Spring Skiing, Jackson, and Farewell.

After our long, roundabout  drive from Napa, we were a little bushed, but a good sleep had us ready to hit the slopes the next morning.
This was Sun 27th. The weekend. Great snow. Crowds, you're thinking, right? Naah.
As Howdy explained, the Mormons were all in church, and a lot of people are starting to think golf, and other spring pursuits. We couldn't believe the lack of people. Anyway, it was a fun day with a few powder runs after a dump of a few inches overnight.
Next day, great silky snow again, but we were in cloud and skiing by braille. After 3 runs we called it a day. Tuesday was unreal - big dump overnight, sunshine, and lots of lovely soft powder to flounder in. Actually, we are improving. Really, we are, a bit. Had a number of "new tracks" powder runs, and both of us only crashed once!! Wednesday was foggy and drizzly - another 3 run day, then Thursday was fine and sunny with no new snow but dream groomers to zoom down. Pam gave us a final carving lesson, and we left our last day on the slopes feeling good about our skiing.

Backyard BBQ after our last day of skiing:

The view of Snowbasin at sunrise the next day about a block from Howdy and Pam's home:

Next day we 4 piled into Howdy's truck and headed for Wyoming. Cowboy country, Jackson Hole, and the Grand Teton NP. We had booked into Cowboy Cabins in the very likable town of Jackson, which turned out to be nice and comfy, then headed out to check out the sunset on the magnificent Tetons. These fabulous craggy mountains rise straight out of the valley floor, no foothills, about 6-7000 ft to a max altitude of 13,770. Spectacular.
I now have a new item on the bucket list - climb the Grand Teton!

In our travels around the park we were privileged to see (at last!) quite a few moose, none with racks unfortunately, as they have only recently shed the last ones, thousands of elk (there is a Nat'l Elk Refuge right next to town), and a number of Bighorn Sheep up on the crags looking disdainfully down at us. Throw in a few raptors - eagles and hawks - and it was an American fauna education. We were told there were a few bears about after their hibernation, but didn't see any. A good thing?

A slide show from Pam and Howdy:



So, after packing up our ski gear, and a sad farewell with Pam and Howdy, we're sitting at the departure lounge at SLC Airport awaiting our flight to Chicago, and the start of the next stage of our adventure.