T's Travels

Hotels of the Past (#30)

I'm not the only one fascinated by the old hotel . . . Historic Hotels of the Rockies is an organization of 16 Western hotels built before 1940, all now open for guests. I could just go from the Sacajawea Hotel in Three Forks, MT,  to the Historic Plains Hotel in Cheyenne, WY, to the Castle Marne in Denver and on to the Hotel Alex Johnson in Rapid City, SD, and on and on. . .

The Jackson Hole Museum

Joe and I were wandering around Jackson on our last day in Wyoming, stopping in shops here and there. He hadn't yet gone in the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, so I made him take a look. It was getting near dinner time and we were talking about restaurants but hadn't yet made any decisions.

Then the luckiest thing happened. We walked past the Jackson Hole Museum and I saw that it was open! The little stagecoach on top of the building had been beckoning me all week but I had read something that said the museum wouldn't be open until June so I didn't even look. What do I always say? Timing is everything. We were there in time for the last half hour of their open house, celebrating the museum's season opening for its fiftieth year.

But what a time to be caught without my notebook! I debated running back to the car for it but I would lose precious time. I decided to live in the moment.

Correct decision. In my relaxed half hour, I got to read a lot about Jackson Hole, its history as first a fur trader's dream and then a vacationer's paradise starting in the late 1800s. The beauty of the valley ("hole") at the base of the Grand Teton Mountains beckoned to people looking for space and sky and breathtaking views. Having the Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone right up the road didn't hurt, either.

The displays are easy to see and well explained. Best of all, they're not "museum dry"--meaning they're not boring. I saw pictures of some of the early houses and read the history of those antler arches. I love that between 1920 and 1923 the mayor and the entire town council were women. No surprise since Wyoming was decades ahead of the rest of the country--women were given the right to vote in 1869.

After spending time at Goulding's Lodge in Monument Valley, AZ, and the Del Coronado in Coronado, CA, and seeing the films made in those places, I figured Jackson had to have its own movie history. The museum filled that in for me---"Shane!" (that may be enough to make me finally watch that movie). Wallace Beery filmed a few movies in the area and eventually bought a house here.

The building housing the museum (I believe it's an old store) gives the place such a warm, genuine atmosphere. I suspect they're headed for a new building; if so, I hope they do everything they can to hold on to the welcoming feel their present digs have.

I was very sorry I didn't get to their gift shop. I spent every single minute looking at the displays. At the end, I introduced myself to the museum's executive director, Lokey Lytjen, and told her how much I loved the Jackson Hole Museum. We talked about places in the area that Joe and I had not explored and I made mental notes for my next trip ("talk to the historical society folks about where to go!").

I haven't done this wonderful little museum justice in the above description (from now on, I'll always keep a notebook in my purse when we're traveling). But it's a must-see for anyone in Jackson (that means the locals, too--embrace your history). Even if you don't already love Jackson when you walk in, you will when you walk back out! 

Grand Tetons/Yellowstone, Day 9

. . . although I guess this should be titled Jackson Hole instead since we didn't go back to the parks.

Friday came way too fast. We were scheduled to fly out early the next morning, so we were always very conscious that this was our last day. We knew we had to fill out our incident report for the windshield, so that was first on the list. While Joe filled out the form, I talked to the young woman who worked there. She grew up in Boulder and has been in Jackson Hole for a few years. I asked her for tips on where we could go and she suggested Curtis Canyon. I don't remember seeing this on any of my travel material. She said take Broadway right out of town, east of the Elk Refuge.

And that's what we did. First it's flat, flat, flat, of course. Then we started to climb. Potholes, so Joe drove slowly and cautiously. Even though we could see the Grand Tetons behind us, the landscape changed. More brown rock, like when we went to Gros Ventre. At one overlook we stopped and looked over what seemed to be the entire valley.

