It's BOO-tiful in Jackson Hole!

The snow has finally arrived - actually we got about six inches in the Valley and 2-3 feet in the mountains on Monday and Tuesday! It is a completely different landscape now - just beautiful. It still mesmerizes me that we actually live here, especially now that it is taking on the look of a ski resort. The more interesting concept is that I refer to the snow "finally arriving," and it is only October!


A very cold Gator!



October in Jackson Hole!

 

No shoveling required yet - the ground
was still very warm!

Neighborhood views

 Speaking of "ski," Barry and I have started the necessary preparations for ski season. Our first step was to sign up for Ski Fitness classes. We go twice a week to  this class/torture - can't believe that we are paying them to do this to us! It is quite inspiring though - there are people at least 25 years younger than us - and we think that we are keeping up with them, and some 15-20 years older than us - and we think that we are keeping up with them too! Life is all a matter of perspective! I must admit that it's a great feeling to go to the class and then come home and down my Advil with a glass of wine. My goal is that I will be able to walk the next day - I am taking it one day at a time! I guess the "goal" of ski fitness is to get you in "mid season condition" before the season starts; if you are in mid-season shape at the beginning of the season, where does that put me in April? I am hoping that, if nothing else, I will at least have some ski fitness classmates that will pick me up when I have fallen on the slopes because they recognize me!

Step two in ski preparation is getting the necessary gear. I must say that if Barry ever thought that my Nordstrom bills were out of control - they don't pale in comparison to what our Sport's Authority bill is going to be this month. But, we are going to be prepared when the season starts - financially wiped out and physically impaired...but prepared! I am seriously thinking that fly fishing or bird watching would have been a much easier and more reasonably priced activity to start with - but who needs money and the ability to walk - we have each other!

So our days and nights are busy with ski training and shopping and of course enjoying Bella. She is still continuing to prove to be a great addition to the family - couldn't ask for more. We start her "official training" on Monday - we will keep you posted if she is a stellar student as we are expecting...she is a Nelson after all! In the meantime she continues to love a good game of fetch - even in the snow!


All smiles, even in the snow!




She lives to retrieve (is that why they call them
Labrador Retrievers?)




Bella LOVES the snow!

We are preparing for a busy Halloween Weekend - they have Trick or Treating on the Town Square from 3-5:00 (Happy Hour on the Square for those of us who don't have little ghosts & goblins) and then home to hand out candy. All I can say is that I feel sorry for the kids and parents who will be trudging through the snow. And also for the neighborhood pumpkins, ghosts and goblins who are bearing nice winter coats and hats!

What's wrong with this picture - snow
and pumpkins and goblins...very confusing!

Do you like my hat?

Snow hats are the latest in Jackson Hole!

Hope that you all have a very happy and safe Halloween!

It's A Girl!

 As many of you would probably be able to guess - no, we did not have another baby! But, many of you would not be surprised to find that all of the dog walking that I was doing at the Animal Adoption Center would lead to a new family member sooner or later! Meet our newest family addition -

The newest Nelson....BELLA!



BELLA.



















 The Adoption Center got two labs (one yellow and one chocolate) into the shelter on Tuesday. They called me to be sure that I would come in to see them, and asked if we could foster that evening. Needless to say we had our first Ski Fitness Class (more on that torture later) that evening so we were not available to foster. I promised I would come in and take the dogs on walks (it's what I do!) and if I was interested I would bring one home the following night to foster. I went in that day and met Bella and Cocoa. I swear it was love at first sight with Bella! We went on a long walk together (actually a more accurate description is that she pulled me through town for the first half hour and then we spent the next half hour walking in circles until she would heel and stay by my side). Even though walking on a leash was not (and still is not) her forte - she had an adorable personality and was so willing to please. Cocoa was very cute, but not much personality - although that could be due to all of the changes she had just been through, no doubt (both dogs were long time residents of a shelter that was a kill-shelter, they were rescued just in time by a no-kill shelter in Idaho and then brought to the Adoption Center in Jackson Hole).
We brought Bella home to foster her (all dogs from the adoption center go to foster homes each night). Bella was the most amazing dog in the house (I know, I sound like a proud, bragging parent already) - she is housebroken, did not jump on anything, did not beg for food at the table, slept through the night etc.  My first thought - no "puppy hell" to endure with this girl - ANOTHER BIG PLUS! To make a long story short, we are now in the "adoption pending" phase with Bella - a 2-week trial period to be sure that we all are making the right choice. So far, so good - her biggest challenge right now is getting some manners while on leash. She much prefers to be off leash, I guess she knows what a real Jackson Hole dog should be doing! She is very friendly, loves people, kids, dogs, cats, car rides, tummy rubs and playing ball.

