A Spectacular Weekend in the Tetons

 

I've had a few weekends this past week... Although not the Saturday/Sunday kind.  I had one of my weekends on Wednesday and Thursday which was the best one by far!  Then I had a quasi day off on Saturday and Sunday although I technically worked both.  And now, I have Monday and Tuesday off!  Although this is weird as well because the weather forecast is for rain both days.  I was hoping to get out into Yellowstone to explore but that may have to wait a bit.

 

I work the night shift now.  That means its absolutely normal for me to be sitting up this late at night blogging, right?  Also totally normal for me to be sitting in the middle of a hotel lobby taking advantage of free wifi, right?  Wrong.  It's really weird.  And totally abnormal but I'm pretending that its okay because I have no other choice. 

 

 The picture up above is my newest purchase.  I went into Jackson on Wednesday and bought hiking shoes!  I had no idea what I was really looking for in a pair of hiking shoes but I tried on a lot of them and decided to take the advice of the helpful man at the store.  He heard what I told him about the kind of hiking I would be doing and the location of my hikes and suggested I try the pair he brought up from the secret shoe cache.  Even though I wasn't a fan of the color, he pointed out that comfort is most important and also that there hopefully wouldn't be many people out on the trail in the first place to see my shoes or care about the color of them. 

His advice turned out to be right and it allowed me to experience one of the best hikes I've had in a long time.  I had heard a lot of people recommend the trails around Jenny Lake.  I decided to hike up to Hidden Falls and Inspiration point.  However, that turned out to be much more of a feat than prior hikers in the area because a section of the trail was closed due to some type of landslide and the reconstruction of the trail.  So I had to make my way back down and all the way around to see Inspiration Point.  After a quick break for food and water and an absolutely gorgeous view, I decided I wasn't quite done hiking yet for the day.  

 

  I retraced my steps to the string lake trail and considered my options.  The decision was clear to me - leave the crowds of people behind and continue on to see some of the more beautiful lakes in the park.  I hiked around the west side of Jenny Lake and took the trail around to the east side of String Lake.  The water was so inviting!  Clear, blue, cold, and sparkling.  I had to take my shoes and socks off and wade in water.  It was cold but so refreshing!  I also couldn't have asked for a better view.

 

 I wanted so badly to continue on to Leigh Lake but I was running out of daylight and energy and decided to turn around before I regretted not doing so.  I knew I still had 3 more miles left to travel and I didn't want to short change that portion of trail.  Turns out that was a good decision.  I was hiking alone and the sign at the beginning of the 3 miles Jenny Lake stretch warned of bear attacks.  I decided to pull out my phone and play some loud music to scare away wildlife.  The first song that came on was Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off"... apparently the wildlife like that song as much as I do!  I rounded a corner in the trail and some elk were standing in the middle of the path grazing.  When they heard me, instead of running off like I had hoped, they simply looked at me with interest and curiosity!  I imagined they had never heard Taylor Swift before and were considering sticking around to hear the rest of the song!  Eventually they did run off but only after I yelled at them and made more noise.

 

I was absolutely exhausted after my hike but my soul was refreshed.  When I got home I calculated the length of the route that I traveled.  As it turns out, I went 11.1 miles!!  I was proud of myself.  And excited by the fact that my new shoes were so comfortable!  I didn't get any blisters and I had really good traction on the trail.  It was a good day.

 

 (below: String Lake trail looking back toward Inspiration Point)

 

 

 (below: river section connecting String Lake and Jenny Lake)

 

Keep reading, I had a lot more pictures than I did words in this blog.....

 

 

Tonight I researched restaurants in West Yellowstone.  My friend Bonnie recommended an Italian place called Serenity.  It looked good and was open late so I decided to check it out.  It was totally worth it!   I had feta, basil, and sun dried tomato crostini as an appetizer, butternut squash ravioli with brown butter, cinnamon, and walnut glaze, and salted caramel crème brulee for dessert. 

You'll have to check out the picture of my dessert below.  It didn't look like crème brulee to me but it tasted great so I didn't question it.  Maybe they made the dessert differently in some parts of Italy?  Or Montana? 

OH!  I visited another state!  I'm in Montana right now, not Wyoming.  Its pretty neat that I can drive 45 minutes and be in a totally different state.

I hope to find a place closer by my house with wifi so I don't have to poach it from places in town. 

My inspirational quote for the night is, "Life's short.  Eat Dinner for Breakfast."  ;)

I'll let you know how it works out for me...