Well, I left the Old Faithful Inn this morning and headed down through the Grand Tetons to Jackson.
One story I forgot to mention about the Old Faithful Inn: the shower head size to shower stall size ratio was awful. Huge shower head to tiny shower stall, such that there was no where in the stall that I could move where the water was not assaulting me. In order to lather up my hair without it immediately rinsing off, I had to turn off the shower. And then turn it back on. And readjust the temperature. And then turn it off again for conditioner. And back on. And readjust the temperature. And turn it off to wash my face. Etc. SOOOOO annoying.
Anyway, I hit West Thumb in Yellowstone before leaving the park, and then came down through Grand Tetons National Park. It's a beautiful park, but different from Yellowstone. The focal point is the mountains next to the lake. They're just beautiful. But I had no desire to hike or anything, so I just came down through the park and stopped at the various vistas that weren't overrun with cars. I arrived in Jackson Hole around 2:30 PM. Driving through town, I was reminded of a visit from when I was something like 8. There's a little horse drawn carriage that goes around the town square and you can ride on it. In order to ride up top, you have to be 10 years old. My mom said I was. But I was like, "no I'm not." To which she replied, "well, you will be next week." And I said, "No, I'll be 9." I was never good at deceit, especially when I wasn't aware that was the goal. So I think my mom had to ride up top with me.
Got to my hotel, but my room wasn't ready yet, so I went out and walked around town for a while. It was hot, especially compared to the weather I've had over the past couple of weeks. Jackson is....what's a nice way of saying "tourist trap"? Seriously, it just seems like a bunch of souvenir shops and restaurants. Anyway, I ended up going into a great restaurant called "Local." How appropriate for my trip that's focused on local food and whatnot. It was quite good. Except that when I got back to the hotel to officially check in, I didn't have my credit card. I knew this would happen at some point. Luckily, the restaurant was quite close. I zipped (as quickly as one can zip in rush hour/construction traffic) back over and walked back to the bar where I was sitting. I didn't even have to say anything to the bartender. She saw me and immediately knew why I was there and grabbed my card and handed it back.
I spent most of the evening catching up on stuff that I haven't been able to get to for the past week or so. I also got to watch TV for the first time since Trinidad, CA, catching up on a couple of my favorite cable news programs. Yippee!
I'm looking forward to getting back to a string of cities. I'm not what one would call an "outdoorsy" person, so these national parks have been quite out of my comfort zone. Glad that I did them, but I am looking forward to being more connected for a while.
No comments:
Post a Comment