Moose Sighting

Before we even arrived at the gate to Grand Teton National Park, we had our first animal spotting: a moose! He was standing in the Snake River, in perfect view from the bridge. He was even still there when we exited the park almost two hours later.

Here is the view of the Tetons as you looked left from where we were standing to watch the moose.

On our driving trip through the Tetons we passed by Jenny Lake and saw some gorgeous views of the mountains over the water.

It was a great day at the park, and we bought our annual pass for all the National Parks. Might be going to Yellowstone sometime this weekend!

Exploring the Town

So much has happened since we made it to Jackson:

-We have a place to live. We move in on October 1st. It is a two-bedroom, two-bath condo. It has a fireplace and an awesome balcony overlooking Flat Creek. It even has covered parking. We are super excited to move in and make it feel like home.
-I went to my first day of work. All of the people are super nice and I think it will be a fun environment. The now former designer started training me and will go through an entire production cycle with me, which is Sunday-Tuesday. I already designed my first page. It was a page for the daily (I work for the weekly) that has arts and entertainment information for the weekend.

-We went on our first hike today. It was a shorter hike, about an hour and a half, but went pretty far up above Jackson. It was cool that we could look down into the town and see the mountains beyond. Jeremy had a ton of fun on the hike and even got to go swimming in the creek at the end of the hike (same creek that goes past our new place). There was some nice fall-colored leaves on the trees. Can't wait till all the leaves have changed.

-We found the dog park. And Jeremy found his way out of the dog park. Yes, on the first day there. We'll see how often he gets to return due to his sneakiness.

Time to keep on exploring and making Jackson home.

Driving, Driving, Driving

I have been driving for three days straight. Tonight we will end in Jackson. I can't explain how excited I am about this. It finally feels like we are moving. Too bad we have a whole lot of stuff to do in the next few weeks. The big things: get an apartment, buy a new car, start my job and get everything from the pod to the apartment, but the pod doesn't deliver to Jackson.

Last night we stopped in Denver with enough time to enjoy the city. We went to the REI flagship to look at warm jackets. We didn't buy anything, but we have a better idea of what we might want. Then we walked through the parks and across the gorgeous bridges to find some food. Even though it is 8 or 9 hours from Jackson, I can see us coming to Denver for a long weekend.

On Friday, when I got to Jackson (Mississippi), Ben and I went to test drive the Subaru Forester. We need a vehicle that can drive in the snow. The car drove really nicely, and there is even an all-weather package that we could get with heated seats. Looks like we will no longer have a truck.

Have to get on the road. Next time I update we will be in Jackson Hole!

One Week Out

Since being home from New York, I have been continuously looking for a job. During a vacation to Florida with Ben, I started interviewing with the Jackson Hole News & Guide. On Friday I accepted a job offer and will be moving to Jackson, Wyoming in less than a week.

My job description, to put it simply, is to design the weekly newspaper. I am the sole designer. I am super excited about this opportunity to explore a new side of myself as a designer. But I'm sure it will be a challenge. Not only will every page be my responsibility, on a deadline, but I will not have other designers to bounce ideas off. I got used to having a group of twenty designers to go to while designing Vox. Now I will have feedback from editors, reporters and photographers, but no designers. Hopefully I will try to push myself out of my own comfort zone and stretch my creativity.

Part of this adventure will be moving to a town with 10,000 people. There is no Wal-Mart in Jackson. In fact there is not a Wal-Mart within 50 miles. I'm not as much scared about the size of Jackson as I am about the cold of Jackson. During my freshman year of college, right before winter hit, my friends laughed at my coat situation. Essentially I didn't have a winter coat. I would not be surprised if that happened again this winter in Jackson. But I'm ready for the snow, the cold and most of all, the mountains.

Follow my blog to hear about our 1,700 mile road trip (all with our dog Jeremy), our search for an apartment, my new exciting job, perhaps some wedding updates, my attempts to learn to ski or snowboard, and of course see gorgeous pictures of the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.