Welcome to Wydaho

Welcome to Wydaho.  That’s what the guy said to us when he took the photo of us below.

Yesterday we went to the other side of the Tetons and skied at Grand Targhee ski resort.

To get to Targhee you have to go over the Teton pass and go into Idaho.  Targhee is located a few miles outside of Driggs, Idaho. When you head up to the ski slopes you enter back into Wyoming.  The state line isn’t well defined and parts of the mountain are in Idaho and parts are in Wyoming . . . hence you ski Wydaho!

Since Targhee is on the western side of the Tetons they get about three times as much snow as Jackson Hole.  Everyone in Jackson told us we had to try Targhee since we were so close and we are glad we did.  The conditions were incredible and the mountain was fun to ski.  There were no lift lines to speak of, so as soon as you skied down the mountain you were back on the lift heading up again.

When we moved to Idaho in 1986 their was a sign at the Boise Airport that said “Welcome to Idaho! Now turn your clock back 20 years”.  Well here at Targhee they should have a sign, welcome to Grand Targhee now turn your clock back 40 years.  The photo below shows Connie and Cindy in front of a two seat ski lift.  I haven’t seen a lift like this for over 40 years.

As I was saying they get lots of snow so they have signs reminding you of some of the dangers that come with a lot of snow.

The skiing was so good we skied until the lifts closed at 4 PM. On our way down the mountain we got a great view of the sunset.

On our drive back to Jackson, Wyoming we drove through the town of Victor, Idaho and when in Idaho you can always find some memorable sights.

 

Here we have the local drive-in (The Spud)

We all know about the world famous Gladys Burgers!?

 

San Francisco may have the Golden Gate but look what they have at the Spud drive-in!  The worlds larges potato with sour cream (snow) loaded on a truck driven by of course Mr. Potato Head.  Mr. Head was camera shy so we didn’t get a good photo of him! 

Elk Antlers and More

We decided to take a day’s break from skiing today. The four of us headed into Jackson to walk around town. The town square is unique in that it has four large arches made from elk horns. Bill took this photo of Connie, Frank & I in front of one of them.

The arches aren’t the only creations made from elk horns. Here you can see a couple of Christmas wreaths in a store window.

Inside the Jackson Mercantile, we saw just how large a grizzly is! Bill discovered that his fingers look small next to the bear’s claws.

               

The town is filled with outdoorsy character. On one of the side streets, we found an interesting use for old skis.

The insides of the buildings held their own appeal. The Million Dollar Saloon features the Wild West theme, complete with saddles for bar stools. Not very comfortable, but worth a photo! 

                

One of the town square attractions that Bill remembers from his first visit to Jackson Hole, in 1970, is apparently still offered:

Tomorrow, it’s back to the slopes. We’re heading over the mountain into Idaho, to try out Grand Targhee. Think snow!

High Flying in Jackson Hole

What a great ski trip so far.  We left foggy cold Antioch early Saturday morning for our drive to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  We drove a little over 800 miles and stopped in Pocatello, Idaho for the night. 

The next morning we were in Jackson Hole.  We picked up Connie and Frank at the Jackson Airport.  We stopped to take a few photos of the Grand Tetons.

The temperature was about 10 degrees when we took these photos.  It looks a lot warmer because the sun was out.

We stopped at Bubba’s BBQ for lunch and headed to our timeshare which is located right outside the City of Jackson in the small town of Wilson.  After a slight mix up with our reservations we were upgraded from a one bedroom unit to a two bedroom unit.  That worked out great for all of us.  Sometimes when things don’t look too good they end up turning out better than you imagined.

Cindy and I headed out for the slopes the next day.  We were planning to ski a half day to see how the conditions were.  On our way to the ticket office we ran into Scott Harris.  He runs Jackson Hole Paragliding.  He asked us if we wanted to go paragliding!  We told him we had never heard of paragliding.  He showed us the brochure and advised us that Jackson Hole ski resort was one of the top three paragliding sites in the US. (I think he was a used car salesman at one time.) We said we weren't sure, maybe we would think about it.  Then he said the magic words, he would give us a big discount since we would be the first ones to go today and it would be great advertisement for them.  He explained once people saw someone (crazy person) doing it then they might want to give it a try too.  So off we go with Scott to his office.  After filling out the reams of paperwork (you know the paperwork, we can’t sue anyone if we crash and die, etc, etc) we loaded onto the gondola to take us to the top of the mountain.  Along with Cindy, me, Scott and Dan our second pilot we piled off the gondola with all of their equipment.  Here we are over 3,000 feet above the valley floor.  They strap us into our harnesses, each pilot then hooks our harness to theirs and before we launch the say don’t worry we also have a reserve shoot in case something goes wrong but it wont!  Boy does that give you a warm fuzzy feeling!!  We start running down the ski slope with one of the ski resort photographers chasing after you to get the good photos of you flying like a bird or falling like a rock.  After just a few steps we were up, up and away.  This had to be one of the greatest things we have done ever!  If you are ever here in Jackson Hole be sure to give it a try.  Scott’s web address is www.jhparagliding.com The following are a few photos that were taken while we were gliding.

Scott and Cindy Above the ski resort

Birds eye view of the base of Jackson Hole ski resort

Dan and I cruising about 3,000 feet above the valley floor

Looking up at the thin ropes that hold you to the paraglide wing. Scott took this, and you can see Dan & I in the distance.

Well I better end now and check to see if my heart is still beating twice as fast as normal.