Today we went on another hike (surprise!) and took Bella with us - she loved it! We are trying to be sure to spend every minute of nice weather outside - the forecast is for snow Sunday night and Monday; not sure that I am quite ready, but I guess it is not up to me.

Bella on the cache Creek Trail

Bella showing she can have good
manners on leash!

So not only do we have a new pup to call our own - Bella also made us our first friends and got us a dinner invitation for this evening! As I was training Bella in the neighborhood the other day (you know the drill - walking in circles on leash) a neighbor came out and said "is that Bella?" Come to find out that our neighbors about 5 houses down were Bella's foster parents that first night! They loved her & agreed that we should adopt her! AND they invited all of us (Bella too) to their house for dinner tonight - see all we needed was a dog to make us some new friends (pretty sad that we don't seem to have the ability to make friends on our own without kids or a dog)!
Sending along a few more pics of Bella doing her very favorite thing - playing ball! Our most recent purchase, a "chuck it" :)



Bella at her new home!



















 Happy tails to all of you!
Enjoy the weekend~

The good, the bad & the ugly...

It all exists in Jackson Hole on a regular basis, but I must admit that the good is still outweighing the  bad by a long shot!
Now don't get me wrong, I am NOT running downstairs each day and wrapping my arms around Barry's neck and thanking him for moving me away from family and friends and all of the conveniences and familiarity of Kansas City after almost 14 years. BUT, I must say that I am not complaining either - it has been a very beautiful and fun place to live...so far. Remember that we haven't had our first snow yet (it is in the forecast for this weekend though), and it hasn't been below zero yet either (although we have had frost a few nights). In fact we haven't even put our snow stakes in the driveway yet!
I feel like I am on a roller coaster clicking up the large hill before the big drop...you never know what to expect on that first drop, just that it seems really scary going up. I am really hoping that the slide down to winter is not too fast & furious. And, that I will be able to look back at the pictures of the beautiful first months we have had here and know that summer/fall is worth the wait. Notice that I left out spring - I guess that it just gets overlooked here as the changeover doesn't really take place until June/July.
We are still trying to figure out what our new empty nester life is going to look like - it is very odd to have no schedule or commitments...can't figure out if it is good or bad - so for now we will just say different. We started our "church shopping" this weekend - for those of you who attend COR, you will understand that Pastor Adam has very big shoes to fill. There are no Methodist churches here, so we are really starting anew. We chose the church that had fellowship hikes planned for all the summer weekends and cross-country skiing outings throughout the winter....you have to find some common ground! There are a few other churches that we are going to check out over the next few weeks in hopes of finding a new church home, and hopefully some new friends too - please keep us in your prayers as we journey through this phase of life in JH.
Barry decided to break in the smoker this weekend - and boy did he outdo himself. We had amazing smoked salmon (Dave Becker's famous recipe) and smoked shrimp (recipe below - this is the best thing I have ever tasted & it was delicious the next day in shrimp tacos). On Sunday we smoked some spareribs...the eating is good in JH!
Once the ribs were smoking we couldn't resist another hike, since the weather was perfect (again) and we had time to kill waiting for the ribs to smoke. We chose a flatland hike in the Wild Game & Fish management area which is just south of where we live. It was a disappointing outing, not only due to the level terrain, but also due to the wildlife that we saw. Yes, we do have more sightings to add to our ever growing list of wildlife, just this was a bit more scary/odd. The first thing that we came upon was a dead horse - ugh. It looks as though he had a tree fall on him. NOT PRETTY:

 
 The next wildlife that we encountered was a snake - yikes! I never even thought about snakes here. Luckily it was a baby snake, so I just screeched a baby yell. But then, I almost stepped on a larger snake and I let out the largest scream you could imagine - almost put Barry into cardiac arrest! Now I know that I would not handle a surprise sighting of something like a bear (or maybe my scream would put it in cardiac arrest and we would survive??). I need to hone my skills of acting cool, calm and collective. The rest of the hike was uneventful (thank goodness); I have attached a few pictures of the views:


View from the flatland out to the Tetons



View looking East - I need to figure out what
those mountains are called!





















