Christmas Tree time.....

Last week our friend Dave took me out into one of the National Forests to cut down a Christmas Tree for our house which we then decorated with the "12 Days of Christmas" ornaments the my grandma sent me.....don't laugh at our tree!! I know it's a little sparse but it is ours that we cut down and we love it! (thanks Rachael!!)

No More Skiing/Boarding on Sunday's for us...

Things here are starting to really pick up as the winter season is almost in full swing. There is an excitement in the air like I've never felt before and everyone is constantly looking towards the skies and watching the weather report hoping and praying for lots of snow. It snows pretty much everyday (although not a ton) and I have only been outside on one sunny/blue sky day in the past 3 weeks. Everyday more and more runs open on the mountain and hopefully soon the majority of the mountain will be open. I have been going snowboarding about 3-4 times a week and have started to see some slight improvements although the terrain here still takes my breath away.

Last Sunday Jenny fell on the cat track and had to be taken down on the snowmobile. She twisted her knee really bad and is most likely done for the whole season. She ended up flying back to Georgia last Thursday because her insurance is not good in Wyoming and she need to get an MRI. The doctor's think she completely tore her ACL (which means surgery) but we won't know the full extent of her injury until she gets the results of her MRI this Wednesday. We definitely miss her here in Jackson and Christmas won't be the same here without her but hopefully she will get to come home to us soon!

This past Sunday (yesterday) was my first day going up on Sublet which is one of the higher lifts on the mountain. It services a ton of runs but all the runs are blacks..... I had a deathgrip on the chairlift going up because looking down was so intense. I could not believe that people skied some of the terrain I was looking at much less that the mountain allowed people to ski it. It was Rachael and our friend Chapman going up and Chapman was going to take us on a "secret" run through some powder fields. We ended up on some black terrain that was super steep and narrow and we were constantly dodging trees and rocks. I didn't really turn much going down cause if I took a split second too long to turn I was going to nail a rock or tree and I didn't really feel like doing that. The powder was amazing up on this run ranging anywhere from knee to waist deep. Once we got down we decided to go back and do it again.....bad idea......Right near the top I hear Rachael screaming and look right behind me to see her completely wrapped around a tree. My first thought upon seeing her was "oh crap, the snowmobiles can't get in this area to get to her, how the hell are we going to get her off the mountain"....luckily though she ended up with just some massive bruising and muscle soreness in her leg and should be fine. Obviously she was hurting and scared to continue down so it took us forever to get her off the steep slope and back to the easy cat track. Luckily she wasn't hurt too bad and will be fine but we both decided that Sunday's aren't too good for us and that maybe we should stay clear of the slopes on sundays for awhile..... :)

LONG OVERDUE PICTURES OF MY NEW PLACE

I figured it's about time I posted some pictures of my new place...I've been telling people I would do it for a long time now....

My new bedroom....

The outside of our place....it's a townhouse and ours is on the end
(left side as you are looking at the picture)Our dining room

Our living room

Last Thursday after our first powder day of the season.....

Jackson Hole Opening Day & New Job

Saturday was opening day....finally!!! There wasn't many runs open yet (only 3) and the snow wasn't that great but it was still fun to finally be out on the mountain that I have been staring at for the past 6 weeks. I also started my 2nd job on saturday as a cocktail waitress at the local bar at the base of the mountain....we specialize in $6 pitchers of PBR for employees so as you can imagine it got pretty busy with all the locals. There's defintely places I could make better tips but I really enjoy working somewhere where all the locals come and I can hang out with my friends at work.

Tomorrow I group of us are going back over the pass to Grand Targhee to board....the snow conditions are the best there of anywhere in the US so it should be another great day on the slopes.

