I'm back from Jackson...
Dec. 15th, 2006 08:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angela_oYou should really sing that to the Johnny Cash tune. :)
Some quick trip highlights:
Snake River Lodge is beautiful.
Our sleigh ride was pulled by Percherons with bells and it started to snow as we headed up the mountain for our dinner at Solitude Cabin.
We went snowmobiling in the Teton National Forest and saw Rocky Mountain sheep and gorgeous scenery. (As an aside, one our guides was missing an arm and, I kid you not, introduced himself as "Lefty".)
The Jackson square with its elk antler arches wrapped with Christmas lights was just lovely. We sat on park benches and watched the snow fall.
The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar has saddles for seats at the bar and has absolutely amazing carved wood. There's also an oddly hypnotic fixture where a scene with figures rotates around, and around, and around, and...well, you get the idea.
Dinner with the local FBI Special Agent and his wife at the Snake River Grill was delightful. Although I kept thinking that the woman sitting near us looked just like Alannis Morisette which was occasionally distracting. D didn't think it was her though.
I had my first facial and it was heavenly. As was the 80 minute massage followed by soaking in the indoor hot tub in front of the big window where you could watch the snow fall. I could get used to being pampered. ;)
The only downside was that I didn't sleep well on the trip and getting home was not fun at all. Who knew that a little snow threw the Jackson airport into such a tizzy? I certainly didn't. Although there is a fun fact about the airport. It's the only commercial airport in the country located inside a National Park. Our flights were cancelled so instead of getting home Wednesday night at 10, I got home Thursday morning at 9 after spending all day at the Jackson airport, hours in Salt Lake, the red eye to Atlanta, and, finally, a morning flight to RDU. Can you say tired? I thought you could.
But, with all that time in airports and not sleeping, I did manage to get some reading done.
#123 is The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean. I'd seen this one mentioned on my friend's list and decided to check it out. A parallel story dealing with a elderly Russian woman who has Alzheimer's which flashbacks to her life as a young woman working at the Hermitage as the Nazis invade Russia and the struggles and suffering which ensued. I'd love to discuss it with someone who's read it as I'm curious what conclusions they might have drawn regarding a couple of plot points.
#124 is Secret Society Girl by Diana Peterfreund. Subtitled "An Ivy League Mystery" this one is set at "Eli University" so I had a blast reading it. Of course, I kept trying to picture all the real residential colleges and tombs in my mind, but still, a lot of fun to read.
#125 is Wuthering High by Cara Lockwood. I much preferred this YA to the last of her adult novels that I read. Teenage girl is sent off to boarding school on an island in Maine and discovers that the teachers are all the ghosts of famous literary figures. Much wackiness ensues.
#126 is Braniac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive Word of Trivia Buffs by Ken Jennings. One of the mornings when I woke up at 5am and couldn't get back to sleep, I took a bunch of fluffy pillows, put them in the bathtub and read this so I wouldn't wake up D by turning on the light in the room. I really enjoyed this. From the history of trivia to the rise and fall of gameshows based on it with detours into college quiz bowls and a Wisconsin town that goes crazy for trivia once a year, I had a ball reading this book. It was also timely in the D and her husband had been telling me back in Madison that I need to try out for the show. I don't know that I'll do that, but I'm glad I read the book.
#127 is I Was a Teenage Popsicle by Bev Katz Rosenbaum. YA that was total brain candy about a sixteen year old dying from an epidemic who is cryogenically preserved and unfrozen ten years later when there's a cure for her disease. Very breezy and a quick, fun read.
#128 is The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks. A novel based on the true story of the Battle of Franklin (Nov. 30, 1864 in Franklin, Tennessee) and the impact it had on the life of Carrie McGavock who built and maintained a graveyard behind her house for nearly 1500 Confederate victims of the battle. Approximately 9000 men died in about five hours and 8 generals died in the battle. It was the deadliest battle of any US war. Carrie's plantation house was commandeered as a field hospital by Nathan Bedford Forrest (later of KKK fame) and at one point, there were four dead Confederate generals on her porch. Her commitment to the graveyard on her property made her world famous. When Oscar Wilde toured the US in 1882 he said that his visit should include a visit to "sunny Tennessee to meet the Widow McGavock, the high priestess of the temple of dead boys". Historically a fascinating read, but I sometimes felt distanced from the characters.
Now, I'm off to unpack, do the mountain of laundry that accumulated in my absence, and get ready to celebrate my oldest's birthday today. I can't believe that he's 15!
