain to Park City was one the 2 most challenging parts of our trip.  Incidentally, the other also occurred in Park City on way back.  More on that later.

Finally, we arrived at our hotel where we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then hung out for the night before setting out on the drive to JH the next morning.

The next morning we all got up, grabbed breakfast, and got ready.

Time to drive!

Sunrise over Park City as we were loading up to begin our drive.

These were just so gorgeous in the morning sunlight.  They look like corn dogs to me :)

This appears to be a church next door to the hotel.  Again, I just thought it was pretty.

Snow covered mountains as we left town. 

We spent some time looking at these on the way back as we sat on the closed highway (more on that later) and now that I think about it, I'm thinking all of the snow was gone.

More pretty snow.  I just love how it hasn't been touched.  Mother Nature at her finest.

A frozen lake.  You see that crack right at the bottom edge of the picture?  On the way back through Park City, there were people sitting out on this lake fishing.  I'm assuming they were crazy because that just has BAD IDEA written all over it.

This was where we were headed if we had decided to do the whole cross country drive like my husband suggested.  Again, BAD IDEA.

One of my favorite images from the entire trip.  This will be one of the ones that gets framed.

 Daniel, WY.  Population = 89.

The entrance to Grand Teton National Park.  I'd say this section of the drive was the most beautiful.  There was a river that wound through a lot of the parts we drove though that just made the scenery amazing!

 You can kind of see where the snow was sliding a bit on the bottom edge of this one, through the center of the photo.  We also drove through another section of GTNP where they had cleared the road after the snow had slid down making the road impassable.

Breathtaking.

 Snow clouds over the mountains.

Finally, in our neighborhood.  This is how tall the snow banks are from where they have to clear the roadway each day.

And finally, time to burn off some energy and decompress from 2 days of travel!