We kept climbing and the ground (but not the road) became snow-covered. We got high enough that we could see a fresh covering of snow on the trees above us. Finally, snow did block the road, so we turned around. On the way back down, we saw six animals on top of a hill. Sheep? we said. Antelope? No, most likely mountain goats. Whatever they were, they definitely wanted to know who the heck we were and why we were in their territory!

Once we came back down to earth, we went to the National Museum of Wildlife Art, housed in a beautiful building on a hill just outside Jackson Hole. I could see my brothers-in-law loving this place; it's art for hunters.

Back in the car to zip into town and do the tourist shopping. At a little strip-shopping center on the edge of town the word "pastry" caught Joe's eye. We stopped at Cioccolato to sample their goods. Mine was raspberry-lemon, Joe's was chocolate (of course). We left with a little box of gorgeous chocolates--cabernet, raspberry, coconut and lime, chipotle, goat's milk caramel--for the road.

We parked in the center of town. One thing I've found about Jackson Hole, at least between seasons, is we never had trouble finding a parking space. It was great! We walked into and out of shops, buying gifts for friends and family, talking ourselves out of buying things we wanted (but if we order those fossil plates from Flat Creek Crossing, they will deliver!). Huckleberry jam, huckleberry coffee, huckleberry taffy (that one for the office).

Walked around a little more. It was getting toward dinner time and we were debating which place we hadn't yet eaten in (and there were many!) would be our destination. Then, through what I can only surmise to be karma (the good kind), we walked past the Jackson Hole Museum and discovered they were having their open house. Joe sighed but of course I made him go in. And that visit deserves and will get its own blog entry . . .

We settled on the Cadillac Grille for dinner. Both Joe and I had the trout. The bread was delicious and came with herbed butter and olive oil. My dessert was supposed to be three sorbets (mango, raspberry, and lime) but they changed the menu that day and the mango sorbet was vanilla ice cream. Still nice.

Our last evening in our wonderful hotel room was marred by someone doing his/her laundry between midnight and 2 a.m. who didn't think anything of letting the laundry-room door slam each time he/she went in or out (and seemed to need to check the wash every 10 minutes!). I finally put a note on the door to remind the unthinking person that people were sleeping. After that, the door was more muffled. It was the only dark spot in the entire week as far as our hotel experience. Considering some of the hotel stays, I've had, that still gives it a 10!

Grand Tetons/Yellowstone, Day 8

We got up late. Joe said something about being lazy, but I reminded him that on vacation people don't need to get up at the same time they do for work. But he was still thinking "hike!" I said, "Okay, as long as it isn't raining." Nature was really on his side. It spritzed, it misted, it drizzled. But it never really rained.

Destination: Phelps Lake Overlook, 0.9 mi, "moderate." We had tried to get in there earlier in the week with Steve, but it was closed, with that same "bear frequenting area" sign we saw in Yellowstone. On Thursday the barricade was gone but the sign was still there. Undaunted, Joe drove the car back to the Death Canyon trailhead (cheerful name, eh?).

We started up the trail just behind a young couple not dressed for the weather. At the first sign of snow on the ground I hesitated, but Joe assured me we would turn back if we started post-holing. Up hill, but not difficult at all, through the evergreens. Crossed a few streams. Got to the top in less than an hour and that was with some stops for looking at birds, etc.

What a reward, too. The overlook is gorgeous--probably one of the best lake views I've had in the Grand Tetons. And that was with the gray and rain. I have no doubt that in clear weather it's breathtaking. After the overlook, the trail heads down to the lake. We walked part of it, me with one eye behind us to make sure we didn't end up so far down we'd have to climb back up this entire trail. Joe took some pictures of Death Canyon, still very much full of snow. The trail guide says for that one, expect to use an ice axe until August. Yikes! That's not even post-holing!

We got back to the car in maybe half an hour--very easy downhill. And then it started to rain.

