Geezer VI, Driggs, Idaho - Friday

The plan for the day was to visit Grassy Lake, which was a drive recommended by Nick the Internet repairman.  Grassy Lake is located in a remote area north of us in Wyoming near the Yellowstone National Park boundary.  We took the same route we took on our trip to Mesa Falls last year, but it's not quite as far.  Unfortunately John and Greg would not be joining us as they left for home just after 8:00 AM.  The weather was very cold with ice and snow on the ground, but there was a partial clearing so it wasn't quite as overcast. Before we left we took these pictures of the snow blowing off the Tetons from the deck of our house.

 

 

After packing a lunch we were on our way.  We had a little trouble finding the right road, but once we did it was a beautiful drive.  As we drove up into the mountains there was more and more snow on the ground and in the trees, and we were grateful for our 4-wheel drive.  The snow wasn't too deep, and was beautiful as it clung to the tree branches and covered the ground.  The temperature stayed around thirty-two to thirty-three degrees all day, but we did get a partial clearing and had some blue sky.  The road we were on was dirt and pretty remote, we only saw one other vehicle on our journey.  When we were a couple of miles from Grassy Lake the snow got deeper and the road steeper and you could see where others had turned around so we decided to turn around too rather than chance getting stuck.  It didn't look too bad, but we don't have very much experience in the snow and if others were turning around, we thought we had better also.  We stopped and ate our lunch in the car as it was too cold and wet to sit outside.  It was a very fun and a very beautiful day. After lunch it was back down the mountain and back to the house.  Jack and Steph were generous enough to fill our gas tank for us on our way back, so thanks again Jack and Steph!!

 

A dusting of snow at the start of our trip.

A brief delay as a couple of locals crossed the road.

Steph and Jack

 

A lot of pictures being taken.

 

The end of the road (for us).

Tomorrow we start for home and everyone has a long drive so we started packing when we got back.  It's always sad to realize our group will all be going their separate ways, but we will gather again next year.  For dinner we ate leftovers from the previous meal ,which were still very good.  One thing we are never short of at these gatherings is food, I hope I haven't gained too much weight this week. After dinner we relaxed and made one last futile effort to finish the puzzle and then it was off to bed as we wanted to get an early start for home.

They were harvesting potatoes (we think) in the fields we could see from the deck.

The Tetons poke through the clouds on the final day of our Geezer Gathering.

Geezer VI, Driggs, Idaho - Thursday

I got up around 6:00 AM and looked out the window and everything was covered with a thin layer of snow.  I went back to bed for a little more sleep and when I got up at 8:00 it had mostly melted, but the weather was still cold and overcast.  As I said before, this weather is pretty unique for Californians so seeing snow on the ground was pretty exciting.

A dusting of snow on the fields viewed from the deck.

The Geezer house.

Today was another day of just staying around the house, Greg caught Jack's cold so now we had two people not feeling well.  The weather cleared up a bit so Val, John and I drove down to the Teton River just below the house where Jack and Steph fished last year and we walked around a bit.  There wasn't as much fall color as we had last year, but it is still a beautiful spot.

John and Val

Dave and Val

The rest of the day was spent in front of the fire reading, relaxing, chatting and working on the puzzle - not very exciting, but as I said before, just being with good friends makes it the best of times.  Steph made a meatloaf and macaroni and cheese for dinner and it really hit the spot.  It was excellent.  After dinner it started "grappling" outside.  I had never heard of grapple, but according to those from Colorado it is a term for something that is kind of like a soft hail, it's like a tiny snowball.  I thought they made the term up, but I looked it up and sure enough, it's a real term.  It came down fairly hard and covered the deck before long.

A picture of Jack and Val looking in through the window.

It's snowing!

The deck covered with "grapple".

 

Greg "helping" Steph get dinner.

The puzzle from hell, it was never completed.

 

John and Greg had some disappointing news for us as they had decided to leave a day early.  Greg wasn't feeling well due to his cold so they thought it would be best to go home.  Disappointing, but we could understand and sympathize.  Jack seems to be doing better as his cold has not been too bad, and luckily no one else seems to have caught it.  Since John and Greg were leaving in the morning we did have to shoot our annual group pictures.  Every year Val designs a Geezer T-shirt which we are all wearing in the pictures.  Val and I got everyone a pareo (a Polynesian wraparound which can be worn by both men and women) on our trip to French Polynesia so everyone is wearing theirs in the last picture.

We made our new friend who hung above the fireplace an honorary geezer.

