We arrived in Jackson Hole, grubby and exhausted. TOG and I had been awakened early that morning by thunderstorms in Bozeman, Montana and after navigating through Yellowstone and all the traffic, we were ready to collapse. I'd searched on the laptop as we drove past the Tetons and I knew there were only a few places in Jackson Hole that still had rooms. I'd phoned one of them and they said they only had a couple left and they were going fast. So we made a beeline for this hotel hoping they'd still have a vacancy.
And they did. We choked over the price of the room, but they assured us it included breakfast in the morning and pointed out a seperate building on the corner where it would be served. Thankfully, the room was clean (mostly) and we dumped our luggage and walked "downtown" to find some dinner. I left my camera at the hotel so K3 has the only pictures of downtown Jackson Hole and she only took a few.
Jackson Hole has this park downtown with these elk antler arches at all four corners. Here's a happy TOG and an exhausted K3!
K3 was far more interested in the stage coach they had circling the park. TOG and I were all "yeah...yeah, let find dinner" since we hadn't eaten since Old Faithful.
After being turned away by one restaurant (It was swanky and we weren't) and having our stomachs churn in protest as we walked by a "chuck wagon" style operation we finally found a trendy tourist trap downtown that had room in the bar. Biggest mistake ever.
The waiter was a grizzly bearded fellow who acted like he'd never waited a table before. While TOG ordered buffalo and Ky had a burger, I opted for a chicken Caesar salad. We'd been eating so much heavy food and I wanted leafy fiber. TOG warned me that we were in meat and potato land but I thought it would take a miracle to screw up a Caesar salad.
Did I tell you they have miracles in Jackson Hole?
I know TOG hates it when I rank on the food, so when my salad arrived with what looked like slugs on top of it, I didn't say a word, and pushed the "slugs" off to the side.
The lettuce was fresh and I thought I could make do. And then I took a bite of the toast points they provided instead of croutons. I swear to you, they were dipped in habanero oil and sprinkled with powdered jalapeno. After about 5 minutes during which I drank all of my drink, TOG's water and my water, I pushed the remaining toast points to one side and tried the chicken. Then I set my fork down, picked up a piece of the chicken and started tapping it on the side of the plate. You could have pounded nails with it. I ate two pieces of it and then couldn't go any further. TOG usually finishes things I can't eat but even he was reluctant although he did try the toast points and one of the slugs which turned out to be an entire side of a salt cured anchovy. Ack!
Eventually we made our way back to the hotel and slept the sleep of the exhausted.
In the morning, I woke up early and was facebooking with Ms Lala who was in Italy at the time! She was telling me all the wonderful things to do in Jackson Hole and I was pretty excited. Then TOG woke up and as I shared my excitement and jabbered about mountain luge and horseback riding, he pointed out that it had taken us three days to get to Jackson hole, and we only had two days to get back.
Thud. Reality.
We showered and got dressed and packed up. The timeline for hitting the free breakfast was approaching and we needed to eat quickly and hit the road. With 10 minutes left, TOG and K3 loaded the car and I walked over to the little building, opened the door and was welcomed by the aroma of breakfast, the ring of silverware and coffee, blessed coffee. I walked back to the car to assure TOG (who thought we were late) that all was well and we could at least grab coffee and a muffin to go. We all walked back across the parking lot to the breakfast place and the door was locked! At that moment, one of the employees who had checked us in last night walked by and I told him we were locked out. He casually responded that they had to maintain their schedule and it was too bad we were late and he walked off.
Wisely, TOG grabbed my arm and dragged me to the car before I could rough the guy up (verbally).
Thus we left Jackson Hole having paid a king's ransom for our room and having no coffee or breakfast to show for it.
To be continued!
AG out!
We arrived in Jackson Hole, grubby and exhausted. TOG and I had been awakened early that morning by thunderstorms in Bozeman, Montana and after navigating through Yellowstone and all the traffic, we were ready to collapse. I'd searched on the laptop as we drove past the Tetons and I knew there were only a few places in Jackson Hole that still had rooms. I'd phoned one of them and they said they only had a couple left and they were going fast. So we made a beeline for this hotel hoping they'd still have a vacancy.
And they did. We choked over the price of the room, but they assured us it included breakfast in the morning and pointed out a seperate building on the corner where it would be served. Thankfully, the room was clean (mostly) and we dumped our luggage and walked "downtown" to find some dinner. I left my camera at the hotel so K3 has the only pictures of downtown Jackson Hole and she only took a few.
Jackson Hole has this park downtown with these elk antler arches at all four corners. Here's a happy TOG and an exhausted K3!
K3 was far more interested in the stage coach they had circling the park. TOG and I were all "yeah...yeah, let find dinner" since we hadn't eaten since Old Faithful.
After being turned away by one restaurant (It was swanky and we weren't) and having our stomachs churn in protest as we walked by a "chuck wagon" style operation we finally found a trendy tourist trap downtown that had room in the bar. Biggest mistake ever.
The waiter was a grizzly bearded fellow who acted like he'd never waited a table before. While TOG ordered buffalo and Ky had a burger, I opted for a chicken Caesar salad. We'd been eating so much heavy food and I wanted leafy fiber. TOG warned me that we were in meat and potato land but I thought it would take a miracle to screw up a Caesar salad.
Did I tell you they have miracles in Jackson Hole?
I know TOG hates it when I rank on the food, so when my salad arrived with what looked like slugs on top of it, I didn't say a word, and pushed the "slugs" off to the side.
The lettuce was fresh and I thought I could make do. And then I took a bite of the toast points they provided instead of croutons. I swear to you, they were dipped in habanero oil and sprinkled with powdered jalapeno. After about 5 minutes during which I drank all of my drink, TOG's water and my water, I pushed the remaining toast points to one side and tried the chicken. Then I set my fork down, picked up a piece of the chicken and started tapping it on the side of the plate. You could have pounded nails with it. I ate two pieces of it and then couldn't go any further. TOG usually finishes things I can't eat but even he was reluctant although he did try the toast points and one of the slugs which turned out to be an entire side of a salt cured anchovy. Ack!
Eventually we made our way back to the hotel and slept the sleep of the exhausted.
In the morning, I woke up early and was facebooking with Ms Lala who was in Italy at the time! She was telling me all the wonderful things to do in Jackson Hole and I was pretty excited. Then TOG woke up and as I shared my excitement and jabbered about mountain luge and horseback riding, he pointed out that it had taken us three days to get to Jackson hole, and we only had two days to get back.
Thud. Reality.
We showered and got dressed and packed up. The timeline for hitting the free breakfast was approaching and we needed to eat quickly and hit the road. With 10 minutes left, TOG and K3 loaded the car and I walked over to the little building, opened the door and was welcomed by the aroma of breakfast, the ring of silverware and coffee, blessed coffee. I walked back to the car to assure TOG (who thought we were late) that all was well and we could at least grab coffee and a muffin to go. We all walked back across the parking lot to the breakfast place and the door was locked! At that moment, one of the employees who had checked us in last night walked by and I told him we were locked out. He casually responded that they had to maintain their schedule and it was too bad we were late and he walked off.
Wisely, TOG grabbed my arm and dragged me to the car before I could rough the guy up (verbally).
Thus we left Jackson Hole having paid a king's ransom for our room and having no coffee or breakfast to show for it.
To be continued!
AG out!