Yesterday, we drove to Wilson to hike the Ski Lake trail. The weather had cleared up and it has been mostly sunny and in the 60s- very nice! Instead of doing Snow King or another one in town, we decided to get in the car and go somewhere different since we had some time to spare. It was supposed to be a 4-mile, out and back hike. When we got there, the sign said it was 3. It ended up being 2.5 each way... Not sure who was doing the measurements here.

Ski Lake is right off the Teton Pass and starts at around 7700 feet. Going into the hike, I guess we had somehow forgotten the fact that it had been snowing a lot lately. We were reminded pretty quickly! At first it was mostly muddy, but it turned to snow very quickly. This was not just a dusting a snow. It was at least a foot deep in many places! Luckily, someone else (who must have known the trail very well) had been there before us so we had some footprints to follow. Honestly, snow shoes would have really come in handy here!!









On the way back down, we heard a noise and really think it could have been a bear! It kind of sounded like a cross between an angry cow and a bear... It was a little scary. Sammie didn't seem to mind, obviously. I think my constant yelling at Sammie to come with us would have alerted any wildlife of our presence. That reminds me of the fact that, in Jackson, in order to have your dog off leash, the dog should be under "voice control," meaning they listen to what you say and stay beside you. We have noticed that the only command Sammie truly responds to is "BYE!" She is scared of us me leaving her, so she pretty much only comes when I yell "bye" and start walking away. It's pretty ridiculous and I'm sure people think I'm crazy. We are working on real voice control and commands like "wait" and "stay." She is doing somewhat mediocre (at best) on the "wait."

Happy Memorial Day! I bet the weather is hot and sunny in SC... We are still experiencing what is known as "mud season" here. Honestly, we lucked out with some good weather the first couple of weeks after our arrival, and now our luck has run out! It has been, for the most part, dreary and gray with occasional rain, hail, and snow. This season is really important for Jackson, though, because the summer is generally VERY dry and sunny. For comparison, Charleston receives 51" of precipitation per year, and Jackson receives 15". Obviously, it is a dry climate here. The rain is important to make the forests moist before there is a long period of dryness and higher temperatures. (Fun fact: Snow King was actually created from a wildfire!) In addition to the wetness, the high has been barely getting up to 50... pretty chilly for it being almost June. It is supposed to take a turn for the better starting tomorrow, which I think we are all really looking forward to!


It mostly rains in town, but you can clearly see on surrounding hills when the snow starts! And yes, that is a cloud hovering right on top of Snow King.

Even though it is tempting to stay indoors when the weather is like this, we have tried to get out and about. William has been riding his bike to and from work (which I can't say I would ever do in this weather) and on Saturday we went to the Old West Brew Fest. The Brew Fest was just a local beer festival... Pretty small in comparison to some others we have been to, but it was a lot of fun! We also saw quite a few people from Columbia, so that was fun as well. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of it, but I'm not sure they'd be much to look at anyways.

Yesterday, we decided we owed Sammie (and ourselves) some good exercise and headed out to a trail. I didn't think I would ever be out (voluntarily) hiking in 39°, rainy/snowy weather, but I did it, and it really wasn't that bad. We saw a couple of other crazy people on the trail, too. No bear sightings yet, but William likes to make it a point to start yelling "Hey, Bear" when we aren't talking much. This is what you are supposed to do, but it freaks me out and worries me! He also carried his new holster of bear spray. Anyways, fear of bears aside, the trail was very pretty and had tons of wildflowers. We had a good time and avoided busting our butts in the mud, which was fortunate. There were some close calls.

Hello! Unfortunately, I haven't been doing too much exploring lately, so there isn't anything very interesting to post about. I have mostly just been working and living normal life. I am hoping to get a little time off this weekend to be able to do something exciting! We might make a trip over to Idaho Falls soon. I doubt that the town itself is really that exciting to blog about, but we'll see! They are the closest city with a Target, and I recently discovered that they also have a Chick-fil-A! Super exciting news for me. Idaho Falls is about 80 miles away, so not too far at all.

Since I don't have anything too interesting to share from around town, I thought I would share this screen shot from weather.com.

As you can see, the northwest corner of Wyoming is one of the coldest parts of the country right now! I think it's about 15 degrees below normal. The high today is in the low 50s and will be through Saturday. I don't think the temperatures are going to return to normal for a few days... BRRR! It actually snowed a little last night and you could see it in any higher elevations around town. (I think it melted in town by the time I got outside.) I think I might go into shock from the heat and humidity when I go to Greenville next week, but it will probably feel good. (...for the first few minutes, anyways)

I hope to post something more interesting soon so check back shortly!

