Engagement Trip - Day 1

Rocky start to the trip – enough said. When we were just about to land in Jackson Hole, Wyoming we saw the biggest mountains we've ever seen. It was a little weird to see them covered (peaks) in snow. We flew over this lake that was as blue as the water in the islands. It was just what we needed to get excited for the trip. We got off the airplane, walked on the tarmac, and through a doorway made of antlers – we were not in Jersey anymore. We got our car and bags and headed out. It was so cold compared to the 90 degree weather we were so used to.

Rental Car

Our car is a silver Subaru Impreza. Love It!

We hit the road to Signal Mountain Lodge. We had to stop and take some pictures first of course.




We drove for about 20 mins on the road to signal mountain right along snake river. It was breathtaking! We stopped at this one turnout, parking lot with a sick view. When we opened the door we heard a moose bugling! We jumped out of the car with the camera! There was a large (all of them are large, even the small ones) brown moose drinking from the river! It was so cool! We hadn't even been here for an hour and were already seeing wildlife. I named him Frank! We took a bunch of pics and got back in the car.

Jackson Lake Dam

We stopped at Jackson Lake Dam, again water looked so blue. We walked down to the water, so cool.

 We found our lodge, our cabin was #146. It was a 1br log cabin, 2 bed + 1 bathroom and no TV. It was impeccably clean. All of the furniture was made from rustic wood. We dropped our bags and got into our hiking clothes.






We went looking for Signal Mountain Trail. Our lodge is right on Jackson Lake. Across from the lake is a range of huge awesome mountains. We found the trail head and headed up on our 3 mile up, 3 mile back hike. It was 4 o'clock when we started. I had my bear bell ready to go. We saw a sign warning about bear country, it shook me and Eric up a bit. The trail was super isolated. We were the only two on it and the sun wasn't very high in the sky. The trail was gorgeous! Then we happened to be following a trail of animal scat! We stopped and considered turning around, but it was too small to look like bear crap. That didn't stop me from shaking my bell continuously, like a santa on the street corner during christmas. Eric was yelling “Hey Bear” just as much.

Top of Signal Mountain w/Tetons behind

The hike was more strenuous than we thought. It was basically sprinting to get out of the woods before it really turned to dusk. Animals like to eat dinner at dusk and we didn't want to be on the menu. We made it to the summit where there was a 360 degree breathtaking view of the valley and mountain range.
We couldn't stay long because we wanted to get back before it really got dark. We took the road home because we figured it would be safer. We were so sore my feet kept cramping up and Eric's calves were burning. We found a pheasant and took his pic, named him Milton. We stopped for groceries and food and picked up a can of bear spray at my request. Ha!

view from The Peaks restaurant

We ate dinner at our lodge, The Peaks. We sat in front of a large window, facing the mountains, unbelievable!  The food was so yummy! The heirloom tomatoes were the best part and the wine was so good. We watched the sunset then went back to our cabin and got ready for our next day. We got out our books and a six pack of Teton ale – yum – and relaxed TV free. I fell asleep by 9:30pm and Eric was not far behind. We fell in love with the Grand Tetons in 9 hours. I <3 Tetons

 *The rest of the trip and pictures will be up soon! (day 3 is the best)