"Sarasota Sisters" and Cathy hit the streets of Jackson Hole

Cathy, Adele, Lorraine, Dianne, Me

The McDevitt sisters (Adele, Lorraine, and Dianne) and Cathy Kobren arrived in Jackson Hole on Wednesday.  Any time the "sistas" are together, you know there will be a lot of laughter.  It is easy to refer to them as the "Golden Girls", not because of their age, but because of the hilarious way that they interact whenever they are together.  I am so happy that they convinced Cathy to join them on their visit out to Jackson Hole because she adds so much to the group.  Having Cathy here also means that I am not the only one laughing at and with the "Golden Girls."

Since their arrival in Jackson Hole on Wednesday, the girls have been kicking up their heels and having a blast.  Their first afternoon, they spent a few hours driving around and taking in all the beautiful fall colors.

It seems as if the fall colors are changing every minute of every day.  It is simply beautiful here in
September!


On their first outing of their stay here in Jackson Hole, I was working at the ranch and the girls took a driving tour on their own.  They enjoyed themselves a lot but had many stories to tell.  Imagine my surprise when they pulled into the garage and started painting the bumper of their rental car!  It seems that while driving the roads of the Grand Teton National Park, a log had jumped into their path causing the bumper to hang off just a
bit.  It turns out that a fair amount of paint was also missing from the bumper.  They were able to pound the bumper back in place and decided that a can of spray paint would cover the damage.

Dianne and Cathy checking the bumper

Cathy the artist painting the bumper

On Thursday, the girls enjoyed the historical walking tour of the Town Square and enjoyed a few galleries and shops.  When I finished work, we enjoyed catching up on their adventures of the day and we prepared to attend "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" at the western playhouse in downtown Jackson.

We enjoyed all the fun of the playhouse and the actors/actress who also served as our singing waitress.

Our singing waitress

Cathy and Dianne enjoying the saddle bar

The Sarasota Sisters practicing their Cowgirl moves

This morning (Friday) the girls headed out to hike and I had my final day of work at the ranch.  My job has been fun and I can honestly say I am glad I took the job.  It was fun to meet my co-workers at the ranch and to get to know them these last 4 months.  I also enjoyed meeting the ranch guest and being constantly surprised at the "six degrees of separation" that really does exist in the world.

View from the Float office at the ranch on my last day of work

After work today (Friday), I joined up with the girls and we enjoyed a beautiful scenic float down the Snake River.  The beautiful fall colors made this float trip different from the others that I have taken during my time here in Jackson.

Float trip view

Float trip view

Cathy and Dianne enjoying the float trip

Lorraine and Adele enjoying the float trip

Float trip view

Float trip view

Float trip view

A tree that the beavers almost have down

Beautiful Tetons

We all worked up a good appetite with our busy day and were eager to enjoy a wonderful dinner at The Snake River Grill in downtown Jackson.   The atmosphere at The Snake River Grill is my favorite in town.  It is designed and decorated like a cozy ski lodge and the food is mouth watering good.  I enjoyed the best Bison ribs I have ever eaten in my life.  It is also fair to say that they were the first Bison ribs I had ever eaten in my life.  The girls also enjoyed their dinners!

Near the entrance of the Snake River Grill

Enjoying Fall in Jackson Hole

Beautiful fall colors with the Tetons in the background

It was a beautiful fall weekend in Jackson Hole.  I enjoyed a lazy few days off from the ranch and I had no guest in town.  On Saturday, I enjoyed what has become one of my favorite Jackson Hole past times. After sleeping late on Saturday, I headed into town to enjoy the beautiful weather and sunshine.  I passed a few friends along the way on Spring Gulch Road.

Friends along Spring Gulch Road

I left the house to spend a few hours at the town Farmer's Market which surrounds the town square.  Before heading over to the action, I stopped at my favorite breakfast spot to fill up my tank, read the paper and enjoy the fall sunshine.

The Lotus Cafe - my favorite breakfast spot

My favorite table at the Lotus Cafe

This saturday was a special Farmer's Market celebration called "Community Fall Festival."  The festival celebrated the end of the season and a way to give back to the community.  There was a free sit down meal of pasta prepared by the Jackson Hole High School culinary class.  There are over 35 booths that line the Town Sqaurte.  More than 25 businesses near the Town Square also participated in the festival and created a pedestrian mall and street sale.  On one corner of the Town Square there was a stage set up for a local band to play music throughout the festival.  It was a great way to spend a few hours on a beautiful fall day.

Community Fall Festival on the Town Square

More from the Community Fall Festival on the Town Square

Fall colors in Jackson Hole

More Fun with Stacy in Town

View from raft on scenic float trip

On Thursday, Sept. 22nd, Stacy and Tricia and I enjoyed a lovely scenic float trip down the Snake River.  The fall season has arrived in Jackson Hole and the colors are changing daily.  The vibrant colors remind me of my favorite October days while living in New Jersey.  Along with the fall colors, we are having cooler temperatures and shorter days.  The animals are moving around more and searching out their mating partner for the season!

Stacy and Tricia spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Yellowstone and took it all in. Unfortunately, they did not see a bear and this was very disappointing to Tricia.  I told her that she should just plan to return next summer and keep looking for a bear.  After doing a lot of driving on Tuesday and Wednesday, Stacy and Tricia decided to take it easy in the house on Thursday morning while I slaved away at Triangle X in the float office.  Much to their delight, a few deer hung out in the yard all day.  It was not as exciting as a bear, but Tricia enjoyed the deer all day.