Just thought I'd share some pictures...

Most people come to the Jackson area just to visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park. Honestly, before researching and becoming interested in Jackson, I don't know if I'd ever heard of GTNP, but I have definitely always known about Yellowstone. We visited GTNP in the first couple of days we were here simply because it's less than 10 miles outside of town. It is absolutely beautiful- the Tetons are nothing like mountains in the east.

On Saturday, we decided to hike up Snow King, the town's ski resort. (Not to be confused with Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, which is 10-15 minutes outside of town in Teton Village and where most visitors ski.) As far as hiking here goes, Snow King is probably one of the easier, more popular hikes in town and was a good place for us to start. It's about 2 miles to the top and a 1600 foot elevation gain.

We have officially been in Jackson for a week now! It has taken me a while to post, mostly because I feel like I am either exploring a new area or running errands to buy all the little things needed when moving into a new place.




Overall, we are loving it! There are definitely some notable differences here, and the top difference is probably the weather. The first morning we were here, I went out to take Sammie on a walk as usual... and it was SNOWING! I was pretty much in shock. May? Snow? Seriously?! It was really only a few flurries on and off throughout the day, so it wasn't too bad. Sammie did become quite hyper later in the day when we were at a dog park and it started snowing. The cool weather definitely brings out more energy in her! I have a feeling she will be a major motivating factor in getting me outside this winter when it is truly cold. (30-40 degrees is nothing here!) For the most part, days are in the 60s-70s and rising and lows are in the mid to high 30s. The sun is so strong here, though, so a 70 degree day here feels plenty warm. I think we are both more tan than we were in Charleston!


The hiking here is amazing. Sammie is especially a fan because she gets to go off-leash! Actually, most of the dogs are off-leash even in town. Having one (or more) dogs run out to greet you from every other house can be a little overwhelming sometimes, but the ones that are roaming free are usually very friendly. Since I don't trust Sammie to run around town freely, (mostly because of cars and buses) she only gets this privilege on the trails where it is safe for her. Luckily, we have several trails within easy walking distance of our apartment! This has been so great- much nicer than just walking around town every day. The hikes can be challenging sometimes. I am definitely not used to the hills, but I'll get there eventually. We haven't done any major hikes yet, but we are planning to hike up Snow King this weekend, which is a popular summer activity. It is 2 miles to the top and then I think there are some other trails you can take once you're up there. We'll see how that goes!




One funny thing that I have to point out is the pedestrian crossings. There are a couple in town that are not part of an intersection, and they take these very seriously! There are actually bright orange flags that your are supposed to take across with you while you walk for safety, even in the daylight. I just can't get over this. I think it's hilarious. One day we were in a restaurant and had a view of the crosswalk and I saw a cowboy (yes, cowboys are real and plentiful here) walk across with the flag in hand. Maybe I'm the only one that thought it was funny? Here they are:

On Tuesday, May 1st, we set out for the longest car ride EVER. We planned to leave around 7:00 AM... We actually left around 9:15. As you can see in the picture, the Prius was pretty loaded down! Shortly after leaving my parent's house, we actually swung by William's dad's office to drop off a few boxes and lighten the load. The first curve we took, our (heavy) bag of laptops fell off the stack of luggage and landed right on top of poor Sammie! Giving up some of our boxes to be shipped was pretty much necessary at that point.


Our plan for the first day was to stop and eat lunch in Nashville and end up in St. Louis for the night. Well, we stopped in Knoxville for lunch because Nashville was too far away... Then we were tired of driving so we also stopped in Nashville and walked around Vanderbilt campus. We finally made it to St. Louis that night and fell asleep almost immediately. (Well, immediately after unloading our bikes and luggage.)


The second day was the longest drive- St. Louis to Fort Collins, CO. The majority of this ride was through the plains of the Midwest. Some of it was pretty, green rolling hills and lots of cows. Most of it... well, it was the plains of the Midwest. That's pretty self-explanatory.


As a side note, Sammie used to love car rides. When she heard the keys jingle and then was invited to come along, she would jump with excitement and do her "dance" moves. This trip may have ruined her car-riding spirit, at least for the time being. She went from being pretty relaxed, riding like this: