Back in Lander

After returning home from Vegas, The Wife and I had much of The Wife's family over for a few days around New Years. Between bouts of euchre and smart ass, we managed to fit in more fondue:...and made a trip to Jackson to see the sights. While the summer tourist season and its unbelievable crowds can make Jackson a less than ideal place to be, winter in Jackson is quite nice.

Our first order of business in Jackson was to tour the Elk Refuge. This place is pretty amazing. Basically, with all the development and sprawl in Jackson Hole, many of the large animals that historically used the Hole for winter range end up concentrated on the refuge. While not ideal from the wildlife's point of view, it creates a gawker's paradise.

We also tried to ski Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. Unfortunately, the snow was/is ridiculously unstable and the resort had to shut down. Just the day before we planned to ski the Resort, an in-bounds avalanche tragically killed a skier. The day we showed up, another avalanche damaged one of the Resort's lodges and led to its closure (more here). Since yet another avalanche has since plagued the Resort, perhaps it was best that we didn't ski the Resort that day. We ended up skiing Snow King instead and had a fun, safe day on the mountain.

After our hectic day of skiing, we all headed back home for a few lazy days around Lander. The pets got to enjoy the wood stove:And The Wife, The Sister-in-law, The Mother-in-law and myself enjoyed a hike around Sinks Canyon.