Iron Top Chef: Jackson

Since the days when the idea of this trip out west to Jackson was but a foggy memory from the night before, we knew that we were coming for one reason: to ski the best North America has to offer (Valdez, Alaska - out of my league, price range). We knew we would road trip and we knew that we would pack light; I still can't believe we packed everything we both needed in the Camry (over 192k miles and counting). But most of all we knew that penny pinching would have to become less an ironic statement and more a simple way of being. Nowhere else in our spending is this more prevalent than in our Albertson's receipts.

By no means is Albertson's the cheap place to buy, but what Ryan and I talked so much about before ever touching foot in Wyoming was that we wanted to cook. And it turned from being a matter of urgency due to our economic situation into a matter of excitement and inquiry into what was possible, on the cheap. Were it not for Ryan's Crock-Pot, this soliloquy would not be possible.

Since arriving at our new home, we have rarely eaten out and tried to cook and fend for ourselves relying less on paying someone to package a meal for us. We have had now 2 all roommate supermarket shopping experiences and have done well to buy inexpensive and create meals inexpensively. As much as Dave, Kyle, and I have done in the kitchen, Ryan has done wonders for this apartments' collective palate.

His first official dabble with chef-hood began with an assortment of beans, tomato, chopped meat, vegetables, herbs, and spices. To say it was the best chili I have had would be a lie. But considering who the chef was, I was totally blown out of the water by Ryan's newfound skills. Plus, can you really screw up chili? His second official meal was beer chicken.

After soaking it for hours in a salty, herb filled water solution, Ryan worked his magic with the chicken while veggies were grilled on the deck. It was one of the better chicken experiences I'd had in more than recent memory*.

*My selective memory is astoundingly awful. This chicken was not.

On several occasions he has busted out the scrambled eggs which (sorry mom) Ryan can actually compete with my mom's scrambled eggs. Speaking as someone who can't make legit scrambled eggs and has feasted on his mom's delicacies for years, I wont dare to compare those two again.

And here are Ryan's recently made peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies: awesome.

Trying to maintain a cheap and inexpensive palate, we realized that although tremendously healthy for you, granola and yogurt aren't going to cut it financially for us. At $5 a bag for 12 oz., Bear Naked Granola is absolutely tasty, but unappealing to the average ski bum wallet. Our solution was to make our own granola. And Ryan decided he was going to spearhead that project.

I wish I had some information on how healthy/detrimental to my health Ryan's granola is because it came out awesome. I don't even know all that went in it (tons of peanut butter) but I do know he spent a lot of time preparing the granola for the house to share, on the cheap. And enough was made to fill a huge tupperware bin. It's just about time to bake another one up. Now, if only we could figure out how to make yogurt on the cheap.

Lost Creek Ranch

Day two at the LC Ranch was exciting (I know somewhere both Folg and Sean have Lauren Conrad on the brain). Even though the guy assigning us work referred to our all day task as "prison work", we weren't upset considering we had to stare at this all day. Talk about vanishing point.

Our task was to put in snow poles down the 2 mile long gravel driveway in preparation for the upcoming winter season. Apparently due to how open the land is, they get drifts 10'-15' high and can only access the ranch via snowmobile.

Our lunch break spot wasn't bad either.

After our job was done we were told by our pseudo boss that the big boss GM of the ranch wanted him to tell us that we have work in the Spring if we want it. He was "very impressed with the both of you. He said he noticed how hard you guys work and likes your attitude". Although that's a little way away, it's nice to build long term relationships with work being the extent of the hooking up. ...what a difference a few hours makes.

Oh and day 2 supplied us with more free fire wood to bring home and chop. So Ryan and I woke up and did some more chopping today. Note: Jumping and swinging an ax is not recommended.

