C&C on the Move: Jackson Hole

As you likely know, my +1 and I spent a good portion of last week in Jackson Hole, WY. I grew up ski racing in Jackson but hadn't been there in nearly 20 years, and never in the summer.

We had SUCH a great time....eating, hiking, shopping, site seeing and enjoying our child free time. Luckily it wasn't too crowded given that many schools throughout the country are back in session.

This is going to be a long (and good) one, so sit back and relax, and without further adieu....the C&C recap of Jackson Hole, WY.

First and foremost let me tell you about the awesome place where we stayed, The Fireside Resort Cabins. They are located between Wilson and The Village and are a short drive into downtown Jackson. It was the perfect accommodation for us....a little mix of modern and mountain, an amazingly comfortable bed and linens, small kitchen to make breakfast and a place to relax after a long day of adventures. I would highly recommend the cabins to anyone visiting Jackson.

Now on to our adventures. We spent four days in Jackson and hiked/climbed everyday.

The Tram Hike at the Village at Jackson Hole- approx 7 miles 4,2000ft elevation gain and you can ride the Tram down. It's a gorgeous view of the valley and a beautiful hike.

The Middle Teton- 15 miles, approx 6000ft elevation gain. It took us less than 8 hours start to finish with stopping time (can easily be a 12 hour day). No ropes are required but there is some "climbing" to reach the summit.

Amphitheater Lake-10 miles, 3,200ft elevation gain. The trail is well maintained and not too steep, so this is a great long hike for all levels.

Lake of the Crags- 6 miles, 3000 ft elevation gain. We actually didn't make it all the way to the Lake because of a time crunch. This hike is STEEP, but the views are awesome. Accessible from Jenny Lake Boat Dock.

Laurance S Rockefeller Preserve to Phelps Lake- approx 2 miles round trip, flat and easy hiking for all levels and ages with a great swimming opportunity at the lake.

That's my husband...he swam out to the rocks. I waded in to give my legs a nice "ice bath".

And after all that hiking/climbing what else is there to do but eat, and eat, and eat?

Persephone- (pronounced per-seh-phony)This was my favorite spot of the trip. The food, decor and atmosphere were all incredible. We ate here multiple times.

Picnic- Same owners as Persephone and equally as awesome. They are located "off the beaten path" but worth the slight detour. We took lunch "to-go" one day and also stopped for coffee a few mornings. I loved the decor!

Lotus Organic Cafe- We ate lunch here our first day in town and could have easily gone back. There was so much to choose from, but I had the "Green Bowl" which was so tasty.

Trio- This was hands down our best dinner in Jackson. I had a halibut that was to die for (pardon my poor photo quality).

Our last night in town we ate at their sister restaurant, Local. The buffalo burger was amazing!

Hatch- I was a bit skeptical of this place given we have some great taco spots in Portland, but after our 8 hour adventure, tacos and a margarita just sounded so good that we decided it was worth the risk, and it was.

The margarita (with Avion Tequila, my favorite) did not disappoint!

We had three different types of tacos, pork, chicken and brisket, and they were all amazing!

There were a few other spots that were on our list that we didn't make it to like Cafe Genevieve and the Healthy Being Juicery, but I know we will be back again soon.

We didn't do a lot of shopping since we were too busy hiking and refueling afterwords, but there were two shops where I found some great treasures. The first, Roam, I already introduced you to as it's where I found the Little Truths Studio Print.

I picked up a handful of things from this store, mostly gifts, so I can't share! ;) 

My other favorite was a store called Mountain Dandy; a masculine store, focusing on the American Maker, with a collection of American and Industrial Furniture. The owners were super friendly and so was the woman working in the store when we went in for our 3rd visit.

We found some great gifts in this store as well. 

There were many a treasure I could have easily come home with....the ceramic dishwater from Alex Marshall Studios was amazing! I am coveting a set of the plates. 

And these wooden trays....

As you can see, we had an amazing, and very full 4 days. We easily could have spent an entire week there, so I cannot wait for our next trip back. 

If you're considering a trip to Jackson, with or without kids, feel free to reach out. I'm happy to give more advice, if you haven't already been bombarded with enough of it! 

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Pushing Limits

As I shared in Yesterday's Post, I am spending part of this week in Jackson Hole, WY. My +1 and I are here to celebrate our 10th anniversary. I will be posting next week about all my favorite restaurants, shops, etc, but until then I thought I would share with you some details about yesterday's adventure.

My husband is a competitive runner. He competes in endurance trail running races and sky running races (he'll be doing one on Saturday), and is in incredible shape. I love to hike, but climbing big mountains has never been something I've done. When he said he wanted to climb the Middle Teton I was a little nervous.

Here is a photo...the base elevation is about 6,000 feet and the summit caps out at 12,804 ft. The climb is about 15 miles.

Now you know why I was a little nervous. I read some reviews that said it took hikers/climbers 12 hours. I knew that seemed long for us, but the idea of being on my feet for even half that seemed daunting, especially since the longest hike I've done was about 14 miles and 5 hours with very little elevation gain (in New Zealand).

So despite my inner skeptic we started out around 8 a.m. yesterday. The first 4 miles of the trail was easy, by our standards. The Middle Teton in the background. Notice I'm still smiling.

Here's where it started to get a bit tougher.  

This was the most technical and steepest portion of the climb. It was more rock climbing than hiking with about a 45 to 50 degree angle to the summit. 

Notice I'm still smiling, but I had my moments. This was really technical, and as I said, not something I have done a lot of, so it really pushed my comfort level. We hiked this type of terrain for about an hour.

And, after about three and a half hours we made it to the summit, and it was worth every step!

You can see the Grand Teton in the background of this picture.

The views from the summit were amazing, but we didn't stick around too long as we didn't want to get caught in a traffic jam of hikers.

I got in a little snow running on the way down.

The whole adventure start to finish took nearly 8 hours (around 6.5 real moving time) and was the longest I've ever been on my feet. Surprisingly, I felt pretty good at the end. 

This climb definitely pushed my physical and mental limits and my comfort level, but I am so glad that I did it. There were times that I wanted to turn around. I wanted to find a reason not to go to the top, but my husband kept encouraging me, and we made it. He was the best climbing (and life) partner I could ask for. 

We still have two more days left here, so I'm sure we will be bagging more peaks, assuming I can still walk. 

Little Truths

Yesterday I posted this photo on the C&C Instagram account. I came across this print in a store called Roam in Jackson Hole. My +1 and I are here for four days as a part of a week long 10 year anniversary trip. (don't worry, there will be a travel recap).

Anyway, the post received many inquiries about the print, so since I believe that copying is a compliment, I am sharing it with you...consider yourselves lucky. Just promise you will give me credit when your friends all drool over it.

This poster encompasses everything that we want to teach the Mini Fashionista, so what better way to give her a daily reminder than by hanging this in our house (location TBD).

ABC Print Watercolor Alphabet Poster $34

Ironically, Little Truths Studio artist Lori Roberts is based out of Portland! So I came all the way to Wyoming for something I could have found right at home! 

We're going to be spending the whole week in the Mountains, so this will likely be the only post this week, but I will be back after Labor Day with all sorts of good content. Stay tuned! 

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