We booked this trip a year ago and it had been in the planning stage for another year before that, so we’ve had plenty of time for the anticipation to build. We had an afternoon flight that landed us in Salt Lake City Sunday night, and drove into Jackson Hole Monday.Highway 89 was the scenic drive in and boy did it deliver. We made time to stop by Bear Lake and grab a famous raspberry shake. Mmmm mmmmm good. It was more like raspberry ice cream – no way was that coming through a straw. The views around the lake were stunning and even though it was pretty early in the season there were already quite a few people milling about. Bear Lake in itself is a destination. There are tons of things to do here (hiking, swimming, boating, 4-wheeling, etc.)
We stopped in Afton (home of the biggest antler arch) for a late lunch. Afton was nothing like I expected. It was almost deserted. But we had some okay Mexican food, took our pictures and hit the road again. There are mountains everywhere, and the valleys are huge – and populated! I cannot fathom having this kind of scenery in my front or backyard daily.
Rafting is a big sport out here and with the snow melt this time of year the water was rushing pretty good. I managed to snap this shot of these guys while we drove by. Holy cow that water has to be freezing!!!
Our rental car had to be turned in to the airport by 6pm (had a one way rental from SLC for the day and picked up our long term rental for the rest of the trip). We thought the Kalispell, MT airport was the smallest airport around. Not so! It’s tiny!! And it’s right beside the incredible mountain range.
After checking into our VRBO condo, we hit the road yet again to go wildlife hunting and just get a feel as to where we wanted to head tomorrow. It was a bomb, didn’t really see anything. Came back to the condo, unpacked and pretty much crashed. It had been a long couple of days.
It's a Wonderful Life! 