Hi! I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas holiday. I've been super lazy about posting, and I think it's because I just don't feel like I have that many exciting things to say. There are still a lot of cool things out here to see, especially with winter, so I think I am going to start posting mostly pictures. This will motivate me to post more often and let everyone see what we are up to, as well as some beautiful winter scenery. Also, the picture quality should improve as I learn how to use my awesome, new camera! These are all from my phone.

View during our hike near Cache Creek today

Sammie loves us.

Getting ready to ski at Teton Village on Christmas Eve

It was really snowy!

Deep snow

Here she comes!

Our first time Cross Country skiing ... It is a great workout!

More cross country skiing with Sammie's leash attached to my waist

Sammie likes to sprint towards me a lot.

So, there are some scenes from winter so far! Some days are really gloomy and cloudy, which almost never happened in the summer, but there are still a ton of days that are sunny and crystal clear. It seems to be warmer on snowy, cloudy days and freezing cold when it's clear out, so there are pros and cons to both! (When I say warm, I mean 25 degrees.) We are having fun, though, and it is cool to experience a real winter. 

It has been a long time since I've posted! We have been traveling a lot and are finally back in Jackson for a while. In fact, I'm not sure how easy it will be to travel from this point on with winter road conditions. Hopefully this will mean more regular posting for me. I think it will be interesting for everyone in the south to see what living in a true winter climate is like! 

This picture doesn't really do it justice, but here it is!

William worked on sawing it, while Sammie acted confused as to why were standing on the side of a hill. William is the red blob behind the tree.

"Umm... What are we doing here and why?"

"This is boring... Moving onto better things!"

After cutting it down, William carried it down the hill. The trail we took was really icy, so getting it back to the car was a little difficult, but let's be honest- William did most of the carrying. I did help for a little while, though!

Safely lowering the tree ... I probably would have just let it tumble down the hill.

Carrying it down! Good thing the hill wasn't icy!

Packing out our Christmas tree! (Please note how icy the trail is!)

I know, it has been forever since I've done a blog post... right after I said I would post twice a week. Obviously, that didn't work out! It's been almost 3 weeks since I posted. Oops! Since my last post, William and I (and Sammie!) have traveled to Bozeman, MT and back, and then we did a trip around Colorado. We first went to Denver, then Colorado Springs, and finally to Summit County (Breckenridge/Vail area.) 

I'm really glad we decided to do the trip that we did. It was much less road time, less expensive, and still allowed us to see some amazing parts of the country that we had never seen before. One of the main reasons we moved to Jackson in the first place was to experience a different part of the country, and I think we have definitely accomplished that. We have seen so much that many Americans never see! Even in just the Jackson area, there is so much natural beauty to see. The west is so much different than any place I've ever been. I also have to say that seeing so much of the country has made me appreciate where I am from. After seeing lots of little towns and cities throughout, it has actually made me like Columbia a lot more than I did last time I lived there. 

Anyways, on to the trip. Honestly, I did not take many pictures in Bozeman. The weather was pretty gray and gloomy, which doesn't make for great pictures. The town was pretty cute, though! The main street area was nice, and the surrounding area was great. Lots of cool bungalows and some different architecture than what I'm used to. The landscape was pretty similar to that around Jackson, without the dramatic Tetons. There was some snow on the ground in the National Forest, which was very exciting for Sammie.

William at the Great Divide Brewery

Boulder, CO

Some extremely enthusiastic volunteers at GABF

Lexington Avenue Brewery presentation on Lowcountry food

View from the main parking area at Garden of the Gods

Sammie at Garden of the Gods, overlooking Pike's Peak

One of the other main attractions in CO Springs is Pike's Peak, which you can see in the picture above. It's definitely not the most dramatic peak I've ever seen, but it was a cool thing to have overlooking the whole city. You can actually drive all the way up to the top!

Aspens along the trail

Booth Falls in Vail, CO

View of Vail ski area from Booth Falls

Anyone that knows me knows that I change my mind and plans all the time. Well, it's happened again. We changed our off season plans! As our Pacific Northwest trip got closer, I started feeling kind of overwhelmed with the amount of planning we needed to do to make the trip worthwhile. There was so much to see and do, and I can go a little overboard on travel planning to make sure I get to see and do as much as possible. It basically just became too much, and since we have both already been to Portland and Seattle, we decided to look into other options.

A while ago, tickets for the Great American Beer Festival went on sale and sold out within about 4 hours. We both talked about wanting to go, but just wrote it off since they sold out so quickly. When I started to think about alternatives for our trip, I looked up tickets for the GABF and found that there were plenty for sale online. So, we are now going to the GABF and couldn't be more excited! It's not until a week from now, so we are going to head up to Bozeman for a couple of days before heading down to Denver. 

