While staying in Grand Teton National Park over the Labor Day holiday, we wanted to check out the Saturday Farmer's Market in Jackson, Wyoming, so we combined that with several other shopping stops to make a day of it. On the wonderful paved bike path from Gros Ventre junction in the park to Jackson, we passed this museum. It was on the other side of the road, but we could see some of their huge outdoor sculptures outside as we rode by. Snuggled into the steep hillside, the museum looks like a fort. Here's one of the amazing sculptures; a herd of bison. These were actually the only bison we saw in the area, a real change since they were a daily occurrence in Theodore Roosevelt and Yellowstone National Parks. Arriving at the visitor's center, we dropped off our recycling. They recycle everything here! Our next stop was the downtown farmer's market, and it was busy! First stop was this booth for some delicious sourdough bread for dinner. Next, a booth selling homemade pies caught our eye. I wanted to try the huckleberry, the local favorite, but it was $10 more than any other flavor! So, we settled for sour cherry. NOT that I'm complaining -- we both adore cherry pie, and this one was delicious! After loading up our purchases, we took the same bike lanes and path that we'd taken on our laundromat ride a few days prior to the Jackson Whole Grocer for a couple of essentials. On the way back into downtown, we were feeling a bit peckish so stopped at Moo's Gourmet Ice Cream. Make sure to note the Boston Terrier in the photo! This cutie pie got a nice ice cream treat from his owners. Don't tell Paisley! Since the farmer's market huckleberry pie was too pricey, I settled for a scoop of Moo's Wild Huckleberry ice cream. Barry sampled the Rum Raisin and Buzz Bomb (Extreme Espresso w/Chocolate). Their ice creams are organic and absolutely delicious and earned a five-dot Tripadvisor review from me. Last but certainly not least, we stopped back into The Bunnery for a few more treats to take back with us. Gotta have goodies to keep our energy up for the long bike rides, right?!
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While staying in beautiful Grand Teton National Park, we rode our bikes into Jackson, Wyoming, to the south, to do our laundry. We try to wash clothes every week so we don't have too many to take on our bikes if there's a bikeable laundromat nearby. The ride to the cleverly named "The Missing Sock" laundromat was 15 miles one way and provided gorgeous views along the way. Starting out along Gros Ventre Road from the Gros Ventre campground, we had a brief pronghorn sighting -- one of two during our time in GTNP. There's an excellent paved bike path into Jackson from the park, and it's mostly downhill to get there (you know what that means about the return trip, though!) Jackson itself has bike lanes and bike paths as well, and we took a combination of them to reach the laundromat on the south side of town. We loved how bike-friendly Jackson was. In fact, Jackson and Teton County earned a "Gold" designation in 2015 in the League of American Bicyclists Bicycle Friendly Community list, just one level below the highest (Platinum) possible! After everything was clean, socks all matched up and none at large, we packed it all back into our bags and panniers (Barry carries most of it since he's the stronger cyclist). We retraced our route, pedaling back through Jackson's charming downtown and stopping for some treats along the way at The Bunnery, an excellent spot for baked goods. There's a restaurant there as well, but we didn't try it; we went straight for the sugar and pastry! Finally it was time to make our way back up the big hill into the park and back to our campsite. There's an Elk Refuge along the way, but we never saw one in the several times we passed by, unfortunately. Probably the wrong time of day. Here's our turn! Here are the rest of the goodies we bought to save for later. Yum!
Grand Teton National Park is a road cyclist's nirvana. We had read and heard how wonderful it was, but really, even our high expectations were surpassed. In addition to a smoothly paved bike path from Jackson up to Jenny Lake, there are roads with almost no traffic, like Antelope Flats, and even those with more vehicles have decent shoulders on which to ride. Traffic was less than Yellowstone as well.. One of our rides was from our campground, Gros Ventre, north to Jenny Lake, the most visited point in the park. Barry had camped here in the small but charming tenting campground as a boy, so of course we would pay the campground a visit as well as checking out the lake. The jaw-dropping views along the way prompted many a photo stop. On the way, we stopped in at Mormon Row to see the historic Mormon settlement Not a bad spot to settle, eh? We also stopped in at a very nice visitor's center to buy a magnet for our magnet board and sticker for the back of Pearl. Unfortunately, this was the only Moose we saw while in the park. We hopped onto the paved bike path the rest of the way to Jenny Lake. There was a good climb before it leveled out. There was a road loop up near the lake that would take us to the best view of the lake, so of course we had to ride that. The last part of the loop is one-way and has a wide bike lane. Sweet! We made it! Jenny Lake is simply stunning. The water is so blue and so clear. The lake was formed by glacial action and continues to be filled by remnant glaciers and snowmelt. At our final rest stop on the return trip, I just had to ham it up in front of the Tetons. Being in such an amazing place, you just can't help feeling like this!
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Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
July 2019
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