eat, sleep, snow, repeat

we decided to venture out of the hotel for breakfast the next morning.  we'd seen a couple of fun-looking spots while out shopping in town the day before, so after getting ready for the day we headed on out.

we settled on persephone bakery, which looked super cute and had a pretty good-looking menu.

it was as small as it was cute, and it was pretty popular as people streamed in to grab coffees and pastries.  we managed to find a spot at the community table and sat down to wait for our food.

the hub enjoyed his dirty chai latte.

the truffled prosciutto sandwich was pretty much the best thing ever.

the bean had a basic croissant breakfast sandwich, and the hub went with the italian:

after our bellies were nice and warm, we decided to go for a nice drive.  the annual pass we bought for the national parks back in zion came in handy again as we entered grand teton national park.

we were only given access to about 26 miles' worth of the scenic roads, with the rest of the park and all of the services inside still closed down for the winter.  still, it was a pretty drive and we were hoping to come across some wildlife.

we were pretty excited when we spotted this fox, sitting there quietly watching us as intently as we stared at him.

and then we reached the turnaround point, just before we would have exited grand teton and moved up into yellowstone.  we were pretty bummed to miss it, because we were so close to old faithful and there was no way we could get in to see it.  oh well.

the bean knocked out in the back seat as we headed back towards the entrance to the park.

the hub really wanted to see a moose, and he was so stoked when he finally spotted one through the trees, standing there quietly munching on branches and snow.

and a little further down the road, before exiting the park we pulled over so the bean could get a little snow play in.  she was excited to get out and make some snowballs to hurl at her daddy and me.

and then she decided to sit down and make a snowman.  or, more accurately, a snow BB-8.

back at our hotel, we decided to hit up the mangy moose for dinner.

it was full of all sorts of antiques and fun stuff to look at all around us - on the walls, in the waiting area, even on the ceiling.

 it was a pretty simple menu:

we started with the crispy brussels sprouts, which people on yelp seemed to rave about.  i usually love brussels sprouts, but these were oily and soggy and not as delicious as i'd hoped.

the bean had gone with a simple burger and the hub chose something that just didn't photograph well at all, but i got a shot of my beef filet.  it was pretty tasty, which was a relief after those brussels sprouts.

after getting the bean and me settled back up in our room, the hub headed back down to the hotel bar to grab a drink and hang out a little.  he didn't stay long though, and came back up to watch some tv with me before we finally fell asleep.  it was our last night in jackson hole and our vacation was more than halfway over.  so sad.

food, naps and photos

we slept in a little on our first morning in jackson hole, and the bean was stoked when we told her she could order room service for breakfast.  the menu was pretty simple, but included this bowl of greek yogurt with french vanilla granola and hazelnuts and pecans that i really enjoyed.

when we went outside to the car, we found it covered in snow from the storm the night before.  the bean thought it was the most fun thing ever to draw things on her window from the outside.

it was really cold, but it was a beautiful day:

we managed to find a starbucks in town that was attached to a clothing store and also a fun toy store down in the basement.  i love how my kid manages to find squishies everywhere.

she liked this puppet too, but i just couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger on it.

back upstairs, she picked up a pin and stuck it in the map somewhere near home:

because we were somehow woefully unprepared for the cold and snow, we stopped in one of the other shops to pick up some gear.  the bean and i scored on some cute boots on sale, plus gloves and beanies.  and then outside, we stopped for some fun touristy shots.

as we drove around a little more, we decided to pull into the national elk reserve and drive on the road as far as it would let us.  while all the elk were out in the middle of the meadow, we did manage to find lots and lots of bighorn sheep.

by the time we drove out and back, we were hungry again.  seems like all we did on this trip was drive and eat...which isn't a bad thing.  with this fun-looking historic spot closed for renovations:

we ended up next door instead, here:

the bean's steak frites:

my crab cake salad:

and the hub opted for that day's special. meatloaf with a cup of hot soup.

we were amused to see the gross "roadcicles" that had collected on the car after driving through all the dirt and snow.  ewwwww.

we went back to the hotel to walk around the grounds a bit and then grab a little catnap in our room before dinner.

and then we drove back into town for more food.  we ended up at gather:

the pork buns came highly recommended, so we started with those.  and they were indeed pretty tasty.

and the hub decided to try a glass of "moose drool," which sounded pretty heinous.  he said it was really good, though.

the bean went big and tried their house fried chicken with savory pancakes.

i had the grilled ribeye:

and i totally don't remember what the hub ordered, but  this was the day's special.

the best part?  because it was a tuesday, we got to take advantage of their 2-for-1 entree special.  sweet.

gotta love lazy vacation days, right?