This is part two of the posts for this year's Condo Trip. You really should read them in order. Here's a link to take you to Part One; then click on "Newer Post" at the bottom left when you get to the end.
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Jackson HoleSo the drive up from Laramie to Jackson was pretty uneventful. The governor of Wyoming, in a misguided effort to save money after having to deal with the costs to state revenues of Corona Virus, ordered a bunch of highway rest areas closed. Today's newspaper featured a story about residents who live along highways having to deal with human feces along their driveways, and of course the expense of cleanup is going to be borne by the state. I just thought that was kind of funny. I feel sorry for the highway travellers who just reach the point of having to take a dump out in the open because the state's trying to save a buck. Do rest areas really cost that much to operate? Anyway. While I was planning this trip I found a web site called Only In Your State with all kinds of state-specific clickbait. I checked the page on Best Burgers in Each State, and found Broadway Burgers, a place in Rock Springs, listed. Since we would be passing through around lunch time, we went there. They were open only for curbside service, but they did have a couple of outside tables, so we ate there: basic burgers with all the trimming. We split a basket of fries, and we each ordered a milkshake (that being another specialty of the house). Everything -- I mean everything -- was great. The basket of fries was so big even I couldn't finish it. The burger was perfectly prepared, completely old-fashioned, with the shredded lettuce and sliced tomatoes and chopped onion on a nice big, soft bun. So, so good. And the shakes were the old-fashioned kind: delivered in a parfait glass, whipped cream and cherry on top, and on the side, the metal mixing cup half-full of seconds. It was, after all, National Vanilla Ice Cream day, and we celebrated in appropriate style. We cruised up alongside the Wind River and Gros Ventre mountain ranges. When I was new to Wyoming, and travelling back and forth along I-80, I couldn't wait to get up and see this part of the state. It is one of the most beautiful parts of the USA, but now, as you approach Jackson and the National Parks, it becomes congested with vacation traffic. That's the biggest change I've noticed here. When I came to the mountains of Wyoming 35 years ago, I was pretty much assured of being the only car on the road most of the time. The last time I was here, 15 years ago, it was much busier (in October, after the season), but even the town of Jackson was small and quaint. Our condo was at the edge of town, two blocks from the main square. The last decade and a half has seen Jackson prosper in many ways. It's a large city now, by Wyoming standards, something like 10,000 people, and according to yesterday's paper, despite the pandemic, this year's tourism is setting records. The vacant lots have all been built into lodging, and there are no vacancies in any of them; the highway into town is lined with trendy new businesses for several miles (heading south, that is; to the north Jackson Hole is all protected land, as you can see from the photo at the top of this post). Jackson is crowded, and its ambience is exactly the same as what I experienced last year at Tahoe: Western American Vacationland, sort of Disneyesque. The city of Jackson passed a mask ordinance very early on in the pandemic; Teton County, where Jackson sits, adopted the same ordinance soon after. This pissed off Wyoming's governor, he of the rest-area fiasco, but the city and county blew off his blustering and kept their ordinance in place. While Teton County has a number of cases (72 by today's count), it's fairly well controlled. All the shops in town require masks, most give them away, many limit the number of people in their shops, and most people on the street wear masks routinely, even when they are maintaining social distancing. This morning we went for a short hike up Shade Monkey Trail and Sink or Swim Trail, on Snow King Mountain just a few blocks from our apartment. Very nice, especially the shady parts. The idea was, a short hike in the morning, then get cleaned up and go to the National Wildlife Museum of Art a couple of miles north of town. Instead, we walked through downtown, shopping for T-shirts and such. We picked up lunch from a take-away bagel place around the corner and ate in the apartment. Sherry turned the TV on and started knitting, and before you knew it, it was too late to go to the museum, which closes fairly early. So we watched movies on TV (The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, with their excellent fight scenes and car chases) until it was time for dinner; which we ordered from the Nepali restaurant half a block down the street. Like I said, the town is full of trendy new businesses.  And here's a link to the picture album for this trip. By the way, if you're reading this in your email, please click the
link to the actual blog before you delete it, so it'll register as
having been seen. My blog visitor numbers are pathetic, and you have it
in your power to do something completely altruistic that will make
somebody happy. You don't have to actually read it again when you visit;
though I think it's always worth reading again.... |
