Yesterday morning we decided to rent some side by sides (sort of like a dune buggy) and we explored the country. We went traveling through the National Elk Refuge and saw many elk and mountain goats way up high. The entire rental lasted about four hours and we enjoyed the ride tremendously.
After the side by sides, the boys and Maura decided to take it easy and come back to the condo and just relax. Jim hadn’t had enough, so he decided to head out for a long hike at Snow King Mountain. He was gone for a few hours and he said that it was pretty strenuous.
We stayed in for dinner and had a pick-up football game after dinner until sunset.
We’re headed back to the East Coast this afternoon and I think everyone is ready to get back home. The kids have baseball games and Jim and I are looking forward to seeing the pups again. All in all, a wonderful trip where we got to know each other better. If anyone is ever looking to travel to Jackson, please let us know and we’ll give you some good tips!
We got a little bit of a late start this morning and headed out around 11AM for Jenny Lake in Moose, Wyoming. Jim and I hiked it about 12 years ago from a recommendation. When we were there previously, we pretty much had the place to ourselves, however this time, there were tons of people. Not sure if they’re marketing it more or if people are sick of being inside due to Covid and want to get out into the open wilderness. Either way, it was fine. The sounds of people probably deterred the bears. We had full intentions of walking around the entire 7.6 miles, however the boys were getting tired, so we just hiked up to Inspiration Point and decided to head back.
On the way back, we ran into a couple of beavers and a very large moose.
The moose and beavers didn’t want anything to do with us, so they simply went about their own business. And, yes, if anyone is wondering, we were carrying bear spray with us. My dad, especially, was very nervous about us hiking in the wilderness, however we made sure that we were on trails where there would be other folks (some of the more popular trails).
On the drive back from Moose to Teton Village, we ran into yet another moose hanging out by the Snake River.
We decided to head out for dinner just outside of Jackson called “The Bird“. It was super laid back and we ordered chicken wings and some sandwiches. I asked for the check and our waiter brought it over. Immediately, he placed the check in front of Jim, and I said, oh no, not again. Not so much in the Northeast, but definitely when we travel, the waiters and waitresses give the check to the guy. Boy, I was not happy because I had full intentions of paying for the meal. So, I wrote on the check why he wasn’t receiving a good tip. And, I explained to the boys that you can’t assume anything in life. Though I work at the library, I could very well have been the person who invented the X-Box and was worth millions of dollars. Nephew Carter got into it and he said “pop off, Auntie Mo!”, which in teenage language means “way to go!”
The boys have some really interesting jargon that, apparently, only teenagers understand. “Swag” means “cool”. “Bussin'” means “cool”. “Po po”, means “the police”. All week they’ve been saying “Auntie Mo Mo is from the Po Po”. I guess that means that I have a lot of rules or something? Not quite sure. Carter gave me quite the compliment the other day. He said “Auntie Mo, you’re like cool or something. You like to do guy stuff.” I’ll take it! Of course, a few years ago he said that I have “fat boobs”. I’ll take the good with the, well, whatever you call it. 🙂
This morning, we’re renting some side by sides (like a dune buggy). We’re really looking forward to it!
Yesterday, Chase and I went horseback riding just outside of Jackson at a ranch called A-OK Corral. It was the first time that Chase has been horseback riding and it was my second. I went about 30 years ago – I was pretty shaky then because the mammals are just so large and it’s kind of an uncomfortable feeling. But, this time, I felt much more confident and we enjoyed it tremendously. We took the horses up into the mountains and explored the beautiful country that awaited us.
Our guide’s name was Teresa and she moved to Jackson from Pennsylvania just the prior week. She said that she grew up watching westerns and wanted to explore the west prior to settling down. I can relate! My dad absolutely loves westerns and all of us kids watched them as well (whether we liked them or not! :). Her story reminded me of when I was growing up as a teenager. I did a ton of research about the west (especially Colorado and Wyoming) and wanted to work on a ranch – doing anything, really. It just seemed so peaceful, being in the wide expanse of the landscape and being able to be free. I ended up taking a gap year between high school and college and worked at a small grocery store in Northampton, MA.
