Chuck Wagon Dinner

Enjoying a drink at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, a Jackson icon, before going to the Chuck wagon dinner.

Elk antlers in the middle of Jackson square.

How many of you have played Oregon Trail on the computer, back in the day? Remember fording the river, breaking an axle, needing more oxen, and shooting buffalo? On Thursday, the 24th, the Martin family + Laura (soon to be an official Martin) took a Chuck Wagon ride through the Wyoming wilderness. Our canvas-covered wagon, led by two horses, not oxen, took us to a cowboy dinner and country show up in the mountains. Luckily, none of us caught Scarlet Fever on the way, however, we were attacked by minimum wage-paid "Indians" with walkie-talkies attached to their costumes. Caitlin was almost scalped, but dyed hair is worth a lot less so she was safe. When our wagon reached the cowboy tent, Brian Martin was chosen to ring the dinner bell out of the entire group- around 70 people total all came on different wagons- and we ate bbq chicken, roast beef, baked beans, salad, rolls, and lots and lots of butter. We were especially happy because it was buffet-style. Throughout dinner, four cowboys in a country mountain band sang traditional songs while playing a fiddle, guitars, and a bass guitar. The band was great, and the jokes they told were quite a few steps up from corny, so we all got to laugh a lot. The highlight of the show was when a non-English-speaking man from Japan was chosen to help sing a song. If you can imagine a short, awkward but happy Japanese man in a cowboy hat trying to sing country, you've done your job in imagining how much we were all laughing- with, not at. I hope for everyone's benefit the video and/or pictures of Mr. Wong are posted. After the show and dinner, the wagons took us all back to base camp. We truly had a great night filled with laughs, good food and music, and a new appreciation for the first American pioneers who made it all the way to the wild west on chuck wagons.

-Jonathan Martin

Scenic Float

Grand Teton- 13,770 feet

Looking cool in our orange PFD's. Snake river here we come!

Even though it sounds boring, we highly recommend doing a scenic float. We saw vast meadows, wildlife and ever changing views of the mountains. The pictures speak for themselves.

Jackson Rodeo

Our fishing guide, Clay, was roping at the rodeo when we were there! It was great to watch someone we knew.

I am so excited to write on this special blog. We have had the best time on our trip. The kids, with me as their secretary, planned a super day for Father’s day two days late. The last event of this wonderful day was going to the ninth rodeo of the season. Brian loves the rodeo. We started with the sighting of beautiful horses and very sexy cowboys. Girls, consider the cowboys for future dates. Anyway, we saw lots of bareback horse riding, bull riding, barrel racing and roping. We gave many yelps and howls. However, we did experience a very sad note. We watched a very excited twenty year old from Cody, Wyoming try saddle bronc riding. His spur got caught on the saddle and the horse fell on him. He needed CPR and the medics responded immediately. A doctor from Louisiana in the audience responded, also. Jonathan is a certified as a first responder and was ready to help out but his help was not needed. Unfortunately, the young rider did not respond and he passed away. The announcer had asked us to pray to God to help this boy. There was complete silence in the audience. This all affected us very deeply. We all were reminded how fragile life is and it can be taken so quickly. I think it gave us all an evening to shed some tears for a young boy. While we did not know, we knew he had a family who would miss him terribly. We knew life would continue on, but our family made it a point to stop and offer prayers and hug some of the rodeo workers as new friends that understood the gift of life.

-Debbie Martin

Horseback Riding

S.I.L. (sister-in-law) here! To continue with the fresh mountain air we had scheduled horseback riding in the evening. My mom was on Sassy Sally, Dad on Ryan, I was on Slade, Jonathan on Jill, Jeremy on Rooster and finally Laura on Boots in that order. Well let’s just say that my “fresh air” was very, very limited. Growing up, I used to ride horses and I must say I’ve never experienced anything quite like this. While everyone was enjoying the gorgeous mountain views and scenery, I was preoccupied between laughing and catching my breath. Ryan had about an hour and a half of methane explosions. Thank goodness we only decided on the two-hour ride!

-Caitlin Martin

Fishing on Snake River

The water was crisp and cold, the float rafts were equipped, the bait was ripe and the fish were fearful – The Martin Clan plus Laura were gone fishin’.

We were fortunate to draw the owner of the fishing adventure as our guide, who was born and bred in Jackson. He has guided Phil Fulmer and Peyton Manning, Harrison Ford and a host of other celebs and business tycoons. He carefully chose the raft with Brian, Debbie and Caitlin Martin, while dealing off Jeremy, Laura and Jonathan to his trusty assistant. We split into two rafts for a 10-mile float down the Snake River using traditional rod and reel and good old earthworms for bait. We’d float with our guides steering and rowing as needed, pulling off to the edge of the current flows to target cut throat trout .

Needless to say, the old folks left the younguns in their wake. While we (particularly Brian) were pulling in the hunkers, Jeremy and Laura were busy taking pictures of each other and Jonathan was feeding the fish for future anglers. In the lead boat, Mama Martin used the trip for sightseeing, Caitlin caught a few tokens that we tried to zoom in the camera but failed to see, and Big Daddy Martin (BDM) landed trophy after trophy. One fish species BDM pulled up was called the biggest one the owner had ever seen; the next is best described by a direct quote: “Oh my God.”

