The Last Post

Our original intent was this: because snow had not come to North Carolina, we would go to the snow. I also had the goal of giving Glenda a sleigh ride for her birthday. How much more we have experienced in the last week! Of course we did all that we had planned to do, as you have been reading. Yet today, with no agenda and no scheduled events we enjoyed ourselves beyond measure. After a leisurely breakfast we headed north again, near to the place where we did our snowshoe hike yesterday. But today we were even closer to Grand Teton mountain, and since we had no guide and no itinerary to keep, I brought along my tripod to get some really good photos. We spent the morning in three different locations, starting at the crossroads of Moose and moving northward. The eastern sun shone brilliantly against the west face of the Teton range as the temperature plummeted to 7 degrees Fahrenheit. After shooting up there we returned to photograph a nature walk along Flat Creek that runs by our hotel. Then we went to lunch at the Snake River Brewery, where I enjoyed a Reuben sandwich made with turkey and kimchi. Glenda had fish and chips with a Jenny Lake lager. We met a woman from New Orleans who got quite a bit of sympathy from the pub clientele over the ridiculous officiating that kept her home team out of the Super Bowl. Walking back to our hotel we grabbed a Danish pastry to carry back to our cabin. Let’s call it dessert. We are here in the warm cabin now reliving the week’s adventures—the white-knuckle snowmobile ride, the beauty and mishap of the dog sled ride, and the holy hike on snowshoes. Though some of our trips have been longer or to more distant destinations, we have never enjoyed any trip more than our week-long visit to the snow-covered mountains of Jackson Hole. Winter is considered the off season here. Spring and summer bring over a million visitors to this small town every year. Then it becomes inoperably crowded. But if you want our advice, the Cooks will both tell you that if you like playing in the snow, winter is the time to come to Jackson Hole, now one of our favorite places in the world.Read more