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Yellowstone in Winter

This vacation, as with most vacations, started long before we actually went on the vacation. This one actually started in the fall of 2009. Pam saw a blurb that the District 214 travel was having a travel show. As with most such travel shows we saw many things that we’d like to do, but the opportunity to go to the Yellowstone area in winter sounded like it was meant for us. While neither us are particularly wild about cold and snow, it doesn’t bother us that much. And, at least according the brochures, the winter provided not only unique opportunities to see many species of wild life as well as unparalleled scenes for photographing.

We went ahead and booked the trip for February 2010; however, a couple of days before we were to leave Pam’s dad became ill and we had to cancel. Fortunately, we had travel insurance, so, although it was a hassle for Pam, cancelling was not a great financial loss.

As 2010 progressed, we did notice that 214 was offering the trip again; however, since we weren’t willing to bet on Pam’s dad’s health it was a mute point.

Things changed in September when Pam’s father passed away. Pam was deeply involved in getting her father's house ready for sale as well as other responsibilities with the estate. So, when I asked whether she was interested in pursuing this trip again, she asked me to check into whether we could get on or not.

Since I'm writing this, it's obvious we were able to, but the drama was not over yet. On Tuesday, February 2 Chicago had the third worst snowstorm it has had in recorded history. As we were digging out our driveway and waiting for the plow to come down our street on Wednesday, neither Pam nor I said it to each other, but we were both thinking this trip was not to be. That afternoon Linda Kerr, head of the 214 CET, called and asked whether we could get out of our driveway. She couldn’t but the trip was still on. She asked if we could get to Forest View 15 minutes earlier than planned. We could but I remained doubtful.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

(The following sections in red come directly from the Globus brochure describing what is supposed to be happening that day.) Welcome to the “Wild West” town of Jackson , Wyoming . At 6 pm, meet with your traveling companions for a welcome drink. Your Tour Director will prepare you for your upcoming adventure.

We arrived a couple minutes early at Forest View and most of the people were already there. Some had tales of having difficulty getting there because of other people being stuck and blocking intersections. That was also the theme of the people who arrived after we did. Traffic was bad getting to the airport and I was beginning to get concerned about getting through security in time to make our flight. My concerns were unwarranted. Baggage check-in was done with a skycap and was hassle free and we sailed through security. We got to our gate in plenty of time, especially when we learned that the flight was going to be delayed for an hour to wait for the pilot to get to O’Hare from wherever he was. I was still not convinced we were going, but the pilot got there and we took off. The flight was great! They even showed a good movie. (I can’t remember the last time we saw a movie on a flight.) Pam had the window seat and raved about how beautiful the approach and landing was. 

At the airport, we were met by our Globus guide Steve and our bus driver Randy. (Our 214 CET guide Gene had already met us at Forest View, made the arrangements for the skycap at O’Hare to handle the baggage, and flown with us out to Jackson Hole.) There weren’t skycaps at Jackson Hole (or if there were I didn’t recognize them), but there wasn’t any need. Steve had grabbed a cart and most of the peoples luggage fit on it. The few pieces that didn’t were pulled out to the bus by their owners with no problems.

We also found out the 14 of us from CET were the only ones on the tour. Pam and I remembered that last year the CET group met up with other Globus clients and it was a much larger group.

I don’t think it was a half hour ride from the Jackson Hole airport to our hotel, but we did stop for a picture opportunity at the sign welcoming us to the Grand Teton National Park .

For we who live in the plains states, the vistas of the mountains in this area are breath taking.

After the photo stop, it was only a few minutes to our hotel. Pam and I were impressed with the accommodations at the Rustic Inn.

Of course, the views from the hotel didn’t hurt the impression.

This shot is looking toward the center of the town of Jackson . Note the white stripes of snow that look like they are coming right into the center of town. Those are ski slopes. We were told that they were the bunny hills for around here, but even though I’m not a skier, I think they were pulling our legs.

Lunch was on our own. Pam and I walked about a block further away from town to a Dairy Queen. After that we walked across the street from the hotel to the Elk Refuge Visitors Center . They had some very nice displays, a very interesting movie, and, of course, a gift shop.

We met for our welcome meeting at 6 PM and had some great hors d'oeuvres. Some of our tour mates went into town for dinner after the meeting. Between the hors d’oeuvres and the Diary Queen lunch Pam and I weren’t hungry and I think the shoveling from the day before caught up with us. We were asleep by 9 PM.