Where do I even begin with this crazy adventure???? Last summer a group of friends decided to plan a fun trip to Jackson Hole....which we did....but never really made it to Jackson Hole. Once we boarded our flight in Dallas to Jackson Hole the pilot informed us that the city didn't have power due to a massive storm the night before. We all immediately started googling and checking our phones. I will be honest I just assumed it was a ski town and surely they have generators and we would be fine....nope! After almost 2 hours sitting on the runway in Dallas we were finally cleared to take off. Once we landed in Jackson Hole a nice young man from the Four Seasons, where we were planning on spending the next 5 days, told us the entire village was shut down and we could not stay there. Hmmm....plan B....we rented a large SUV and started driving towards the closest ski town! Salt Lake City!
During the 5 hour car ride we planned an entirely new vacation! The boys went all out and rented a penthouse at the Stein Erikson Residence. We arrived very late at night after many, many, many hours of traveling. I have never rented a place this swanky so our moods all turned around!
The next morning we found out the hot water wasn't working...yep thats right we were in a ski town with no hot water! But hot coffee and this view kept our spirits up!
The breakfast each day was scrumptious!
You could literally walk out of the hotel and put your gear on and start skiing!
Ryan and I have never been out west to ski and completely agree with everyone that NC skiing does not even compare!
Deer Valley was not over crowded and there were even times when it was just Ryan and I. It was just so peaceful and quiet and romantic to ski with him all alone up on a mountain with the most beautiful views! There was one point in our day when I accidentally took a wrong turn and we ended up at the top of a black diamond. Ryan said "Well Seany you have two options. You can attempt to slowly ski down this...or you can take off your skis and slide down on your butt." I opted for sliding down. It was fun and I couldn't believe how steep those blacks are!!! Now for all you advanced skiers out there, don't worry I stayed all the way to the side of the slope and believe me you would much rather me sliding down than doing the pizza all the way down and probably taking out most of you along the way!
Lots of Go Pro videos were taken, but these were the best so far!
I am also a very big fan of apres ski! The lifts stop around 3:30/4 and we all went to get drinks and dip in the hot tub!
The second night we had drinks at High West and dinner at Tupelo.
Me and my Valentine. I am so blessed to call this man mine. He is seriously the most amazing man!
Simpsons friend from growing up, another Emily, made a shot ski for for the trip. She literally bought a ski and glued shot glasses to the top of it! The top said gnar, gnar and when you tiled it up to take the shot the bottom said pow pow!
Absolutely love me some coffee! And needed it after a late night and attempting that shot ski!
The next day it was very rainy so Ryan, Emily and I went shopping and had lunch by a ski lift.
Oh and also we still didn't have hot water at our hotel. Luckily they worked it out so that we could take a hotel shuttle to the next resort and use their spa to take a hot shower daily. Can't complain too much I guess because we also got full access to a spa everyday to shower! Some people did a spa day on Friday and spas are just not my thing (other than the hot shower part). I joined the guys for drinks and apps at No Name Saloon. This place was awesome! Exactly what I picture a western bar to be.
On Saturday morning we woke up to 13 inches of fresh "powder". I got all geared up to ski with Ryan again. I went down the first hill and realized how much harder it was. I told him to go ahead and I joined up with Emily for a fun day not skiing! We walked around and admired all the beautiful snow.
We read books by the fire.
And built the best snowman on our back porch!
After lunch Ryan, Emily and I went snowmobiling!
This afternoon was an absolute blast!
Later that day we met up with the group for apres ski, spa hot showers and pre dinner drinks!
Our traditional 100 goggle pic!
Before we left for dinner the sky turned the most beautiful colors and I couldn't help but just admire the beauty of this.
We ate at 350 on our last night and to top off the week I found out they had gluten free fried chicken. I can't tell you the last time I had fried chicken!!!!
We changed our flights to leave out of Salt Lake city instead of driving all the way back to Jackson Hole and ended our trip with them losing our luggage. Don't worry the delivered it in the middle of the night to our front door, but really how much bad travel luck can one group have???
Good news is due to no hot water in our hotel our entire stay they refunded some money and we are now saving up to actually go to Jackson Hole! At the end of the year last year one of our main goals was to travel more. I am so excited about the fun adventures we have coming up this year! Cheers to trip #1 in the books!!!
