Day One - And a long one it has been

Well, the day we've been waiting for has finally arrived with a very rude 3:30 a.m. blast from my alarm clock.

After leaving the house at about 4:30, we arrived at Hartsfield in plenty of time for our 7:00 flight to Salt Lake City, where we transferred to a much smaller commuter jet for the last hour-long leg to the tiny Jackson Hole Airport. Our flying for the day finally came to an end when we touched down at 10:40 a.m. local time.

After retrieving our luggage, we loaded up our rental vehicle (a Suzuki XL7, which we love) and headed toward the town of Jackson to kill some time since the check-in for our cabin was not until 3:00.

A Small Explanation Of Jackson Hole and Jackson...

Jackson Hole refers to a 48 mile long, 16 mile wide valley or "hole" ringed by mountain ranges along Wyoming's western border. To confuse matters, Jackson Hole also refers to a very popular ski resort located in Jackson Hole (the valley) in Teton Village, where we are staying. The town of Jackson is the largest town in Jackson Hole (the valley). Understand??

Anyway...

Jackson is charming town of true wild west feel, with lots of great shopping and restaurants. Here is where time does not allow me to go into great detail, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as we had lunch on The Tavern deck overlooking the town square under a deep blue sky, with 75 degree temps and low humidity. Tammy and I indulged in a Pale Ale from a local favorite, Snake River Brewing, and were sufficiently relaxed as we picked a few groceries before heading to our accomodations 12 miles away.

We were very pleased to find that our cabin was everything we had hoped for and more. It is in a small community called Granite Ridge, which overlooks Teton Village. A 10 minute walk down the hill took us to The Mangy Moose, which is the most popular apres ski spot in the village. Tammy's bison meatloaf with currant glaze was outstanding. We were quite cranky at this point, but a soak in the hot tub back at the cabin improved our dispositions immensely, and felt wonderful with the outside temps already reaching the mid 40s. We finally made it to bed at 10:30 local time.

BTW - I'm already behind on my posts, but should be able to catch up today (Monday). I'll also try to upload plenty of photos into the gallery.

Love to all.

NOTE - Click on the above photo for a larger view!