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[debatablyblind]

Preface: I was supposed to take this trip with the one and only Katie Paolano, but about 5 days before the trip she had to get her appendix removed :( SO I brought my dad instead. I wanted to do a write up on this trip because initial planning was relatively blind and definitely could have used some help/direction since I had never been out here before.

Day 1:

We took a 7 AM flight from JFK to SLC on Tuesday and landed around 10 AM Mountain Time. Flight was smooooooth and the free Delta snack mix rocked even in the early hours of the day (Always fly Delta- I am a die hard supporter). After landing in SLC we took the shuttle over to FOX rental car and waited foreverrrrr to get our Jeep... It was worth it in the end but me being exhausted and impatient, I struggled to sit still in the creepy check in area.

Once we got the car my Dad and I headed out to get some food in Salt Lake City before making moves up to Jackson Hole. We stopped at this Mexican place that was on Diners Drive-In’s and Dives and it was DROOL worthy, definitely go if you have time— it was called Red Iguana and it is the most authentic Utah Mexican food in the whole world. We got a bunch of different tacos, but the carnitas tacos were fireeeee (the guac tacos were overrated).

We then proceeded with the drive up north, making a pit stop at Bear Lake along the way. My research led me to believe that you had to stop at Bear Lake to see the amazing view and get a Raspberry Milkshake from some diner in town. The drive up was 2ish hours from SLC and I was hype for my milkshake until we got into town and realized the diner had closed down— if you take one thing away from this post, know that Bear Lake is still worth seeing for the view and to take a quick bathroom break but don’t get your hopes up for a milkshake because you will be sad and disappointed for the rest of your drive (NO MILKSHAKES). All in all, you could definitely avoid the 45 min detour to Bear Lake if you are in a hurry to get up to Jackson.

Dad took the wheel in Bear Lake and took us home for the 3 hour drive we still had to go. While he drove, I curated a playlist for the mountains— FYI there are definitely lots of places on this drive that have zero service, so probably should’ve saved down more music ahead of time. We had the address of our Apartment in Teton Village in the GPS, so once we got to Jackson Hole we went straight over there and basically missed the town of Jackson lol. (FYI I was definitely one of those tourists that didn’t realize the difference between Jackson Hole and Jackson) We got to Teton Village just after 6 and the check-in area was closed for the night— our rental facility made it really easy for us to pick up our keys after hours so we grabbed those and made our way to the 2 bedroom apartment. Teton Village is exactly that, a village at the base of Teton National Park— you can walk everywhere in the village and there are a few little shops and restaurants but nothing substantial. This area is mostly for the bougie ~Four Season~ skiers in the winter, but it is beautiful in the summer and you have pretty spectacular views of the area from here. We wandered around for the evening and got dinner at The Handle (the grown up grilled cheese was bombbb) before PTFO around 9 pm.

Day 2:

We woke up at 7 and leisurely made our way down to the town of Jackson which is SO cool! We got breakfast at Persephone’s Bakery and drank literally all of the coffee. This place is the cutest of all cute things and was the perfect spot to warm up since I accidentally wore shorts thinking it would be semi-warm in the morning- I was wrong. Persephone’s has fire pits on the porch and big doors that open up making the restaurant an indoor-outdoor hot spot... would DEFINITELY recommend.

After breakfast we made our way over to Mad River’s Boat House for our white water rafting trip! The trip is about a 30 minute shuttle from the Boat House, followed by an hour and forty-five mins on the water and a 40 minute shuttle back. This was one of the more adventurous things I’ve ever done in my life, aside from free climbing boulders at Jesus Camp when I was 13. Super cool experience, juxtaposed by a “muffy” fellow adventurer that complained about being too wet the entire time (Asked dad how to describe her and muffy was the first word he said...). Also would DEFINITELY recommend.

Following our expedition, we headed over to the grocery store to pick up goods for Thursday’s breakfast and trip to Yellowstone. Jackson has plenty of grocery stores and gas stations so it doesn’t feel super remote. We made our way back to Persephone’s for moooore coffee and then headed back to the apartment to walk around Teton Village. We wandered around Teton Village and Jackson for the rest of the afternoon before heading to dinner at 7 PM.