Still lots to do and see while the weather is nice. Just found out about this local attraction on my way home for the rec. center the other day - maybe Barry & I will check it out next weekend:

You know a town is good when it has a corn maze!!

A FABULOUS SHRIMP RECIPE!!

Mustard Marinated Shrimp

2 lbs. shrimp - cleaned, peeled,deviened (16-20 count) - I left tails on

1 1/2 c. veg. or canola oil

1/2 c. white wine - save the rest of the bottle for dinner:)

1 TBSP. Lemon Juice, fresh

3 TBSP. stone ground Dijon mustard

1 tsp. black pepper, cracked

1 tsp. kosher or sea salt (not table salt)

1 tsp. Fresh Dill, minced (I used dried dillweed)

Combine all ingredients together and blend well. Keep cold until ready to use (I let sit in fridge for about an hour to blend the flavors). Stir marinade to incorporated the ingredients again, before using.

Peel and clean the shrimp. Place in a glass dish. Pour marinade over shrimp and toss to coat evenly. Allow to marinate about 30 minute - not longer. Over marinating shrimp will cause them to be tough.

After marinating shrimp, put them on skewers and let them drain well.

Place in pre-heated 200 degree smoker (we used oak chips).

Smoke for 30 minutes then ENJOY (with the rest of the bottle of white wine)!!

Bird's Eye Views

Well another weekend in Jackson Hole - another hike! Today we awoke to not so favorable looking skies, so we relaxed &  made a nice breakfast. By the time we were finished - the weather had changed to beautiful. They say here that if you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes! It is so true - the weather changes rapidly - and lucky for us it was for the better today.

We decided to try out a hike Barry read about in his new book. The trailhead was actually only about 4 miles from our house and the hike would take us to the top of Snow King Mountain (the ski mountain that is in downtown JH - not the large ski resort). The trail was called Josie's Ridge and it was rated a steep terrain (not recommended for bikes). One of the things that we learned in Barry's new book was that you can add "effort miles" for your hikes. Every 500 feet you climb in elevation, you can add an "effort mile" to your total hike length - sweet! Oh yeah, what I wasn't thinking was about the amount of effort/exertion that this hike was going to take - the combination of the instant uphill climb, the narrow path and the steep drop off the side of the trail - I think that I was suffering from intense vertigo - ugh (or it was the late night happy hour that we stuck around for at the Cadillac Bar after the movie last night - not sure). Poor Barry had to stop and wait for me, as we had hiked up the steepest terrain and there was no way we were going to go back down that way - to the top was the only solution....after I rested!

Barry ready to go on Josie's Ridge Hike

When we got to the top of the ridge, on the back side of the ski mountain, we realized that we had a beautiful bird's eye view of Jackson Hole. Check out the pictures below to get a good idea of the area that we live in - this is a great way to see everything!
 

This is south Jackson - about 1 mile south of Town Square

 

Overlooking Jackson Hole High School - nice views from the
football stadium/track!

 

Bird's eye view of Melody Ranch (our neighborhood). It is
located just south of town (about 4 miles from town square).

 

This view shows the road that heads away from town (west) towards
the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (you can see ski trails
on mountainside in far back right of picture)

Once we reached the summit (YEAH! We have now climbed to the summit of both ski mountains in Jackson Hole) we came across a bit of a "roadblock" on the trail:

Hello Red tail fox! He just stood there and stared at Barry...he won,
we took an alternate route! Cute, but not willing to get any closer.

Once we crested the mountain we had an amazing view of the Tetons! Summit elevation 7,760 feet. Elevation gain 1.640 ft. (over 3 additional effort miles - yahoo, more banana cream pie tonight!)

 Once we started descending the front side of the mountain we had a picture perfect view of downtown Jackson Hole with the National Elk Refuge in clear view beyond town.