1st day on the slopes

With opening day just around the corner here in Jackson (Dec. 1st), a friend and me decided to get in some early runs at Grand Targhee which is about 1 hour from Jackson. Jackson Hole has a deal with Targhee that lets employees of each mountain ski free at both mountains which worked out great for us. Originally we had planned to go on Thanksgiving but since the mountain opened the day before we decided to wait a few days and hear how the conditions were. As it turns out Targhee has the best conditions anywhere for the time being....as quoted in online.....
"Grand Targhee Resort currently offers 1,500 acres of skiable terrain, more than any other resort in the US Rockies which includes Utah, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. Ranking second in skiable acreage is Grand Targhee’s neighbor to the North, Big Sky Resort, who opened with 854 acres and third place honors go to Copper Mountain in Colorado reporting 159 skiable acres in operation.
The snow wasn't amazing but for the time of the year and considering the lack of snow in Jackson and elsewhere it was pretty dang good....

Seeing as it was my first time on my new board and I hadn't even rode for over two years I was a little apprehensive about my first run...just my luck we ended up going down the blues from the very start (never touched a green)...I was surprised how quickly I picked it back up: I guess it is just like riding a bike....I was however still a little tense on the board which made me nervous to go too fast....I'll have to get over my new found fear of going fast quickly seeing as the terrain at jackson is much steeper and unforgiving....We are planning on going back to Targhee on Thursday then partaking in the opening weekend festivities at Jackson this weekend.....

BRING ON THE SNOW!!!!

Me and me new board sitting at the top of my first black diamond of the year (yeah, it took me awhile to get down it but but I didn't fall)....the Grand is the tallest peak you see behind me and is what I plan on climbing this summer.

Another view of the Grand Tetons (the Grand is the tallest one again)

Me at the observation deck at the top of the mountain....

On another note........Megan and Jenny went to Targhee the day after I did to teach Jenny to ski..I think she had a rough first day, but she's super athletic so she'll be flying down the blues and blacks in no time!

Megan's Birthday and Hot Tub!!!

Megan turned the big 26 on Friday and Rachael is turning 25 on Tuesday so we decided to do one cake and one dinnner out on Sunday.......We went to the sushi restaurant in town so of course I didn't eat anything (I will note for the record though that I DID try sushi this year....just didn't care for it).....after dinner we went back to the house and had funfetti cake.....I'd like to say that there is cake left, but no....the 4 of us managed to finish the whole thing in less then 24 hours.

Goofing off for the camera before heading out to dinner.

Below is a picture of the house where Megan has been dog sitting (a.k.a. The Mansion) and thus we have taken full advantage of their hot tub, cable TV, and massive kitchen.....

Sunrise in Jackson as seen from The Mansion

Hanging out in the hot tub....

Thanksgiving #2

My roommates and I kicked off Thanksgiving my going out the night before....we ended up goofing off at our house for hours before heading out....since we have no cable we have to think of creative ways to entertain ourselfs....the entertainment choice of the night consisted of sitting on our kitchen cabinets talking for 1 1/2 hour because we have no chairs to sit in and then trying on our skis/snowboard set-ups.....atleast we didn't put our ski outfits on as well....
After we got bored of entertaining ourselves at home we headed out to Cuttie's for the weekly Whiskey Wendesday......It is defintely almost ski season time because the place was packed for once...I guess the rest of the seasonal staffing has arrived
(Me, Robbie, Jenny, and Rachael at Cutties)

After our fun night out we got up early Thursday morning to prepare for our second Thanksgiving dinner of the week....Our first stop of the day was to our friend Robbie's house where we hung out most of the day with a bunch of our southern friends.
(The girls at Robbie's house)
Joseph preparing the goose that he shot earlier in the morning....
(the whole group at Robbie's.....for once there are more girls then guys)
The view outside Robbie'sAs much as we wanted to stay at Robbie's and eat the AMAZING looking food we had already made prior plans to go to our bosses house for Thanksgiving dinner and celebrate with a bunch of people from work. Amy (our boss) had volunteered to make the entire meal which is a huge undertaking....

