This may appear dangerous, but I assure you, it was not…

This was my second visit to your lodge.

My first visit was fifty years ago when I was sixteen years old. My family stayed a few days before and after a pack trip into the Teton Wilderness with an outfitter in Afton, Wyoming. They picked us up at the Lodge and that was the beginning of an unforgettable adventure for my brother and me.

I remember the excellent service at your lodge while I was there in the sixties. I realize different management was involved over the fifty years but the tradition of excellent service continues. You cannot beat the view of the Tetons from the back porch. Standing there recently, looking towards the mountains, I was transported in my mind back to 1963.

The strange thing that happened to me as I arrived to the Lodge this past September was humorous and I wanted to share it with you.

As my son and I turned into the parking lot to have lunch at the Lodge, I thought we had turned into the wrong area. I did not expect the dense tree growth in the parking area. When I was there fifty years ago, the trees were saplings. Now it is like a small forest. It is amazing what fifty years’ growth looks like.

Thanks again for your hospitality and continuing a policy of top-notch customer service”.
–Jim from Michigan

“Dear John-

Happy Holidays! I am finally getting a chance to catch up and THANK YOU and the wonderful Emily for assisting my sweet bride, Sandra Murray…have the best wedding week ever!

Sandra was originally planning her wedding at The Wildlife Art Museum and her Rehearsal Dinner on your Elk Island Dinner Cruise….early July!

Imagine her poor face when she saw that the Museum was covered with orange fencing and scaffolding! So scrambling 2 weeks before ..I did find her a gorgeous “substitute”..thanks to great connections..at the Couloir..on the patio. So…Sandra arrives for us to find out now..the dock is broken..the day before her dinner cruise! How can this happen to one bride??

Emily to the rescue! Emily got the Captain to still do the cruise around the lake…and arranged the most gorgeous setting…and table…and location in your Mural Room! It was so above n beyond…your crew makes me look like a Superstar!

Many thanks to the real hero…Miss Emily! She is sweet, kind and delightful. I also worked with her for the Stanford Exec group last year.

Many thanks to Emily and your staff!

It’s so nice to “have connections”!

Cheers to 2012!!”
–Kathi, Special Events JH

In other news, we had our first snowfall in mid-October but it hasn’t snowed very much in the last couple of months. All of my coworkers LOVE the snow and have been complaining that there’s not enough for skiing and whatnot. I like sunny days with no dreary snow falling. It makes it SO hard to wake up in the morning when it’s all dark and cold, plus when I leave work at 5pm it’s already dark outside. I really don’t think this could be much different from living in Alaska for the winter.

I have gotten outside a little bit though…I took my first downhill ski lesson in November and was not so great at it, but it was better than trying to snowboard. It was about time for me to try and learn how to ski since I’ve been here for 2 years now! (Dec 1 was my two year anniversary). Because I didn’t learn all of the things that the class guarantees you’ll learn by the end of the day, I get to take another lesson all day for Free! Not sure when I will do that…
I also went cross country skiing last weekend on the inner park road. I could do that every weekend–it wasn’t very hard and it felt like good exercise.

For Thanksgiving I went to the Snow King Resort buffet with Fritz then watched a movie–Super 8. For my birthday (Dec 12) I went and saw the Muppets and had a little gathering at a Snow King condo I rented for the weekend. On my actual birthday, the girls that I work with came over and brought cake and ice cream. We also watched a movie called “17 Miracles” about the Mormon migration from England to Salt Lake. I cannot imagine traveling with only a cart across this area in the winter. I mean seriously, I won’t even walk a block to work in the cold or snow.

Aside from that, work has been pretty slow. I planned our X-Mas Party at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Art Museum and it went very well. A group of us also volunteered at the church in Jackson to serve their holiday dinner. I baked two delicious coconut cakes for it.

I plan to stay around Jackson for Christmas and New Years…eating and drinking and what not. My next trip home is for Mardi Gras. Yay!!

Anyway, I wish I could think of a funny story to post but life has been very normal. I haven’t taken many new photos of the outdoors because I feel like they’ll all start to look the same as previous years. Here are some from the last month or so and I am officially promising myself via the post to take more pictures.

I’m just about caught up on posting pictures from the summer, just in time for the lodge closing. Sunday was the last open day of the season, so it’s been sad and strange around here. October 6th was the first day of snow; its melted now but I think it will snow again tonight or tomorrow.

Thursday I am going down to Breckenridge, CO to visit some pals. I’m glad the season is over so I can have time away. I am pretty tired and looking forward to getting away for a while. Also not long before I get to New Orleans! Yay!