WESTERN JOURNEY--SEPTEMBER, 2011--DAY 1

Cincinnati to Salt Lake City, Utah, and on to Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
September 7, 2011

We have always wanted to travel to Grand Teton National Park and to Yellowstone National Park as well. Dick has never seen these fantastic natural wonders, and Judy had traveled there many years ago after her first year of teaching with two of her roommates, Sue and Sally Taylor. Our two-week adventure will include a visit to enjoy being with our younger daughter, Maia, in Portland, Oregon. 

Today we began our journey by flying from Cincinnati to Salt Lake City, Utah. As we approached Salt Lake City, we flew over the mountains that made us wonder anew how the pioneers ever managed to persevere and settle in such sizeable numbers in the remote western parts of our country.

Our next landmark from the air was the 75 mile long Great Salt Lake. We just learned that Brigham Young, even before seeing the Mormons' Promised Land proclaimed, "This is the right place, drive on." Thus ended one of the largest organized movements of people in world history that had begun in 1847.

 At first, he actually named the city-to-be "Great Salt Lake City." Two decades later "Great" was dropped from the city's name. Some call the lake "America's Dead Sea," but surprisingly, the lake provides habitat for millions of birds as well as brine shrimp. It is one of Utah's largest tourist attractions. It is estimated that it was ten-thousand years ago when the first humans inhabited the adjacent land.

Day one was mainly a travel day, first by air, then by rental car, going all the way to Jackson, Wyoming, at the doorstep to Grand Teton National Park. Enroute we were constantly enveloped by the mountains, which changed character in surprising ways from one place to another. This photo by Judy captured the fascinating texture at one such place. Note the beautiful blue sky. Not much later we were having to use the windshield wipers. There was a bonus however...the hundreds of bug splats got washed away!



Small western towns have so much to offer those of us who are not used to being in the West. When we came to the town of Afton, Wyoming, with a population of 1,818, we were fascinated with some of the sights. It was the first time we had ever seen anything made from elk antlers, and the huge arch over the main street was quite impressive! We later read that this arch is made of 3,011 elk antlers!

One of the store fronts in Afton provided a humorous photo!

From Afton we drove on to Jackson, Wyoming, (population--8,647), a trip of 280 miles from Salt Lake City. It is the center of activity for ranchers and vacationers in the Jackson Hole valley, situated at the foot of the remarkable Teton Range. Here in Jackson we are at the entrance to Grand Teton National Park where we will spend all day tomorrow.

We discovered Bubba's Bar-b-que where we had our first true western barbeque. After dinner we spent the first night of our western journey at the 49er Inn and Suites.