September 2020
Shit, that was a long drive! Driving west on I-80 in Wyoming was nearly as dull as driving through West Texas. But as we got closer to Jackson things started to liven up and the mountains came into glorious view. We got to Jackson late afternoon and found our hotel, The Rustic Inn, a sprawling property that sits on the banks above Flat Creek. It felt like an upscale mining camp [which costs $325 per night] and was packed with road travelers like us. We have been traveling with an ice chest full of food that we replenish along the way so we set up our home base for the week in our cozy cabin-like room.
Jackson itself was nice enough, in a Santa Fe way. It’s 100% tourist-oriented, with a pretty central plaza surrounded by bars and restaurants and little expensive shops selling pointless nonsense. We met friends Joe & Andy one night downtown, they were heading out of town as we came in, but after that we didn’t do much there. There were SO many crowds of people everywhere and the Mask Quotient was hovering around 6 out of 10. As expected, we saw quite a few MAGA hats.
Spent a day walking around town in beautiful weather. Way more road travelers than I expected, from everywhere. The ski trails were not opened yet of course but still plenty of options for the outdoorsy. It’s a very sporty place. Restaurants were busy and expensive. We glanced in the windows of a few real estate offices, as we usually do when traveling, followed by a slap of disbelief at the prices. Can that be right? People pay that to live here?
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