(In the midst of our touring, we had to handle a minor problem. We had come out to the car that morning to find a crack in the windshield. We hadn't hit anything all week so we thought it was odd, but we knew the best thing to do was report it to our insurance company. That took a few calls over the course of the day but our agent was very good. The rental company asked us to come into their Jackson Hole office the next day and fill out an incident report since we were dropping the car off early Saturday morning when no one would be at the desk.)

This was to be our last day in the park. We had made full use of our weekly pass and didn't want to pay for another week and only use it one day. We drove back out onto Teton Park Road and headed north to Colter Bay because Joe wanted to see the Indian arts museum. Very nice display of items you don't always find in museums. I would have liked more text, maybe identifying which Native American tribe certain items came from, but it was still very special. The buckskin dresses were gorgeous.

A highlight was the two Native American artists working on jewelry on the ground level. I bought a bear necklace (the artist said bears mean "strength and endurance"--her name is Sally and she's from Idaho but I didn't have my notebook so I don't have her full name). Joe thinks all small museums should feature local artists this way. I have to agree with him.

We left Colter Bay and headed south again, stopping at the Jackson Lake Lodge for one more look and an early dinner. This time we ate in the Pioneer Grill, as we'd done years ago the first time we came to Yellowstone. Our waitress was Sonia from Colombia, now married to an Idahoan (he works in the Mural Room). The room was nearly empty, so all the servers were chatting with the guests. Sonia is still adjusting to snow but she clearly enjoys her work.

We ended the meal with huckleberry pie. (Yes, huckleberries are everywhere.) We looked through the three gift shops at the Lodge but didn't buy much. Friday was still ahead and we knew we could pick up what we wanted in Jackson Hole.

My heart sunk as we left the park. I didn't want to let go. I wasn't ready to relinquish our park to the tourists coming in for the long Memorial Day weekend and the summer to follow. But I had no choice.

Grand Tetons/Yellowstone, Day 7

I can't think of the last time a vacation went this long for us. Maybe never, at least not in our married life. When we graduated from Penn State, we took a little over two months and drove across the country but since we weren't yet in real day jobs, that didn't count.

Wednesday was Joe's last meeting-day. I had breakfast in the room (with that full-size refrigerator, we figured we'd just have milk and cereal in the a.m., just like home!) and then checked my email to make sure the work "emergency" had resolved itself. The guy next to me was checking the weather. Yellowstone was expecting 1-3 inches of snow during the day, 4-6 overnight, 3-5 the next day, and "a significant amount" that night. I had to laugh. This is, after all, May. Snow? And what was a "significant amount"? I was really glad we'd been in the park the week before.

Once the meeting was over, we headed out to the Moose Visitor Center because it was gray, rainy, and chilly. They have a very nice little museum of park history and wildlife. The place was crawling with kids. We read about the geologic formations and petted fur (black bears are really soft!). I took some pictures of the walls because Joe liked the wood (three-quarter-inch plywood, would have been nice for Martini Rock but too expensive).

Then we took a drive somewhere we'd never been--through Antelope Flats and back Gros Ventre Road along the Gros Ventre River. This is all east of the Grand Tetons Park. We were hoping to see some pronghorn antelope on their migration. No luck. We did see some small birds who seemed to make a game out of flying right in front of us. We also saw the site of the 1925 Gros Ventre Slide, "one of the largest earth movements in the world," when a chunk of earth decided it didn't want to be where it was anymore and just slid down the mountain (and up the other side a bit). What struck me most was that the landscape looked so totally different from Jackson's Hole and the Grand Tetons. This was so much more southwest--brown and red rock, not the gray of the Tetons.

Dinner plans with Joe's boss and his wife at the Gun Barrel--yes, game! I had the trout, which was nicely spicy. Afterwards we went back to "our place" for a drink and Steve joined us. (Hey, when you have a living room, why not use it?) They were all flying out the next day. Joe and I still had two more full days. Once again he was talking "hiking" (saying he was sure some of the trails were no longer snow-covered) and I was still thinking "museums!"

