Jackson Hole

We continued our trip to Jackson Hole. It was great, the Grand Tetons were indeed grand. We drove in just at 4pm and picked up my sister at the airport. It was great that we were there just after the plane landed. Coordinating itineraries from both of our trips could not have been any smoother.
We checked in to the Sundance Inn. It is a great Mom and Pop establishment that is perfect when you want to be right downtown. The beds were great and the inn was very clean. Soon after we checked in we dressed for hiking in 3 feet of snow and took out the snowshoes. We stepped on to the trail and the first thing we saw was a moose. A real live moose standing just at the trailhead of Cache Creek. We took a few pictures, and other people walked by without even noticing it. It was a nice acclimation hike, we were out there for about an hour.
Dinner Saturday night was the best mexican food I had ever eaten. We went to The Merry Piglet and if you are ever in Jackson Hole it is a must. The fajitas were out of this world, and the guacamole too. Highly recommended.

Sunday was Easter and we could not have asked for better weather. The sky was bright blue and the temperture was nearly 40 degrees. We took a hike looking for Two Ocean Lake, but we did not find it. We did have a nice time and ate lunch on the trail. One of the things that I will always remember is the quiet. We sat for a few minutes not talking, but just listening to how quiet it was out there. With the snow dampening the sounds, it was the most incredible silence I had ever heard.

It was a great time, and we had to get ready to go. In the morning we were back to the highway headed for Yellowstone's North Entrance in Gardiner, MT.

Road Rules

We started out from our home state of Illinois, and followed the open road. We stopped many places. First in Des Moines, then Omaha. We like Omaha, a cute little town, it was pretty early in the morning, so not many people were out and about.
Continuing on through Nebraska, we saw the sandhill cranes migrating through the state. We must have seen 10,000 or more in one field, and more in every other field as we drove on I-80. Next major stop was in Cheyenne, for dinner, at a brewery. Turns out they stopped brewing beer a few months ago because the price of hops has gotten too expensive. Too bad for us, so we had some other beer called the "Nitro Cutthroat" which was great. After dinner we kept driving to Casper, WY and went to sleep. In the morning we got up and went thrifting in town. It was great, the stores there were wonderful, well organized, and full of all types of fabric.
The road trip continues, I will resume later.

PLASTIC

I don't even know where to start, I was reading some other blogs on the subject, and just started thinking. Every time I go to the grocery store and forget my old paper bags, I put my hat scarf and gloves back on and trudge back out to the car and bring them back in. I don't want anymore bags, plastic or paper. I intend to use the paper bags that I already have until they start falling apart. There are so many sites telling you the problem with plastic. Everything is plastic these days, from kids toys to water bottles to the bags we put them in. I am trying to convert to cloth reusable bags (I make my own), and so are many other people from what I can tell. However, until plastic bags have an actual price tag on them (other than destruction of the earth) people in general will keep using them. We use lots of them in the billions per year, or more, and they will take hundreds of years to decompose, if ever. So what do we do? The first action should be the consumers, stop using plastic bags, period. Then if consumers insist on using plastic bags the retailers should charge a fee for each bag. By doing that I think people would think twice about taking home yet another plastic bag. Lets all try to use a little less, we are living in a society where more is better. If everyone does a little it can make a big difference.

There are many options for reusable cloth bags. On Etsy.com there are handcrafted options, and many retailers will sell you their bag for a few bucks. I would love to have a great cloth bag for a few bucks, than any amount of plastic bags.
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On a side note, I was in Florida last weekend and the Lake County Chain of Lakes was doing their annual lake clean up, the amount of trash they collected in one day was 20 thousand pounds. That is an incredible number for the size of the project. Now just think if everyone would make everyday clean up day. Just pick up one piece of trash, it will make you feel good.

The First Robin

I being lucky as I am got to see the first red robin of spring. What a wonderful site indeed, spring is just around the corner, and for those of you who live in the midwest and know the torture of March can understand the meaning of the first red robin. With the sun shining it is almost a warm 36 degrees, and I am very happy to know that spring is coming.