February Fun!

I am going to finish catching up for the month of Feb. It has been a pretty busy month and I can't believe it is almost over! The first week in February I went home to NY for my bridal shower and to have some final meetings for the wedding. Everything seems to be going along just fine. We are not nervous or panicing yet so that is a good thing. My aunt is doing a wonderful job on my dress and I can't wait to see the final product :-) Everyone has been very helpful in the process, which is probably why no one is too worried.
It was great to see my family and friends at my shower. My Aunt Ann made beautiful cakes and my cousin's wife Jenn did a great job on all the decorations. I also got to go out to dinner with some of my friends which was a nice catch up time. NY still had a decent amount of snow and got about 6 more inches while I was home. Still can't tell if there will be snow for the wedding or not. I got back home safely in time to watch most of the Superbowl.

We got a chance to go skiing the
morning of the shower.

Out in the woods.

Center pieces for the shower.

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Dinner with friend. Becca, on the
far left is one of my bridesmaids

The other side of the table. (left to right)
Betsy, Heather, and  Bonnie
are all in the wedding as well.

Valentine's day weekend Jason and I spent the night in Driggs on Friday and got to go skiing at Grand Targhee for a second time on Saturday. We stayed in a motel that was kind of neat and had a great dinner at a local restaurant. I did a little bit better during the second session of skiin. I took another lesson and am starting to get the hang of it. Jason got to ski all day. He explored most of the runs. It was a great sunny day and we both got a little sunburn, but not bad.

Our room in Driggs.

Bathroom.

Views from where Jason Skis. It
was clear enough to see the Tetons.

Maybe someday I will go up there.

Here I am on the beginner hill haha.

Beautiful day.

This week I made the programs for the wedding ceremony. I am also walking around in my shoes all the time to try and break them in a little bit. I am heading back to NY this weekend to work on my dress and then we are only 2 weeks away!  Our next post will probably be after the wedding, but we will try to keep everyone up to date if we do anything exciting.  See everyone soon!

Cross Country Skiing in Grand Teton National Park

A couple of weeks ago we decided to make out weekend activity cross country skiing.  There are several different locations for cross country skiing in and around Idaho Falls, but after missing out on the chance to ski Grand Teton in November I wanted to go back.  The plan was to ski from the Taggart Lake trailhead (This is where the park road closes in the winter) to Jenny Lake. 

The park roads in GTNP on the way to Taggart Lake trailhead

 Melissa has had lots of experience with this sport and my experience is limited to the outing from the previous post and this one.  As you could expect I was huffing and puffing alot more that she was.  From the trailhead, we started off down the trail on some well worn tracks through the snow.  Snowshoers also use the trail, but on a parallel track that doesn't mess with the ski ruts. 

Jason huffing and puffing

Melissa thoroughly enjoying seeing Jason huff and puff

 In the summer, I've hiked from the same trailhead, and while we may have been on the "real" national park trail for part of our trip, we certainly weren't on it for the entire trip to Jenny Lake.  I suppose that is an advantage of winter hiking you can take the path of least resistance and still be low impact.  By taking the ski trail we passed by cabins for a climbing camp that is located off the park road and another set of cabins used by park staff in the summer.  There were a couple of difficult spots going through the trees.  I know at one point I was practically crawling to get over a log across the path.  As expected Melissa navigated these challenges much more gracefully than I.  After a good 2 to 3 hours we finally reached the shores of Jenny Lake.  The water was unfrozen and quite a delight to see. 

The bridge to the Jenny Lake dock.  It was piled high with snow.

I couldn't wear a hat.  I was generating more than enough heat on my own

 Unfortunately the mountains had been hidden behind a veil of clouds for our journey to this point, but as we began to head back the clouds began to lift.  As anyone who has visited Grand Teton National Park can tell you, some of the best views of the mountains in the park occur on the park road between Jenny Lake and Taggart Lake trailhead.  On the way back, we took the park road to make things somewhat easier, and I was starting to get the hang of the push and slide motion required to effectively cross country ski. 

This is the furthest ahead of Melissa I ever got.  I was chasing her most of the day.

The Grand starts to peak out from behind the clouds.

 As you can see, Melissa was getting some great pictures of the mountains when fatigue and carelessness got the best of me.  In a cloud of ski's and poles and snow I fell to ground.  I was unscathed aside from a batter ego, but my pole was not.  Graciously Melissa did not snap a picture of me sprawled on the snowy road, although she admitted to me later that she very much wanted to.  In another act of kindness, she lent me her poles and continued on to the truck with only my unbroken pole.  After a few more photo ops, we made it back to the truck as the sun was setting tired but satisfied with a good day of skiing in a beautiful place.  The ski shop back in Idaho Falls didn't even charge us for the broken pole, so quite the satisfying trip indeed. 

A great shot of snow blowing off the Cathedral Group

The sun sets, and it's time to head back to Idaho Falls.