Acclaimed author Elizabeth Gilbert also worked at a ranch in her early twenties. Her philosophy was to experience as many things as possible so that she was able to write about it. So true. Write about what you know. It’s the same thing that English teachers in high school told me. Write what you know. It’s true, you can also be a fantasy or science fiction author (it may be in your imagination), but to write about things well, you do need to experience them. And, I think that it’s also good to experience things in order to understand them.
And, I’m trying really, really hard to understand how folks think politically and where it comes from. This blog is not meant to be a political stance, but I think that there is such a polarization between folks in the United States, especially within the past 5-6 years. The left is turning more left and the right is turning more and more right. The problem is, is that we don’t always listen to what the other side has to say. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I was an English major, so I can defend any thesis, but sometimes it’s hard to understand why Americans voted the way they did in 2016. Deep down, Americans really do want to work hard, make a living, be independent, and be prosperous. Republicans say “pull yourselves up by your bootstraps and get to work”, but it’s not that easy if you haven’t been given certain privileges.
I worked in the corporate world for a number of years, and unfortunately, a lot of it was driven by the bottom line, which made people behave inappropriately. Honestly, deep down, people aren’t driven by money. They want a leader who can inspire them to do something greater – and, the money will follow. Working at the library these past 6 years has opened my eyes to how a good organization can run. People treat each other with respect and, really, just want to get the job done in an ethical and inspirational manner. I feel like I’ve found my home and am extremely grateful.
If I have any words of wisdom, I would say, experience as much as possible in this world and hold your friends and family tight. Here’s a photo of all of us at Yellowstone National Park. I hope that Jim and I were able to give some inspiration to the younger generation and they will, in turn, do the same for their loved ones when they get older.
We spotted one of the most famous bears in Wyoming yesterday morning. I’ve been tracking her for weeks through a Facebook group called Yellowstone Photographers and she definitely didn’t disappoint. #399 is a 25 year old mama grizzly who recently gave birth to four cubs (quite the anomaly). Our guide on the eco tour said that she has birthed about 20 cubs in her 25 years. A surprising fact is that a female bear will mate with multiple male bears while she’s in heat and so her offspring could potentially be half siblings. Crazy, right? Nature is just so cool. You have to stay at least a few hundred yards away from the bears during a bear jam, so the photos are hard to get. Jim was able to get a really good photo as we drove by.
This picture only has #399 and two of her cubs, but four were definitely there. One of the cubs decided to take it upon themselves to show off to the audience and play with the ranger’s cones. See below pic.
After the grizzly encounter in the Grand Tetons, we decided to head into Yellowstone National Park. The south entrance just opened last week – there is still quite a bit of snow in the park, but it depends on where you are. Our first stop was Old Faithful where we toured the geysers. The boiling point of the geysers is about 200 degrees fahrenheit and they were just so beautiful.
We were walking along the path and we got a whiff of something real bad. It smelled like a really stinky fart (or maybe rotten eggs), but it was just the sulphur emanating from the ground. Old Faithful went off about 12:30PM – it goes off every 90 minutes and lasts a few minutes while it’s erupting. It’s super touristy there, so we couldn’t wait to get back on the road and explore more wildlife.
We ran into some really cool bison along the way, including a mama bison nursing her calf (they’re called red dogs in the park).
Nephew Carter took the photo of the two bison and the calf laying on the ground.
Next, it was on to Lower and Upper Yellowstone Falls. We took a 20 minute hike to the Lower Falls and quick ride to the Upper Falls. The below picture is of the Upper Falls.
It was starting to get late, so we decided to head back home. Yellowstone is just over 2 million acres and is figured in a figure eight. We didn’t have enough time to hit the upper section of the figure eight, so we only hit the lower section.