Our days at the ranch are over now, but our paths may meet again. You never know when we'll want to pull a wake and chop again. Apparently we have another whole cord of wood coming our way courtesy of a roommates hookup, so that will be a glorious day.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck

This week Ryan and I have been working through a temp. agency doing "construction and landscaping", or so the agency told us. We had the miserable task of trying to unearth bushes from in front of a hotel in Jackson. Anyone that's been out here can attest to how hard and miserable the soil is at the end of the summer that trying to put anything in it except a pickaxe or an explosive is borderline impossible. We had neither pick-axe nor explosives, but ended up using some thick elbow grease and an F-250 to pull a few out. The next part of our day wasn't exactly construction or landscaping - we helped some nice, old, rich Texan move him and his wife into a house over the pass in Victor, Idaho. Not only do I know he's rich because he builds resorts around the country, but more importantly all of his crap was so heavy (marble everything, 9x7 mirror with gaudy frame, 2 piece china hutch, mostly glass, and an heirloom of the family - a 16' solid, heavy wooden structure that used to house speakers and a record player which didn't break down which of course had to go on the 2nd floor). So I can now check Idaho off of my list.

Today was much nicer. We hung out with Dish (Tim is his official name) who is conveniently the dish washer that was promoted to grounds keeper at The Lost Creek Ranch & Spa about 30 minutes north of Jackson. With spectacular views of the Grand Teton from just about anywhere out there, it's no wonder there's a lame, small contemporary house with a view next to the property that is mostly glass going for $6.7 milliion. We creeped it and it was impressive, but not that impressive. Anyway.

The important part of today is that in addition to conditioning ourselves to the altitude here (6,200'+) and making some cash, we got tons of free wood. I inquired if they had any wood they wanted to get rid of and the boss-man said most def. We ended up bringing back enough to fill the back of the F-250 and then split most of it with the newest member of our household, Ax. Here's what Ax brings to the table these days here at 536 No Name Alley: Carnage!

Even though one of the last things I need is more chest hair, I was glad to be able to act so manly and chop my own wood after work today with some fellow bros. With the cold starting to settle in (dipping into the upper 20s at night) and our budgets not caring for heat, our wood stove is going to get plenty of use this winter. And I think we're going to like it here.

Yellowstone: not bad, Mother Earth, not bad

Wanting to take advantage of the 7 day pass that we already had, we decided to go to Yellowstone and see what it had to offer us this past Friday. On the way out, we got the view we all missed on our ride in to Jackson a week ago (2 weeks for our roommates) as it was too dark to see The Grand and its sidekicks. Being so close to mountains like this is still taking some getting used to.

Once in Yellowstone, it would still be a little while before we got to the impressive sights. It was hard to resist stopping for every little thing that grabbed our attention, but we did our best. This is the Yellowstone River. Being late summer, it was rather tame, but I can only imagine its fury early spring when the up to 50 feet of snow starts to melt and work its way out.

For my amusement, thankfully Ryan got to get his feet wet when he accidentally threw the frisbee into the frigid river. It couldn't have been much over 40 degrees. He got there just in the nick of time.

On our road trip out here through The Badlands, Ryan and I were lucky enough to see several herds of bison and literally cross paths with many of them as well. In Yellowstone, our luck continued.

Our first official pit stop came at The Dragon's Mouth Spring.

Seeing mud pots, geysers, and thermal/hot springs on BBC's 3 part series - Yellowstone is one thing, but seeing all this in person made me feel like a kid on Christmas morning running from one thing to the next. Unlike Christmas morning, the putrid smell of sulfur was blasting away at our senses, making it difficult to get too close to some of the springs.

Regardless, we got as close as we could trying to avoid this kid's mistake (booty shorts and tube socks in a National Park).

It amazed me how comfortable the bison were with their proximity to the thermal springs. But being that this is their way of survival in the frigid winters where it routinely hovers around zero degrees during the day and plummets down to a record low of -66 F (2/9/1933) at night, I would guess they are used to it.

Continuing on our journey through Yellowstone, we finally arrived at Uncle Tom's trail head just before Canyon Country. Our search for his cabin ended in disappointment, but we were able to see the Lower Falls, which at 308 feet, are almost twice as high as Niagara Falls.

On our way to THE geyser, Old Faithful, we hit a traffic jam. Even with a cop flagrantly waving me on and yelling at me to "Keep driving!" past the bison in the middle of the road, I opted to yield to the two beasts in our 2,910 pound Camry. According to the Sooth Sayer of all Truths, Wikipedia states that "Bison can reach up to 6 feet 6 inches (2 m) tall, 10 feet (3 m) long, and weigh 900 to 2,200 pounds (410 to 1,000 kg)"... with the largest recorded at 2,500 pounds! They are the largest land animal in North America.

