Jackson Hole, WY - July 2011

Teton National Park

For our 10th Anniversary, we celebrated in Jackson Hole for 5 days. What a beautiful place! The Tetons are majestic - quite rocky and still snow capped in July. The weather was warm, in the 80's during the day, yet breezy, making it quite comfortable for hiking. There are so many outdoor activities to choose from and for the foodies, there are plenty of great restaurants as well. It is definitely a place worth visiting if you enjoy the outdoors!

Accommodation:

Amangani Resort

We stayed at the Amangani Resort, a gorgeous hotel on top of a butte, overlooking the mountains and the valley. The service and accommodation were amazing down to the ice tea ice cubes so that your drink never dilutes! This place certainly was a treat for us - Keith reminded me several times that we would not be staying in a place like this in retirement. I told him to work harder!

Activities:
When we arrived on Friday, we walked around the town of Jackson, visiting several of the art galleries. We were drawn to one beautiful photo of the Tetons in the John Richter gallery and so we treated ourselves by buying one to hang above our fireplace.




Phelps Lake

On Saturday, we went to Grand Teton National Park and hiked around Phelps Lake as well as up to the lookout point. The hike was fairly easy and it took us about four hours. It offered beautiful views of a few of the mountains and of course of the lake. On the hike, we saw two marmots, a deer, a moose and her calf and a black bear. Thankfully, when we ran into the black bear, there was an older couple right in front of us who had pepper spray. Fortunately, they did not have to use it but we hiked with them for the rest of the hike just in case!



Cascade Canyon

On Sunday, we went back to the Grand Teton National Park and hiked up the Cascade Canyon from Jenny Lake. This is quite a popular hike which takes about four and a half hours - it was a bit more strenuous than the day before but still quite easy. We decided to skip the hike around the lake to get to the starting point by taking a short boat ride across the lake. The hike was stunning with breathtaking views of Grand Teton and Mount Moran. We came across a large moose that was quite close to us - after taking a few photos, we slowly walked away to avoid being trampled!

On Monday, we decided to enjoy the hotel and relax. It ended up being too cool to sit by the pool so we relaxed indoors and read. We each got a massage which helped ease our sore legs.

Restaurants:
Snake River Grill
Located in Jackson, this restaurant has a nice rustic style. The interior looks like a mountain cabin. To start, we had the tortilla soup and a salad, both of which were OK but not memorable. For our entree, we shared the elk chop which was slammin'. For dessert, we had the eskimo logs which is an ice cream bar dipped in chocolate with a side of caramel for additional dipping - interesting and quite tasty. Although we were not impressed with the starters, we definitely recommend going here.

Trio
Also located in town, this restaurant serves very tasty food in a casual environment.  We shared the pork spare ribs for an appetizer which was tender and flavorful.  For our entree, we shared the special which was a ragout pasta and a side of waffle fries with blue cheese - both quite yummy.  And for dessert, we shared the apple pie with ice cream.

Couloir
This restaurant is located on top of one of the mountains in Teton Village.  You have to take a 15 minute gondola ride to get to the restaurant.  It is a small place with beautiful views of the valley.  The menu is a four course prix fix menu which we thoroughly enjoyed.  We had scallops and a salad to start, followed by lamb and pork.  The dessert was a trio of goodies but not the best dessert so we only nibbled on it.  A great place to go for a special occasion.

The Grill @ Amangani

For our last night, we opted to eat at our hotel where they offered a bar-b-cue buffet in honor of the July 4th holiday.  We had a nice bottle of wine along with ribs, chicken and salmon.  At the end of our meal and much to our surprise, we found out that our dinner was paid for by Keith's parents as a gift for our anniversary.  It was truly a treat!

Marmot

Moose













More photos of this trip: