Home from a week in the mountains notes....
* Yellowstone is like a whole other world. Boiling sand, huge waterfalls, an elk casually sunbathing on a mound of sulfur with a water trickling down it, a herd of buffalo taking a swim across a river then stopping traffic as they casually hop out and stoll across the road to a meadow, geysers shooting water straight into the air over 100 feet tall, deep blue pools of boiling water surrounded by bright orange rings of algea....just incredible.
* Grand Teton was even more my jam. Hundreds and hundreds of miles of trails. Delta Lake was the best -- about a 3 mile route on an improved trail, followed by 1+ of mostly rock scrambling to a glacier lake at ~ 10,000 feet, surrounded 270 degrees by the Teton mountain peaks. Basically, the best picnic ever.
* Met the nicest old couple at lunch Monday. 78 years old. Wife still skis 70-80 days a year. They spend half the year at the ranch in Jackson and the other half in Sea Pines. Takes a serious budget to maintain that lifestyle. Translation: they are filthy rich. Ole boy was wearing ripped Carhartts and had been working in the yard all day. Life goals.
* Grand Teton Brewing = Victor, Idaho (
http://grandtetonbrewing.com/)
It was 80 and sunny. We're lounging in adirondack chairs on their sprawling property, sipping cold snacks and working on our tans after a hard day of hiking. Take me back there now, please.
* Had forgotten that an old frat bro lived in Jackson, and hit him up just as he was getting off work Tuesday. He's a criminal defense attorney downtown -- which means DUIs, weed charges, etc. Pretty simple stuff. With an alliterative name, and a self-deprecating sense of humor, he's come up with the best bumper sticker/slogan in the area: DICK STOUT GOT ME OFF.
* Mangy Moose wins the award for worst steak ever, the $52 filet. Steak is for basic bitches, imho.
* Next National Park on the list --> Yosemite.
