I'm up before sunrise because I know that an early start today is critical. President Obama is visiting Old Faithful today, and the Park is going to be tough to maneuver with all of the security. So...I make coffee, then set about breaking camp...putting away the chair and table, packing up the charcoal and extra firewood, rolling up and stowing away my sleeping pad, sleeping bag and bag liner...then taking down the tent. All that takes two hours...in between coffee breaks...and, at 9:00M, I'm off to Jackson.
I take a different route out of the Park, avoiding the Old Faithful area...over to Canyon, through Bridge Bay and out the South entrance. I go right from Yellowstone into Grand Teton National Park...slow going because the road in Grand Teton is torn up for about five miles. I stop at the visitor's center for a map, campground information...and ask about any "unusual bear activity" (one black bear around Colter Bay, but he stays away from the campers and sleeps a lot).
Some miles into the Park, I come around a bend and see, for the first time in my life, the Grand Teton range...wow...awesome. These are big "in your face" mountains...very impressive.
Soon, I'm out of the Park and arriving in the town of Jackson...a splendid place. When I park the Escape to check on some motels, I'm parked in front of a sushi bar! Several pieces of Toro, Shrimp, Salmon and a Spicy Tuna Hand-roll later, I'm feeling pretty good...civilization is good!
I check in at the Pointe Inn and Suites (formerly the Days Inn) and start unpacking. I have no clean slacks for dinner tonight, so laundry is definitely in order. Fortunately, there's a laundromat just up the street from my hotel. In between washing and drying, I read the last few pages of a history of the Lewis & Clark expedition...fascinating reading...all the more so because I am surrounded by the territory through which they traveled. I learn two interesting, if sad, facts about Merriwether Lewis...he never published his journals from the expedition (which would have made him a small fortune) and, within two years of returning from the trip, he took his own life...very sad.
After laundry, I'm ready for dinner! I really like Jackson...there's money here (think Harrison Ford) and that means great restaurants. My hotel is a mile and a half from town, but there's free bus service. A short ride later, and I'm downtown. I decide to have a late dinner at the Snake River Grill which has been highly recommended. There's a forty-five minute wait to eat at the bar, so I give them my cell phone number and slip down the street to a "divey" little local saloon for a Martini. I'm taking the first sip of my second Martini when my cell phone rings...my spot at the bar at Snake River is open.
As I settle in at the bar to take a look at the menu, two gals (Suzy and Ren) strike up a conversation. They're from Atlanta...they're husbands work constantly, so the gals have flown out to Jackson for a week of fun...horseback riding by day, eating and drinking well by night. Soon, Suzy and Ren get a table and invite me to join them. We split a nice bottle of Oregon Pinot Noir, and I have the restaurant's "signature" appetizer...Steak Tartare Pizza...it sounds odd, but it was sure delicious. After dinner, Suzy and Ren are off to some party, and I'm heading for the Snake River Brewing Company. They brew, among other things, the two German beers with which I am most familiar...Kolsch from Cologne and Alt from Dusseldorf. They're both grat beers so, naturally, I have a few.
Soon, it's after midnight...time to cab back to the hotel for some sleep. All in all, a great day.
No comments:
Post a Comment