Hello! It has been a loooong time since I've done a new blog post! Sorry for the break! Life has been busy lately. I have been working at my usual job and have been picking up a lot of dog walking jobs recently since I have 3 days off per week. Also, my parents came to visit, which I will share pictures of soon! I was going to do a post shortly after they left, but we had a big surprise in Jackson- a wildfire. I have mentioned the smoke and surrounding fires before, but this one was close. Way too close for comfort! We were actually put on "evacuation advisory," which is like a pre-evacuation. Of course, this happened on the last full day of my parents being here. In a pre-evacuation, they warn you that if an evacuation is called (which could be at any time) you will not be able to come back to get anything. So, we basically had to evacuate just to go to lunch! This was definitely a stressful time- we were on the advisory for a few days, and had to live out of suitcases since we could be asked to leave any time. I think I have mentioned it before, but I really hadn't given much thought to the impact of wildfires on people's lives in the west... it is pretty huge! 

View of fire while driving into town... Really not what you want to see on your way home!

Anyways, we are approaching the end of summer here in Jackson! It has been a little cooler during the days (definitely nothing in the 80s anymore) and the temperatures have been dropping a lot more at night, usually in the low 30s. With the days becoming shorter, it takes longer for the sun to warm everything up. We are all starting to think about what we need to buy for winter. A lot of people are also discussing and trying to forecast the upcoming winter. For people that live here, a good winter is one with a lot of snow, and therefore good skiing. A bad winter is drier with less snow, which happened last winter. With how dry the summer has been, I can't imagine a "good" winter, but we will see! 

With the end of summer comes a big lag in tourist season. October and November are definitely the off-season here, and William and I are taking full advantage of this! We have road trips planned for both months. In October, we are doing a Pacific Northwest tour. 


I am so excited for this trip. We have both been to Seattle and Portland, but there is so much to see over there. I am really excited to see Vancouver, the Olympic peninsula, Columbia River Gorge, and of course the Pacific Ocean for the first time ever! We are going to attempt to do some camping, too. The weather over there is really mild and won't freeze at night, so it should be okay. We may also stay in some yurts or cabins, which are popular along the coast. I am also excited to get into some bigger cities after being in a little mountain town. I know William will be excited to be in a huge craft beer area, too. I will definitely be blogging throughout the trip, so keep an eye out! I think we are planning on leaving sometime around the 6th-8th of October and return around the 23rd or so. 

In November, we are tentatively planning to make the trek back to South Carolina to visit family and friends and probably get my car. (Still haven't decided whether I want it or not... Or if I'll make it on the drive back!) Even though travelling that far across the country is not really fun, we would both really like to visit everyone since we won't be home for Christmas. We also have the time off from work (and not much opportunity to work here during the off season) so it makes sense for us. It would obviously be quicker to fly, but I just can't stand the thought of flying Sammie cargo on 3 flights! If it were something like a 2-3 hour direct flight, I would probably do it, but the flights from here to SC are full day excursions with lots of waiting around... It is comparable to flying to Europe! 

That's all for now! I am going to try to blog twice a week from now on, so please keep checking back for more. Things will definitely get interesting for our road trip and during the winter!