The Points Mom

No Corbets But Bison, A Geyser And Some Amazing Food In Jackson Hole, Wyoming

The week leading up to our stay in Jackson Hole was a nightmare for the ski resort.  100 mph winds knocked out some power lines and the mountain was closed and the surrounding Teton Village powerless for 3 days.  Luckily, the weather was better the following week when we were there.  However, the mountain still shut down one day due to high winds and avalanche conditions.  Yikes!

Yikes is putting it mildly.  Jackson Hole skiing was not for me, but nobody shared my sentiments.  My family loved it!  For me, the mountain was too steep and narrow, lacking intermediate trails at the top.  To make matters worse (for me), there was no sun and constant light snow.  I had a lot of problems with visibility.  Rob kept saying it was my goggles.  I kept saying it was my old eyes!

So instead, I experienced what it was like to go on a ski vacation as a non-skier.  I went to the gym in the mornings, met my family for lunch at one of the dining venues on the mountain, ventured into town and did a lot of laundry.  I skied maybe 1.5 days in total our entire time there. The sun didn’t come out once on the mountain.

In contrast, Rob and the kids were quite happy skiing the skinny, steep blacks and double blacks.  (After learning to ski at age 3, all of my kids are expert skiers).  We traveled with another family and knew a few more out there, so the kids had fun skiing with their friends and racing them down the mountain.  One day we hired a guide and Rob and the kids really enjoyed that.  The guide led them down trails that I was too nervous for them to tackle on their own.  Unfortunately, they were not able to ski Corbets Couloir because it was closed all of the days that we skied.  The one day it was open we had booked a NON REFUNDABLE VERY PRICEY safari to Yellowstone.  Skipping it was not an option.  Daniel, we are really sorry.  You can go back to Jackson Hole on your own and ski Corbets :-).

The town of Jackson (the main town when visiting Jackson Hole), was for me!  It is a very big ski town with a large town square in its center.  It is upscale and “cowboyish” at the same time with boardwalk like sidewalks along locally owned boutiques, art galleries, western shops, touristy T-Shirt stores (our favorite) and TONS of restaurants.  However, note that the town is not close to Teton Village, where the mountain is located and where we stayed.  The ride is about 25 minutes.  There are frequent local buses that go from Teton Village to the town of Jackson and this is how we traveled.  I do not think that renting a car is necessary.  The bus system was easy and fun with interesting people along for the ride.

We dined quite well in the Jackson Hole area.  In the village we ate at Il Villaggio Osteria in the Hotel Terra.  It was great Italian food and the place had a lively family friendly scene.  The guy who owns this restaurant owns a bunch more in the area.  In fact, we had booked them in advance not even knowing they were owned by the same person.  In town, we dined at The Kitchen and loved it.  Right outside of town we had dinner at Rendezvous Bistro and I recall this being my favorite meal.  In Wilson, we went to Roadhouse and had a lot of fun eating the peanuts at the table and throwing the shells on the floor.
As for restaurants owned by others, we went to the Mangy Moose in the village, a good option if you do not want to travel one night.  For lunch we ate at Spur in the Hotel Terra.  We ate a few times at the restaurant in the Snake Rive Lodge (our hotel) and we ate twice at The Handle Bar in the Four Seasons.  Even if you don’t eat here, check out the hotel.  The setting and location cannot be beat.

Our finest meal, and one in which we ditched the kids, was at the Snake River Grill in Jackson.  I was advised by friends, who had been here before me, to get the green onion rings and the fish in plastic. I listened and got both and was very glad I did.  Everything I tasted was amazing.  The restaurant itself was upscale but not pretentious.  It was a great experience and night!  Book this reservation way in advance.
When we were not skiing and eating, we had a few outdoor adventures. One morning, my non-skier friend, Marlo, and I took the bus to the Snake River and walked along its snowy shores.  It was kind of deserted and I was nervous we would be attacked by a moose.  Marlo, in contrast, was calm and confident.  Once we started walking and talking, I forgot about the moose. 🙂 BTW-I am usually not that paranoid.  There had been a moose attack in the village shortly before we arrived in Jackson Hole.  In fact, many times from the ski lift, my kids saw moose on the slopes! They are not friendly.  They attack and they are fast!

Another day, as I mentioned, we missed Corbets in favor of our all day safari to Yellowstone National Park.  Prior to this, I had never been to Yellowstone nor witnessed Old Faithful.  It was nice to go in the winter because we basically had the park to ourselves.  In the summer, the main road throughout Yellowstone could be backed up with traffic for miles.  After a long drive and some cool photo stops along the way, we got to Old Faithful about 20 minutes prior to eruption time.  Um, the scientists need to adjust their data.  It erupted about 40 minutes later!  We stood there in the cold for a long time waiting, being teased with little lesser eruptions.  When the real one finally emerged, we knew!  It was very cool to see.  I love nature!  I feel like I can cross Old Faithful off my bucket list, although I can imagine how amazing Yellowstone is in the summer.  We’ll see if I make it back.
Heads up about this tour in the winter.  It is A LOT of driving.  If you have kids that can’t sit for a long time, I would not recommend this.  You need to drive through Grand Teton National Park just to even get to the entrance of Yellowstone.  Once in Yellowstone, you have a very long drive to Old Faithful.  Your mode of transportation is a snow cat which is basically like an airport shuttle with special snow tires. There were 10 of us, so we had the cat to ourselves, although the cat fits 12.  Also, it was very expensive.  Winter brings the benefit of a lack of crowds, but a higher price tag because of the special vehicles they need to traverse the snow.

Despite the long and costly day, it was a load of fun. A highlight was running into a herd of bison. They were not very accommodating when we tried to pass and we were stuck behind them for about 20 minutes.  It was fun taking pictures so close up.  We also saw a fox, some wolves and a bald eagle on our journey.  I love it when we see wildlife on our trips!

In total we spent 6 nights in Jackson Hole. We stayed at the Snake River Lodge and yup, we paid for this hotel. (But remember, we flew for free!) There was no option to book a hotel on points and I did not have enough Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book this stay. The hotel was in a very convenient location (right next to the Four Seasons) and was a very short walk to the main gondola.  (My friends stayed at the Hotel Terra and they had a much further walk).  The hotel was nice and lodge like.  Our room had a pull out sofa in the sitting area and was large enough for all of us.  One morning, I indulged in another big non-skier activity and I got a massage in the hotel. The spa was sleek and modern and my massage was fantastic!

Apply For The Chase Sapphire Reserve Card Here

I paid for our stay with my Chase Sapphire Reserve card and earned 3x Chase Ultimate Rewards points on the stay.  I also used the card at all of the restaurants on the trip.  Needless to say, I earned a lot of Ultimate Rewards points on our trip to Jackson Hole!