Day 15: This is what Contingency Days are For

I had decided that despite everyone’s recommendation, I should probably start getting closer to Seattle to make the final were days easier. There was only one problem and there is no other way to put this, so I will be straight up. When I woke up I was horribly hung over.This was no good since I needed to check out by noon. Me, my luggage, and the room went to war. It took me the final 2 hours (with multiple nap breaks) to pack and get it loaded in the car.

From there I went straight to The Bunnery since I knew they served eggs and bacon all day long. I got an enormous bacon and tomato omelette with hashbrowns and toast and OJ and a large chai tea latte. An hour later, I was at least starting to feel better. Not good enough to want to drive for 5 hours, but good enough to do something in town.

Clearly I should take an elk sleigh ride at the National Elk Refuge. This was an excellent idea. I got my snowpants on and just chilled till it was time to go.

The elk tour was pretty cool. We had these enormous horses pull the sleigh up to a group of grazing elk and the guide talked and we took pictures. As long as you stayed in the sleigh they were cool with you being there. It was worth the $18 for the tour.

Next I went to the National Wildlife Art Museum, where I learned the history of how wildlife was view by the art world over history. It was pretty fascinating. (Spoiler alter: its pretty much how history viewed nature. If you’d like to read more on that subject I recommend the book, “Wilderness and the American Mind”). I stayed at the museum till close, which was 5pm and I was feeling quite cultured and a lot better. Clearly, I wasn’t going to Sun Valley that day.

I checked into a different hotel, the Parkway Inn, who was running a sale on Orbitz and had a nicer hot tub and pool. I went and had a great meal at the Snake River Grill who had a Wild Boar with apples and chanterelle special for the evening. It was ridiculously good. After that, it was hot tub and bed.

I was only slightly bummed that I missed out on going to Sun Valley, but I think I needed another day in Jackson Hole. There is so much to do there, that it was nice to just play tourist as well as giving my body another day off from skiing. In the end, this is exactly what contingency days are for.