Yes We Carve

Listen to Stevie

and go get out the vote!

We were inspired by this video...

Go check out their site too....yeswecarve.com!

Hiking out the back doorstep

When we made the move from East Jackson to West Jackson about a year and a half ago, one of the benefits was being literally right at the foot of some of the best hiking trails in town. This past Sunday was almost 60 degrees, balmy, no wind, and a perfect day for an afternoon hike. Here is a sampling of shots we took from the trails just behind our apartment. The ski lift is on Snow King Ski Area. As Chels mentioned, stay tuned for some really sweet Halloween shots coming tomorrow or Friday. Later.

New way to Phelps Lake

After lounging around Saturday morning eating waffles, we decided to hike up to Phelps Lake in Grand Teton National Park. We came in from the new Rockefeller entrance on the East side of the lake. Donated to the park last year by the Rockefeller family, this new access point provides easier and faster routes to the ever-popular swimming in Phelps during the summer months.

The Rockefeller family essentially used to own the entirety of the Jackson Hole valley. They purchased all of this amazing land with the idea of eventually giving it back to the government once they got it federally protected in the form of a checkerboard of federal lands including; National Park, Wilderness Area, National Elk Refuge, and National Forest. These couple shots we took last weekend represent the last vestige of a large chunk of private land in Grand Teton National Park that has now since been given to the Park. As the story goes, there was some intense inner family squabbling between the Rockefeller's. Some wanted to keep it as the last of the family compound out here in Jackson, while others felt it was best to donate to the Park. Luckily for the general public, the giving side of the equation won out and we have a previously off limits part of the park to explore.

Enjoying Indian Summer weather this week here in the Hole, Yahoo

Date night

Friday night we brought back the ever-popular once-a-week date night. We used to do this quite a bit, but our summer was filled with too many activities and visitors and we started to slack. What we do is trade off weeks...one week Trevor plans something, one week Chelsea. It doesn't necessarily have to cost a lot of money, the only real requirement is to come up with something creative.

This week was Chelsea's turn, so date night was "Pizza bar and Pumpkin carving". I stopped by Domino's and picked up dough for pizza (I have never done it before, but heard that you could buy just the dough for cheap...and it was...only $2!) So we made pizza from scratch with the dough (which turned out great), made caramel apples and carved up some awesome pumpkins...we will debut those photos the night before Halloween, so get excited. They are pretty sweet if I do say so myself.

The rest of the weekend was filled with nice weather and some good hikes...pics this week!

Wood

Yesterday Trev had a day off, so he went with Ted to have a guys day and go chop some wood. We definitely do not have a wood-burning stove in our tiny place, but we "borrowed" plenty of Ted's wood this summer for our overnight kayak camping trips, so he figured it would be the nice thing to help him restock (so we could borrow more next summer!) They went out to Mosquito Creek where a fire burned through awhile back, so it was easy pickings with a lot of downed wood ready for the taking.

Ted working the chainsaw like a pro

Chainsaws and beer, not usually the best mix

The haul, filled the back of Ted's truck...now time to chop!

25 miles of Goodness

Couldn't convince Chels on Sunday that floating 25 miles on the Snake was a good idea with below freezing temps in the am. So, the "boys" got after it instead. Well, it was cold, the fishing was slow, scenery was awesome, and the company top drawer. Who knows if it will be the last float of the year, but they are certainly getting harder and harder to do with shorter days and cold temps.

More of our weekend goodness

Paddling in paradise

Why not?

A bird's-eye view

Bridge over Mt. Moran

Beauty. And most boats got winterized already, so it felt like we had the lake all to ourselves.

Soaking up the rays

Last of the fall colors left, most of the trees around Jackson have turned a dull brown color if they have any leaves left at all after a couple snow storms...hang in there yellow!

Savoring our last kayak of the year

Last weekend hurrah

It was a beautiful weekend in Jackson and we took full advantage. The roads to Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone close for the winter after this weekend, so we soaked up the sun (it got up to 60 degrees, a far cry from last weekends blizzards!) and took the kayaks out for their last float of the year, on Jackson Lake. We were the only ones out there besides one sailboat we saw far off in the distance, a bald eagle watching us from the trees above and lots of jumping fish. It was the perfect ending to a great summer/fall in the park!

Trev fishing from his kayak

Nothing but glass on the way to Moran Bay

The water was so clear, Trevor was being taunted by huge lake trout all afternoon

I figured there was no better place to practice my headstands!

Content. We love this place.

Lunch on the sandbar island

You can walk on water for a view like this

Happy Friday

Man it has been hard to get up in the morning! I don't know if it is because it is getting darker in the morning or because of the thick frost (or snow!) outside...but all I can say is that I am really happy it is Friday. Have a great weekend!

Already thinking about Spring??

No, not thinking about Spring, but just saw a few shots from our trip to Escalante last April and already excited to go down there again this year and explore around.

More snow in October

Poor Stevie. He just isn't ready yet. And I don't think we are either. Barely left the house this weekend and it was actually pretty nice. Caught up on long overdue chores, turned the heat on for the first time and Trev even baked cookies! It will be a lot more fun once we can ski in it!

Thoughts of winter

It is a full on raging blizzard outside right now and the temps are going to struggle to reach freezing for a high today. I guess the plans of sneaking in one of the last floats for the year have been scratched. Instead, we are having a lazy morn of sweet potato hashbrowns and lounging. I am thinking about winter and some good snowmobile days to come that will be right around the corner if we get the 2ft of snow predicted in the mountains today. Bring it.

A couple of sled shots from winters gone by.