Denver was fun, but we descended the mountains, and headed north to Wyoming where the lay of the land changed dramatically. The first recognizable feature across the border were a truck stop and a random pack of camels, not cigarettes, real camels. We were treated to the first rainfall we've seen in months.
We saw pronghorns, snow fences, miles of space and not much else, but finally mountains sprung up from the plains again. Streams tumbled down the mountains and wound their way alongside the road and the jagged peaks as the Grand Tetons came into view.
The irony did not escape me that we finally escaped the mundane familiarity of Dallas, traveled across desolate plains and endured posterior numbing miles of travel, but with the Grand Tetons dominating our view, most everyone was sleeping or watching movies. We'll blame it on delirium.
At long last, after numerous road construction delays we pulled into the Grand Teton Lodge and Spa in Teton Village, northwest of Jackson Hole, which would be our base of operations for the next several days. We milled about and stretched our legs during room inspection, then following Grandma's seal of approval we had dinner and settled in for the night.
The contrast from home was startling. Texas has 96.3 residents per square mile (National Avg 87.4) and is the 2nd biggest state. Wyoming has 5.8 inhabitants per square mile and is the 10th biggest state. Dallas broke the record for most 100 days above 100 degrees and just missed the record for consecutive days of 100 degree weather. Overnight lows were in mid to high 80's with 27% humidity.
Teton Village was 37 degrees at dawn, dry & warming generally to the mid 80's, and only topping 90 degrees in afternoon a couple times.
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