Downtown Jackson Hole - view from the top of Snow King Mountain



Downtown with the National Elk Refuge stretching beyond the town to the north.
The road leading out of town heads to the airport and on to Grand Teton National Park.

So our 6.5 mile hike (excluding effort miles!) gave us (and you) the opportunity to get a bird's eye view of Jackson Hole. After hiking down the front side of the ski mountain (I think that skiing downhill will be more rewarding than hiking downhill) we took a 3 mile trail to get back to the south side of town, and it had a very familiar name:

We took the KC Trail, but it did not lead us back to Kansas!

 Another glorious day - I would still swear that we are on vacation...and that is good!

Movie Recommendations - we saw The Social Network when the kids were in town - excellent! Last night we went to see Secretariat - another winner!

Celebrating in Jackson Hole

Yesterday we celebrated Barry's 49th! Hard to believe that he is entering his final year in the 40's - need to start planning the big party for next year (mark your calendars)!  He can't feel too bad about his age though, a shop owner in town the other day thought that Barry & Derek were Ashley's brothers! I didn't ask him if he thought I was the mother of all of them or not!

I met Barry in town for lunch at Betty Rock Cafe. We sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine and 70 degrees overlooking Snow King Mountain Resort (small in-town ski area - greatest vertical drop in North America...don't think that you will find us there anytime soon).



HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARRY!!



View of Snow King Ski Area - downtown JH


















After work we decided to take a walk to a local Pub that is about a mile away for Happy Hour. This place has an awesome view of the mountains, and a great outdoor patio - may be a great place to host that party next year. The great thing is they also have a free shuttle! So, when you come visit we can walk to The Bird, enjoy beautiful sunsets, beer & burgers and then catch a ride home - sweet! We watched the sunset over the Tetons (for the first time I did not have my camera - bummer) and then had a chilly walk home.  The evening rounded out enjoying steak dinner, a nice bottle of wine and Barry's favorite dessert - homemade Banana Cream Pie (no altitude adjustment needed for this recipe)!


High Altitude prevents you from being able
 to have too many candles to blow out!





My biggest challenge continues to be "What to get a guy who has everything... and now lives in JH and needs everything to survive here!" Well, he got an "all access" ski pass - come out and ski (I am just a "weekend warrior" ski pass holder - weekdays are for shopping with friends when they visit). And the kids got him some new fleece jackets...a must for the weather. I also got him another hiking book and a hiking watch with a compass, altimeter, barometer etc. - never will we get lost again! But I did find what I thought was the perfect gift while window shopping yesterday....hope that it won't be too bulky through his clothes:


Had a difficult time determining tail or no tail. Hope that
he won't seem like too much of a tourist with this!

So all in all I think that it was a successful celebration. Hope to next year be celebrating with all of you out here when he turns the BIG 5-0!

NEW FRIENDS!!!!
Wanted to let you all know that I have met a number of new friends - we go on long walks and window shopping together and have great conversations; although I still miss all of my OP friends and family:


Chloe - wanted to adopt her, but she got taken an hour before I got there :(



Brooke - a real sweetie




Red - awesome friend!



















Actually my "new friends" are all from the local animal shelter! I go there and walk the dogs - it is a great shelter that allows you to come and walk the dogs around town to get them socialized and also seen by the locals so that they can get adopted. All of the dogs go home each night to a foster home - they are never caged or left alone! It is an awesome facility and hopefully where we will find our new family member. I will keep you posted on when the perfect pup finds us!  In the meantime, I am the resident dog walker - I love it!

Wishes DO Come True!

This is going to be a quick blog, as we have both Derek & Ashley home for the weekend...but wanted to send a brief update - I couldn't resist!

Wishes are truly something that we all live with in our daily lives. Sometimes they are more serious than others & sometimes they come true & other times they seem to do just the opposite. I would say that for the Nelsons, it has been a "charmed" few days. Read on...

WISH #1 - Barry & I wanted the kids to come "home"to Jackson Hole, for their fall break. We wanted them to not only see where we are enjoying our new life (although they are blog followers and feel they know our daily adventures), but also wanted them to enjoy a bit of fall before the snow arrives.
WISH GRANTED - both kids arrived on Friday evening for a long weekend - yeah!

