Vacation to Yellowstone National Park (June 5-13, 2021) - Day 1-2

 

Where do I even start..... What a fabulous week! I was really amazed at the beauty!  If you have ever wondered about God's beauty... go see Yellowstone!  We spent 8 nights out west and it was AMAZING! 

Day 1 -  LONG travel day! Thankfully we started from our local airport in Hattiesburg.  Just 25 minutes from our home.  That was so worth it! and they have FREE parking!  When we've flown out of NOLA we've paid like $30 a night on parking unless we parked off site and got a taxi into the airport!  Free parking for a 8 nights was awesome! However, we had 2 layovers before arriving in Jackson Hole, WY.  We flew from Hattiesburg to Houston.  Had a 3 hour layover and then flew from Houston to Denver where we had almost a 4 hour layover before flying from Denver to Jackson Hole.  We left Saturday morning at 6am and arrived in Jackson Hole finally at 10pm that night! I was wore out from sitting all day and having to wear a mask all day was a KILLER!  It's still a federal regulation that you must wear a mask inside the airport and on the airplanes at all times.  😓  We were the last plane in and Gary was so worried about us missing our rental car! The rental car guy laughed and told me that they won't close until the last plane has arrived because they know people need the rental cars.   Jackson Hole is a small airport so that makes it very nice.  Rental cars are right there on the premises.  💚  Our hotel was like 10 minutes away right smack in the middle of the town.   Jackson hole is a cute little city.  The hotels are not big high rises.  Most all are only 2 levels and of course we were on the 2nd floor and there were no elevators! We had huge heavy luggage due to traveling for 8 nights so Gary was not too happy about that... As for me I was just happy to be getting in a bed! and the bed was really comfy! 😁 

airport travel pics... 

 

Day 2 - Jackson Hole, WY - After a good nights rest we were ready to hit the ground sightseeing, but first we needed FOOD.  The first place we went had a long wait.  The guy at the door told us there was another place down the street that was real good.  We just lucked up and didn't have to wait long there and it was FABULOUS.  Highly recommend this place:

with our tummies full, we were ready ....  Off to Teton village to ride the lift up to the top and see the view of the Grand Tetons! But first a quick pick in town square showing we made it:

 and OH WHAT A VIEW!!! There was still snow on top of the mountains!  

That's a ski lift at the top.  

This is a nice restaurant at the top of the mountain.  I'm sure during the ski season this place is packed!  They were not open when we were there that morning, but they were serving coffee and hot chocolate. 

Gary sitting enjoying the view.  It was pretty cool that morning... like around 42! 

I see no "green" slopes!  Guess I would have been in trouble... ha ha ha ha

After we left here we decided to drive on through the Grand Tetons National Park and on to Jenny Lake.  Jenny Lake was probably one of my favorite places!! It was breathtaking!  I wish Gary had been in shape so we could have done all the hiking trails!  maybe next time... 

We spent the afternoon driving around and was really just in AWE of God's beauty!  We looked for a moose all day, but didn't see one.  Gary was determined that he wanted to see a moose!  We headed back to town square for supper and rest up before leaving the next day heading to the South Entrance of Yellowstone.  We ended up at the Cowboy Bar for drinks and then a quaint restaurant for a late dinner.  Gary was having a duck.  Every place we went had a 1-2 hour wait if you had no reservation!! The town was packed.  Lots of travelers.  We ended up after Gary fussed and fussed with the lady at the front deck at table outside on the sidewalk.  It was prefect, but we made a few people mad that had been sitting waiting longer than us and I felt bad for them.  Our table however only sat 2 and most of them were groups of 4-5.   I will also say that every place was short staffed.  Thanks to the pandemic and FREE government money.. no one wants to work anymore so restaurants are really SUFFERING with having enough help to serve all the people!   

The Cowboy bar was a place that several friends told us we needed to go in and see because at the bar the barstools had saddles on them!! So of course we had to go!  We got us 2 seats up at the bar, but after a few minutes of sitting, Gary said the saddle was the most uncomfortable thing he had ever sat on... 😂

Oh did I mention that before the drinks and supper Gary had to find ICE CREAM...

