Jackson, WY: 72.1 miles, 5hrs drive time

Jackson, WY is definitely a tourist trap. It's customed after the Old West in look and feel, and even advertises itself as "the last of the Old West". It's not really much to look at short of the very impressive elk antler arches that frame each entrance to the Town Square, and it's full of stores like the Gap and Chico's. Now, Jackson also happens to be located in one of the most wealthy counties in the country - Teton County - which is best demonstrated by the presence of Sotheby's and Christie's in town.

Now, there are some saving graces in this tourist trap - never let it be said that even traps don't have their attractions. We had a very tasty ranch chicken pizza at Mountain High Pizza Pie - this has ranch dressing, chicken, bacon, and tomatoes on it. Being tomato-fearing folks (Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, while a very tacky movie and possibly the worst one ever made, can be a bit unnerving), we ordered ours without. The ten inch size was perfect for two people. We then wandered over to the Mangy Moose Emporium, which, if it didn't have every product related to moose known to man, it should have by the name. I found a particularly charming shirt (that I didn't buy) with the caption "Dances with Moose".

It was tempting, but I already filled my shirt allotment for the time being with Grand Teton and Yellowstone shirts. Besides, the same shirt is available from their web site at moosegoods.com (where that image was retrieved from).


Looking out one of the windows at the National Museum of Wildlife Art.

A bit tired, we made our way back towards the lodge after that, stopping first at the National Museum of Wildlife Art, which had absolutely stunning exhibits of works by Thomas Moran and Andy Warhol. Also very memorable were the two works in the museum by John Nieto, whose take on art is definitely something different (almost comparable, but not quite, to the works of Andy Warhol). This is definitely a must-see location for the sheer number of artists and the beautiful sculptures and paintings throughout.

Since I missed seeing the Winter window at the Chapel of the Transfiguration, and we were passing by there, we stopped so I could get a good look once again at both windows - these are both beautiful pieces of art, well worth the visit - the view is just an added bonus.

The weather seems to have been a bit more forgiving today, though the smoke from the area wildfires (there are five of them) is still causing haze in the area. Nevertheless, sun breaks allowed me to get another small set of photos of the Tetons:

Just before Jackson Lake Lodge, there's an overlook for Willow Flats, the same flats that the Lodge is set on. Just as we were driving up to this outlook, I could swear I saw something moving that looked a lot like an animal of some sort - we immediately pulled over, got our binoculars out, and started looking. The closest thing we could get to what I thought I saw were two very animal-looking bushes (which, at our distance, could very well have been trees) that moved a lot like animals. I swear I saw an animal - it just happened to be two bushes. Damn those animal-looking plants!

Previewing our return route over the next few days: from here at Jackson Lake Lodge, we're headed through Jackson again to cut west to Arco, ID and Craters of the Moon National Monument. With luck, we will be stopping for the night in Mountain Home, ID. On Sunday, we will head to Burns, OR along I-84 and Highway 20. Monday takes us through Bend and Corvallis to stop in Newport, and Tuesday takes us home to Olympia and the cat that is likely very mad at us for leaving (not that we left her alone - she has cat sitters, but she likes owning her owners).

The photo caption contest ends tomorrow, so take a look at the image and get those entries in!