Grand Tetons/Yellowstone, Day 6

Joe was back at his meeting and it looked to go all day. I was foolish enough to check my email and ended up spending an hour or so on a work "emergency." I had been so removed from work that it was really hard to get back into it, but I did what needed to be done. I wondered if this was going to be the end of the vacation glow (not just my sun poison!).

Then something great happened. The TV in our hotel room broke. That might not sound like a good thing, but it was. The assistant manager at the Teton Mountain Lodge told me that the repairman said we needed a completely new TV and she asked if I wanted to change rooms. We were pretty well spread out in the room so I said, "You're not just going to replace it?" and she said it would take a little while. I had thought if it was only one evening, I could handle it but we still had another four days and I didn't want to go that long. So she handed me a key to another room and said, "See if this one is acceptable."

Acceptable?? That word does not come close to what our new room was. We were upgraded to a suite, with living room, kitchen, fireplace, queen bed, and two baths! I had already really liked this hotel. The rooms are clean and neat, everything is well maintained (Joe always checks the carpet in the elevator; he believes if that's not clean, neither is the rest of the hotel). Staff was always pleasant to us. When our TV broke the first time, they sent someone right up to fix it. And the restaurant is probably one of the best I've ever seen in a hotel. I would not hesitate to recommend the Teton Mountain Lodge, and that was before the upgraded room.

Although the hotel offered to move us, I decided to do it myself. Ran into Joe's boss and told him about the new room. Then I went out to lunch with his wife. First time in the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar (another Mary the Photographer recommendation). Had our beers on the saddles (yee-haw!) but moved to a table for our sandwiches.

Good thing I told Joe's boss we'd moved. Joe got out of his meeting before I got back and he knew to go to the desk to ask where our room was.

We knew we were about to lose our warmth and sun for rain and clouds for the rest of our visit, so we drove up Teton Park Road looking for somewhere to walk. Landed at Colter Bay and walked the beach along Jackson Lake. Smooth pastel-colored rocks covered the beach. The lake was still ice-covered, but we could see it breaking up. Walked along the beach for a while. When we turned back, we tried to walk through the wooded area, but once we hit snow, we jumped back onto the beach (I've had enough post-holing to last me a lifetime!).

We headed back to town and watched a thunderstorm approach. Dark, dark clouds and bright lightning. Drove into town to pick up a few things and back to the hotel. We talked about what we would do for the rest of the trip. Joe had not yet satisfied his urge to hike, but I had a "museum list" to cover, too. We decided to wait and see what the weather would bring before we made any decisions.

Grand Tetons/ Yellowstone, Day 5

Joe's meeting started this morning, so I had the day to myself. I started with breakfast in the hotel. The huckleberry French toast looked really good but I decided to save that for a day Joe and I were together. Ordered the yogurt and granola plate--it was enormous. I was wishing I had someone to share it with; I had to leave about half of it uneaten.

On the advice of Mary the Photographer I then headed into Jackson Hole and the original Coldwater Creek store downtown. She was right--it's huge! I spent a long time looking through the racks, especially downstairs in the outlets, mixing in with a group of women who came in on a bus just to shop there. Found the big sweater I've been looking for . . . it was great to have a day with "nothing" to do.

The meeting included a dinner at Jackson Lake Lodge (spouses welcome!). Instead of taking the bus with everyone, we took the rental car and Steve and headed up Teton Park Road ourselves. Stopped to look at a gray wolf and some elk. One thing that amazed us the first time we visited the area was how people would stop for wildlife. I don't mean stop if something was in the road and I don't mean pull over. I mean they stopped on the road to look at teeny-tiny elk waay far away.

We arrived at the Lodge in time to have a drink before dinner. The wall of windows on the second floor looks toward the Teton Range--a really magnificent sight. When we went into the bar to order, the bartender said, "Not a bad place to work, eh?" as he motioned toward the view. We had to agree.

Dinner in the Mural room was salmon and beef tenderloin, with potatoes and asparagus and a killer berry pot-de-creme to finish.

