East Meets West: Traveling in Wyoming, California, South Carolina

Jackson

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!

Something we heard people mention throughout the summer is the fact that you can go into the forest (specifically the Bridger Teton National Forest) and cut your own Christmas tree. For a while, I wasn't really convinced that a real tree would fit into our apartment. I even brought our fake little 3-footer back from Columbia in anticipation of not getting a tree, but after a few days, we decided we should get into the Christmas spirit and get one.

So, we headed into the woods to find one! We had to settle on our second choice for location because of icy roads, but we still found a good tree.

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!)

Overall, it was a lot of fun to get our tree from the national forest vs. a farm, grocery store, or whatever. Honestly, I haven't even seen any of these options available in Jackson since there are plenty of evergreens growing naturally. We did have to pay $10, but I feel a lot better about supporting the national forest than I do about supporting a tree from a store that has been marked up like crazy. ($80 trees at Whole Foods, for example.) Also, it really wasn't that difficult.

In other news, the cold hasn't broken my will to survive yet. It has been unseasonably warm and has actually been raining a lot when it should be snowing. Luckily, it is snowing at higher elevations, so the big ski resorts are doing great. I did buy my skis and bindings the other day, so I am pretty close to getting out there to ski. I do need boots, poles, and a helmet, but I'll get them soon. Winter activities require a lot of (expensive) equipment! I am also planning to get Nordic skis, which will require another set of boots and poles. Once I get all of the equipment, I'll show everything in a post.

That's it for now! I hope everyone in the south is enjoying the 70+ degree weather. I have to say, cutting down your own tree, seeing snow, and being a little cold does help me get into the Christmas spirit, which is nice!

Lately

Cutting Down a Christmas Tree

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