Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Dancing with Big Horn Sheep

We had a leisurely day in Pinedale on Monday. We cross-country skied Kelley's trail for an hour in perfect weather. Brad fell a couple times but I could not capture it on film. He also swam at the Pinedale Aquatic Center and I think that was the first time I have seen Brad swim. Sorry, no pictures (you probably don’t want to see pseudo, mountain man in a Speedo. Right. We are a bit modest so I don’t you will ever see us in a Speedo and bikini).

Tuesday was a bit longer ski on Tree Loop. The trails had a dusting of snow so Brad had a tough time skiing. We saw three more moose but I was not close enough to take pictures.

After we xc skied in the morning, we headed to Jackson for the day. Halfway there, Blake mentioned that we were in Big Horn Sheep country and within a minute we saw a herd of them. Brad actually pulled over and took pictures from the car. I whined about wanting to get out and get better pictures. No way, he did not want me to get chased and rammed by any of the sheep. There were babies in the herd. Brad caved and I hopped out and quietly went around the back of the van to take pictures. Thankfully there was not any traffic so the big horn sheep slowly walked across the road. Some took a look back at me but nothing more. A pack of coyotes howled in the mountains as I stood outside marveling at the sheep. It was eerily awesome.

Jackson was very touristy with boutiques and shops so Brad wanted to drive through the town so he could drive over to Teton Village to show me the Mangy Moose restaurant. Of course, I wanted out of the van. I did not necessarily need to shop but I wanted to walk around the square and take pictures of all the metal sculptures, the horned arches, and whatever else I came across. Plus, I did need to make some tee-shirt purchases for my niece and nephew and mail some more post cards. I don’t think I ever sent so many post cards in my lifetime. We had an hour to run around the town. I went in this one shop and they had stuffed animals galore and not the kind you want to hug. I am really doing my best with all these kills around me. I was happy for the little walk around town because Teton Village did not provide me with the photo ops as it was pretty much a ski resort village. I had cell reception in Jackson, too, so I blasted off a bunch of texts. With the limited access to wireless, I will have to post pictures later.

Next destination was to the Mill Iron Ranch for an evening of a sleigh ride and dinner.