LOTOJA and Jackson Hole

As I mentioned in my previous post, the Boise trip was combined with the trip to Jackson Hole WY for Andy's double century. I drove the kids to from Boise to Jackson Hole the day before Andy would ride his bike from Logan Utah to Jackson Hole (206 miles in one day).  I must say it was a beautifiul drive. I was nervous to do it with the kids as we were in the car for a good 7 hours. They did great and I was so glad to get there! When we arrived the kids were so hungry, I was really tired, and couldn't find a parking spot in jackson for the life of me. It was jam packed with people and cars...I made a wrong turn trying to get a parking spot and got pulled over. As the officer approached, Andrew told me the police was going to take me to jail. Gotta love those moments when you deliriously tired, get pulled over, kids are complaining of being in car and being hungry but manage to comfort you by letting you know you will get arrested. Anyhow, I was in Andy's company car and the officer asked for proof of insurance, and I searched and searched and found nothing. How wonderful that Andy never put proof of insurance in his car. I don't know how I got so lucky but I was let go with a warning.  I think the officer could tell from Talia screaming, the look on my face, and Andrew telling me I was going to jail that I was in desperate need of some sympathy. I quickly learned that the people in Jackson WY have to be the nicest ever.  We had such a great time and the people there are what made this such a memorable trip...well along with Andy accomplishing his first double century ;)

We decided to have some fun before Andy arrived so I took the kids mini golfing and  on the alpine slide. Andrew loved thinking he got a hole in one every time. He cracks me up.  He even told Andy's Dad he got a hole in one everytime even though he didn't! Unfortunately my kids weren't old enough to ride the alpine slide alone so I had to break the bad news to Andrew that we couldn't ride the slide b/c I couldn't leave either of them alone to take turns taking them down the slide. He was so bummed b/c it looked so fun. I felt so bad and one of the workers at the resort heard me telling Andrew we couldn't do it and told me that he would get someone to ride down with Andrew at the same time I rode down with Talia. Like I said, Jackson has the nicest people ever. Just volunteering to help where they can. Before I knew it we were on the lift, I had Talia and in front of me Andrew rode up with a manager at the resort who talked to him the whole way up and made him feel so important. The guy really saved the day and my kids screamed of joy the whole way down the alpine slide. It was awesome!

alpine slide

posing with all the antlers in Jackson

There were a number of events going on, and as we walked through a farmers market, someone gave Talia this balloon for no reason, and gave Andrew sidewalk chalk. Nice nice people. I love this photo b/c Talia was trying to roar like the bear behind her.

Now I'll focus on Andy for a little and his race...While we were playing in Jackson, Andy's parents were his support for the race and waited for him at multiple feed zones with food and drink. They were a tremendous help b/c I couldn't have done this with the kids.

Andy would pull up to these feed zones and they were long stretches marked with caution tape and with numbers and Andy's parents would wait for him at the same number everytime. It was a quick stop of refilling his water bottles and stuffing him with food.

As you can see these feed zones were very busy and you had to be on top of it to make sure you saw your rider and got him what he needed.

I took the kids to meet Andy at his last feed zone, he was 160 miles into the race at this point. We wanted to cheer him on and hopefully give him that last bit of motivation needed to finish up the race. We made a sign  for him and Andrew had a cow bell he was ringing. It was great seeing Andy. I couldn't help but be so worried about him this whole time and when I saw him at 160 miles he looked great, so it really put me at ease.

Andy all finished up with his 206 miles in one day over 3 states! YAY!

Andy and his Dad

Andy and his Mom. I love that they wore their bright BSU gear, they did this to stand out so Andy could spot them easily at the feed zones.

All the support vehicles had to be properly marked

We were able to stay and play a little after the race. We met up with some of our good friends, the Ames and took the gondola up the mountain, 10,000 feet I believe and let the kids hike around.

You can see the Grand Teton's behind us. I'm glad they roped off the area b/c Talia would have easily overstepped her boundaries.

I love this picture of Andrew and his buddies. They were watching paragliders jump off the mountain and found it very amusing as it was happening right in front of them.

The wind was pretty strong and we watched the people in this picture get worked and thrown onto the mountain pretty hard as they were trying to take off. I'm glad they were finally able to off the mountain.

Andy and Byron, these two did the race together and a lot of their training in Vegas together.

Andy, Andrew, Aspen, Sage, Talia and me

running around and waiting for the gondola

I never realized that I really don't like being up so high...I never had an issue before, maybe it has just come with getting older.  This was a view as we were coming down the mountain. Kind of scary. Not sure that I'll be doing that again. Regardless, I'm so glad we were able to all come down for Andy's double century. We had so much fun and I was so proud of Andy for this huge accomplishment. I am definitely not as driven as he is but I sure am proud of him.