We also drove to the state line of Wyoming and Idaho for a quick photo before we returned to town square.  

This was on our way back from the state line... 😀

and we ended the night with our dinner outside.. the temps were PERFECT 

It was a FABULOUS DAY!  We weren't sure if we would see most everything in Jackson Hole in one day or not, but we hit most all the high spots so decided we would head out the next morning to Yellowstone instead of waiting till later in the afternoon.  

Next post coming on Yellowstone... 

Yellowstone Half Marathon 6/12/21

 Half marathon #44 for me, but only state #8!  I really got to venture out of Mississippi! I mean really... I could be almost done with the 50 state challenge if I had thought of that when I started running a couple years ago!   What better way to end a weeks vacation than with a runcation.... Half Marathon 😜😍  Yellowstone was on my husband's bucket list of places to travel to so when I saw that there was also a half marathon there, I quickly talked him into a runcation. 😎  We however had this planned for 2020 and it was canceled due to COVID.  Then in 2021 we were still unsure if we would really get to go because our work rules would still not allow us to fly anywhere, but they changed the rules like 4 weeks prior to our travel date and we were able to fly. 👏👏👏 I was thrilled because I sure did not want to drive 20+ hours! 

We had a glorious vacation.. I'll have to do another post on that... but for now here's my race recap:

West Yellowstone is a cute little town.  The race was actually outside the west entrance to the park in Montana.  Gary and I arrived at the West entrance early on Friday.  If I had known we would get there early I could have done the race challenge which had a 5K on Friday night before the half marathon on Saturday morning.  But with us being on vacation that week and never being there, I wasn't sure when we would make it so I didn't sign up for the challenge.  Boy the challenge medal was NICE!  I'll have to remember that if I ever go back. 😀

I had kind of forgotten that the race would be a trail run until my friend texted me the night b4 warning me about the rocks.  I'm so glad she did!!  Only the 1st mile was on pavement and then we hit the trails.  Most of the trail was good hard dirt.  We did have a few wet spots from the snow melt.  Oh did I mention it was 38 degrees when we started!  My friends were racing back home and it was 95 for them! OUCH!  

The first 5-6 miles were great.  I felt great.  I loved the cooler temps!  and then we hit that climb that my friend warned me about.  It seemed that we climbed forever!  And there were big rocks ..... those mountain rocks..... Finally around mile 9 we started going downhill.  I was like ok, now I can make up some time.  Well, that was NOT going to happen!  The downhill was filled with more rocks and uneven ground.  It was all I could do to keep from rolling my ankle!  My body pure jarred from trying to maneuver over the rocks and going downhill! We finally reached a stretch that was flat winding around a stream.  I was like heck yes, maybe now I can make up some time.... but NOPE more rocks!  I was running by a group most of the race that were all friends.  They said the race was more for billy goats than people!   Goats can get around on all that crap easily.  😅  So I gave up at looking at my time.  I wasn't there to win anyways.  I ran when I could and I walked when I felt it unsafe for me to run.  I saw a lady trip on the rocks and fall. I felt so bad for her.  She said she was ok, but I know it hurt.  I've been there before.  

I finished in 2:45.  Certainly not my best time 😆 But with all the walking and I did also take 3 bathroom breaks, I was happy I finished with no injuries.  😍

Here are a few pictures from the race.  I'm glad I experienced it.  I'd love to go back and do the Grand Teton race the weekend b4 this one and maybe this one again for their big challenge... you end up getting like 5 medals if you do both.  Y'all know I love me some bling. 😍

Start line

This picture does not do the rocks justice .. they look flat, but trust me they are not!  Below the elevation..

Apparently the camera guy was only where the course was FLAT>>> 😂😍

So that's a wrap! I started with a Jacket.  Ended with Jacket off, but still got on my hat! It was still pretty cloudy and cool when we finished. 💕