Day 31-July 6, 2013-Jackson Hole, WY
Cool last night, needed the heat. Beautiful day, only got up to 72 and down to 53 after the rain storm in the afternoon. Great hail storm at the summit of Teton Pass!
You knew we were going to go over the Teton Pass and the 10% grade, right? It wasn’t as bad as we’d heard and we have been over much scarier roads. We went back into Wyoming from Idaho right before the top. One of the billboards says “Teton Valley, the best of both states”. Only took about a half hour to get to Jackson Hole from the campground this way and somehow we got a parking spot right in the middle of town on the main road. Walked around a bit, found a wonderful store, sort of tucked in a back alley, that sold all kinds of spices, grappas, liquors, Wyoming whiskey, cognacs, infused oils, wines, vinegars and other treasures that you could sample before you bought. Got some great oils, a local wine and, of course, Harry got some Wyoming whiskey. Beautiful elk arches on all four entrances to the town park, gotten from the elk refuge right out of town. They’ve been there for over 50 years. Lots of really upscale galleries, usual and unusual souvenir stores, restaurants, clothes stores, home furnishing stores, and a hat store to rival the boot store we saw in Cheyenne, hats, hats, hats! Hotels and resorts right on the outskirts of town. Brought lunch so we went back to the truck, ate it, then went to Moos for, what else, homemade ice cream.
On the way back we saw a sign on the road that goes into Teton Village that said “3 Moose Killed-1 Mile Ahead” but we figured we’d rather see live moose than dead moose so didn’t check it out. It was drizzling when we started up the pass and right when we got to the summit we had a full-fledged hail storm, all the way down the windy 10% grade. Big hail stones, splat, splat, splat! Sure gave us a ride for our money. Of course, as soon as we got to the bottom it stopped raining, just some distant thunder for a few minutes then sunny again for a while. But as the night went on it got cloudy and windy, still cold, people are walking around the campground with winter coats on….we still have shorts on but we’re cold. Went to the Knotty Pine Supper Club for dinner-great ribs and BBQ but enough for a few nights. Hooked up the RV-we’re leaving tomorrow for the Idaho wine trails.