Jackson Hole & Home!

Hey everyone...sorry for the delay in getting the final blogs to you, but here's the final days of the awesome vacation to Montana/Wyoming!

Thursday, February 28, 2013 -- Woke up at 7:30, went to breakfast (a biscuit with jam, cereal, a mini blueberry muffin, milk, and cocoa), geared up, and headed to Jackson Hole Ski Area.  We got our tickets and started skiing...blues and blacks, mostly detachable chairlifts, very nice snow.  It was pretty crowded on some trails, it snowed all day, and visibility wasn't great.  The sun popped out occasionally and when it did, we savored it.  Temperatures were between 0 and 25 degrees.

Lunch was at the top of the gondola, in a deli -- I had a big breadbowl of chili with cocoa and 1/4 of a chocolate chip cookie.  It was good.

The big highlight was going up in the famous tram (two 100-person cars).  It takes you to the very top of Jackson Hole, Rendezvous Mountain, standing at 10,450 feet.  It was really windy and you couldn't see very far ahead...maybe 50 feet!  We took the black run Rendezvous Bowl down...wide open and powdery.  Awesome!

Unfortunately, the day didn't end great for me.  We were riding up a double chairlift called Marmot for the last run of the day.  As the chair came around for us to get onto (it was a fixed-grip, meaning it doesn't slow down in the station), I was on the side of the lift attendant.  I thought he would hold it for me, like all of them should do.  So I put my hand down to hold the edge of the chair, and just as I sat down...WHAM!  The chair hit me directly on my elbow...hard!  The lift attendant did not hold it for us and this resulted in an incredibly painful ride up.  I skied the last run in pain.  Riding back to our car on the shuttle bus, there happened to be an EMT right next to me.  He asked me lots of questions and when we got off, he looked at it.  It's not broken but possibly cracked, chipped, and/or a deep bone bruise.  I iced it when we got back to the hotel.  We all showered and headed to the Sweetwater Restaurant.  I had the apple pork chop with salad and mashed potatoes...flavorful.  We came back, brushed teeth, and got to bed at 9:45.

Friday, March 1, 2013 -- I did get a good night's rest, sleeping in until 7:45.  Relaxed and iced my elbow for a bit, then had breakfast (biscuits with jam, yogurt, a small waffle, milk, and cocoa).  My dad and Matthew took a free 8 AM shuttle to the ski area.  My mom loaded the car and then she and I walked around the Jackson town square, looking at the snow sculptures, checking out stores, etc.  We headed to Jackson Hole at 11:30.  We met my dad and Matthew at the Alpenhof Bistro for lunch, a great German restaurant.  The schnitzel on a bun with potato chips was yummy!  It was great to celebrate our very German heritage by eating some good German food...served by a nice German lady!

After lunch, my mom and I got half-day passes.  We started skiing around 12:45.  The snow was excellent and the temperatures (25 to 35) felt warm compared to the much-colder temps earlier on the trip!  We rode the tram again, taking Rendezvous Bowl down again.  We took the gondola up twice.  One run we took from it was called Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and wild it was!  There were bumps the entire way...winding through the trees and past rocks.  It went up and down hills, too.  Crazy fun!  It came out onto Casper Bowl, another big and wide-open run with some rocks and lots of moguls.

By 5:00, we had headed out.  Saying goodbye to Jackson Hole and all the fun memories of skiing was hard but hopefully I'll go back someday and experience the glorious creation of God again.  As we drove away, we saw snow-covered fields, majestic ranch homes, and an indescribable sunset -- pink, orange, red, blue, golden, yellow!  All those colors glowing against the mountains...just beautiful.  I was glad to have skied that day, even though the elbow hurt and I couldn't put any pressure on it.  Through that pain, I enjoyed an hour or so of sunshine...and a spectacular view from the top of the tram -- we could finally see the snow-covered mountains all around, glowing with sunshine!

We drove until 8 PM, stopping at Rock Springs, Wyoming, to have supper at TacoTime.  The bean burrito and pineapple-coconut-orange smoothie were good on-the-road food.  We then drove until 10:40, where we stopped at the Rodeway Inn we spent the night in.  After showering and brushing teeth, we were in bed at 11:45.

Saturday, March 2, 2013 -- Awake at 6 AM, got ready, had breakfast (cereal, cocoa, juice), and on I-80 at 7 AM.  Mainly just driving today; crossed into Nebraska around 8:20.  Matthew drove nonstop until York, Nebraska, where we fueled up and had lunch at Kentucky Fried Chicken from 1:40 to 2:25.  From York we drove all the way to Kingdom City, Missouri, where we got gas again (at 7:30 PM).  I drove from there to home, arriving at 9:20.  We were happy to see snow all over when we arrived...coming from snow to snow is nice!  We had soup and nachos for supper and got to bed, exhausted yet happy to be home safe, at 11:30.

As always, trips are a wonderful way to refresh yourself from the hectic daily life.  We enjoy the mountains because we love to ski.  It is peaceful, serene, and stunningly beautiful.  For a week, we were able to ski at three different ski areas and snowmobile in Yellowstone.  We experienced new things and just enjoyed being together as a family.  We love being together, especially outdoors.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing photos and hearing my stories of the beautiful states of Montana and Wyoming.  It was a wonderful trip and, for the most part, safe.  My elbow is still quite sore (and swollen a bit) despite ibuprofen and icing.  We'll see, I may go have it checked out tomorrow.  But even with it hurting, I still skied half a day at Jackson Hole, rode all the way home, and even drove the last hour-and-a-half!  Although it was something unplanned, unexpected, and definitely unwanted, it's something that will heal.  It could have been much worse.  And in the end, the overall experience of the trip was 100% awesome.  Quite possibly my most favorite.  Thanks for reading, everyone!  I hope to share more adventures in the future!

~Anna~