We have actually never been to either city (unless you count driving through Denver in the dark) so it will be a lot of fun. I'm sure I've mentioned that not many breweries distribute to Wyoming, so we are both excited to go to the festival and have the option of over 2,200 beers to try. 

Hi! I say this every month, but I really can't believe it is already October. Luckily, we have been blessed with amazing weather and it hasn't become winter yet. I'm sure it will soon enough. Until then, we are getting outside and doing fall activities as much as possible. On Sunday, we took Sammie to the blessing of the pets at St. John's. This was definitely an experience! Maybe I am remembering incorrectly, but in Columbia, the blessing of the pets was separate from the main service, and usually in the afternoon, and definitely outside. This was all during the main 10:00 service, meaning the dogs, cats, and other pets were all in church with us for over an hour! This was the craziest church service I have ever been to. It was very entertaining, though, and a lot of fun. There were dogs randomly barking throughout. For example, the choir would finish a hymn and a dog would let out a loud bark right at the end. I took some pictures, but they are all blurry since I was just sneaking them during the service, and because there was a lot of movement.

"What are we doing here?"

The poodle is obviously not paying attention.

The actual blessing of the pets was the craziest part. It was basically like getting in line to take communion, but with all the animals, too. There were also kids holding baskets of treats and the dogs were all going nuts over this, of course. The organist played the theme song from Charlie Brown, which made it seem even more chaotic. Sammie didn't really like getting water splashed all over her head, but she survived.

Scrambling for treats

"What are you doing to me?!"

After church, we went back to hike Ski Lake. I have been taking care of a dog down the street, so I figured it would be a good way to get us all out and about and tire out the dog. (She is pretty anxious with her owners being gone.) I have also been wanting to do this hike again since it was one of the first hikes we did here and was covered in snow the last time. Here are some pictures from our previous hike:





Here are some pictures of what it looks like now. I have to say, it was much easier without all the snow. Being able to see the trail didn't hurt, either! By the way, it is hunting season here so the dogs wore orange bandanas so that they weren't mistaken for other animals. There aren't really hunt clubs or private land to hunt here like there are other parts of the country. People hunt on public land which is often the same area people are hiking, biking, or doing whatever else in. Ski Lake is pretty well-traveled so the chances are low (especially mid-day) but it never hurts to be careful, especially when taking care of someone else's dog!

Lookin' good!

The water isn't covered in ice anymore

Ski Lake in September

Right near the lake, there was this little hut that someone must have built. Sammie decided she wanted to live there permanently. She found a squirrel hanging around in it, and we had the hardest time getting her to leave! We thought we had her on the right track at one point. She was walking away casually with the group and then all of a sudden bolted back to the hut. Honestly, I think we could have left her for a long time without her noticing. We finally wrangled her onto the leash and started the hike down. 

Sammie's new home

Mountain view on the way down

So, there's our hike to Ski Lake! Even though it was cool when it was covered in snow, I have to say it was a more enjoyable hike this time around. It was much nicer to see the trail and not have to trudge through snow without snowshoes.

Since mentioning the weather in the beginning, I checked weather.com for a nice surprise! There is a "special weather statement" at the top and it says that "The extended mild weather comes to an end Wednesday... when a strong cold front blasts through northern Wyoming in the morning..." Well, I guess I spoke too soon! Luckily, we are headed to the very mild Pacific Northwest on Sunday so we won't have to deal with the cold for too long... until we return from our trip, at least.

Happy first day of fall! I know the high today in Columbia is 90, so it's probably not very fall-like there today. Jackson, on the other hand, is definitely starting to change. Fall in Jackson is not very long, or even as colorful as other parts of the country (like New England) but it has been beautiful. From what I've heard, this is what happens in the fall here: it's relatively warm until one day it's all of a sudden cold... and then it's winter and doesn't get warm again for a long, long time. 

Here are some pictures of the fall colors in Jackson. This one was taken right at the end of August near the top of the Teton Pass, but it just felt like a fall day. This might be the best iPhone picture I've ever taken.

View from the top of the Teton Pass

Sammie on the Snake River!

Pathway along the Snake River ... Gorgeous even with all the haze

Hazy Tetons

By the way, the local fire is over 90% contained. I think it is supposed to be 100% really soon... I still hear some helicopters flying back and forth but less frequently, and they've lowered the number of people working on it. Aside from the one here, there are so many other fires happening around.