The gnome made his proud appearance as the small builder of this gateway of antlers in Jackson Hole, WY

I contracted a cold somewhere along our travels and have been fending off succumbing to it’s persistent annoyance. But today I was dragging around  feeling sorry for myself that for my favorite part of the trip I felt rotten.

Audrey downloaded a Johnny Cash playlist and we heard him singing on our way into Jackson, Wyoming…

 I’m goin’ to Jackson, I’m gonna mess around,                                                                           Yeah, I’m goin’ to Jackson,                                                                                                             Look out Jackson town.

Even though it’s not quite the same town that Mr Cash was singing about, we stopped for a quick lunch while sitting on the bar saddles at the Million Dollar Cowboy Saloon. We have been wanting to do some horseback riding, but this is as close as we have gotten to a horse thus far. And though still smiling, I was definitely not in the spirit to mess around.

The weather was overcast and cloudy so the Grand Tetons weren’t shining their usual brilliance today, kind of like me, but they are still such a stunning range to behold. We kept driving to get to Yellowstone and were surprised at the amount of snow still in the park. We did watch the obligatory Old Faithful Geyser spout and wandered around the beautiful Old Faithful Inn.

Yellowstone

We met a couple at dinner who had been forced out of their first dinner venue, called The Bear’s Den which was evacuated when someone inadvertently set off their bear spray canister. Can you say irony? Bear spray in the Bear’s Den? I guess the smell was awful.

We are hitting the sheets early tonight in hopes of resting up my virus-infected body. We are looking forward to seeing some wild beasts tomorrow.