Summer 2021 Western Trip – 4 – Jackson and the Tetons

That’s right, Jackson isn’t just a hideout for Billionaires, it’s also the perfect home base for exploring Grand Tetons National Park. Considering how late in the season we were making our reservations, we were very lucky to get anything. We ended up at The Virginian Resort, which is part hotel and part RV Park on the outskirts of Jackson (Toma, thanks for finding it!). We could have done much worse. As far as RV parking lots go, this one wasn’t bad (although I think we set our price per night record at $120 (full hookups). There was some grass and a picnic table to make it a bit more homey. Jackson is also where we joined up with the Shtargots (Lana’s sister’s family). That brought our total up to 12 plus one sweet but unruly dog.

Shockingly, it only took 17 takes to get a nice picture where everyone was looking at the camera

We pulled into town during the early evening. With plenty of light left in the day and the sights just around the proverbial and actual corner, we didn’t want to waste any time before heading to the park. So after wasting time having the kids take a quick cool off dip in the resort’s pool (further proof that I don’t always get what I want), we made our way into the park.

Little known fact, this lake is named String Lake because this is where string was invented

All 12 of us piled into one of the RVs for the 40 minute commute into the national park (best commute ever!). Say what you will about Wyoming (I only say nice things of course) but they sure know how to make mountains there.

As we passed Jackson Airport, nestled at the very base of the Tetons, I couldn’t help but think that it has to be the most amazing airport to fly into (just make sure to pick a seat on the mountain side of the plane). Here’s some trivia for you, Jackson Airport is the only commercial airport in the country located inside a national park.

Yes, there are traffic jams in Grand Teton, but at least these ones are bison related

Our first stop through the gate was String Lake, where we took in some up close and personal views of the mountains. Some of the more thermally adventurous folks in the group also took a quick dip in the snow melt fed lake.

Despite what the locals say, the bison do occasionally leave the roads to spend time in the fields

It was getting dark as we left String lake but we made one more stop at Jenny Lake, which was even closer to the base of the mountains. No swimming but the views were amazing (see photos for proof).

Photographic proof that that the Grand Tetons are disgustingly beautiful

Day 2

On our only full day in Jackson we – guess what – headed back into the national park. We stopped at a couple of turnouts to soak up more of those views and eventually found our way to Jackson Lake for a bit more swimming (watch out for the leeches!). In terms of the best picture spot of the day, that went to Oxbow Bend. The view was enough to make you believe that someone with some serious design chops had laid things out.

It was difficult to pick which photo of Oxbow Bend to highlight in the blog. In the end I decided to go with photo #174.

Lana and I actually forgot to pose for a couples photo while at Oxbow Bend, so we later found a gas station in town that had a decent cutout to pose in front of (you can hardly tell it’s not real, right?)

After a nice day in the park we headed back to The Virginian for some BBQ dinner and some in town festivities. While we didn’t really do much walking around town, we did want to take in some of the local culture, and what better place for that than the Jackson Rodeo.

All these years I’ve been using the line, “this isn’t my first rodeo” but this day I finally got to say, “this is in fact my first rodeo”. While I’m not sure rodeos are going to be a regular thing for us, we all definitely had fun at this one.

All the kids were inspired by the rodeo cowboys and decided to give the mechanical bison a shot

Day 3

After having a nice leisurely breakfast and quick soak in one of the resort’s hot tubs, it was time to pack up and make our way to Yellowstone and eventually our next camp site, right on the Yellowstone River in Gardner, Montana (just past the North Gate of Yellowstone).

For those of you who find yourselves going to the Tetons but aren’t planning on visiting Yellowstone, considering how close the two parks are to each other, that decision would be borderline criminal. Go see both parks. We drove through Grand Tetons National Park to get to Yellowstone, and I’m pretty sure it only took 20 to 30 minutes after exiting Teton’s North Gate to get to Yellowstone’s South Gate.