Afterwards we (sort of) walked off our meal by going up Lunchtree Hill (30 minutes round trip, no snow) to look over the flats and lake (a few elk, no moose) and watch the sun go down. It was here that John Rockefeller had the lunch that convinced him to work to preserve the Grand Tetons. (I suspect he didn't have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with some carrot sticks, but you never know.)

As we drove home, we noticed the moon rising. Stopped to take a few pictures but none came out. In a way, it didn't really matter. Another great day.

Grand Tetons/Yellowstone, Day 4

Sunday morning I woke up with a lower lip larger than Angelina Jolie's . . . I've had some bad sunburns but this is the first time in my life I've ever had sun poison. I took two aspirin, put on a lot of moisturizer, and called my sister for advice.

When I felt like getting out of bed, Joe and I had breakfast at the Bunnery in Jackson Hole. Roosters all over the place--I didn't know they were a good luck symbol! Unfortunately, they were out of gravy for the Cowboy Benedict, so I settled for scrambled eggs with raisin toast and hash browns.

I spent the rest of the day lounging and napping. The Penguins/Flyers game was on so Joe had something to do. By the evening I was feeling much better.

I'm a dope for not using sunblock the day before (which we had with us--I just didn't think about it). Sun, snow, elevation = bad time for the skin. That won't happen again.

Grand Tetons/Yellowstone, Day 3

The plan for the day was to talk to the park ranger at the Moose Visitor Center to find out what was open in Grand Tetons National Park. The lakes are still covered with ice (although it's not solid) and snow and sage are competing for ground space, so we figured most of the hiking trails were snow-covered as well. The ranger confirmed our suspicions but said the trail to Taggart Lake was open. So we headed up Teton Park Road.

When we got to the Taggart Lake turnout, a bus was unloading tourists in front of us. Good time to keep moving. We parked at Lupine Meadows and started to walk across the snow toward the mountains. At first, it wasn't too hard, but the snow was getting soft from the hot sun and eventually we knew it was hopeless. We did manage to find some places where the snow had melted, which made the walking easier. An Uinta ground squirrel chirped nervously as we passed. When we climbed a little hill I saw a coyote hightailing it away from us. A pair of sparrow-size birds with gray swatches on the back of their heads fussed at us, too.

We got back to the car and said, "Well, we did our hike for the day!" Little did we know . . .

Farther north, we pulled off the road at Signal Mountain Lodge and climbed down to the beach to have a drink. It felt a little weird to be wearing shorts and t-shirts when we could see the frozen lake, but the day was very warm and sunny. I even had my flip-flops on.

The second time Joe and Steve went to sit by the lake, I stayed in the car and took a little nap. As I laid there, I imagined people saying, "Are you crazy? Look around you! And you're taking a nap???" My response? "I'm on VACATION! It doesn't matter what I do!"

When the guys came back, we headed south on Teton Park Road, back to the trail at Taggart Lake. Joe was determined that we would hike and the 1.5 miles to the lake seemed perfect. I changed into my sneakers before we set out.

When I pictured this hike in my head, it had a few inclines but basically went downhill--we were going to a lake after all. Well, I learned my lesson: "Moraine." We walked more uphill than down. It wasn't long before the dirt path was replaced with slushy snow full of footprints. All the hikers coming the other way didn't warn us of what awaited, they just passed us with cheerful greetings. Yes, it was 1.5 miles to the lake. And another 2.6 miles back to the parking lot if we took the loop. And the majority of it was snow-covered.

We hiked on and on and on. In places, the snow was four feet deep. We stepped in other people's footprints, walking on top of the packed snow, rejoicing when we had a cleared path. Every so often the snow was too soft and my foot would fall through (which I later learned is called "post-holing"). My feet got soaked but I never got cold because it was so warm and we kept moving.

I am not a hiker. I am not outdoorsy. To me Cabela's is a store, not a lifestyle. And yet I managed this hike, all of it, in the snow and dirt and slush, uphill, uphill, downhill, and up.