WISH#2 - Hoped that the weather, which just this week changed from clear blue skies & 80 degrees, to typical fall weather, would at least be nice enough to get a few hikes in.
WISH GRANTED - today we woke up to partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the 40's, with the high predicted in the low 60's.We were on our way to Bradley/Taggert Lake for a 6.5 mile hike!

WISH #3 - Ashley really wanted to see wildlife on the hike...beyond the chipmunks that were darting across the path; she wanted to see a moose!
WISH GRANTED - As the kids walked out on a rock to get a better look at the lake (and for me to get a snapshot of them with the Tetons in the background) their eyes got VERY WIDE...there were 2 moose standing in the lake - a baby and a huge Dad! We then found that there were two more moose just around the bend. It was soooo cool - we were standing on a rock in the lake staring at moose!

 



WISH #4 - As we were completing the last mile and a half of our hike the terrain had changed dramatically. We were on a path that was skirting a large field with a small stream running through it and a wooded forest across from us. Derek commented that this would be the perfect place to see a bear - a perfect bear habitat - then he wished that he could see a bear.
WISH GRANTED - YIKES....a big black bear!!!! Yes, within minutes of Derek making that comment, he suddenly witnessed a bear plodding across the field toward the stream for a drink of water. Both Barry & I went into what the kids called "panic mode," as they were encouraging me to snap pictures. I was more concerned with my bear safety that I have been reading up on: backtrack where you came from; ring bells (didn't have any with us of course); don't drop your back pack; stand still if they charge you etc. Luckily the bear was satisfied after his drink of cool water and turned towards the forest and retreated away from us. It was then, and only then, that I could say that I was glad that we actually got that wish granted!


HELLO BLACK BEAR!



THANK GOODNESS all he wanted was a drink of water
and not a snack!

 WISH #5 - I just wanted to see a deer - you know, something sweet like Bambi! I couldn't take any more bear sightings.
WISH GRANTED - As we were at the end of the trail, parking lot in clear view, we came upon a small herd of deer. They were so cute, much less daunting than the big black bear!

WISH #6 - The Gators to beat LSU
Okay, not ALL Wishes come true...another miserable week for Gator Fans!

WISH #7 -A fabulous homecooked meal with the family
WISH GRANTED - Barry was able to muster up the energy, after a hike and a Gator loss, to grill steak & scallops for us all! We will have to let you know how the dessert turned out in the next blog...when I divulge the tricks & trades of baking in high altitude. Hopefully the Chocolate Chip Brownie Torte that has always been a family favorite will meet expectations!

Hope you all a fabulous weekend & that all of your wishes come true!

Weekend Warriors

We have enjoyed unbelievably nice weather since our arrival in early September - breaking records daily, so we need to soak it up and enjoy. We can't let a beautiful day go by without checking out another adventure. Plus we want to be sure that we are perfect tour guides/hosts when you all come to visit us.
Saturday morning took us out to Teton National Forest for a 4-mile hike to Phelps Lake. On our way out to the trailhead, we came across a "Moose Jam," you know when a bunch of cars pull off to the side of the road to watch a family of moose graze in the Snake River. It is truly amazing that we were about 25 feet from these beautiful, large creatures! We sent pics from our cell phones to some friends back home, and they continued to accuse us of getting the pictures from Animal Planet. HELLO - we live in Jackson Hole Wyoming if you forgot...this IS REAL!

After stopping with all of the other tourists to get pictures of the moose (gotta have good BLOG Pics!) we headed out on our hike. Phelps lake was a beautiful lake, and the weather was gorgeous. There were amazing lake and Canyon views, and even a beautiful sandy beach (never would have thought I'd see that in Wyoming). We would probably save this hike for earlier in the summer when the wildflowers were still in bloom next year. Still a great day/experience and awesome prelude to going home to settle down & watch the Gators vs. Alabama.


Our First "peek" at the lake on our hike!



 


Want to hike the canyons in the summer!

 "It's Great to Be A Florida Gator!"

It's always great to be a Florida Gator - but some days are harder than others! The Gators got destroyed by Bama 31-6...ugh! NOT the way to end a wonderful day...let's hope for a better showing against LSU next weekend. Derek went to the game to meet up with one of his best friends from High School. According to him the party before/after was much better than the game!