One thing that I found really amusing was the difference between the two meals we experiences. As I said, our first stop of the day was with our southern friends and the Thanksgiving menu consisted of: fried turkey, goose (that was shot thanksgiving morning and gutted on the porch while the Turkey's were frying), a variety of casseroles that were made with no less then a pound of butter each, a keg of beer, garlic mashed pototoes (again with a pound of butter), stuffing, gravy, and whiskey.......In contrast, our second stop of the day was with mainly northerners and the meal was prepared by a true northerner. The menu there consisted of: baked turkey, steamed broccoli, steamed asparagus, mashed pototoes (no butter), and wine....
hmmmmm....notice a difference in the way the southerners eat???

Regardless of how fattening or healthy the meal was, Megan and I still passed out within 20 minutes of eating.....we were such party poopers!!!!!


After Megan and I slept for an hour we finally arose and decided to head out. Luckily Megan was house sitting at the "Mansion", which is a huge house in the Village that Megan frequently house sits for. Therefore we all decided to spend the night there and enjoy the huge outdoor hot tub the Mansion has.

(Getting ready to run outside to get into the hot tub.....did I mention it was about 14 degrees outside??)
After the hot tub we all put on the plush terry robes the Mansion has and settled in to watch some cable TV...it's amazing how much more we appreciate cable now that we are too broke to have it at our house. ...didn't matter much though because we were all in bed by 9pm...

Megan's birthday was the day after Thanksgiving....Here's a preview of the pictures from her birthday!!

Hiking trip out my front door

I had Wednesday off and as it was a beautiful (yet freezing) day I decided to go on a little hike right out my front door. I hiked up Snowking mountain which should have been about a 40-45 minute hike but cause of the snow it took me a little bit longer. The view from the top was amazing and I could see Jackson Hole Ski Mountain clear across the other side of the butte. Once I got to the top of Snowking I was going to follow the ridge around to a canyon but after being on top for about 10 minutes the wind starting picking up and the temperature dropped big time....plus I was damp from sweating on the hike up (it was a pretty steep hike) which made me even colder.....not to mention I was very thirsty and my water bottle had frozen on the way up.....so I decided to call it a day and started heading back down the mountain. I am excited for next summer when I'll be able to hike all around the trails up behind my house but I think the window for good weather hiking is all but passed for the winter..

View from the top of Snowking...

View from the top of Snowking...you can see Jackson Hole Ski Mountain off in the distance behind the butte

View from the top along the ridgeline....Jackson is directly behind me in this picture

The snowy trail I hiked along....it wasn't bad going up, but was pretty slippery going down

Fun Thanksgiving pictures coming soon!! as well as pictures from my first day on the slopes...

Thanksgiving #1

Yesterday we had our first Thanksgiving of the week...some of our friends were going to be out of town so we decided to go ahead and celebrate a little early so they could join in the festivities with us. Justin purchased an 18lb turkey the night before and then spent half the night trying to thaw it. This would prove to be all of ours first time having Thanksgiving dinner without family and we quickly realized that none of us had ever cooked a turkey before or knew how too.....luckily Rachael stepped in and got some family advice and made a wonderful turkey.....and YES!!! I did actually eat turkey yesterday and I have pictures to prove it. The food was unbelievably plentiful and the company was even more amazing... we will all be heading to the Village on Thursday to eat another Thanksgiving with all of our friends from work so I'm sure more pictures will follow....
MENU: turkey, homemade mac & cheese, green bean casserole, squash casserole, mashed pototoes, corn, deviled eggs, pea salad, stuffing, gravy, bread, cheese & meat platter (appetizers), homemade fudge, homemade pecan pie, beer, wine, and whiskey

REMEMBER: More pictures are posted online at http://picasaweb.google.com/victoria.glyn
Look in the "Jackson Fall" album for the most recent pictures.

Doing some final preparations for dinner.....


Cheating and tasting my homemade mac & cheese before we ate.....it passed the taste test


Justin getting ready to carve the Turkey...