Jonathan was the best at our short experience at fly fishing, which is quite a skill. It’s all technique and feel. After Jonathan caught a keeper tree branch behind the raft, he found trout after trout in the water. Caitlin seemed to think that the trout were located two feet away from the raft with her casts.

All in all, it was a beautiful trip. We spotted bald eagles and white pelicans along the way, and Debbie actually identified a rare breed on a bluff near the river – a grazing cow.

-Brian Martin

Grand Teton Day Hike

Jenny Lake at the base of the Tetons

Jeremy and Laura's first day in Jackson, Wyoming was launched with a self-guided trip through Teton National Park on Tuesday, the 22nd. The Teton Mountains make up the youngest mountain range in North America and are very similar to the Himalayas- which means they ascend to sharp, snowy peaks and make for great backgrounds if you can't actually make it to Nepal or China. They truly are breathtaking and unique in the U.S. because they do not have any foothills and rise straight up from lakes and meadows. The Martin group + Laura - Caitlin (she came the next day) took a drive through the park and stopped at many lookouts and picture spots. Eventually, we couldn't just look at the mountains through the tinted windows of a rental car and decided to hike up a trail to a popular waterfall and mountain lookout. We all made it to the falls, which when viewed passed the tourist groups of Asians and New Yorkers, was gorgeous. Then, Jeremy, Laura, and I hiked up the latter part of the trail to "Inspiration Point", which was by Laur-emy's standards, a moderate hike. On the way down, we saw a moose and her baby- technically a cow and calf. We got lots of pictures and may or may not sell them to Nat Geo. The rest of Teton National Park offered spectacular scenery and panoramas that literally made our jaws drop- we were really hungry. After a picnic in a bear-safe area, we drove back to our condo and tried to comprehend the sights we had seen. They were big, round, and voluptuous- they were the Tetons.
-Jonathan Martin

Brothers

Inspiration Point

Baby Moose

Jackson, WY

Go to Wyoming!

This week we are vacationing with Jeremy's family. They have graciously volunteered to write the blog posts this week. A thousand thanks!

Happy Father's Day Dad

Happy Father's Day Dad! I credit you with my love of adventure and my ability to navigate in this world (both geographically and in all situations!) These skills have been crucial, not only to our trip this summer, but also to the experiences that lie ahead. I am forever grateful I hope you have a wonderful father's day. I love you :)

Special thanks to the Kassings

We had a great time in Durango. The Kassings couldn’t have been better hosts. It was easy for us to feel like we were two more kids in the family (which Laura practically is at this point). Thank you for the great times, great company, and great memories that we’ll cherish for years to come. We can’t wait to join you again on another adventure.

Father's Day Hike

By this point in our trip to Durango, I knew that we’d have very active days with the Kassings. I really admired how they embraced the outdoors and enjoyed everything Durango had to offer.

On Sunday, Mr. Kassing had mapped out a Father’s Day hike, and we set out from the house at 7 am after a hearty cereal and yogurt breakfast. I was warned that the trail culminated with a few hundred yards that were described as “quite steep.” After the previous two days and seeing the ridge from ground level, I knew that “quite steep” probably meant the steepest thing that I ever tried to walk-up.

Upon getting to trail going to the summit, I was right. At the very least our calves would be burning as we made our way up the steep, gravel/sand ascent to the apex of the mountain. But when I actually took a close look at the trail, it was very clear that we would need to climb on all fours at some point, which in my mind made this not a morning hike but a morning mountain climb.

Going up wasn’t too bad. For the most part, we had rocks and tree limbs to hang onto, and the slipping on the gravel was held to a minimum. (Yes, slipping was the best word for me to use).

Going down was quite a different story. Amazingly, Mr. Kassing went first and basically walked gracefully from the summit to the next landing. My fears were somewhat relieved as I thought to myself, “it can’t be that hard.”

Then Lauren went. She took a different approach with different results than Mr. Kassing. She went down feet first, butt down, terrified when looking down as her grip and stance became unsteady. She unleashed a flurry of curse words during the first few yards and the most difficult parts.

My fear was back. I’ve never been good at things like this climb. My athletic ability was best viewed on a basketball court, football field, or in a sporting contest. If a person were to see me on hiking trails, mountain climbs, river rapids, or deep ocean seas, they’d probably have never guess that I can go full-speed through traffic for a coast-to-coast lay-up, dunk a basketball, or jump over defenders in the end zone for a touchdown catch. And rightfully so.

On a mountain ridge, I’m tentative, awkward, nervous, stiff, and look like I might fall (as Laura knows because she was so nervous she couldn’t even watch my descent). This is yet another activity that is not meant for someone 6’5”, 230 lbs. I thought this as with just about each step, I displaced even more gravel that was sent tumbling down the mountainside, seemingly never stopping.

My approach to my fears was complete silence. I focused on each and every step, and eventually made it down with the help of Mr. Kassing putting his hiking stick in the ground for a few footholds that otherwise wouldn’t have been there.