Rock the Casbah

That's me on one of the four corners of Town Square in the heart of Jackson Hole! It appears that 17 billions deer and elk got together and decided to donate their antlers for the beautification of this charming western town. Do you think if elk ruled the world they would make gigantic piles of glued together toenail clippings from humans to make archways into their dens and across streams and such? Or maybe they would take our hair and hang strands of it over their garages?

Here's my room at the El Rancho Motel. They have been serving the community since 1947 (clearly) and I love the charm of it all. You can see that apsens outside my room, just starting to turn. Actually, they turned quite a bit even in the few days I have been here.

Nice...

I went to a nice yoga class Thursday evening and when I asked about a good hike in the area, the first question I was asked was What is your comfort level with wildlife? which I found odd until she told me that black bear and, more significantly, grizzlies, are experiencing what is affectionately referred to as hyperforaging, as it is fall and they need to pad themselves with food (or, in my imagination, human flesh) before falling asleep for 6 months. When the second question was Do you have any pepper spray? I decided maybe a drive and some photos were the best way to spend my first full day here. Oh, and a guy at Thai Me Up mentioned that you could see a bear feasting on an elk carcass from the road in Grand Teton National Park! Sign me up.

Friday morning was beautiful, warm and sunny so I headed out for an exploratory drive and it was heralded by an edible surprise: The World's Greatest Pumpkin Muffin. Seriously.

Let me start by saying that I RARELY eat muffins, especially ones baked and sold in coffee shops and bakers. Why? Because they are, 97% of the time, unpalatable. Too big, suspiciously sweet and with a texture like that of leavened goo. True muffins (which I have been fortunate enough to have grown up eating--thanks mom!) are small, like a regular old muffin tin size, not very sweet, and have a crumb texture similar to coffeecake. I picked out this innocent-looking butternut-colored muffin because I like most things pumpkin flavored and I wasn't all that hungry, I just knew I wanted something to tide me over while I went searching for that hungry old grizzly. So ANYway, here I am sitting in the parking lot of the Grand Teton's Visitor Station, and having just finished my tea I figured I would go ahead and eat the muffin--give it a chance. I am on vacation, right?

Check that out: bite #1 reveals a fruit I would be least likey to pair with pumpkin--big, ripe, juicy blackberries! And lots of them. And someone had the stroke of genius to sprinkle both sunflower seeds and oats on top. Go figure. It was a great way to start my day. Muffins, redeemed.

The visitor center, by the way, is a fantastic piece of architecture, maybe better than any I have seen at any National Park. The only odd aspect to it is the automatic hand dryers in the women's bathroom. I couldn't figure out what that sound was until I entered and almost left--it sounds like you are standing behind a 747 engine. Not only do your hands get dry in less than .02 seconds, but all the wrinkles get taken out of your pants as well and the fronts of your legs remain red and chapped for a few hours.

Unfortunately, the bear I was hoping to observe had had its fill when I arrived and apparently had dragged the carcass off into the woods for some private dining, but I saw some photos on a guy's digital camera that show the bear standing on the elk, licking its lips. That was worth the drive, in itself.

The Tetons, if you have never seen them, are absolutely, hands-down jaw-droppingly beautiful. There was a bit of cloud cover, which I actually prefer, because you get that play of shadow and light, the foreground and background shifting and changing, looking nearer and farther, but constantly in motion and flux. Every time you look up, some aspect, some valley or cornice of wall or flank is being alternately revealed, concealed, revealed again but different this time! and I find it all so enchanting.

Yoga was great, and I will write about that tomorrow. The town is commercialized but still has that mountain charm, ski town life that I love, everyone has been super friendly and helpful and it makes me fantasize about skiing and big fat snowflakes drifting down all night. Today, Sunday, I drove back out towards the Tetons, knowing there would be a dusting of snow on all the peaks, as it rained most of Saturday and Sunday morning. Yellowstone was too far for my day, I just didn't want to spend that much time in the car, and I always like to save something for my next trip--it gives me a reason to come back! I saw my first moose and got some good shots of bison, backdropped beautifully by the cathedral-like peaks.

While driving around, I kept coming back to the radio statin here that plays non-stop 80's music! How about blasting The Clash with these mountains towering over me?

Sharif don't like it...rock the casbah, rock the casbah!