All of us passed out (particularly me) after dinner....just think we get to do this all over again on Thursday

My Wyoming To-Do List

Here is my list of things I want to do while living in Wyoming...I'm sure I'll add more things to my list the more I learn about the area

SUMMER:
1. Climb the Grand...the plan is for Megan, Jenny, Rachael, and I to all climb the Grand together this summer...would be nice to meet some people this winter that can take us up so we don't have to pay for a guide... click here for a blog about climbing the Grand
2. para glide
3. ride my bike up Teton Pass
4. Century bike ride
5. rock climb on an actual mountain and not on a wall
6. whitewater raft the Snake River
7. Scenic raft trip down the Snake River
8. feed a black bear....just kidding mom!
9. Cliff Diving
10. learn to play disc golf (and not suck at it)
11. go on an overnight mountain bike trip
12. fly fish on the Snake River
13. go kayaking

WINTER:
1. snowmobile through Yellowstone National Park
2. board 75% of the mountain...considering most of the mountain is black diamonds and cliffs this should be a lofty goal (Trail map of Jackson Hole)
3. Backcountry snowboard
4. Build a snowcave and campout this winter
5. cut down a Christmas Tree
6. build a snowman that is taller then me
7. have a snowball fight
8. go sledding
9. not break a bone on the mountain
10. go on a sleigh ride throught the elk refuge
11. go on an overnight snowshoeing trip

settling in....

I am finally starting to settle into a nice routine here in Jackson....I could not have asked for better roommates (except for if Megan moved in) and they have really helped make Jackson start to feel like home.....we carpool to work everyday, go to the gym together and then go hang out at someone's house for the evening or go out. Everyone is so laid back and relaxed and it feels wonderful to be able to completely relax for once. My only stress right now is money and that is a huge change from the past couple of years.


Our new friend Bobby invited us over for a steak dinner....


The roommates and homemade wine....

Hanging out at Chapman and Robbies before going to Whiskey Wednesday...I love that we are 3,000miles from home and we hang out at fellow Atlantans houses....

Christmas help....

I know it's hard to believe but it is almost that time of year again to start decorating and celebrating Christmas...this year will probably be the hardest Christmas ever for me since I won't get to spend it with my family at all. At least I am lucky in that I have amazing roommates here in Jackson that I will be with.

Being as that none of us get to go home for Christmas we want to decorate as much as possible here in Jackson in order to make it seem as much like home as possible. However due to our severe lack of funds that will be a little hard. We plan on cutting down our own Christmas tree and the girls that lived in the house before us left us a Christmas tree stand and skirt and that's pretty much all we have......therefore I am putting out an all points bulletin for old Christmas decorations...you know you have been meaning to clean out your Christmas decorations boxes for years now, so pack up that old stuff and send it on up to us in Jackson where it can get another lease on life......the tackier the better.....

Postal address
PO Box 7988 OR JHRL /
Jackson, WY 83002

or

FedEx/UPS Address
Attn: Tori Cervantez
3200 West McCollister Drive
Teton Village, WY 83025

wonderful weekend #3

Despite having to work both Saturday and Sunday, this weekend was amazing.....of course it's hard to be a bad weekend when Georgia beats Auburn at home. Luckily I was able to get off work at 1pm which allowed me just enough time to get over to our friends house to watch the big game. About 10 Georgia fans piled onto the couch and settled in to cheer on the Dawgs! During half time we all went outside to partake in some Bocci ball and the guys gave us some lessons on how to split wood.

Jenny taking her turn at Bocce Ball


Learning to split wood...we got pretty good at it by the time we finished....now if only we had a fireplace at home so we would have a need to split wood



After the Georgia game we went home a took a quick nap and then headed to a party to watch the South Carolina/Florida game and then on to the Virge for an evening of dancing, pool playing, and people watching....we ended up walking 15 minutes home in the rain becaues we were too broke to pay for a cab ride home and we didn't have a car at the bar (we got dropped off). It wasn't that cold walking home so I was very surprised to wake up to find it snowing and the ground covered with a fresh layer of snow......

Being the Georgia girls that we are, Jenny and I immediately got out of bed and dressed to go outside and play in the 1 inch of snow that was on the ground. I'm sure our neighboors thought we were absolute idiots for gettting so excited over such a small amount of snow...

our first snowman.....and yes, he has on a Georgia hat...