This is the fourth part of my mid west America trip and this time we're at Jackson Hole in Wyoming.
Lunch at an American diner
When planning the itinerary for my recent America trip, I wantrd to visit as many local eateries as possible. I was over the moon when I found a diner called Frostop which was on our way to Jackson. It looked very American 🇺🇸 (yeah, I been watching a lot of US TV series), perfect! We found the place quite easily as there's a massive root beer mug in the car park. To give you some idea how big it is, the vehicle you see is our 15 seater van next to it.
This is a family run business for decades and the current owner, Helen, has taken over from her sister for nearly two decades. She was very nice (everyone I met on my trip was extremely nice) and wasn't fazed at all by the sudden influx of a group of excited British customers who went round taking photos of her really cool diner.
I have to mention, the food was very nice, massive portions as usual, and I enjoyed my huckleberry milkshake a lot. The rest of the group, including Snowpea, were very pleased with my find 😊
Elk arches at Jackson
I stayed at a town called Jackson that
evening. One of the famous landmark in town is the Jackson Town Square that has elk antlers arches on the four corners of the square. Elks shed their antlers every year, that's why the town managed to collect so many antlers to create these massive arches. However, I was a bit disappointed because before my trip, I saw on the internet that there's the world's largest elkhorn arch that straddles across a four lane road. I couldn't see it here, so assumed they had changed it these four corner arches.
The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar
In the evening I went to The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, a popular bar in town. I thought the $5 entrance fee seemed a little unreasonable for a bar, I mean I've paid entrance fee to night club before but never to a bar. I figured since I'm here, what the heck. The entrance fee didn't seem to deter other customers, it was fairly busy inside. Lots of people were playing pool, and there was a live band, great vibe if you don't mind loud music.
The novelty here were the saddle seats by the bar. There were a few free saddles and we grabbed them immediately. We were in a cowboy bar after all. All I needed was a cowboy hat and boots to complete my night out!!! Then I realised why the seats are available. They're quite uncomfortable to sit on, especially when you have short legs like me!!! After my first drink, combined with the loud music I decided it was time to leave. I must be getting old 😭
Lunch by the lake
The next day we did the Teton Scenic drive. This part of the itinerary is inspired by one of @sjarvie5's pins on Pinmapple. I'm going to do a separate post on this as the drive i so beautiful, it deserves its own post.
In the meantime, let me show you one stop during the drive. We stopped at Colter Bay for lunch where I sat outside this hut munching my sandwich. Looks beautiful right? Wait till you see the view facing this hut...
Isn't this view just gorgeous!!! Colter Bay is a marine on Jackson Lake, with the Teton Mountains as the backdrop. The altitude here is near 7000 ft and most of the bay is still frozen even in May. It was eerie quiet, only a few people were at the far end of the marine, I literally had the whole bay to myself. I closed my eyes, listened to the winds blowing gently, and drew in a breath of cold fresh air. Total serenity. I want to stay here forever.
The world's largest elkhorn arch
Remember I mentioned the world's largest elkhorn arch earlier on? It turns out I was looking for it in the wrong town! After we left Jackson, we passed a town called Afton, and there it was, smack bang in the middle of the road. We had to pull up over to take photos of course. Another tick in my box for my America mid west trip. Goodbye Jackson Hole. Till next time.
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That view of the lake and mountains is incredible 😲
Saddle seats 😆 yeah I can't see those being very comfortable.
Glad you found the elk arch after all. It's nice that they are antlers that have been shed and not from elk that have been killed. It's a cool use for them.
A few of the shops at Jackson had elk antlers as door handles, that was very nice, I imagine they could get hold of them very easily as there was an elk reserve in town.
The saddle seat was fun at first, but the stirrups were in an odd position and my legs were left dangling all the time, got a bit tired after a while... At least I tried the novelty
@livinguktaiwan Spectacular and beautiful view.
It certainly was
Wowww, the place looks amazing! The Elk arches at Jackson alsooo looks soo spectacular!