On our way back, we drove by Yellowstone Lake, which was still pretty frozen over.
As we pulled over to take the above pic, Carter spotted a red tailed hawk (we think that’s what it was!) in the lodgepole pine tree. Good eye!
Then, we were back on our way on the road to grab some dinner in downtown Jackson. Some homemade pizza and pitcher of local beer really hit the spot.
This morning, Carter and I woke up really early to grab some photos of the sunrise. The pictures were just ok, so we decided to head into the Grand Tetons to try to track some photos of wildlife. We went onto Moose Wilson Road, which is a super hotspot for photos. A few miles in and we came across a female moose in the brush. She didn’t mind us watching her, so we stayed awhile and just watched. We were pretty excited that we saw her before anyone else did – and, within about 10 minutes, multiple cars stopped to watch her too.
Later this morning, we’re headed to go horseback riding just outside of Jackson (minus Jim). Giddyup!
Our day started super early yesterday morning in Teton Village. All of us were up by 5AM in order to meet our tour guide in downtown Jackson for an eco tour through the Grand Tetons. By 6AM, we were off in a van that had roof hatchways. Those are used so that you can view the wildlife from a distance without getting out of the car. Within about a half an hour, our tour guide Kelsey received a call on her walkie talkie saying that there was a large male moose on the Snake River. He was large and just moseyed along the side of the river looking for something to eat.
I felt incredibly lucky to have snapped at the right moment. With photography, you have to take about 200 photos in order to get “the one”. And, you have to have a lot of patience. You can’t force nature – which is what makes it so exciting.
Elk are very prominent in the park. We found a dirt road to go down and immediately found a pregnant mama elk just basking in the sun. I didn’t know that she was pregnant, but our guide did. Our guide, Kelsey, knew absolutely everything about the area. In fact, she’s traveled all over the world – tracking jaguars in Costa Rica, researching wolves in Idaho, backpacking through Europe, and lots of other places. And, she’s only 29! I asked the question “how did Jackson get founded?” and she must have explained the history for about a half an hour. I love people like this. They have such a passion to live every day to the fullest – and, she said something to me that hit the nail on the head: “People need to travel more. It gives you perspective on your life and how you relate to the world. I spend my money on experiences, not stuff at TJ Maxx that I won’t use next month.” So true! She could, very well, be my spirit animal. Below is a picture of the pregnant mama elk.
After this encounter, we came upon a bear jam with two grizzly bears foraging for food in the grasslands. There must have been at least 100 cars pulled over on the side of the road. Their photography equipment was super bad-ass and their lenses must have been 3-4 feet long! The below picture was taken by our tour guide. She definitely snapped at the right minute.
We stayed at the bear jam for about 20 minutes, then started to head back home, but not before we went down another dirt road to see some bison (no good pictures though) and some pronghorn sheep among the Grand Tetons.
She (or he) stared at us for quite awhile, wondering why we were staring at them. Umm…because you’re beautiful?
Chase snapped the below pic at a stop along the way. The kids are both really interested in photography – and, they’re both really good!
We got back to Jackson a little after 10AM and the boys (Maura’s nephews) wanted to do something else. So, we headed up to a different section of the Grand Tetons and did a pretty easy hike up to Phelps Lake. It was only about 3.5 miles, but we enjoyed it tremendously, snapping pics of beavers and rodents (yes, they count too!)
After this, the boys still weren’t tired and wanted to go shopping in downtown Jackson. We hit a couple of shops, but they really hit the jackpot at the local Five and Dime General Store where they got some souvenirs and Carter bought some sweet gifts for his girlfriend. Carter also bought a brown cowboy hat and as were were walking along, he said “Auntie Mo, this cowboy hat is fire!” Apparently, in teenage lingo, that means cool. Jim said that he looked “fetch”. Jim wanted to get into the lingo action too. Oh my goodness.
We ended the night at a local brewery and had burgers and beer (Dr. Pepper for the boys).
