Sunday, June 15, 2008

Life is Oh So SWEET!

Today the Geekgrl and I woke up in Jackson Hole, WY. It has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth and I don’t think the cycling can be beat. There are miles and miles and miles of dedicated bike path running all over the place. There is one continuous bike path that I first notices starting like 30 miles south of town and it leads all the way to Jackson Hole and then keeps going probably all the way to the Grand Teton National Park. The shoulders all around the area and into the park are also generous and marked for cyclists. If only I would have known I would have planned an extra day into our trip but alas I did not so now I guess we’ll just have to come back some day…oh the hardships I face.

Instead of cycling all over the place at Jackson Hole we drove northward into the Grand Teton National Park and looked at the scenery and found ourselves a nice trail over by Jackson Lake and did a nice easy trail run. The trail was a well groomed single track through pine forest and then it skirted the lake for a while and we hit a turn around point at a secluded beach with a fantastic view of part of the lake and some of the Grand Teton range.

After that little jaunt we headed further north into Yellowstone National Park where we headed for the Old Faithful area and hiked around for about an hour until it was time for Old Faithful to go off. There are a lot of hot springs and other geothermal activity going on around there but Old Faithful is the main attraction firing some 90 feet into the air.

Next on the docket was a second trail run to Mystic Falls. I took a slightly different route than the Geekgrl that was a little further and involved more climbing and descent but it was still a short 3.6 miles and I took it easy and mixed running with power hiking and just enjoyed the scenery.

After Mystic Falls we headed further north to Mammoth Hot Springs and did about another 45 minutes of hiking, again, it was quite an experience. The day was absolutely gorgeous with clear blue skies and mild temperatures. We also ended up seeing several herds of buffalo, elk, antelope and even a few moose.

Because we were heading all the way to Bozeman today we were able to hook up with fellow Outlaws Debi and Hartly for dinner in Livingston, MT. It just happened that our separate travel plans had us crossing paths at that particular point as they were heading into Yellowstone and we were departing.

Oh, and to bookend this fantastic day I got a free latte at the coffee house where we had breakfast in Jackson Hole because all dads got a free coffee drink on account of it being Father’s Day and when we arrived at our hotel this evening I discovered that I was the “Guest of the Day” and I got a special parking space right beside the front door of the hotel.

There are many reasons they call me sweetness…I am a very fortunate man!

12 comments:

  1. Awesome Photos! Looks like you guys are enjoying your time headin up to the race. To me, it seems liek the whole deal. Pre race fun, race fun (well, mostly I guess:-) ) and hopefully post race return fun! I'm very jealous! Looks beautiful.

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  2. Thanks for the photos and trip update (both of you!) This is one place me and hubby have on our list of places to go...beautiful!
    Have a safe rest of the trip!

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  3. that is so Great..!! pictures are awesome..

    enjoy it bro...

    see ya all soon..!!

    No wonder you didnt answer your phone this weekend..

    rockon`

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  4. man it's awesome out there...very jealous of your mini vaca...enjoy!

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  5. Great pictures! Good luck to you and your wife this weekend. I will be one of the thousands tracking you two during your journey. You are going to rock IMCdA!

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  6. Cool photos...

    I know you know they have the Grand teton ultra there as well.. MIght have to be on the todo checklist because of these pictures.

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  7. Thanks for the reminder how beautiful the world is............

    Have a great Ironman and I'll be pulling and watching for you and Geekgrl online..

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  8. Hey Brian,

    Have a great race! Great pictures, Jackson hole is a great place to explore, hope you had a lot of fun!

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  9. Great snapshots SB! Glad the trip has been enjoyable to date.

    I'll be ringing the virtual cowbell for you & GG come the weekend!

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  10. Great day - thanks for the pix!

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  11. Glad you two could see how beautiful "my neighborhood" is. I invite you both to come back... in fact.. as beautiful as it is right now it pales in comparison to winter! So come to Island Park Idaho (just on the Idaho side of Y'stone and the Tetons) for some winter fun. We'll tour you two up those mountains on snowmobiles and you'll be in utter awe! Good luck to you and Misty on Sunday! Many positive vibes coming your way throughout the day! Enjoy Idaho!

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  12. I think the Grand Tetons are one of the most beautiful places to visit! That whole area, is really great - we have driven through their a few times... I can't wait to take the kids when they are a bit older.


    Yellowstone - well there is nothing that compares to the sights of Yellowstone!

    Em

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