Sunday:

We headed into town for brunch at a popular restaurant called The Bunnery ("Get Your Buns in Here") to fuel up before our big hike. I wanted to go farther into the park so we could see Jackson Lake and the Teton reflection and Barry wanted a longer/more strenuous hike, so we settled on Colter Bay near the north end of the park. We were once again amazed as we rounded the corner at the southern point of Jackson Lake, one of the most photographed areas in Grand Teton National Park. Thought that I would include a picture for you - I still gasp every time I round the bend - it is breathtaking! (There was a bit of a haze due to the 10 wildfires currently burning in Yellowstone National Park and 7 burning in Bridger-Teton National Forest).

Mount Moran reflecting into Jackson Hole Lake, Teton National Forest, WY



 Now on to our hike (to work off our fabulous brunch) - an 11+ mile hike to Hermitage Point. This hike was absolutely spectacular, from beginning to end the views were beyond what I could capture with a camera. Hopefully  when you visit you will be game for this one (or for the faint of heart the first 1/2 mile is a smooth path with spectacular views of Mount Moran and Sleeping Indian - the 1-mile loop is a great hike and a "must do" for all).

This is the view of Mount Moran at the beginning of the hike.
Definitely worth at least going the 1-mile loop!

 Barry & I continued our hike at a good clip, since we had a long way to go (and for some reason I think that Barry thinks that the fastest one there "wins." I still STOP and look/enjoy, better safe than first!). We came to Heron Pond and were trying to figure out if some birds we saw were actually Heron (later we found they were not even close to a Heron), and then followed the path to the right. Suddenly the trail looked different than any trail we had traveled before. I even stopped to snap a pic for the blog, since it was so different.



The "Trail"

As we were climbing up, over and around the many obstacles some snippets of our conversation went as follows:
M - "Are you sure this is the right way, there are a lot of trees down across the trail"
B - "This is just not as popular of a trail"
M - "I am going to take a picture of this trail, it is like a maze. At least it would have made sense if this is where I fell"
M - "They need to get some boy scouts out here to do some work"
B - "The path has gotten so much narrower than when we started the hike"
M - "I sure am glad that I wore long pants, this path is so narrow and I am getting whacked by the brush"
M - "The Tetons used to be on our right, now they are on our left - I think we are going the wrong way"
B - "I think that if we keep going it will turn" (bubble of Michele's thoughts - WHAT? The Tetons will turn around?)
B - "They need better signs here"
B - (Gets out phone to see which direction we are heading) "I have no service"
M - "Let's look at the trail map"

Both - "Oops the pond was supposed to be on our right - we turned the wrong way on the trail...right where that tree was covering the trail!"



Sooo, we got an extra 1.2 miles added to or hike, right at the beginning of the day...Barry wanted exercise! And we learned a few things:

• Hiking Lesson #1 - the trails in the National Forests are nicely maintained and DO NOT have trees down across them.
• Hiking Lesson #2 - A tree across a trail means the trail is closed.
• Hiking Lesson #3 - When you come across people wearing Texas shirts, who look just as lost as you, and they try to tell you which way to go - head the opposite direction (not sure if those folks ever made it out of there!)

The rest of the hike was full of natural beauty and no more wrong turns! I must say that the last mile was the longest mile, and we were both very glad to see the parking lot (and the bathroom)! I am thinking that the boyscouts need to add a few things to the longer trails: chairs/benches for resting your feet, bathrooms (I'd even take an outhouse) and how about a picnic table! Here are some pictures from our 11-mile loop (don't worry it will only be 9.8 when we take you, we won't make that wrong turn again). When we got out to the point the views were so amazing - a great place for a picnic! We came across an artist perched on the bluff painting the Tetons...oh the life!


Barry on the RIGHT PATH to Hermitage Point!

 

The view at Hermitage Point.
I want to know what is on that island! 

 

It was time to head back to town. On the way back home we came across a small herd of Elk and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

I don't know, but for some reason as I look at what our daily life in Jackson Hole has been to date, I still feel like I am on vacation! Hope that this feeling never ends :)