Go West, young man

Just got home from a whirlwind Western vacation with my wife and parents where we spent time in Utah, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho seeing as much as we could of Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks and the surrounding area.

On Day 1 we flew into Salt Lake City, stopped for lunch at a great little diner – the Blue Plate, then made our way toward Jackson, WY where we would spend the next two nights.

While in Bonneville cutthroat country, I made sure to stop at a roadside stream where I might be able to catch a new-to-me species of trout. Sure enough, on one of the first few casts into a beaver pond I caught a beauty of a Bonnie. It would prove to be the only fish landed on the short outing, but it made it worth the stop.

We continued through the Star Valley en route to Jackson, stopping to check out the Elk antler arch in Afton and the adjacent fly shop, Pioneer Anglers. After the town of Alpine, the drive takes you along the Snake River all the way up to Jackson, where we stayed in a creek side cottage run by the Alpine House, which proved to be an excellent place to stay for the four of us while in town. That night we checked out the town of Jackson and took it easy in anticipation of the Tetons the next day.