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| Where Sandra Bullock spent her birthday this year. |
When we visited as a family I feel like it was a well-kept
secret. Clearly the CVB (convention and visitors bureau) has been working
overtime as this place was bumper to bumper with tourists. I understand Sandra
Bullock celebrated her 50th birthday here just a week after I was in
town. God bless her for braving the hordes of tourists.
Although it’s very tourist
friendly it still has that “true west” feel. When you visit downtown you feel
like you’ve stepped onto a movie set which makes it a great place for people
watching, shopping, and drinking as there are lots of great little bars there.
 |
| Note to self, just go ahead and suck in the WHOLE TIME a camara is pointed at you. |
A few things to know about Jackson Hole:
·
Although it’s a terrific skiing location, summer
is clearly the “High Season” here.
During the winter and spring months (ski season) you can generally find
some great flight/hotel deals.
·
Given its location in the Teton Mountains, there
aren’t just a ton of resorts here. It’s not like Vail, Aspen or Breckenridge
where there seem to be limitless resorts. Whether you come in the winter or summer, you’ll
want to plan far in advance to assure you have a place to rest your head.
·
Getting to Jackson Hole can be the most affordable
part of your trip. When planning my work travel I always look for the best
deals and will spend weeks scouting the cheapest airfare. Often times that
means flying into smaller cities or regional airports which is fine because
when I travel for work I’m almost always flying in and renting a car. For this trip I priced airfare into Jackson
Hole as well as Idaho Falls. Now stay with me…this is where it gets
interesting:
§
Flying into Idaho Falls was significantly more
expensive than flying into Jackson Hole. However, because Jackson Hole only has
one rental car office…my car was going to be triple what it would cost to rent out of
Idaho Falls. Add to that the vast difference in hotel prices and it more than
balanced out the higher priced flight. Hotel prices in Idaho Falls were
generally between $90 (Motel 6, Clarion Inn) to $160 (Holiday Inn
Express/Hilton Garden Inn). I believe my La Quinta (that I spoke so highly of
in my Idaho post) was about $130/night.
Rooms in Jackson Hole started at $200/night for sub-standard motels,
which I think is obscene. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a capitalist and certainly
appreciate the whole “supply and demand” principle, but I’m not going to spend
$200 to stay in a place that looks like it might have bed bugs.
·
ALWAYS check the CVB website. Their entire job
is to bring people into their town so they will always have coupons you can
download or they’ll send you in their visitor’s packet. In an effort to cut down on costs, lots of
CVBs have quit sending out visitor packets and have everything available
online. I like to actually hold the visitors guides so I generally send off for
the packets which they are usually happy to send for free. They’ll also have
links to restaurants, resorts, tourism companies that will offer packages and
deals.
·
Many of the resorts will have shuttles specifically
for airport runs but will happily take you to Teton Village or downtown Jackson
Hole for dining or shopping. (When making your reservations be sure to ask if
they offer a complimentary shuttle service.) Jackson Hole is certainly a small enough
town that you don’t have to have a rental car unless you plan on spending a lot
of time in Yellowstone.
Tune in next week for my stories
from Montana and Glacier National Park!
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