Dinner was at one of the most breathtakingly beautiful spots in the country... Piste Mountain Bistro is at the top of one of the gondolas in Teton Village and it is stunninggg. We hopped on the gondola around 6:40 and made it up to be seated just after 7. We had a reservation but definitely didn’t need it. The nicer part of the restaurant is inside, though they have a deck that has more of a bar-food menu. Food up there was delicious and we had an insane view of the area from our table. If you aren’t interested in spending too much $$, definitely sit on the deck and just get a drink to appreciate the scene— the gondola ride is free! It got chillier at night and I was glad i wore jeans and a sweater (some people had parkas up there which just seemed aggressive for early September...)

After dinner i ptfo again :)

Day 3:

This day was our big Yellowstone adventure, but we started the day channeling our inner yogi at the top of the gondola (same space as last night’s dinner!). Yoga was only $30 and it has the most insane views-- only negative was having to watch my Dad do yoga :/

After yoga we headed down the mountain and changed for our drive to Yellowstone! We drove top down (bc Jeep) and made our way through the Tetons, about 1.25 hours to the south entrance of Yellowstone national park. Yellowstone had some awesome sights to see, but we headed left from the south entrance, toward Old Faithful and the Hot Springs. Let me tell you, Old Faithful is kinda underwhelming. It’s cool but also kinda lame after a few seconds-- people only know it because it is one of the only “reliable” geysers, so you know you’ll see it erupt pretty close to the times they list (just about once an hour) Literally hundreds of people gather around it to see it blow, and then everyone waits for something exciting and it doesn’t really every get there-- I’d give it a 6 on the scale of 1 to cool geysers. The only reason i can confidently give it a 6 is because randomly one of the other geysers was erupting at the same time (so we got to see a big one-- beat that Old Faithful 💁🏼‍♀️)

We also checked out the Hot Springs which were really beautiful, but tbh trying to do Yellowstone in a day is really difficult and there is a lot of driving. Could’ve spent lots of time there....

Dad and I headed back to Jackson and got some bomb pizza (i am DEFINITELY lactose intolerant but I just like to pretend that I’m not). After pizza we watched tennis and thennnnnn ptfo :) bet ya didn’t expect that one...

Day 4:

Day 4 was spent in the Tetons, hiking 3 hours around Jenny Lake! The Lake is stunning and i would definitely recommend as a medium level hike in the area-- some people just take the ferry across the lake to the water falls, but let’s not forget that I was a collegiate athlete, so we hiked allllll the wayyy around.

After the hike we drove back to Jackson for some coffee at Cowboy Coffee and then grabbed coffee before driving back down to SLC. We crashed for the night at my cousins house just north of the city, and watched Chef’s Table (shameless plug for the best show on netflix) and some random baseball movie with Amy Adams.

Day 4 was great! but driving is no fun! so i made dad do it :)

Day 5:

Day 5 we drove down to Park City and explored one of the cutest ski towns I’ve every seen. Park City is made for the bougie skier, with pricey boutiques for some (my mom) and convenient ski lifts for others (literally no one in the Watts family). We walked up and down Main Street and I contemplated buying a lot of things, but ultimately left with a teeshirt ~shocking~. I also want to take this time to say my Dad used this trip as an ultimate shopping excursion, and left the mountains as a distinguished mountain man-- if my mom let him grow a beard he seriously would’ve looked the part, but we all know that’s never going to happen lol.

We went to a bomb brunch in the morning at Harvest-- 10/10 would recommend and/or eat everything on the menu...

In the afternoon we went to the Park City Olympic park which is super cool and worth checking out- right now the U.S. ski and snowboard teams use the space for practice, but it is open to the public for viewing and entertainment purposes... you can luge if you want to... 

For dinner we went to this swanky place only the locals know about (and our hotel concierge of course), at the Stein Eriksen Lodge. We ate out on the porch and saw the most beautiful and prob very expensive weddings. Dinner was so good and we filled up on some rly good meats- tbh i’m writing this in retrospect and i dont remember what i got, but i remember it being something with meat and it tasting really good.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and, you guessed it, ptfo!

Day 6:

Day 6 sucked bc we left and that sucks. Early morning departure and nothing fun to report.

That’s it for now-- text me if you want more info, or if you just want to text me ;)