Some quick trip highlights:
Snake River Lodge is beautiful.
Our sleigh ride was pulled by Percherons with bells and it started to snow as we headed up the mountain for our dinner at Solitude Cabin.
We went snowmobiling in the Teton National Forest and saw Rocky Mountain sheep and gorgeous scenery. (As an aside, one our guides was missing an arm and, I kid you not, introduced himself as "Lefty".)
The Jackson square with its elk antler arches wrapped with Christmas lights was just lovely. We sat on park benches and watched the snow fall.
The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar has saddles for seats at the bar and has absolutely amazing carved wood. There's also an oddly hypnotic fixture where a scene with figures rotates around, and around, and around, and...well, you get the idea.
Dinner with the local FBI Special Agent and his wife at the Snake River Grill was delightful. Although I kept thinking that the woman sitting near us looked just like Alannis Morisette which was occasionally distracting. D didn't think it was her though.
I had my first facial and it was heavenly. As was the 80 minute massage followed by soaking in the indoor hot tub in front of the big window where you could watch the snow fall. I could get used to being pampered. ;)
The only downside was that I didn't sleep well on the trip and getting home was not fun at all. Who knew that a little snow threw the Jackson airport into such a tizzy? I certainly didn't. Although there is a fun fact about the airport. It's the only commercial airport in the country located inside a National Park. Our flights were cancelled so instead of getting home Wednesday night at 10, I got home Thursday morning at 9 after spending all day at the Jackson airport, hours in Salt Lake, the red eye to Atlanta, and, finally, a morning flight to RDU. Can you say tired? I thought you could.
But, with all that time in airports and not sleeping, I did manage to get some reading done.
#123 is The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean. I'd seen this one mentioned on my friend's list and decided to check it out. A parallel story dealing with a elderly Russian woman who has Alzheimer's which flashbacks to her life as a young woman working at the Hermitage as the Nazis invade Russia and the struggles and suffering which ensued. I'd love to discuss it with someone who's read it as I'm curious what conclusions they might have drawn regarding a couple of plot points.
#124 is Secret Society Girl by Diana Peterfreund. Subtitled "An Ivy League Mystery" this one is set at "Eli University" so I had a blast reading it. Of course, I kept trying to picture all the real residential colleges and tombs in my mind, but still, a lot of fun to read.
#125 is Wuthering High by Cara Lockwood. I much preferred this YA to the last of her adult novels that I read. Teenage girl is sent off to boarding school on an island in Maine and discovers that the teachers are all the ghosts of famous literary figures. Much wackiness ensues.
#126 is Braniac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive Word of Trivia Buffs by Ken Jennings. One of the mornings when I woke up at 5am and couldn't get back to sleep, I took a bunch of fluffy pillows, put them in the bathtub and read this so I wouldn't wake up D by turning on the light in the room. I really enjoyed this. From the history of trivia to the rise and fall of gameshows based on it with detours into college quiz bowls and a Wisconsin town that goes crazy for trivia once a year, I had a ball reading this book. It was also timely in the D and her husband had been telling me back in Madison that I need to try out for the show. I don't know that I'll do that, but I'm glad I read the book.
#127 is I Was a Teenage Popsicle by Bev Katz Rosenbaum. YA that was total brain candy about a sixteen year old dying from an epidemic who is cryogenically preserved and unfrozen ten years later when there's a cure for her disease. Very breezy and a quick, fun read.
#128 is The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks. A novel based on the true story of the Battle of Franklin (Nov. 30, 1864 in Franklin, Tennessee) and the impact it had on the life of Carrie McGavock who built and maintained a graveyard behind her house for nearly 1500 Confederate victims of the battle. Approximately 9000 men died in about five hours and 8 generals died in the battle. It was the deadliest battle of any US war. Carrie's plantation house was commandeered as a field hospital by Nathan Bedford Forrest (later of KKK fame) and at one point, there were four dead Confederate generals on her porch. Her commitment to the graveyard on her property made her world famous. When Oscar Wilde toured the US in 1882 he said that his visit should include a visit to "sunny Tennessee to meet the Widow McGavock, the high priestess of the temple of dead boys". Historically a fascinating read, but I sometimes felt distanced from the characters.
Now, I'm off to unpack, do the mountain of laundry that accumulated in my absence, and get ready to celebrate my oldest's birthday today. I can't believe that he's 15!
