We have left Rapid City and we only have one more night of our trip before we need to return home. We have 7 flight hours left on our journey, so we could go half way or we could go 1/3 of the way and just have a longer return day stopping for lunch on the way home. When you go home it is always such a relief and worth the longer leg. We have been to Jackson Hole once before and really enjoyed it and Grand Teton National Park, so we pick KJAC!
The Jackson Hole FBO is one of the nations “overcharging” FBO’s to general aviation pilots. There are fees for the fees. It’s so difficult to travel to these airports when you feel like they over change you for everything. More about excessive fees here on this AOPA article.
Even with the outrageous costs, we wish to visit Grand Teton National Park by way of the only FBO in Jackson Hole (which is the only airport in the US within a National Park) Our rental car was ordered from AVIS in the terminal and wasn’t at the FBO when we arrived as we requested from Avis. We requested it at a time in the central time zone, not computing that there was a 1 hour time change to mountain time. After we landed and the car was MIA, the FBO loaded us into a van to go over to the terminal and get the car. But when we walk into the terminal there is a line of at least 50 people to get a car. We abort. The savings aren’t worth dragging 2 kids around. We go back to the FBO and unload the van and settle for an overpriced rental car from Sixty.
After the rental car shuffle, we then make our way to the hotel. We love staying at historic hotels and lodges and The Wort Hotel just happened to have availability. We booked a hotel in the middle of town to enjoy walking around. We grab a quick snack and plan to arrive at the town square for the old west shootout which starts at 6pm nightly (except Sundays) during the summer. The shootout is said to be America’s longest running gunfight! Everyone gathers around one intersection that is blocked off to cars. We have a seat right up front. The Little Dude had a great time, Plane girl, not so much with the loud noises, but it was worth a try.
After the shoot out we go for a drive in the national park to see if we can find any wildlife at sunset. We try to goggle different areas known for wildlife but come up with just one moose in someone’s yard on the way back to the hotel.
In the morning we are rested and go back to Grand Teton NP, where we have picked out a short hike to take the kids on. We also ride the boat across Jenny Lake. One of the perks to having small children is getting to the park early and not having to fight for a parking spot. When we left at about 11am there were cars everywhere! We stop at the little village area in town to grab some snacks. We have about 3:30 hours of flying to go to our lunch stop before home.