That's the landmark in the town, guess you don't get to see it at many places
What is more beautiful than blue skies with views of water, snow and gentle breezes. Ahhh I can feel the atmosphere there is very peaceful and calm!
It was beautiful there, and luckily with it being low season, there were hardly any other visitors
I really like quiet places like this where you can really enjoy the moment!
It sounds like you are having a blast! I'm so happy that you are getting the chance to explore more of our amazing country. I'll be the first to admit the portions here are nuts. It helps if you find a like minded individual to split something with. Many times my wife and I take half our food home to eat for leftovers. We can make a plate of fajitas last three meals!
I ended up sharing a meal with my husband at the end. I normally have a small appetite and the large portions are just right for both of us. I think in every restaurant we went to, I saw at least two tables taking leftovers with them
This America trip is certainly very different from my previous ones which were just to the east and west coast main cities, such an eye opener with all the amazing landscape
It's like a whole different world in the middle of the country! I'm glad you are enjoying it.
Wow. Amazing you made it through Afton, @livinguktaiwan. That is truly RLT country there, so I am impressed! 🫡 I used to travel there on purpose, as there is a major mining operation up on the mountain ridge between Wyoming and Idaho just out of that town.
Also, in spite of the time of year you were in Jackson, nice to learn you got out of there to enjoy the almost unsurpassed scenery around the Grand Tetons. I wonder if you made it to the shores of Jenny Lake. My last trip through there with my beloved, we sat on the shore of that lake for over an hour just soaking up the incomparable serenity, cool mountain air, etc. Hard to beat!
I thought I'd missed the elk arch, it wasn't until I was setting the route for the next day that I noticed this little sign on Google map, so made sure we stopped for photos.
Jenny's Lake was one of our stop during the Tetons drive, but we didn't stop too long as it was late afternoon when we got there and some of the group were a little tired. The scenery along the drive throughout the day was so amazing already.
Impressive! That is a detail many would miss, I suspect. And having driven those roads, it was not the "easy button" route to take, if you ended up leaving Jackson Hole and going on down into southern Utah from there.
Looking forward to future posts about what came next! 🙂👋
This really is Americana, away from the tourist trail, loving the journey
We had considered the coach option at the very beginning but figured it would be less flexible and we may end up not seeing so much. So glad we chose to self drive in the end. Lots of driving by UK standards, luckily we had two drivers
share the load always works and yes DIY is then best way
Ohh I love the vibes of this place!!
Me too 😀
YAY, so glad I could inspire to you see the Tetons. I am also glad it gets a whole post. This bay is lovely with the snowy Tetons in the background! Fun you got to experience an American diner too! :)
I got loads of inspiration from your posts 😊, and sadly didn't get time to go to some. Toadstool Hoodoos was one, the view was amazing as we were driving along Highway 89 to Page
That looks like proper cowboy country. The view across the lake is stunning. On my trip last year I didn't find the food portions too excessive apart from a couple of places. Maybe the east coast is more restrained and healthy. Mind you, Cheesecake Factory almost defeated us. We took some dessert back to the hotel.
I have quite a small appetite, but the portions are still a little on the large side for my husband, plus leftovers aren't any good for us as we were changing hotels most nights. I saw a Cheesecake Factory in Utah, the cheesecakes looks so nice, sadly we had finished dinner and couldn't eat anymore food.
Hiya, @livinguktaiwan here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Travel Digest #2220.
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Wow the pure West... but I'll take that milkshake. 🤤
what's up cowgirl? 😅
These photos of mountains, reflections, snow... are beautiful. Great memories, my friend.
I am so impressed with everything you shared. I can't imagine how many elk horns it took to do those arches, wow, someone was inspired. That diner takes me back to my youth when my aunt would take me on the weekends for a rootbeer float. You don't see those here in N.Y. anymore. The farthest west I have been is to South Dakota so it was awesome to see your photos.
I wonder how The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar got its name. Did they collected a million dollars as an entrance fee? 😅😅😅