Salt Lake City and Jackson - July 3-4, 2010

Two and half weeks after my Maui/China trip, I'm off to see the great outdoors!  I try to plan trips whenever there is a holiday to stretch my vacation days.  Because Memorial Day is in close proximity to July 4th, it looks like I'm constantly on vacation, but really I'm not.  ;)  Originally I had wanted to take Babe to see London and Paris, but with the exorbitant fares to Europe, I decided to go with Plan B and visit more national parks, as Babe has never been to Yellowstone or Grand Teton.  I have been there before on a bus tour with other Chinese families, but don't remember too much since I was young, maybe pre-teen.

We flew to Salt Lake City as it was much cheaper to do that and drive 5-6 hours to Jackson, Wyoming, than to fly directly into Jackson Hole, West Yellowstone, or Bozeman airports.  I got the rental car from none other than Priceline, as the rental companies wanted at least $22/day.  My initial bid was for $15/day for a mid-size, which got rejected but was countered with $17/day.  $2 extra a day wasn't going to break the bank and would eliminate further stress, so I took the offer, with some encouragement from Babe.  I can't help my obsession to get super-awesome "they're paying me" types of deals, but with help from Babe, I am learning to accept deals that are just "awesome". ;)

I had looked up which was the best route to take to Jackson; there were 5 main routes there, all involving some combination of I-15, I-80, and Hwy 89 highways.  People commented that the most scenic one was on Hwy 89 through Bear Lake.  Bear Lake is also home to fresh raspberry shakes, so that was a clincher.  The road was definitely scenic.  A lot of the highway ran parallel to a river/creek and through national forests.  It made the long drive enjoyable.  The fresh raspberry shakes in Bear Lake were really good!  Super thick, served with a straw and spoon; you could turn it upside down just like the shakes at Dairy Queen.  There were other interesting flavors available as well, but if a place is famous for something, might as well stick with it.

We drove through lots of small towns and crossed a couple of state lines.  There was one town in particular called Ririe, in Idaho, with a population of 500 or so.  What was amusing was there were signs advertising "Ririe Days", like it was a big production.  It even had its own website too.  But I think we drove through the main part of town in two blocks.  I wonder what Ririe Days would've been like...

We get into Jackson around sunset time, just beautiful with big skies and the Tetons in the background.  We check into the Jackson Hole Racquet Club timeshare, located in an area called "The Aspens", off of Moose-Wilson road.  It was difficult locating the office, as it was hidden behind the Bank of Jackson building after turning into the Aspens.  Thank goodness for iPhone maps, though I was disbelieving the output, because it kept pointing to the bank, haha.  Since it was after-hours, there was a phone that dialed to a live operator who told us the combination to the lock box to retrieve our key package.  Two metal keys and directions to the condo were enclosed.  We easily found the condo, unloaded our cargo, and headed out to get groceries.

I had initially searched for a hotel in Jackson, but the prices were really high, especially as this was July 4th week and I was booking last-minute.  I actually was going to reserve a room at the Motel 6, as it was affordable, recently renovated, and had decent reviews on Tripadvisor.  Then I decided to try the Wyoming Craigslist and found someone renting their 1-bedroom timeshare week for $750.  I offered $700 as it was less than 2 weeks before arrival, and it was accepted.  It never hurts to make an offer...the worst is that they'll say no.  $100/night inclusive at a condo is much better than the same price plus tax for Motel 6.  For me, having a kitchen is very convenient. 

I had Yelp'ed the neighborhood earlier and found the Jackson Whole Grocer. (get it, Jackson "Whole"?  Haha.)  This place is like a co-op.  I was impressed by the variety of meats and produce they stocked, considering that Jackson is pretty much in the middle of nowhere.  There were also lots of grocery items from all over the world.  I usually go for locally produced foods, so we selected items from the deli case like homemade tortillas and hummus, and antelope sausage.  There was also a display of baked goods from the Bunnery bakery in-town (highly recommended by my friend Denise), so we picked up a loaf of cinnamon bread.  One thing I noticed in Wyoming was that the liquor is stored in a separate room within the store and you go in through a glass door.  I guess they can close it down when it is past hours for selling alcohol, and to also keep underage people out.  I think the same is done in Utah as well, as I remember seeing the alcohol in its own room inside the gas station convenience store.

We headed back to the condo and made ourselves at home.  I had to dig into the cinnamon bread, and it was sooooo good.  How can you turn down bread with a sugary crust?  It went well with the homemade raspberry jam we purchased from Bear Lake. 

The condo looked like it was built in the 80's, but it was very comfortable.  The place was supposed to sleep 5, but it seemed to me you could fit 7 in it, as there was a queen bed in the bedroom (2), a bunk bed next to the kitchen (2), a queen sofa bed in the living room (2), and a bay window bed (1).  It'd be crowded though, especially with only 1 bathroom, though it was laid out well with two sinks and a separate door for the tub/shower combo and the toilet.  There were plenty of sheets/blankets/pillows for all the beds, and towels too.  Full size washer/dryer was available.  The condo temperature stayed a constant 70-72 degrees without any need for air conditioning or heating, despite the drop in temperature at night to 50.  There were 5 Duraflame logs provided next to the fireplace, which came in handy for ambiance at night.  Broadband internet was available if you had a laptop that could plug in, no wi-fi.  There was a TV and DVD player, which we never turned on, but supposedly had cable television.  We were on the ground floor, which offered a sliding glass door out to the community backyard which had BBQ grills for guests' use.  The grills are like the ones you find at public parks next to picnic tables, so we had bought some charcoal at the store.  I'm glad we weren't on the second floor because they only had a balcony, and if they wanted to use the grills, they would have to go downstairs and walk all the way around the building.  The location of the timeshare was perfect for us, as we didn't want to stay in Jackson with all the tourists and traffic.  I was happy to have found the place last minute at a great rate, especially when my timeshare exchange company didn't have many offerings in the area.

We were tired from the long drive, so we went to bed.  Nothing was planned for Independence Day.  The envelope containing the condo keys also had an insert about the activities in Jackson for the 4th, such as a pancake breakfast, parade, rodeo, and fireworks at night.  There were incentives for people biking in for the events, so based on that, we figured we weren't going to travel much the next day as the town would be full of people and cars.  We ended up sleeping in and relaxing all day, grilling, reading books, playing iPhone games, and talking/laughing/spending time together.  A real lazy day that went by too fast.  The only disappointment was how much noise traveled inside the condo.  The people upstairs were stomping all over the place, and ran the washer/dryer/dishwasher all day.  There were signs posted inside the condo telling guests to be quiet between 10pm and 8am, and not to run any appliances during that time.  Made sense given that the entire condo is a wooden structure.

Yellowstone National Park tomorrow!