Our Jaunt to Jackson

Early this summer I asked Rylan where he would like to go for our family vacation this year. He said, "Jackson Hole!" So that's exactly what we did. It was a little more affordable than some of our past trips because we could drive and save a little bit that would have been spent on airfare.

We ended up leaving one day early --- cuz we could. That was awesome. We left on Wednesday this past week and took our time, stopping along the way to decide if we wanted to find a place to stay in one of the towns on the way to Jackson. But we decided we would just keep on driving all the way through and find someplace in Jackson -- which we did. We stayed in Cowboy Village (the same place we stayed when we went to Jackson in 2006). Ry thought that was pretty cool.

For lunch, we hit one of Rylan's favorite spots in Jackson - Billy's Giant Burgers. This is a little (and when I say little I mean LITTLE) 50's diner with burgers big enough to sleep on. It's a fast-paced joint with lots going on - and that's probably why Rylan loves it so much.

That night I had a hankering for sushi! So off we went to Nakai. I was way out of my league in there, and I had no idea what 95% of the items on the menu were, but I could identify one roll that looked good so I went for it. It was deeeelish! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the "Dogwood Roll":

On Thursday morning, Rylan was able to do a little swimming at our hotel, then we went to breakfast at "Bubba's," which was a really good BBQ place right around the corner. For breakfast Rylan dug into their huge plate-sized pancakes. (We ended up going there four more times for different meals throughout the weekend.) Then we did some shopping in Town Square -- tons of little storefront shops with souveneirs and everything else you can imagine.

At 6:00 every night, there is a "shootout" in Town Square performed by the actors and actresses from the local Jackson Hole Playhouse to drum up business for their current play or musical. I had already bought our tickets for "Annie Get Your Gun" on Saturday night, but you just have to go see the shootout at least once while you're in town.

On Friday morning, we had our horseback riding adventure with Mill Iron Ranch. It was a two-hour ride on a trail which ascended 2,000 feet in an hour and twenty minutes up to the top of a beautiful mountainside with a view to the Teton Mountains. The ride was quite the climb, but our horses did great. Ry's horse "Buddy" was so full of gas -- and I got to be the lucky one who got to ride behind him. THAT was fun.

My horse was named "Cranky." He seemed to be pretty decent, compared to Buddy who wanted to constantly back Rylan off the side of the trail.

Here we are at the top ~ check out that view!

Going DOWN was a whole different adventure than going up. (My butt bones are still recovering, but Rylan loved it, so it was all worth it.)

Saturday was our Whitewater Rafting trip down the Snake River with Jackon Hole Whitewater. Unfortunately I don't have any pics of this one -- I opted to leave the camera in the car which was probably wise. There are companies who snap your picture on one of the rapids, but we were on the wrong side of the boat so those didn't turn out all that great either. Suffice it to say we had a GREAT time with our guide, Isaiah - who is proposing to his girlfriend next weekend. It was a pretty brisk morning - it had rained all night, so everything was crisp and chilly. They gave us all wetsuit tops and booties to keep us warm, and we did great once the sun decided to peek through all the clouds.

Today (Sunday) we got up and had breakfast, then got on the road so we could get home in time to have dinner, get Ry finished packing for scout camp (early tomorrow morning), and get me to Sterling Singers rehearsal tonight. Whew!

Rylan said tonight, "Let's face it: I've loved every trip we've taken together... Jackson, Boston, San Diego...." Those are great words for a mom to hear. We have a great time when we travel, and we are lucky to have each other!