Jackson, here we come.

After a leisurely drive from Yellowstone, stop for lunch at The Tetons and the onto a pioneer church, where we had a rest stop, we arrived into Jackson at 3.30pm. I could see that I was going to like Jackson.

Jackson has an Elk sanctuary and each year thousands of elks migrate to Jackson in the winter. This has seen the number of elk populate and there is now no fear of extinsion. Each year the buck sheds his antlers and then these are collected to sell, and make stuff with, as you can see this park has antler arches to each entry. Oh if only I could take some of these home.

Stage coach in the city centre.

We had two days in Jackson and this was my first op shop visit, got a few bargains.

Jackson has three great museums and we got to visit two of them, one about the pioneers and the other about the native americans.

Artifacts from the early pioneer days.

A crazy quilt, made from old shirts, blankets etc, finished off by tying.

This quilt from late 1800' is a log cabin design, but what was interesting was the beautiful hand made lace around the edge. 

Up close and personal with a moose.

Every afternoon at 6pm, Jackson has a shoot-out and nearly everyone that is in Jackson gathers to witness this event,  put on by the local theater company.

A fun time was had by all, even when we were attached by Indians. The next morning we head off to Salt Lake City. On the way we stopped at Bear Lake.

Afton, worlds largest Elk arch, more to follow

Yellowstone National Park

This morning we had an early start due to the long distance that we had to cover to get to Yellowstone. We briefly drove into Montana, where we stopped at Cooke City for lunch, Matt our tour director, warned us about the special people that lived there, he was right but the town was located in a picturesque setting, with snow capped mountains.

Cooke City

Lots of wooden carvings, quaint little shops 

A chance to have a play in the snow.

After lunch we entered back into Wyoming, we arrived into Grant Village, Yellowstone at 5pm, on the way we saw plenty of active wildlife, Bison and elk

Everyone was taking the photo of the elk, I took photos of the people taking photos, so funny.

We are spending two days in Yellowstone, and have already saw a lot of wildlife.

After an early breakfast, the next morning we all boarded the bus to explore this beautiful park and all it's wonders.

Our first stop was Dragons mouth, an active blowhole of steam and very hot mud, with sulphur smells. Then we drove onto Gibbon Waterfalls and Artist Point and lower falls.

Dragons Mouth.

One of the many walks that we did, around the sulphur pools in Yellowstone 

Artists Point.

Old Faithful about to blow.

Sapphire pool in Yellowstone, we had two glorious days in this national park and I must say, we only touched the surface, what a great way to get in touch with nature.

After Yellowstone we travelled to the Teton Mountains, what a wonderful place to have lunch and lap up the sceanery.

On our way to Jackson, more to follow.

Relaxation after some heavy retail therapy and a dedication.

After some very involved retail therapy for a couple of days, it was time to relax a little, Tony and Elva were very keen to take us on an expedition into the lakes district and countryside. DH and I were eager to participate in this little adventure as well. On Saturday we all set off for the Land between the lakes, after a visit to Walmart, as my youngest son Alex requested Jiffs peanut butter and some butterfingers we went o Walmart to stock up. Little did I realise that Walmart stocked fabric, so a quick shop turned into a couple of hours, my fault!

 A lot of goodies purchased, as well as some fabric.

A little delay, but off we set for the lake, Tony and Elva took us the long way round to the lake as they were being the perfect hosts and wanted to show us as much of the countryside as they could, it would normally take 25 mins to drive to the lake, but as we had a couple of stops on the way, we arrived 2 1/2hrs later.

One of our first stops was the Grand River quilt show.

Whilst Elva and I looked at the quilts, the boys went antique shopping, on a quest for our daughter in law- no luck.

Some nice quilts on display

This was interesting, quilt below

War times certainly does have some great stories.

This was my viewers choice.

A close up of the embroidery.

There was a miniature house / home challenge as well.

First prize.

After the quilt show we visited a Sanctuary for Bison and Elk, we were fortunate enough to see both as well as wild turkey. Thank you Tony for your perfect photos.

Wild turkey

BIson

A herd of Bison

Even a number of babies

Elk

Another stop on the way, don't you just love American decorating styles.

I found some little treasures in here.

On the way to the land between the lakes we stopped to get some lunch at Belews, this was quite a novelty, you do not get out of your car, it is curb side service and I must say, it sold the best southern fried chicken.

We finally arrived at the lake, AHHHH ! the serenity, we had lunch, and set up chairs to enjoy the scenery.

Had some visitors as well.

Chillaxing!

A very enjoyable day, was had by all.

Sunday, was our quite day and time to pack and see what overall damage that I had done with excess luggage.

My fabric stash and some extras

Walmart even had goop and the glue that I use, happy days

More fabric off course and some minature resin antlers.

Embroidery bits

Stencils, all in all a great time was had by me....

Let me share this morsel, with you, bought by Elva,for us said to be the best apple fritter that you can try, and I must say it was good, but you only need a small amount, very sweet and very moorish.

This ends our time in Paducah and I must say DH and I, had the most amazing time, we felt that we were blessed with our host's Tony and Elva, when we first met it was like we had been friends for years and we all just clicked. Our accomadation felt like home and we were very grateful for the extras tagged onto our stay, my every whim was catered too, transportation provided and a debt of gratitude to Elva for taking time away from work, to be available for us, a couple of Aussies a long way from home. Thank you for introducing your family and friends to us, we were made to feel so welcome and all that you did, was very much appreciated. Distance may divide us, but enduring friendship will prevail, this post is dedicated to you both, a heartfelt thank you and God bless.