One of the deer who hung out with Stacy and Tricia all day

I finished work on Thursday at 1:00pm and headed home to join up with Stacy and Tricia.  We were scheduled on the 4:00pm scenic float trip and we enjoyed it a lot.  There were 3 "good ole southern boys" in our section of the raft.  These boys were so southern that two of them were wearing corduroy shirts with animals on them.  They were all from small Mississippi towns that I had never heard of.  Combined with Tricia's southern accent, the front of the boat might as well have been singing "Dixie."  The southern boys were great.  Our other raft mates looked as if they had just stepped of the Jersey Shore.

A bit of Jersey Shore on our raft

With the fall colors and beautiful weather, the views we saw from the raft were lovely.

Can you see the momma moose and her baby on the right?

After the scenic float trip, we enjoyed dinner and the view at Dornan's.

Stacy and Tricia at Dornan"s

In Jackson Hole, there are many different modes of transportation to get you where you want to be.  A family rode on up to Dornan's while we were enjoying dinner!

A regular mode of transportation in Jackson Hole

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in Jackson Hole

Monday Night Entertainment in Jackson Hole

On Monday night, Stacy, Tricia and I found ourselves downtown at the local western theatre to see the performance of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  The performance took place in a very old theatre that still looks like it is from "back in the day" of customers riding up on horses and buying a drink in the saloon.  It is a very cute place and provided a fun evening out old time "Jackson Hole" style.

Our evening started in the saloon for our pre-show dinner.  The food was good and delivered by a singing serving staff!

Our dinner location

A singing waitress took our order and delivered our food

Sitting at the bar in the saloon - notice the saddle bar stools

The show was very good.  The performers had a tremendous amount of energy and the story was fun.  They even adapted the play to have Jackson Hole as the town and made many reference to many things around the area.  As the first half of the play took place, there was even a deer head on the wall whose mouth moved from time to time.  Stacy totally disagreed with me about the mouth moving deer head, but I know what I saw and I saw that deer's mouth move!  During the intermission, Stacy continued to insist that the deer's mouth was not moving.  I hated to do it, but she forced me into it.   Knowing it would drive her crazy and positive that it would add to the fun of the evening, I walked up on the stage to examine the deer head more closely.  Knowing that it would send Stacy even further over the edge and into a fit of laughter, I then asked the other audience members if they in fact had seen the deer's mouth move.  I simply can't explain the looks on the faces of the folks in the theatre or the laughter coming from Stacy as she tried to hide in her seat and have the others think she did not know me!  Great fun!  

Mouth moving deer head

Stacy and Tricia are in Jackson Hole

My sister Stacy and her best friend from college (Ole Miss) are in town for a visit.  It is great having them here and showing them around Jackson Hole.  Stacy and Tricia arrived late on Friday night and we made sure to wake up early on Saturday to drive north for a scenic cruise on Jackson Lake.  Our first stop was at Colter Bay where we began our scenic cruise from the marina.

Colter Bay and Mount Moran

Our scenic cruise began at 10:30am when we boarded our little boat for a 90 minute trip.  Our Captain's name was Brent and he did a wonderful job of navigating us around Jackson Lake so that we got an up close and personal look at Mount Moran and the Teton mountain range.  Joining us on the scenic cruise was tour guide "Les" who spoke to us the entire 90 minutes about the historical and geological aspects of the area.

Captain Brent

Tour Guide Les

Mount Moran and Jackson Lake

In Grand Teton National Park

After a nice tour of Jackson Lake, we headed back to Jackson and did just a bit of shopping before we met up with our 4:00 "Eco Tour".

Stacy shopping in town at the Mangy Moose

Our tour guide's name was Sara.  The purpose of the "Eco Tour" was  for us to find wildlife in the area.  Sara also educated us with all types of ecological facts, figures and history about the Jackson area.  Tricia arrived in Jackson Hole with the mission of seeing a bear.  I have been doing everything in my limited power to have a bear show up for Tricia, but so far we have struck out on this "bear mission."  Stacy and Tricia are planning on spending two days in Yellowstone later this week and I keep telling Tricia that Yellowstone will be her best place for seeing a bear.  I sure hope that I am right.

On Sunday, we began our day with a lazy morning and then we headed to town for a bit of a stroll and some shopping.  It was another beautiful day in Jackson and we all enjoyed the lovely fall weather.

Tricia and Stacy shopping on the town square

After our shopping stroll around the town square, we headed over the Teton Pass into Idaho to taste the world famous huckelberry shake at the Victor Emporium!  I have heard great things about the emporium and especially about the huckelberry shake since my arrival here in Jackson in June.  We were not disappointed in the emporium or the huckelberry shake at all!  If you ever find yourself in Victor, Idaho you need to stop by the emporium, sit up at the bar and just enjoy!

Having fun at the Emporium

More fun at the Emporium

The making of our huckelberry shakes

Enjoying our huckelberry shakes

After our "shake brake" we headed back to Jackson to rest up a bit before we enjoyed a great dinner at Jenny Lake Lodge.  Jenny Lake Lodge was named for a Shoshone woman who was married to the legendary trapper "Beaver Dick" Leigh.  Jenny, Beaver Dick and their three children camped here in 1872 while Beaver Dick guided the first exploring party in the area.  They so impressed the members of the survey party that Leigh and Jenny Lakes were named for them.  Four years later the Christmas season of 1876 found Beaver Dick trying desperately to nurse his beloved Jenny and their six children through the dreaded smallpox.  He lost them all.  In 1922 bachelor cowboy Tony Grace chose the land where Jenny Lake Lodge now stands as the setting for his small guest ranch.  By 1930, the ranch grew to a five cabin operation.  At this time, Tony sold the ranch to a company owned by John D. Rockefeller Jr.  Rockefeller was buying up land on the valley floor to add to the small Grand Teton National Park which had been formed in 1929.

Before dinner at Jackson Lake Lodge