An Easy Day

We went at it hard for our first Yellowstone day, so it was a lazy morning that led into a lazy day. I was up relatively early, made coffee, got an excellent spot to see outside, grabbed my Mac, and began to write a post. Amanda slept in for a while, woke then went back to bed. We’d been running pretty hard, and she needed the extra sleep.

Once up and roaming the cabin, Amanda was admiring the falling snow. Blanketing everything and was beginning to drop huge flakes. She walked to our back porch French doors and noticed a chipmunk playing in the snow. He would jump up and then disappear in the increasing snow. She would talk to him as though a pet with a high-pitched puppy voice!

I was steadily typing away. Once I’m in the groove, the posts flow well, and I don’t want to let off the momentum. I’m still learning this whole website thing, finding new ways to add pictures and move about quicker on the admin side of the site.

We milled around for a few hours, not in a hurry for anything. I had wanted to walk to the Teton visitors center, about a mile away. But, with the snow not letting up, convincing Amanda to walk was not a hill I would die on! Once dressed, we made our way to Jackson. After an out-of-place roundabout, a few cars were stopped on the side of the road. Our eyes peeled, and I finally spotted a bull moose lying by his lonesome. I hopped out, walked down by a couple, and snapped a few pics. The couple said there were five there earlier in the day with babies. Amanda is all too keen to see babies in any form! This bull wasn’t bothered by anyone and never moved. Check moose off the wildlife view list!

On to the next stop, we needed a few food items, so the local grocery store for a few things it was. And you guessed it, Starbucks, which just happened to be in the local Albertsons. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Amanda that happy to go to the grocery store! Albertsons has a $2 off your basket promo going, so we also got a discount on our coffee.

After checking out, Amanda headed to get the coffee, and I headed for the car. Heavy snow came down while we were in the store. I walked up to the car and heard it beep when I pushed the unlock button. After grabbing the back door handle and pulling it open, I realized it wasn’t our Subaru. Same outside color but not inside! I quickly made it a couple of cars down on the other side, where our car sat! When Amanda came out, she couldn’t find me either. Walking by thinking it was an employee’s, there since the morning with all the snow accumulation. Nope, only there for 30 minutes or so and fully blanketed in the fluffy white powder.

We departed town and headed north; the top of Teton park was our destination. The bull moose was still in his spot from earlier, and a few buddies added to the pack. We snapped some more pictures. Everything was blanketed in white like our car was, especially the part where his antlers cup.

We made it a few miles north of the turn for our cabin to see red and blue lights ahead, at least not behind like the other day! A park ranger was turning traffic around; a multiple-car pile-up just happened.

We looped out close to the turn for our cabin but in the opposite direction. There is an old picturesque barn from an old Mormon community. Unfortunately, with the overcast sky and falling snow, it wasn’t so dramatic; we’ll shoot for a clear morning visit later in the trip.

As we curved around, making our way back to try the main road, we found a turnout to stop for snack time. Today would be leftover carrots and broccolini from the bourguignon meal. We ate them with some local hummus and babagonush. The dips were great, the best babagonush outside a restaurant setting I’ve ever had. The eggplant was still chunky, like some Mediterranean restaurants make it. We had some whole wheat and rice crackers along with it. We choose to eat a whole food plant-based lifestyle most of the time; we choose not to eat oil most of the time. This is problematic when buying just about anything prepackaged, especially crackers. A few brands have minimal ingredients; we were glad to find them on this trip.

After the snackage time, we made our way around to open fields and saw a lone pronghorn grazing. These antelope make their way into west texas. I’ll see them often from the train. We turned back around for Amanda to snap a quick shot. Then back to the main road; as we pulled up to the roundabout, we noticed the moose watchers still there hours after our first sighting.

We chose to go straight, a way we hadn’t gone. As we skirted the river, Amanda asked if we would come along the back of the area where the moose was. We would, but it would be far off, so I was curious if we’d see them. Moments later, I saw a mama moose and a baby, just what Amanda was looking for. We pulled over with no one else around and stayed a while. That was until some lady decided to stand in front of us after making eye contact, knowing we were right there. She was taking a picture in our line of sight in the vast open space of Wyoming. I pulled off before I would say anything. To her, at least, Amanda got an earful of my complaining!

We took streets that would lead us to small ranches and houses. I wanted to pull the CAD and see what these things were appraised at, but I’m only versed in the Texas system. No telling; I would speculate millions, though. There were private drive no-thru traffic signs everywhere. I’m sure it’s to keep those like us out. We live on a dead-end street in a nicer community. I wish we had a sign to keep the cruisers out, even though we cruised through that neighborhood countless times before we bought there.

As the snow and clouds broke, we made our way close to the mountains in a valley full of ranches. Sun on its late afternoon path down, bursting through the clouds more with each mile. Finally, we came to an intersection, and we were in downtown Jackson quickly after turning.

We made our way back through town getting gas and picking up some wine that would make it in a lemon cream sauce for dinner. We needed more washer fluid as well. The roads are slushy, so we’re using the windshield wipers a ton.

On our way back to the cabin, it was just about dusk. So we decided to stop by the Grand Teton sign and get a few touristy photos. Then on to the cabin, take a break, and cook.

I wanted to have a minute to sit and unwind. So a fancy sparkling blackberry drink it was. This was a local no-sugar-added sparkling soda made with a mixture of fruit juices. We try to shy away from added sugars not of the time. typical we use honey onr maple sugar for sweetness. I didn’t get to chill; I needed to get to cooking! So I started prepping and turned on some music. No TV here, and it’s lovely.

The Avett brothers kicked the jams off. It continued to play a good mix of folk and country from the likes of Zack Bryan and Tyler Childers, so not your typical pop country, good prepping music. Amanda began to work on one of the mini lego puzzles. They were so small it hurt my eyes to look at them! I didn’t last long; too piddly for me. I gave up quickly, preferring a traditional puzzle.

We had dinner; eggplant schnitzel with a creamy lemon wine sauce along with a kale and butternut pasta dish. It was good; the sauce was alright for my limited pantry supplies. I need a high-speed blender and a few pantry staples, and I’d had better consistency.

After dinner, it was prep for lunch and snack for the next day. Then to turn in, resting for an early Yellowstone trip departure, hoping the roads would be open.