Jackson Hole #2

Kristen’s first fish!

Cara and Keenan all decked out for downhill mountain biking

We met up with my family in Jackson Hole, for a week-long vacation.  The group consisted of Kristen and myself, my mom, dad, sister Cara, and her boyfriend Keenan.

Again, the easiest way to describe the trip is day-by-day:

Day 1: everyone arrived in the afternoon and we rode the Jackson Hole gondola to the top of the mountain for some evening drinks (we were staying at a beautiful ski-in/ski-out condo right at the base of the mountain).

Day 2: Grand Teton National Park.  We all piled into the rented Ford Flex and went for a tour of the park.  The highlight of the day was the hike to Inspiration Point, above Jenny Lake.  This may have been my mom’s first experience with a ‘real’ hike – about 4-5 miles with a decent elevation gain.  She took about a billion pictures.  I think she liked it.  On the way back down, Keenan led us on a cross-country journey off the trail.

Day 3: my dad treated us all to a day of guided fly-fishing on the Snake River.  At first, I was skeptical that we could really fill 8 hours fly fishing.  But once we got going – man! – what a blast.  I could have stayed for another 8 hours.  There were 3 boats (one couple + guide per boat), and everyone caught multiple fish.  My dad held the honors of the day with 8 fish caught.  I had 5, and Kristen had 3.  At one point, Kristen and I started to fish a well-known hole, and an absolute monster nibbled at Kristen’s line – the guide estimated at least 22-24”.  We spent the better part of the next hour in a frenzy trying to catch him.  We probably went through 10 flies, taking turns to see if we could lure him out.  In the end, we had some nibbles from other big guys, but the monster became ‘the one that got away’.

Day 4: Keenan, Cara, Kristen, and I went downhill mountain biking in the morning.  It was Cara and Keenan’s first time riding mountain bikes, so they had to rent equipment.  We were expecting the rental to include helmets and bikes, but they ended up including full body armor.  Which was absolutely hilarious.  Cara and Keenan both wiped out once (they both learned all about braking while cornering) but nothing major.  Kristen and I did not buy lift tickets, so we were riding to the top of the downhill course each lap.  We were both bombing the downhills, even hitting some of the terrain features where possible, hardtails be damned.  I have to say, it was somewhat surprising that Kristen enjoyed downhill mountain biking, considering that just a couple months ago she hated going down the back sides of rollers.

After the morning’s activities, we drove up to Yellowstone, en route to our next condo in Big Sky.  We thought the drive would take only a few hours, but we ended up spending all afternoon (and most of the evening) snooping around Yellowstone.  The park is pretty much irresistible.