Donnelly Oceantics: MAINLAND

NORTH TO WYOMING
Aug 28 - 30, 2013

On Wednesday we locked out at the cabin and drove to Granby for gas; lunch at Steamboat Springs, CO and got to Rock Springs, Wyoming at dinner time and for the night. We named the truck Lucille in route, just like BB King’s guitar.

Baggs, WY, just over the border is testing for methane in the ground – Carbon County having produced petroleum products for many decades including propane currently. More exciting, we saw our first Pronghorns – mostly grazing.

Wyoming road - mountains finally in sight

Our first pronghorns - pretty far away so they are blurry

Always a sentry (on right)

Thurs Aug 29

We stopped in Jackson for gas and silicone at the auto parts store – Gil was determined to get rid of the wind noise on my side. There was both rain and hail while we gassed up. (FYI: Jackson is the town, any area completely surrounded by mountains was called a hole by the trappers, ie, Jackson Hole).

Fascinated by the size of the elk refuge north of Jackson we drove up there and visited the Art Museum – fabulous. The elk arrive after the first snow, as many as 19,000 winter here.

The museum is high up on the hillside

the elk refuge is the valley floor behind sign

Some of the many outdoor bronzes

Fabulous paintings, drawings, Indian works and sculpture

“Familiar Roles” by Nancy Glazier

Kids room - this got my imagination going!

We got our first glimpse of Grand Teton before arriving at Teton Village
and then saw it for the next 24 hours as we traveled along the base

Teton Village is a ski resort and we saw a tram shown on the map. Chris at our hotel suggested we take the gondola up to a restaurant for happy hour. As we approached the tram area and paid our fare we saw the busyness of a pretty mountain community. The attendant on the tram said might see a bear cub so we should look for it on the way up. We didn’t see that but saw the restaurant go by under us and realized we were on the wrong vehicle. He said we could walk to it from the top, about 40 minutes. I don’t think so.

Kinda fun, we hadn't been on a tram since Switzerland

Teton Village below

The restaurant - with deck in front - where we were supposed to be going!

On the way back down we did see the young black bear on the mountain and a bald eagle in a tree-top! We took the proper, smaller gondola up to The Deck and had a spectacular view of the village below while we ate. (The restaurant is reservation only, $155 per person with wine pairings - next time?)

The Deck was awsome - mostly locals that come for happy hour

no charge on the Bridger gondola

The Valley below

Yum - black sesame edamame and tempura portobellos

Snake River lager (the snake river runs north all the way through the Tetons)

Back at the hotel I struggled to get online – no go. Little did we know it would be difficult the whole trip!

Friday Aug 30

We shook up our protein and hit the road. Teton National Park is fabulous. First stop was the Moose Visitor Center for an informative ranger talk at the 3D map and then on to Jenny Lake. Beautiful. Goodbye to Grand Teton, south Teton, Middle Teton, Owen and Moran – as good as I had imagined since I was a kid and knew would see them one day.