Jackson Jaunt

Because my Memorial Day weekend trip to Vegas fell through, I was free to join my fam in Jackson, Wyoming briefly. I did some other things on Saturday, and on Sunday, I decided to join the fam just south of Grand Teton Nat'l Park. So Sunday afternoon, I packed up some stuff and headed out on a 5 1/2 hour drive through Wyoming cowboy country.

Along the way, I witnessed two livestock jailbreaks (one of cows, one of sheep), a random pronghorn in a cow field, a large bikers party at someone's house, and some beautiful, beautiful skies.

As I entered Jackson, I realized it reminds me a lot of Park City, but it's more spread out instead of having one or two main streets where all the action is, and Jackson is more "old westish" than Park City, and it's a bit more touristy and less chic. It's more like "cowboy chic", you might say. To each his own.

I arrived just after dinner, just in time to head into the park to grab some last-minute photos before the sun went down. I drove with Ez, Nikki, Tori, and Tyler. We had a good time driving around snapping shots of random animals and sights and chatting. I also learned Jesse McCartney thinks he's a rapper. And I laughed. A lot. Good times.





It had apparently been a bright day.



Elk and pronghorn together.




This next picture was taken right before Zack unleashed his destructive power and ate most of Tyler's arm. At least in Zack's dreams. You can see him holding it inside. He wants to strike, but he knows Mom will be displeased if he eats her grandchildren.




The sunset was great. Brought out all kinds of colors in the clouds and the water.







There was a bit of a storm in the distance, so I had to snap a shot.



Tyler rarely misses and opportunity to practice his destructive abilities. This time, it was the snow's turn to learn who's boss.



More of the fascinating clouds.




After hours, get out of the park! The animals start acting strange and dark...



The next day, the first thing we witnessed after entering the park was a coyote dashing across the road. ...followed closely by one ticked off elk. It was great! We watched the surreal scene unfold across the prairie, as the elk relentlessly harrassed the coyote into the trees on the other side. I figure it served the coyote right, just for being a coyote.



Sandhill crane.



Moose.




Blackbird.



Humans.



Surprisingly empty prairie.



Apparently, this heron and seagull were buds.



And I've not seen all that many pelicans in my day, but this one was comically scrappy-looking. It's that time of year.



After the brief morning tour of the park, I headed out of town to get to a concert in Lehi. There were some places I wanted to stop and take more pictures, but I was on a time crunch, trying to get back in time for a concert, and the thunderstorms also put a damper on the photo ops. But someday, it'd be nice to take my time a little more and get a closer look at the meandering Salt Creek at the southern edge of Bridger National Forest, try some Bear Hug fudge and Gunnar's pizza, and take more pics of the red rock and the yellow rock along the way (the change is surprisingly sudden).

Anyway, I had my reservations about making the trip for such a sort visit, but it was totally worth it to spend some time with the fam and to grab some nice shots of more critters and a sunset. Good weekend.