Despite the ominous date, our flight to Jackson was uneventful. When we landed the temperature was 3F, but in the sun it was comfortable in a light jacket and no hat or gloves.
We spent the night at Mimi and Frank's house. Mimi is Julie's sister and she lives a couple of miles from Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. In the evening you can sit in their living room and watch the snowcats grooming the ski trails. On the other side of their house is the Snake River. Before it got dark, we went for a walk along the dike next to the river. The kids did some ski-jouring on cross country skis. Mimi's dogs, Geyser and Willow, have harnesses and can tow the kids on cross country skis through the snow. Willow joined the the family 4 days ago from the dog adoption center. When Mimi met us at the airport, the new dog's name was Gizmo, but by the time we got our gear squared away and got to their house, the dog's name was changed to Gnochi. After a few hours wrangling over dog names, the dog was re-renamed Willow, and that has stuck for over 24 hours now.
This is Mimi and Frank's house, with Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in the background.
Mimi and Bonnie in front of the Snake River, with the Sleeping Indian in the background.
Michael and Chris along the Snake River with the Grand Tetons in the background.
Nicholas and Melissa with the Grand in the background.The 6 cousins had dinner at Mimi's house and the adults drove back to town for a wine tasting. Mimi visits "Dr. Tom" for homeopathy treatments. His wife, Susie, owns a wine shop in Bozeman, MT and invited us a wine tasting at a friend's house in Jackson. Gardner is a transplant from VT and lives on a hill overlooking town--Snow King, the town ski hill, is on the same mountain--with an excellent view of the lights on the buildings in the valley and the snowcovered buttes on the other side. We were greeted with a glass of champagne and then invited to try the 20+ bottles of wine set out on the dining table. We started with whites (Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay) and then turned the corner and tasted the reds. My favorites were a Syrah and a couple of 80% Cabernets from Paragua, a winery in Chile. Susie suggested food to pair with each wine, so we ate chocolate truffles, nuts, salmon, or antelope (hunted by Dr. Tom) depending on which wine we were tasting. At the end of the night, Susie gave us a treat when she opened a $165 bottle of red wine. It really was quite a bit better than the "cheaper" $50 bottles we had tasted up to that point, but I am not sophisticated enough to describe the differences. It was a fun way to spend our first night in Jackson and we met some interesting people, like Sarge whose father's name is Major, and Stella who isn't really a person, but an American Bull Mastiff. On the way out, Paul (our family's oenophile) and Mimi bought some wine for us to drink this week, so we will get to re-experience some of that first night throughout the week.
Julie and Bubba with Stella.
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