We’re headed up to Yellowstone National Park this morning to spend the day. Excited to explore this beautiful country today!
Hi there everyone – JMo is heading to Wyoming starting on Saturday, May 15th and will be coming back on Friday, May 21st. We will be taking my two nephews, Chase (14) and Carter (12) with us and we couldn’t be more excited. We’re flying into Jackson, WY and will be staying in a condo near the entrance of Grand Teton National Park. We’ll also be going into Yellowstone National Park (about a two hour drive from Jackson) a few times. It will be so nice to see the sights through the eyes of teenagers and, hopefully, we can all get to know each other better. We’ll be fishing in Jackson Lake (or, maybe the Snake River), hiking around Jenny Lake, going to a cool candy store in Jackson, doing an eco tour super early in the morning where (hopefully) we’ll see lots of wildlife just waking from their night’s slumber, eating at The Mangy Moose, hikes in Yellowstone, and much more. We don’t like to stick to a strict itinerary, however we definitely want to make the best use of our time there. We’re definitely looking for some inspiration from those majestic mountains and cool, country air.
Photo taken by Maura in June, 2010. Yellowstone National Park.
First off, this was probably the best vacation we’ve ever taken. It was our third time in Bar Harbor, however it was the first time that we stayed outside of town, in Hull’s Cove. The vacation was relaxed, with no immediate plans other than our sense of curiosity.
We were a little apprehensive about eating at the restaurants, however the town of Bar Harbor is very particular about the pandemic and what you can and cannot do. That made us feel a ton better. Our second night there, we went to an Irish pub and had a local beer. I took this wicked cute picture of Jim. It was kind of funny – he was wearing an Irish sweatshirt, with a fedora that I bought him on the Aran Islands, he’s an Irish guy, and we were in the closest Irish pub to Ireland in the United States. How quirky!
We decided to walk in downtown in the beginning part of the week, finding cool little trinkets along the way.
I went fishing a few times in both Bar Harbor and Northwest Harbor while Jim stayed on land and went golfing. Here are a few photos of what I caught (cod, spiny sculpin, pollock, and mackerel).
The limit in Maine for cod is one per person and the fish has to be at least 21″. Unfortunately, the cod that I caught in Frenchmen’s Bay was 19″, so she had to be thrown back. On the second fishing trip out of Northwest Harbor, we got to check the captain’s lobster traps. Guess what we caught? A 15-pound mama lobstah. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we had to throw her back because she had eggs. My mom says that because of her weight and size, she was about 75 years old. What a sight to see!
Jim went golfing on days that I went fishing and he took the below photo. That was quite the sight to see as well!
Overall, the vacation was extremely relaxing. Highly recommended vacation for those with kiddos or a couple like us. Lots to do like fishing, golfing, hiking, beaching it, kayaking, shopping, and excellent foodie restaurants.
If you happen to go, let us know and we’ll give you some recommendations!
It was an early Irish morning this morning, the temperature about 40 degrees. We decided to leave from Adare for Listowel, about an hour away in County Kerry.
Listowell is one of the most beautiful towns I’ve ever seen, with an Irish pub every few hundred feet and lots of fashionable clothing stores. We went into Woulfes Bookshop as soon as we arrived and had a lovely conversation with Brenda, the owner of about fifteen years. She even had some of Mo Willems‘ books on the shelves (he lives in Northampton, MA). Ma purchased a few books, including one by Listowel favorite John B. Keane, then it was on to the Horsheshoe Pub and Tavern a few hundred yards away. Coincidentally enough, the bookshop’s owner, Brenda, and her family used to own the Horseshoe Pub and Tavern. Small world! A wonderful seafood chowder and Guinness were all that was needed. Then, a charity clothing store where Mo picked up a lovely purple Irish sweater (for only 10 euro!).
It was a long drive back to Adare, but we decided to head out to Bill Chawke’s Irish Bar a quarter mile from our B&B. Some yummy food and we’re now as snug as a bug in a rug back at our B&B.
