Last week dw and I drove to Jackson, Wyoming to watch her brother Steve and Steve's SO Kay, run a marathon. Actually we only watched the finish -- we were awake, but we didn't get up to watch the 7:30 start, and we didn't find a spot to watch any part of the middle of the run -- so by "watching a marathon" I mean we waited at the finish for fifteen minutes and actually watched the last fifty yards of the 26+ mile run. But our thoughts were positive and we offered strong moral support. As we drove to our spot at the finish we passed both Steve and Kay as they ran on a road-side path. We honked waved and yelled in a strongly supportive fashion.
Our stay in Jackson was only two days so we didn't do any hiking -- it was mostly a social event. We (dw and I) did visit the National Museum of Wildlife Art, located just north of Jackson. The 1994 building is reminiscent of Anasazi ruins, and the collection is, as advertised, wildlife art -- Mostly but not exclusively American artists and North American wildlife -- nearly all of the art is realistic. The subjects and style of art isn't particularly to our taste, but we were glad we went and it's a very nice museum / collection.
Eating in Jackson was a disappointment (for me). First we went to the Snake River Brewery (good beer, as it happens). I ordered a BBQ pulled-pork sandwich. The bun was stale, the pork was too sweet without much flavor and was nearly cold. The fries were cold. And it wasn't cheap. In my opinion, go there for the beer and pass on the food. We also ate at Thai Me Up. I ordered drunken noodles (no alcohol involved) with chicken. It tasted good but the chicken seemed to be the same sort of faux glop that McDonalds uses to make it's McNuggets. For the price I expected better than that. But as I said, it tasted good (true, it's hard to mess up Thai).
Small events along the road:
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayer was in Teton Village (where the marathon finished) -- We didn't see her but there were a bunch of Secret Service guys lurking around with their ear buds and dark glasses. One was wearing a magenta colored shirt and tie! -- I didn't think that would be allowed.
We went to the Jackson Farmers Market where I found a selection of Stetson hats for only 40 dollars. I felt the craving for another hat but they only offered XXL or XXS. I tried the XXL and my head felt like the clapper in Big Ben. The XXS would only fit a toddler or a pinhead -- made me feel like I really am a fathead.
Road sign outside of Idaho Falls: "Warning to tourists: Don't laugh at the natives" -- I didn't see anyone there who was risible but I didn't really look.
Sign at Rupert, Idaho: Corn Dogs -- at Mr. Gas -- a service station.
Downtown Rupert is a town square surrounded by 1910-20 buildings, mostly unaltered. It's an attractive little town which seems to be kept alive by Hispanic people. We ate at a bodega / carniceria / cafe. (Three tacos and a burrito). The place had the feel of Baja California except for the unexpected zydeco music.
A feedlot west of Massacre Rock State Park has a large manure holding pond sited beside the freeway. It had a pontoon boat floating in it. I guess some people take their recreation wherever they can.
We ate at the Rainbow Cafe in Pendleton. Two older women were sitting on a bench outside the cafe having a smoke. They strongly recommended the place, and on the basis of one of their recommendations I had the chili-burger -- it was good. The cafe (according to a photograph) looks much like it did when it opened in 1940. It has a bunch of neon lights and signs which they never turn off because they aren't sure the neon would fire up again if they were turned off.
We had breakfast at Frosty's Cafe & Lounge in Rufus Oregon, where the waitress shooed us away from the "fly table". It was a table in front of a window which apparently was very popular with the local flies.
Our stay in Jackson was only two days so we didn't do any hiking -- it was mostly a social event. We (dw and I) did visit the National Museum of Wildlife Art, located just north of Jackson. The 1994 building is reminiscent of Anasazi ruins, and the collection is, as advertised, wildlife art -- Mostly but not exclusively American artists and North American wildlife -- nearly all of the art is realistic. The subjects and style of art isn't particularly to our taste, but we were glad we went and it's a very nice museum / collection.
Eating in Jackson was a disappointment (for me). First we went to the Snake River Brewery (good beer, as it happens). I ordered a BBQ pulled-pork sandwich. The bun was stale, the pork was too sweet without much flavor and was nearly cold. The fries were cold. And it wasn't cheap. In my opinion, go there for the beer and pass on the food. We also ate at Thai Me Up. I ordered drunken noodles (no alcohol involved) with chicken. It tasted good but the chicken seemed to be the same sort of faux glop that McDonalds uses to make it's McNuggets. For the price I expected better than that. But as I said, it tasted good (true, it's hard to mess up Thai).
Small events along the road:
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayer was in Teton Village (where the marathon finished) -- We didn't see her but there were a bunch of Secret Service guys lurking around with their ear buds and dark glasses. One was wearing a magenta colored shirt and tie! -- I didn't think that would be allowed.
We went to the Jackson Farmers Market where I found a selection of Stetson hats for only 40 dollars. I felt the craving for another hat but they only offered XXL or XXS. I tried the XXL and my head felt like the clapper in Big Ben. The XXS would only fit a toddler or a pinhead -- made me feel like I really am a fathead.
Road sign outside of Idaho Falls: "Warning to tourists: Don't laugh at the natives" -- I didn't see anyone there who was risible but I didn't really look.
Sign at Rupert, Idaho: Corn Dogs -- at Mr. Gas -- a service station.
Downtown Rupert is a town square surrounded by 1910-20 buildings, mostly unaltered. It's an attractive little town which seems to be kept alive by Hispanic people. We ate at a bodega / carniceria / cafe. (Three tacos and a burrito). The place had the feel of Baja California except for the unexpected zydeco music.
A feedlot west of Massacre Rock State Park has a large manure holding pond sited beside the freeway. It had a pontoon boat floating in it. I guess some people take their recreation wherever they can.
We ate at the Rainbow Cafe in Pendleton. Two older women were sitting on a bench outside the cafe having a smoke. They strongly recommended the place, and on the basis of one of their recommendations I had the chili-burger -- it was good. The cafe (according to a photograph) looks much like it did when it opened in 1940. It has a bunch of neon lights and signs which they never turn off because they aren't sure the neon would fire up again if they were turned off.
We had breakfast at Frosty's Cafe & Lounge in Rufus Oregon, where the waitress shooed us away from the "fly table". It was a table in front of a window which apparently was very popular with the local flies.
And the Fun Event: On our return drive we stopped at Horseshoe Bend (north of Boise Idaho) where we did a zip-line ride. It was great! The first picture was just before we started on the paired line (the other lines were single). This line ended at the light spot above the greenery nearly centered between our helmets. The second picture I took while we were sliding down the cable. -- Because I weigh a bit more than dw shortly after I took the picture I passed her. Again: the end of these cables is the light tan spot just right of the left-hand cable. The tour had six different cables, four short and two long. If we ever do it again we'll want more long cables but this was an excellent first time out. And so it goes. DA
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