Lauren's adventures in Jackson

After sleeping in as late as possible with the sun pouring in through the only 2'x2' window in my basement lair, we decided to venture out and enjoy the beautiful bluebird day at hand. After getting a huge breakfast downtown at The Bunnery,

our first order of business was to go to the pass so Lauren could get a taste of where I've been living. And there were dumps like a truck up top.

After getting a very good view of Jackson and the surrounding area from the pass, we were off to check out the Snake River; the same Snake River we followed all the way back from Oregon.

And the same one that, here in Jackson, people surf.

It was too cold to surf but we got a good shot with the river and The Tetons in the background.

From there it was out through the National Elk Refuge, past the thousands of elk just chillin' way off in the distance, and to a good spot to snap The Grand in all its glory. First the elk...

Then The Grand.

In addition to all the sightseeing we did, we managed to shred Jackson Hole for a couple of hours on my ski break (because I had to work all day) and also hit up Lost Creek Ranch out where Dish lives on my day off to snowmobile for the first time ever and hangout.

Parking at the TX Ranch a few miles up the highway, we were greeted by dish and two sleds. The trek back to Lost Creek Ranch was awesome on the snowmobiles.  Once we went up and around all the rolling hills and trees the path opened up and straightened out. Stopping to see why Dish had pulled over he just yelled at us, "Alright, let 'er rip". He's told us he hits 60 mph cruising between the ranches. With Lauren on back I didn't want to push it so I only hit 50 mph. Man, what an adrenaline rush. Lauren got to cart me around as well and she was cruising around 40 mph at one point. All in all, good times.

Although, Lauren was becoming a true sled neck working this thing around the ranch.

Once we met up with Dish again after he did some work, 

he decided to show us what the Thiokol (like the one in The Shinning) could really do now that it was fixed.

Lauren and I had cruised the whole ranch by ourselves so we were ready for Dish to take us up to higher ground. Cruising up behind him breaking trail through the deep pow with the stronger sled, we managed to make it to the top of the butte right behind the ranch where they have big picnics in the summer.

 

And the reason they have picnics up here.

Thanks to Dish we got to enjoy an awesome day snowmobiling out on the ranch with what turned out to be awesome weather once the clouds broke.

The ranch is such a cool place to be but unfortunately for Dish he's usually by himself most of the winter.  It's beautiful but I imagine quite lonely.

The boss of the ranch loves us and has offered both Ryan and I jobs for this coming summer on multiple occasions. Unfortunately for us, he tends to be grumpy when there are unannounced visitors and gets all congested. So we hightailed it out of there. Great first snowmobiling experience.

That night, Lauren's last in Jackson, we went to have dinner at the Westbank Grill where I work. If I weren't an employee getting hooked up I wouldn't have chosen such a fine dinning establishment. And in addition to the food being awesome, we got taken care of huge time by the staff. It was a great way to cap off a great night and overall trip.

Unfortunately the next day meant back to reality. Dropping Lauren off at the airport and going to work the rest of the day was a pretty good one-two combo to the jaw, but having had such an awesome time the last week it wasn't too bad saying goodbye again. A couple more months and it'll be Boston bound through a pit stop on the west coast to see some friends. For now, back to skiing.