Got up, packed the car and checked out of the motel. Drove up to Bubba’s for breakfast. Was OK but not as great as yesterday’s at the Virginian. It did the job however. Drove up to Grand Teton Village. Parked the SUV. This place looked familiar. I’d never been here before, but I suspect it featured in that Clint Eastwood movie too. I’ll find out when I get back.
Wandered up to the ticket office for the aerial tramway. $29.50 and the first of the day was at 9am in 10 minutes. I’d decided yesterday that this would be a worthwhile diversion on the way out of town. The tram filled up quickly with people and equipment. The equipment was large bags with paragliding equipment. Various people were going to glide back down. The tram climbed over 4000 feet rapidly above the ski slopes to a few feet short of the summit of Rendezvous Peak. I paced around a bit and took in the views. Watched various paragliders take off in the wind currents. Bought a Mountain Dew in the cafe. They had a full bar service there too, but 0930 is a bit early although they were serving believe it or not. I guess in the winter the skiers have a couple before they head back down.
Went back down. Sat at the front looking out the window in a more empty tram and got shocked at the drop.
Into the SUV and south. I forgot to take a 5 mile detour into Victor, Idaho to check out the Grand Teton Brewing Company. I fancied getting a T-shirt, it couldn’t have been that important. Went south listening to a chart rundown from 1987 on the 80s Hits channel on the radio. All classics were there including Whitesnake, U2, Suzeanne Vega etc. Remembered quite a few of them from the time.
Didin’t take the direct route to I-80. Chopped over a road which paralleled the old Oregon and Mormon Trails. Checked out some of the exhibits at a historic junction of trails stop and hiked about 0.25 miles of an old trail with the ruts in it. Those pioneers were tough. Crossed the Green River and looked at a old ferry crossing with a recreation of one of the old boats.
Down to Green River itself. Powell started his trip which led him into the Grand Canyon down in Arizona here. Didn’t look for anything related to him. Went into a diner beside the Interstate for lunch. Took half of it away for the motel.
Found the Motel 6 in Rock Springs, Wyoming real easy. A sprawl of a place with all the commercial premises. Paid for Wifi, code didn’t work so I went to reception to find out which bit of the handwritten code was wrong. Hot down here. Lay back in the room and eventually caught up on my blog entries. Watched the news on CNN for a bit. 127 hours came on HBO. Watched it. I’ll be near the area that Canyon is located soon. However I have no intention of getting trapped in a situation where I need to cut off my own arm!
Today was a bit of a random day which I quite enjoyed. Over the last 2 days I got a good introduction to the Grand Tetons. The aerial tramway could have been used for a massive hike, although what I did the day before was still impressive.
Next time...
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