Smoke Gets into My Eyes

The Grand Tetons should have been grand, and they weren't.  First, smoke literally did get into my eyes from the Idaho wildfires.  A week of WSW winds obscured what must surely be one of the most panoramic vistas in America.  There were three major fires in central Idaho which were below 10% contained, and the firefighters did not expect containment until October.  Logan and every other town north up through the Tetons are putting up with a significant haze of smoke.  The pictures I took were from the 'good day' of the four days we spent in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Talk about a town that leaves a bad taste.  The first thing we noticed was 'rush hour' - long streams of cars coming into town in the morning and the same long streams exiting town in the afternoon.  They were all going to small towns up to 30 miles away from Jackson on twisting mountain roads making these peoples' commute as bad as any big metropolitan route.  I concluded that people who actually work for a living can't afford housing in the town they work in.  I had heard this was the case in Vail, Colorado, and my observation is that Jackson, Wyoming is pulling the same stunt.  

Oh, I'm told, "Jackson is so picturesque, and a source of jobs in an area where jobs are few and far between."  I will give the picturesque point - the elk antler archways over the corners of the park comprising the town square were charming.  However, a service job selling overpriced merchandise, waiting on tables, pumping gas, and working a convenience store are not careers and barely pay a living wage.  And if that's not bad enough; lots of those jobs are summer only.  Since we have been touring the West, we have run into people who have two jobs hundreds of miles apart:  Some tourist town in the summer, and another high season tourist town in the winter.  As we have talked to people at restaurants, in shops, at parks, while pumping gas, we have heard the same refrain:  Real people can no longer afford to live in Wyoming and parts of Montana; the rich people own all the land, most of which they neglect or underuse.  We've run into many bitter Wyoming transplants living elsewhere due to economic necessity.  

I enjoyed the privileged class' museum calling itself "The National Museum of Wildlife Art".  I never found anywhere that substantiated the 'national' claim.  I'm pretty sure it is self designated.  To be fair, the building was magnificent, and the art collected ranged from mostly mediocre paintings surrounded by first rate western sculpture portraying various animals of the far West.  The sculptures range from table sized to full sized and oversized. 

If I sound lukewarm about this destination, I suppose it's because we had just toured an area that was supporting their own real history.  The  people in the town of Cloverfield in Idaho all got together, raised the money themselves, and built the Oregon/California Trail Museum since their town was a popular stop along the trail, and is how it came into being.  The entire town raised the money and built the museum, so they could preserve the actual 19th century camping site of the wagon trains.   Then, they devised a unique living history experience for the visitors with volunteers from the town.   Jackson's National Wildlife Art Museum came across as slick and disingenuous in comparison.

I did find one thing to recommend Jackson:  Snake River beer.  This is a micro brew making some of the best beer I've tasted in quite a long time.  The Snake River Lager was superb as was the Pale Ale.  I've been disappointed not to find it around Yellowstone.  Instead I'm stuck with Moose Drool, which if you can get past the disgusting name, isn't too bad.  

I was glad to leave Jackson, although we lucked out on the accommodations there - comfortable with great beds and every detail attended to prior to our arrival.   The Grand Teton Park was nice, and as always - photos

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