Day 3

Day 3: 6/21/2010

Start and End in Jackson Hole

Today's Miles: 52
Total Miles: 758

Hiking miles: 5+

Marriage status: testy at times, but still strong

Today's notes:

Today we started out by checking our map of Grand Teton National Park and picking a trail for a half day hike. Not a bad way to start the day at all. Then we headed to downtown Jackson for breakfast and to pick up some more fuel for our stove (hence the reason for going in town for breakfast). Of course as usual we walked into the outdoors store for one thing and left with three (what can I say, even mediocre adventurers enjoy gear). But we were able to show great restraint by going into a camera shop and buying nothing. This was especially difficult for Tomme and I had trouble catching my breath when I realized he did not spend all our money there. Traffic in downtown Jackson is a little annoying and spurred our first marital tiff of the trip. But after proving I was right, as indeed I always am, it was resolved (this is not how it went down according to my husband, but I don't think that matters right?).

Next we headed back to the campsite to make sure we had a spot for the night since we did not have this night reserved, and then changed and packed a daypack and headed off for the park. We did a beautiful little 5+ mile hike that took us to two magnificent mountain lakes. We parked are butts on a rock in the water of one lakes and had a bite to eat as we enjoyed the view. On the rock next to us there were some kids who thought it was a good idea to do a polar bear plunge in the lake, and all I could think was, "damn kids, they are going to make me work on my vacation by making me treat them for hypothermia". So we did what any good nurse would do and got the heck out of there before that was necessary. I was a little disappointed we didn't see a moose on the hike, but I'm still holding out hope we will see one tomorrow on our way out of town.

After the hike we went into town and picked up a little salad from the deli at the local grocery store to go with our dinner and a bottle of wine. For our dinner we made mac and cheese with powdered cheese and milk (which was ok, but not great), and had salad and pineapple on the side. Then for dessert we made brownies in a bag using a recipe from the camping cookbook we got and it was awesome. During and after dinner we talked with another couple staying in the tent spot next to ours. The woman was a nurse and the man a well known statistician consultant. Apparently he has had his stuff in Forbes magazine numerous times and has been hired by major companies and celebrities. That's right celebrities hire statisticians. Probably to figure out things like how their fan base will respond to a new haircut they want to try. But even though he was discreet and wouldn't tell us the names of these celebrities he was really interesting, and we had a great time talking to them over our wine by the fire.

Mediocre tip: Talk to the people around you on your travels, people are interesting. Why do you think we have so many reality shows?



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Location:Jackson Hole