Geezer VI, Driggs, Idaho - Wednesday

We awoke to another cold and cloudy day and they are predicting rain and snow this evening.  That didn't bother us as it makes things a little more interesting for us Californians who don't really see winter weather very often.  John, Greg, Val and I decided to drive into Jackson, Wyoming today and visit the National Museum of Wildlife Art.  Jack came down with a cold so he and Steph decided to stay at the house.

Before we could leave I had to wait and deal with the Internet repair person (Nick) who arrived around 9:30.  Unfortunately it was not an easy problem to solve as it turned out to be in the internal wiring of the house, but he finally got it working and we were on our way by 11:00 AM.  It was interesting talking to Nick while he worked on the Internet as he was born and raised in the Teton Valley and didn't plan on leaving.  His family had a cattle ranch and he certainly looked the part.  He talked about the problems with the wolves now that they had been introduced back into the area.  He said there is tension between the ranchers and the environmentalists, which is understandable. The wolves are killing the ranchers livestock. He also told us about a 4-wheel drive road that sounded interesting.

It's only about a 45 minute drive from Driggs to Jackson, but there is a world of difference. Driggs is a quiet, laid back town in the middle of rural and scenic Teton Valley, and Jackson is a busy, crowded tourist town at the edge of Teton National Park.  We decided to eat lunch at the Q Roadhouse just outside of Jackson that had been recommended to John and Greg by friends.  Unfortunately we will never know how good it is because they didn't serve lunch so we started looking for another place to eat.  Jackson was very crowded and parking was very hard to come by.  We finally found an inviting looking sandwich place with parking so we had lunch there and it turned out to be a good choice, we had a very good lunch.  It was called the Great Harvest Bread Company; they had a friendly and helpful staff and if you are looking for a sandwich in Jackson I highly recommend it.

After lunch it was on to the Wildlife Art Museum.  I am not very big on art museums, but I have found some can be quite interesting and this was one of those.  There are paintings and sculptures by over 550 artists and they are all just beautiful to look at.

Greg, Dave and John with one of the outside metal sculptures.

 

The museum has a great view overlooking the Elk Refuge.

The museum is built right into the side of the hill.  That rock wall on the right
is the outside wall of the museum.

After going through the museum it was time to head back to the house as it was very cold and overcast and starting to drizzle a bit.  The drive from Jackson to Driggs is very beautiful as it goes through a mountain pass with great views of the Tetons.

We got back to the house in late afternoon and John and Greg decided they would take us out to dinner, which was fine with the rest of us.  Last year they took us out to the Fuego Grill in Driggs and we had a great time.  Unfortunately when we got into Driggs we found that the Fuego Grill was closed either temporarily or permanently.  However, across the street there was a new Mexican restaurant called Agave so we decided to give it a try.  Although we didn't think it was as good as the Fuego Grill, we had a great meal and a good time. Thanks, John and Greg!

When we left the restaurant it was raining outside as we headed back to the house for dessert.  We wound down the evening working on a Teton puzzle that Jack and Steph brought and then called it a night although Jack and I sat up quite late talking as we tend to do sometimes.

Geezer VI, Driggs, Idaho - Tuesday

Tuesday was a quiet day spent relaxing and catching up.  The weather was cool and cloudy and it felt good just to sit in front of the fireplace with good friends.  The only real activity was Val and John making a trip into Driggs for groceries.  Jack and Steph grilled trout for dinner which were excellent.  After dinner we watched videos that Jack made of our previous Geezer Gatherings and I showed a couple of travel videos I put together of our recent trips.  That was it for the day, not much excitement, but a lot of enjoyment being together with old friends.

One thing that did happen was that we found that the Internet wasn't working so I spent part of the afternoon talking to the owner and then the Internet provider.  They scheduled a service call for Wednesday so that is why these blog updates are being published so late.

Geezer VI, Driggs, Idaho - Arrival

Idaho Falls is only a couple of hours away from our rental house so Monday morning we slept in and relaxed and didn't leave the hotel until eleven.  We found a grocery store and did some shopping and then met our friends (and fellow geezers) Jack and Steph for lunch.  By the time we had finished lunch it was around 1:00 and we set off for Driggs.  We took the slower, but more scenic route through Swan Valley as we still had plenty of time to get there.  The weather was mixed sun and rain, but nothing too bad for the drive.

We arrived at the rental house just before 3:00 and were met by the housekeeper who let us in and gave us a little orientation.  The house was very similar to the one we rented last year, but a little smaller and with fewer amenities.  Still it is a very nice house and looks like it will be more than adequate for our stay. A prominent feature in the living room is a very large buffalo head hanging over the fireplace.  There are large windows facing the Teton Mountain Range, the Teton Valley and the Teton River just below the house.  It is a beautiful setting for our gathering and a wonderful spot to spend time together.

