With several upcoming visits from family and multiple extra work days, the window for a winter ski trip was closing. Less than a week before we departed, Joe was kind enough to cover some vacation days for me so I could plan a quick escape and surprise Emily. While this would've been easy pre-parenthood, planning a ski trip from Hawaii with a 1 year-old is a more substantial undertaking. I'm a big proponent of including Maddie in our outdoor activities, but skiing with the kid carrier on my back might be pushing the limits a bit.
Within 4 days of initially concocting this plan, I had a week of babysitting for Maddie (Grandma T), flights bought for the 3 of us, the car rented and a reasonable place to stay. So with that done, we had a couple days to get excited about some skiing.
The overnight flight was predictably terrible and Maddie didn't sleep much. We attempted to get an early check-in, but the morons at Rendezvous Mountain Rentals changed their story so much about when the cleaning would be complete that we managed to actually enter the condo less than an hour before the scheduled time. It was a fiasco upstaged only by the Thrifty car rental return at the end of the trip, but I digress.
After a quick nap, I picked up Great/Grandma T at the Jackson airport. She had just finished her first solo flight (she didn't fly the plane, just no travel companion) at 83 years young and was about to experience her greatest undertaking yet: babysitting the now upright and fully mobile Madeline Ruth for nearly a week.
While eating pizza and drinking beer (me), we enjoyed each other's company and Maddie explored her new surroundings. We got a good night's sleep and departed for the slopes at Jackson Hole later than I would've liked, but we still managed a half day on the fairly icy slopes. Some of the groomers were decent, but overall the resort was suffering from the lack of recent snow. It was still great to get back on some skis again since it had been 5 years.
Bright blue skies and sunshine greeted us the following morning after a restless night. That's right - Maddie was getting some new teeth again. It seems as though her teeth know when we'll be travelling and choose that time to erupt. Despite being tired, we took advantage of the beautiful day by snowshoeing around Taggart Lake in Grand Teton National Park. Grandma declined the invite and spent the afternoon in the visitors center while we trudged through the snow beneath the gorgeous and towering Tetons. Unbeknownst to us at the time, we had definitely chosen the best day of the week to view the scenery since clouds and fog would soon be closing in. We spent the evening in front of a nice warm fire and I enjoyed some of the large selection of microbrews available.
Since we still hadn't gotten any snow (a pervasive theme on our ski trips) we decided to check out Grand Targhee, billed as family oriented with more annual snowfall, on the west side of the Tetons. The views were absolutely stellar at the summit. While there was certainly a more relaxed vibe, their snow was no better and probably worse now since additional days had passed since fresh powder. Em had a tough day on the slopes and I was frustrated as well. It seemed like Maddie and Grandma were having more fun than we were.
With the promise of snow in the forecast, I awakened early and was greeted by good news - 4 inches at Grand Targhee overnight and snow forecasted all day. Em had had her fill of skiing for awhile so I departed for the mountain, rented my gear and got a lift pass ASAP to get some powder runs in. As it turned out, there was no need to hurry because it snowed all day and the lifts were nearly empty. I enjoyed what was probably my best day of skiing ever. After 5 hours of hitting run after run, my quads were fried. I returned to the condo to meet everyone so we could squeeze in a tour of the elk refuge which was interesting, enjoyable and cold (no pictures since I forgot the camera). Grandma T was kind enough to watch Maddie while Em and I paid a visit to Snake River Brewery on the outskirts of Jackson. Walking in the door was bittersweet - both Em and I missed the old days on vacation in Colorado brewery hopping, the freedom to do whatever, whenever, but limited by time and money. Now we've built an amazing life on Kauai with Maddie, more time, more money, but a very different scene from life in the Rockies and a few more limitations with a kid around. We thoroughly enjoyed our night at the brewpub with mountains of pub grub and lots of tasty brews.
Em got to check off an item from her life list when she went dogsledding the next morning. I was undecided as the snow gods had not been kind overnight. After a leisurely morning with Grandma T and Maddie, I rented some snowshoes in the park and departed for a solo snowshoe trek. With recent snows and minimal trail markings, route finding was somewhat difficult, but the hike was enjoyable. Unfortunately, the high summits of the Teton range were obscured by fairly dense clouds so the views were less than spectacular. Back at the condo, we finished up all the food and went to bed early in preparation for our 4 AM wake-up.
Our smooth and on time departure was stymied (that's right, stymied) by our arrival at the Thrifty car rental where the office was empty and the shuttle snow-covered. Not a good sign for our 5 AM shuttle to the airport (15 mi. away). After many frustrating calls to Thrifty's national office, we proceeded to the airport in the rental and left it in the lot for them to pick up. I heard that Thrifty and go! airlines were going to partner this year and form a travel enterprise known for its atrocious customer service. Beyond the shuttle snafu, our return to Kauai went reasonably well. Jackson was a cool little town, the Tetons were beautiful, skiing so-so, but we couldn't have done it without Grandma T!
Later we went to the atrocity that is Ala Moana - the largest outdoor mall in the entire world. Such a monument to consumerism I had not seen. Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabana; if Paris Hilton wears it, they've got it. I was embarrassed to even be seen there. Luckily it was Sunday evening and the stores were closing so we grabbed a quick, decent burger and got the hell out of there. 
The following day we spent checking out the north shore sights in hopes of seeing some massive waves. The surf was disappointing, but the sights and laid back vibe were a nice contrast to Honolulu and Waikiki. On our return, we scored some pretty good Mexican food a short distance from the house. Maddie had plenty of energy so we enjoyed the rest of the evening in the sunken hot tub on the lanai under a nearly full moon.