Three college girls passed me. Steve pushed on ahead, thinking about the cold beer waiting for him at the end of the trail. Joe stayed near me just in case I needed him. I struggled and I walked and I fell and I cursed and I prayed. And I made it. The college girls cheered me as I crossed the end of the trail.

We finished our day at El Abuelita's Mexican restaurant in Jackson Hole--excellent salsa and guacamole--and toasted our success. We made no plans for the next day; we knew better.

Grand Tetons/Yellowstone, Day 2

We met Steve at Moran, paid the weekly NPS entry fee (a bargain!), and parked Steve's car. Drove north, stopped along the road and saw flocks of pelicans, a mama grizzly and her three two-year-olds (from a distance), and then into Yellowstone. The snow got progressively deeper, so deep that we stopped and took a picture of the car next to a 12-foot snowbank.

This was Steve's first trip to Yellowstone and our second. I got to set the itinerary so our first destination of the day was Old Faithful, of course. The posted time for the next eruption was 11:07. We had half an hour so we walked around the gorgeous, historical Old Faithful Lodge (tours are available--maybe I'll get to do that next time). Then we walked the boardwalk near Old Faithful until we found a good viewing spot away from all the folks on the benches. At 11:15 we were treated to a postcard-quality display. Faithful indeed.

The last time Joe and I were here, we walked north of Old Faithful (always on the boardwalk!) past other geysers and pools. This time we couldn't. The paths were barricaded and the sign said, "Bear frequenting area."

We returned to the Lodge for lunch. They have a buffet but we opted for sandwiches. Our very cheerful waitress told us she can't wait to explore the park. She also told us that the "bear frequenting" signs were because a bear had snatched a baby bison in front of a group of tourists the day before (Joe couldn't resist saying, "Beal!").

We drove north toward Mammoth. My planned route included the Firehole Canyon Drive, but both it and the Firehole Geyser road were closed. We stopped at Midway, though, and peered into Excelsior, which did not erupt between 1890 and 1985, but then did so violently for 47 hours (when I read facts like that, I always try to picture what it looked like). We pulled over a few more times for falls and wildlife. The snowmelt kept the river and streams very active. Saw a grizzly bear, his silver back glinting in the sun, a gray wolf who didn't like us stopping to look at him, and tons of bison who didn't seem to care what we did.

I love Mammoth Hot Springs--it's one of my favorite places in the park. Besides the plateaus, it has the original Fort Yellowstone buildings and the Roosevelt arch just five miles north at Gardiner. But I was traveling with two guys whose business is geology and therefore mineral deposits are not a priority. We didn't stay there long.

The signs at Old Faithful had said that the east-side roads (between the Tower and the Canyon and the Canyon and West Thumb) were closed. But when I asked the ranger at Mammoth, he gave us some good news--the road south of the Yellowstone Canyon had opened "40 minutes ago." We decided to drive back to Jackson Hole on the east side of the park.

That meant seeing not only the Canyon, but the Mud Volcano section! Anyone going to the park should make a point of seeing Dragon's Mouth--Steve said it made him think of Spot on The Munsters, but there were no red-light eyes. We walked that boardwalk to watch the mud bubble. Bison lounged everywhere, totally uninterested in our presence.

We ended the tour at West Thumb, a group of pools along the lake. Why that blue water is so enticing, I can't explain. I always want to jump in, but I know better. People have died that way.

We got back to Jackson by 8:30 p.m. and nearly fell asleep over our buffalo burgers at the Teton Steakhouse. This was very much a whirlwind tour.

I have to stress that I do not recommend ever trying to tour Yellowstone in a day. If you make the trip, take at least three days. Explore the park. Walk the bear-free boardwalks. Take time to really look at the Canyon, not just jump out of the car, peek, and jump back in. Yellowstone is phenonemal, like no place on earth. It took a very long time to become what it is; take some time to learn it.