This state stole my heart and is in a close second to my favorite place ever, Arizona.
Let’s start with the flight into Jackson Hole Airport. The only airport that’s actually located in the middle of a national park by the way! it was the most beautiful flight I’ve taken to date, and I’ve been all over the world. The mountains felt like you could reach out and touch them. It was a magical experience and honestly, I could’ve gone home after the flight because it was just that beautiful! Your jaw will drop as you land outside and enter the airport with the Grand Teton mountains as your welcoming committee!
Where to Stay
Jackson Hole, Wyoming is the richest county in the entire United States! With that knowledge, just expect that things here are pretty expensive but totally worth it. We opted for a budget friendly hostel, the Cache House Hotel. The hostel is located right in the center of Jackson Hole Town Square which is so convenient and allows you to walk to dining, activities and really anything you’ll need. It offers 50 slot beds which was a unique sleeping arrangement compared to the normal bunk beds you find in majority of hostel stays. It kind of gave you the feel of being in cruise cabins. The bathroom area was great with several individual completely private showers and bathrooms for guests. For $130, a night this option was great for the traveler who would be out and about all day exploring all Jackson Hole and surrounding areas had to offer from sunup to sundown like we did. This hostel was connected to and is a part of the Anvil Hotel which is another great option for private room Accommodations.
Car or No Car?!
If you’re staying in downtown Jackson, you really don’t need a car. With everything within walking distance in the Town Square you’ll get your steps in and be alright. Also, Uber and Lyft are a big option in addition to many activity shuttles available. For my travel needs, I almost always need a car because I like to be in charge of when I’m leaving and going and I’m also always going to more than one state at a time. If you do want to rent a car, I highly recommend Turo. It’s like Airbnb but for cars. With the major rental car companies inventory low and rental prices at an all-time high, Turo was a life saver for us. To put It into perspective, my favorite rental car company that I always use was charging $1200 for a 4-day rental. I was able to find a great car with Turo for $300! Here was our super sporty low rider for the trip.
Where to Eat
Teton
The pizza combos here were out of this world!!! We had the Chewbaca, and I am still dreaming of it to this day. I also love all things Kombucha and Ginger beer and the ginger beer at Teton Pizza did not disappoint. It's an open pizza oven environment so you’ll enjoy seeing the guys toss your pizza dough up in the air and watch them take it out of the pizza oven in front of your very eyes. Hands down one of my favorite pizza spots it gets my stamp of approval and that's a lot coming from this picky pizza coinsure.
H and B Juicery
If you’re into vegan, healthy eating and cold press juices this is your spot! I ate here for breakfast the morning before hiking at grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone. The vegan chocolate muffin and smoothie gave me just what I needed to feel light but full of nutrition before a big hiking day. I also purchased some gluten free, all natural, locally raised Wyoming beef Jerky here. It was the most delicious snack while hiking and the best beef Jerky I’ve ever had! You'll definitely want to snag a bag during your trip.
Huckleberry
Surely, you’ve heard of huckleberry Finn from nursery rhymes and such, but little did we know it’s an actual berry native to the Wild Wild West. It has such a refreshingly unique flavor, and you can get it all over town in various forms. My favorite was the huckleberry ice cream! you’ll definitely want to try this local staple and enhance your berry palette.
Cowboy Coffee
This is the early morning coffee spot in downtown Jackson Square. Expect a long line out the door but it’s worth it. I got a huckleberry espresso iced latte and a veggie cowboy burrito which was the perfect morning fuel for my day!
The Water
Raise your hand if you watched that Zac Efron traveling documentary🙋🏾♀️ Raise your hand again if the water episode cut deep to your soul and you’ve been inspecting water ever since🙋🏾♀️ Same. So naturally when I saw the amazing pure mineral Rocky Mountain water bottles, I was so intrigued. The water here was the most amazing water I’ve very tasted. Soooo crisp and fresh as its bottled straight from the mountains. It’s absolutely amazing! I’m likely going to look into getting it imported to the east coast where I am! it tastes just as fresh from the tap so do yourself a favor and drink water the whole trip!
What to Do
Grand Teton Nation Park
I could spend all day here! As we were approaching this national park I kid you not, I began to weep. The beauty of the mountains just overtook me and my soul was just undone. I loved this national park and the beautiful hike we took around Jenny Lake. They also have boat tours around the lake as well as various trails throughout! There's a $35 entry fee just like all major national parks.
Yellow Stone
It's about an hour and 15-minute drive to the Wyoming side of Yellow Stone National Park from the Tetons. It's a gorgeous drive where you will encounter a lot of wildlife! We saw a grizzly bear and a few moose right on the side of the road. When you get to Yellowstone there are number of geysers to see. The ever so famous Old Faithful is located here and catching the massive eruption that happens every 20ish minutes is something you'll remember for a lifetime. Nature is just so cool! There's a nice restaurant hotel by Old Faithful with a plentiful buffet lunch as well as huckleberry ice-cream! Just a heads up, there is absolutely no cellphone service here so just make sure you take note about directions and getting out because the GPS stops after a certain point.
Bar J Chuck Wagon
This was the cutest excursion, it’s a ranch in Jackson turned into a western music dinner show! You'll get a how down, BBQ cafeteria style meal where the waiters turn into the most talented old western singers and musicians I've heard in my life. Their deep bass vocals paired with the fiddle and banjo instruments put you right back into the old cowboy days. This is a must activity for the whole family to enjoy.
Shop and Stroll Jackson Hole Town Square
Jackson Hole is the most charming little town. The preservation of the western architecture takes you back in time as you're walking the streets. Here you will find many shops, hotels and restaurants.
Teton Village
This is another little suburb area of Jackson. I imagine this is the most hopping place to be during ski season. There is a tram that you can ride up and it will give you 360 views of the gorgeous mountains. I grabbed a piece of pizza from the mountaintop store and sat down to take in the amazing views! On the ground, there are tons of stores and eateries here. The Four Seasons at Teton Village is also a cozy place to stop in. We had huckleberry crembrule for dessert at the hotel's restaurant outdoor fire pits while basking in the nigh time gorgeousness of Wyoming!
Astoria Hot Springs
Finding this hot spring was an adventure but I'm so glad we jumped through all the obstacles to get to it! There's a commercialized portion of this hot spring that is in your face and easy to find. If that's your thing, go for it! It's $20 to soak in a gated maintained outdoor pool. For me, I love an authentic hot spring nestled in the middle of nature and not to mention those are free, so I wanted to find that part of Astoria Hot Springs. The locals like to keep this super private to preserve it and rightfully so, nothing worse than a bunch of tourists messing up a good thing. Because of that though finding this place was difficult. Once you arrive at the location it's a short hike to get to it just try to follow the paths that start at the small brown sign. I won't enclose too much information here because I want to honor the locals wish to keep it hidden and private. You'll find it eventually just keep trying, I promise it's worth it! The coordinates are 43.3002 N, 110.774 W. There's nothing like resting in the healing water of a natural hot spring! Your body is so soft after getting out and your skin is so pure! I love to put it on my face too because I am convinced it has all the antiaging properties in it as well!
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