Old Faithful was impressive although I think it should look into some Viagra, as it only lasted about a minute. Nonetheless, it was amazing to know that Old Faithful is more regular than a house full of guys eating chili (thanks to Ryan's crockpot) and granola (thanks to Ryan's baking skills) several days a week. I took a video of it which I wont post, as it's a little boring, but it was cool to stick our hands in the warm, sulfur smelling water that rushed to us after from the mouth of the geyser.

All in all, not a bad day. On the ride home, for which it was total darkness, we were startled by a massive male elk in the middle of the road. Sitting shotgun, I was glad we didn't test the Camry's durability. Next time I think we should probably get on the road before 12:30 in the afternoon, but being so close to Yellowstone National Park, it wasn't like it was a one and done. I'll be back there for sure in the spring to check on all of our wildlife brethren and hopefully catch more glimpses of a bald eagle, a coyote, elk, bison, and maybe glimpses of wolves and bears.

Acclimating to life at 6,237'

After a week of living here it's still hard to comprehend that we are just a short ride from massive mountains. In fact, here's a shot from over 1,500 feet up Snow King Mountain, the ski "hill" just behind our house, with a view of downtown Jackson, the Tetons in the far left, and the National Elk Refuge on the right. Not bad for a 45 minute hike within a short walk from our home.

Here's a shot of our house which isn't actually visible due to the foliage. In the middle of the picture, the yellow house with the second floor deck is just to our right on No Name Alley. Our set up here is awesome; we are close to everything (that's the hospital in the background).

Having lived in Concord, Ma. basically my whole life, going for a hike, trail run, or mountain bike ride up and down anything challenging has required at least an hour and a half drive north out of the Boston area (Lynn Woods being an exception). Living in what many people refer to as an adult's playground here in Jackson, it's proving to be quite the adjustment. My first day here my roommate Kyle and I went mountain biking 20 minutes away up near the Teton Pass heading towards Idaho. I found myself gasping for air every couple minutes of riding due to not only the altitude but also the Nature Valley views I was seeing knowing this was my new home for the next several months. Here's a video of Kyle doing what he does on a MTB. It was nice to ride with someone more aggressive than me for once.

On day 2, Ryan and I decided to go for a less aggressive but equally enjoyable bike ride just behind our house. This time we didn't need pick-ups to shuttle us up to the top but that meant we actually had to pedal our way up to enjoy the bobsled run down and out. After 2 days of biking, my rewards were trail rash on my left arm and shoulder, another ding in my right shin to add to the collection, a broken bike pedal, and no scrapes on my face thanks to the full-face helmet I was wearing that did a great job of slowing me down once I fell. All in all, an awesome two days of biking without really having to travel to get there. Seeing the leaves turning color reminded me of back home, and how much better it is in the northeast than anywhere else.

The Town of Jackson is pretty cool and being that we are exiting the summer phase and nearing the winter phase, the next month and a half should be rather quiet around here, which is fine by me. There is plenty to do to keep me busy and get me in shape for the winter in any of the mountains or hillsides just minutes from my queen sized bed.

Wyoming: Beef Country

With The Badlands and more recently The Black Hills behind us, we were in pursuit of our final destination, Jackson! According to our trusty atlas that we purchased somewhere in southern Minnesota once Ryan’s iPhone map app. started being useless, with only several hundred miles to go we estimated we would get to town around 5pm at the latest. However, we really had no idea what to expect on this last leg of our journey.

At this point in the trip we were accustomed to seeing land like this in South Dakota. And seeing odd land art was something we had gotten used to in The Badlands.

What was really impressive was seeing from afar the mountain range that was in our path and would have to be crossed. The Bighorn Mountain Range was an impressive sight to see rising straight up from the high dessert floor and spanning as far as the eye could see left to right. This was definitely something neither Ryan nor I had ever seen firsthand.