A few things I’d like to highlight from the holiday:
A pre-flight Baileys in the Boston airport
The Irish bookstore in Ennis where we purchased WAY too many books (is that possible?)
A whiskey taste-off in Bearna at Donnelly’s Pub, along with wonderful Irish music
A Galway-sized storm that hunkered us down for a few hours, with winds gusting to 130 kilometers / hour
The trip to Inis Mór and seeing the seven churches and walking Dún Aonghasa all by myself
And, most of all, spending the week with one of my favorite people, my ma
If anyone gets the chance to spend a holiday abroad, I highly suggest Ireland, especially the western coast. The countryside is spectacular, with vistas and greenery as far as the eye can see. And, until the next holiday, I (we) wish you health, prosperity, and most of all connection with this beautiful world.
There were rain / hail showers off and on today, but that didn’t keep us from exploring the Irish countryside in County Clare.
We woke up and had a wonderful breakfast with Bernadette, our B&B hostess in Galway. She’s a wonderful artist, with her artwork displayed all over the house, each piece very different from one another. She seemed to ramble on, but the rambling was quite interesting, fascinating even. There are some people who talk and it’s like Charlie Brown talking. And, there are some people who talk and it’s like “wow, I could listen to you for hours!” Well, Bernadette was one of those people.
About 11AM we traveled to downtown Galway in search of some Irish tablecloths, but we both became claustrophobic from being in the city, so we decided to head to Adare, about an hour and a half away. There was construction in downtown, so we stopped at a local restaurant for some lunch and a spot of tea. Yummy! Then, we rested awhile at our B&B, slept, and decided to go back out for some din-din (Gramma Pat Boyle reference! for those who knew my grandmother). A lovely meal (with a take-a-away bottle of wine!) and we’re settled back in our cozy B&B, snuggling with wine in a teacup and a homemade Aran Islands blanket. Not together of course…that would be too weird! But, it’s the sentiment that counts.
So sorry I didn’t post anything yesterday! There was a huge storm in County Clare, where we’re staying and the internet was down for a number of hours. So, we hunkered down at a local gastro pub and had a lovely conversation with a couple from Dublin. The storm petered out around five pm, then we headed to dinner and music at Donnelly’s Pub and Restaurant right down the road. Well, last night was definitely the night for our whiskey taste-off. The music started at ten pm and the whiskey was tasting pretty tasty. We started out with Yellow Spot, then went to Bushmills, Jameson, and another that I can’t remember the name of. The musicians were absolutely wonderful and we ended up staying at the pub until about 12:30am. Such fun!
8am came off early this morning if you ask me. After shaking off a couple of cobwebs, we were on our way to Rossaveal to catch the ferry over to the Aran Islands. Once we arrived, it was so incredibly magical. The limestone and granite walls that divide the properties were absolutely beautiful. We came across the seven churches, which dates back to the 7th century. In fact, the Romans used to send their children there to be educated. Can you imagine traveling, in the 7th century, across those cresting waves and living on an island that was so desolate? It shows how important education was (and still is, of course). Then, we made a trek up to Dún Aonghasa, which is a fort that was built in approximately the 2nd century BC. The hike only took about twenty minutes, but it was hailing and extremely windy all along the way. At the top, it was so incredibly scary because 1) there was no one else up there and 2) there were no guardrails, so if you got swept up in a gust, it’s like “bye, bye, see ya.” After Dún Aonghasa, we were fortunate enough to be able to see the homestead of Liam O’Flaherty, Irish novelist and short story writer who grew up on Inishmore, the most popular of the Aran Islands. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera cable at home, so I cannot post any photos, but I’ll upload some to Facebook when I’m back in the states.
Finally, we’re back at our Bed and Breakfast resting before another night out on the town. Boy, the Corbeil ladies (Maura’s maiden name) really like to have a good time! And, that’s always a good thing.:)
Adventures With Jim And Maura 
