6 Sep 2022 - Downtown Jackson and Dinner with Texas Ally's

 6 Sep

We waited until this morning, the Tuesday following Labor Day holiday, to explore downtown Jackson WY.  We were hoping the traffic and tourist load would decrease which it had.  We drove to the large public parking lot NE of the square and found a spot there right away.  A short walk and we were at the Jackson Town Square.  The area is surrounded by shops, cafe's, souvenir shops, bars, etc. 

There is a wooden walkway in front of the shops like it might have been back in the early days.  At each corner of the square is an iconic arch made of elk antlers. 

 These antlers have been a part of the town square since 1960.  There are about 7500 elk that come down from the mountains and spend the winter in the National Elk Refuge nearby.  Each spring the male elk shed their racks and they are picked up by the local Boy Scouts and sold at public auction here.  These arches were built by the Jackson Rotary Club.  It is illegal to disturb the antlers in the arches, subject to $750 fine, so hands-off!

In the center of the square is their Veteran's Memorial.  It is a very nice area, well-maintained with flowers surrounding it and nice shade for visitors.  

Our daughter and son-in-law told us about a web cam that streams live from the SW corner of the square.  I pulled it up on my phone but it was across the intersection and resolution was not too good.  If you use your imagination, you can see us on the left side of the arch here talking with the Chamber of Commerce folks! 

Just to the right side of that same arch is a Stage Coach Stop where you can board a stage coach and ride it around.  It was not in operation today, though.  

West, across the street from the square, is the  Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, which got it's start in 1933 in a log cabin building in the same location.  The bar changed hands and changed names a few times and became a gambling hall in the 1940's.  In 1953 a gas explosion cause substantial damage to the bar but it was rebuilt. Along the way, the city council banned rotating signs so they had to shut off the iconic rotating cowboy neon sign on the roof.  Thereafter it changed hands many times and after a very extensive remodel was reopened in 2018 and the rotating sign was turned back on.  

Authentic saddles as bar stools!

At the bar you sit on saddles, which I found to be uncomfortable.  

I would not have made a good cowboy!

Doreen's "Cowgirl Cosmo" including huckleberry vodka!

The bar has imbedded silver dollars

A beautiful bar, one of several in the building.  

A grizzly that was killed without the use of modern weaponry, a fight to the death.  The man who fought this bear actually pinched off the bear's jugular vein with this teeth!

Knobbled pine throughout the bar

Doreen and I had a drink there and then headed down the street to a souvenir shop.  I collect koozies and found one there for my collection!  We continued on around the square and stopped into a mercantile store.  Just outside is a stuffed Bison and Doreen stopped for a photo op!

Inside they had quite a selection of huckleberry stuff!

It was nearing lunchtime but we are going our to eat with the Texas Ally's tonight, so on down the street we stopped in to the Roadhouse Brewing Company for an appetizer and to sample their beer.  

Up the street a couple blocks we visited the Jackson Hole Historical Society and Museum.  The museum area is not very large but there is a lot of history packed in there.  A few pictures:

We concluded our visit to downtown Jackson and headed back to the campground for the afternoon.  About 1700 hrs we drove the the Miazga's Restaurant and Bar for the Texas Ally's dinner.  They do not take reservations and our group was around 14, so we got there early to secure the tables.  Soon others arrived and 13 of us gathered for dinner.  

Jim & Debbie Caldwell, Charles & Leslie Tyer, and Charles brother Jeff and his wife Kim Tyer.

Mark & Angie Page, Ed & Doreen Schellhase, Jim & Darlene Cline and Cash Foley (Susan was unable to attend).

On Tuesday nights the restaurant has live music and they welcome walk-in's.  Tonight we enjoyed a young lady singing and playing a mandolin!  She did a great job!

We enjoyed our evening with the Texas Ally's!  We will be going our separate ways once we leave here Thursday so we likely won't see them again until next May in Galveston TX for their Texas Alliance Rally which we plan to attend!  Unfortunately Doreen's iPhone ringer was turned down and we missed a call from them shortly after leaving the restaurant as they gathered for a photo in from of the elk antlers.  I may work on a little Photoshop magic for this LOL.  

No pictures, but just down the road from our campground tonight we caught a glimpse of a moose, our first one on this trip!

That is it for today.  Tomorrow we will grocery shop, fuel the big ol' brown truck and do a little maintenance here as we prepare to head out Thursday morning to Riverton WY.