The drive up the mountain was impressive mostly because I knew that I was about to be at a higher altitude than I had ever been on land (Volcán Pacaya, Guatemala - 8,373'). The scenery was cool but having seen so many national parks and such a wide array of land in the past 48 hours, I was only moderately impressed. That was until 2 deer sprinted out in front of us going about 65. Luckily, I saw them briefly creeping out of the woods before their skittish sprint and quickly slammed on the brakes. Seeing signs for “Open Range / Loose Stock” several more times throughout the rest of the trip would from now on put me on edge. But seeing this made me forget all that for just a moment. A moment for the record books.

In contrast to the slightly above average scenery we got on the drive up, once past the pass, the drive became memorable due to the deep gorge we would exit the mountains through. We stopped on several occasions to capture the majesty and were treated to several passes through mountain tunnel roads (which I have no pictures of since I was playing the role of chauffeur)

Once out of the Bigohorn Mts., the landscape became all too familiar again: plain, high dessert, but with a twist. Unbeknownst to me, as arid as Wyoming is, Boysen Reservoir is a massive body of water that sits just outside of the Bighorn Mts. I definitely didn’t feel like we were in Wyoming.

We were now only one mountain range away from being in Jackson and as the sun started to set, we knew we were going to miss some impressive sights. That being said, it was remarkable to see the sun set so fast as Ryan had said we would be sunless is 20 minutes only to watch it disappear behind the mountain range in 2! Sadly, after snapping this pic, I knew my Sony point and shoot was done for the night.

The drive through the last range was nerve racking as Ryan was driving, it was pitch black, there were barely any motorists around, there were signs for “Loose Stock” everywhere, and almost an hour of driving was on completely unpaved, rough road where we had to slow down to 20 mph often so as to not harm the Camry at this stage of the game; worst case scenarios were racing through my mind. At least everyone else we saw crushing the rough road in big pick-ups and SUVs were at ease.

Taking my mind off all of the horrible scenarios racing through my head was how bright it could get at night being so far away from any sort of civilization. When there are no clouds at night, the moon does it best job to impersonate the sun. It is so damn bright out at night here. So when we started to approach Jackson, I happened to notice a large shadow to our right that once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I realized was the Grand Teton staring us in the face! Man how I wish we had driven in with daylight.

Once in Jackson, it took us only a couple of minutes to find our new home. It was now after 9:30… After emptying out the Camry, it was off to the nearest watering hole to finally have that beer we had been envisioning for hours and hours of driving. At last we were home.

The 2nd largest cave in the world, for now

The drive to the Jewel Cave National Monument was gorgeous, something we have become accustomed to at this point. Seeing the effects of the massive Jasper Fire of August 2000 that burned 90% of the land area around there was incredibly impressive.

To our amazement, it was National Monument Day or something, and tickets that are usually reserved weeks in advance were not only on a first come first serve basis, but also free! We were lucky enough to get a tour with only a 40 minute wait in which we walked around the visitor center trying to get our knowledge on. From over 300 feet below on our tour, I only managed to retain a few facts. The most interesting being that according to geologists, the 151 miles of cave that has currently been discovered is only 3% of the actual size of the cave. With the speed of discovering and mapping new cave systems going at a rate of 3-5 miles per year, it’s going to be a long time before it’s all discovered.

Far less interesting but noteworthy nonetheless was the explanation between a National Park and a National Monument, which the cave is. To keep it simple, a National Park is a natural area or wildlife preserve that is established through acts of congress. An unlimited amount of people can enter a National Park on any given day therefore making it mostly about profit. In comparison, a National Monument can be natural features but are more often cultural or historic places that can be established by the President at his discretion. National monuments only allow a limited number of people per day to visit keeping with the idea of preservation. Ever since they drilled to put in a second elevator shaft and caused water to enter a previously dry cave, President Roosevelt established a law forbidding any more drilling. Thanks to Teddy Roosevelt, this was estabished as a national monument in February 7, 1908.


Anyway, here are the few pictures that came out from several hundred feet below in 49 degree Jewel Cave National Monument. I can't exactly explain much, but it was pretty damn cool.

After the Saturday morning tour, it was off to Jackson at what we estimated would be around 3, maybe 4 hours. But as a reoccurring them on this trip, we would find out that we were horribly mistaken.