We settled in and awaited the arrival of John and Greg who were driving in from Colorado Springs.  They arrived around 4:30 and our group was complete.  After a little catching up, Val prepared a hearty tortilla soup for dinner and then we settled in for the evening.  It was good to see everyone and we had plenty to talk about catching up on everything that had happened since we had seen each other last year.

The view out the front windows

The Tetons in the distance.

John and Greg watching Val and Steoh get dinner.

Val preparing her soup.

Sunset on the Tetons.

Geezer VI, Driggs, Idaho - On the Road

The time to get on the road finally arrived; we left home around eleven and we in Sacramento around four.  We actually like to stay in El Dorado Hills which is a little east of Sacramento at the beginning of Sierra foothills.  After a good dinner and a good nights sleep we were off to Lake Tahoe and arrived there just before noon.  We were pleasantly surprised to find not only that our room was ready, but we had been upgraded to a suite, a good way to start the trip.  We spent our afternoon and early evening losing our money in the casino (actually Val has some success) then had a good Mexican dinner at Cabo Wabo before calling it a night.

Saturday morning we had hoped to get an early start out of Tahoe as we had a longer drive, but it didn't work out that way and we didn't get going until just before ten.  The plan for the day was to follow US 50 east to Austin, Nevada where we would turn north and head to Elko, Nevada where we would spend the night.  From South Lake Tahoe we followed US 50 east through Carson City and then turned northeast and through the town of Fallon, Nevada.  East of Fallon is where US 50 is called the "Loneliest Road in America" and it is quite lonely, but we have been on much less traveled roads.  Nevada is made up of a series of basins and ranges with most of the ranges running North / South so a journey traveling east consists of going up and down through a series of mountains and basins.  We find it pretty interesting as the desert although somewhat monotnous has a unique beauty.

The Loneliest Road in America

Towns are few and far between on US 50 in Eastern Nevada and most of them are old mining towns that have seen better days, but are pretty interesting and have a lot history.  The town of Austin is one of these and we decided to stop for lunch at the International Cafe and Saloon before we turned north.  The building is very old and you feel like you've stepped back in time when you enter.  The food is pretty good and the atmosphere better with a mixture of tourists passing through and locals.  The attached saloon looks like it's frozen in a time warp and you feel liked you've just stepped into the old west.  If you ever have any reason to travel on US 50 across Nevada, Austin is worth a stop.

The International Cafe and Saloon

The town of Austin.

After lunch we turned north on Nevada 305 and made the 90 mile drive to Battle Mountain where we caught Interstate 80.  305 is designated a scenic highway and it was a scenic drive, but again it was desert terrain.  We took I80 on to Elko, Nevada where we spent the night.

We woke up Sunday morning to overcast skies and spent the day driving in and out of light showers and high winds.  We left Elko and followed I80 east to Wells where we turned north on US 93 and drove on to Twin Falls, Idaho.  From Twin Falls we followed Interstate 84 and 86 to Idaho Falls where we are tonight.  Tomorrow we will meet our friends Jack and Steph and make the final leg of our journey to Driggs and our rental house where John and Greg will join the group.  It is less than a two hour drive to Driggs so we won't be in any hurry to get started in the morning.  We will also do our grocery shopping here in Idaho Falls before we leave.

Before we left home several people asked us where we were going and we told them we were driving to Idaho and they thought that was entirely too far to drive.  For us it has been a great trip so far as we like to drive and really enjoy road trips, so I guess it's to each their own choice.  We are almost at the end of our journey north and the next entry into the blog will be from the Geezer house near Driggs.

Geezer VI, Driggs, Idaho - Ready to Leave

It's that time of the year again for a "Gathering of Geezers".  This is an annual event for a group of our close friends who all turned 60 the same year.  For the full story behind our Geezer Gathering you can look at last years blog for Geezer V .  

This year Val and I are taking it easy and allowing four days to get there.  We will leave tomorrow (Thursday) and drive to Sacramento and then on Friday we take the the short drive to Lake Tahoe (surprise, surprise) where we will be staying as usual at Harrah's.  After a night in Tahoe we will be staying off the interstate and taking US Highway 50 to Elko, Nevada.  From there it's on to Idaho Falls on Sunday and then a short drive to Driggs on Monday where we'll meet up with our friends (or should I say fellow geezers).  

Unfortunately we couldn't get the same house we stayed in last year, but we did get a very similar one in the same area overlooking the Teton River.  We will be there five days before returning home.  Originally Val and I were going on to the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and Flaming Gorge, but Val's bad knee would make it too limiting for her.  We'll save that trip for next year.

There is wi-fi in the house so I will be updating as I have time.  That's it for now, see you in Driggs.