Jackson Hole Wyoming is one of my favorite places in the world. It is a touch of heaven here on earth. After we stayed at Yellowstone we drove around, up and then through the Tetons into Jackson Hole.    As we drove around the windy roads we stopped at this overlook. The views were outstanding. From the viewpoint I was able to take this photo looking into the valley of Jackson Hole. What an amazing vista, a feast for the eyes.      There is this friendly western atmosphere when you drive into the town. I could hear the 'awe's from our family members in the car as we entered into the town. It is one of those places where you want to stay a while. Like my dream is to be able to stay there through late spring after the snow is melted to the end of fall before the snow falls again one year ... 12/02/2014

  Jackson Hole WinterFest February 15 - 24 The Jackson Hole Shrine Club Cutter Races Feb. 16 & 17 kicks-off the 3rd Annual Jackson Hole WinterFest this weekend. WinterFest runs through Sunday, February 24th.    Enjoy Jackson Hole’s snowy, winter wonderland with ice sculpting, ski joring, watch some of the best ski racing talent worldwide with Giant Slalom races and two days of Slalom races at Snow King, music, ice skating and more.  WinterFest schedule of events          Teton Village Webcams   View of the Town of Jackson from the top of Snow King Mountain   JACKSON HOLE SKI REAL ESTATE Search available ski condos and ski homes at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort   Teri McCarthy helped me buy my vacation ski condo in Teton Village. Her knowledge of the area, the properties and her profe... 02/16/2013

Akasha Yoga in Jackson Hole, WY consistently wins the people's choice award in our local "Best Of Jackson Hole" awards, and for good reason. The instructors, led by owner Neesha Zollinger, are talented, insightful, and downright FUN teachers. This month, Akasha Yoga is running a special: bring a friend to class and get a class for free! Neesha is currently embarked on a European tour, teaching in Sweden, Italy, and France for the month of April. You can still follow her while she's gone, by checking out her excellent website, YogaToday, where you can take free weekly online classes. You can see the classes on YouTube too. If you're looking for a great studio to deepen your practice, or want to dip your toes in the water, you can't go wrong here.   03/24/2012

Jackson Hole: You gotta love it!! The season may have started slow, but with the last 1 1/2 months of snow, mother nature made up for it and gave us some locals this week to ooohhh and aaaahhhh at.   03/08/2012

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort: Dick's Ditch Banked Slalom Go watch all ages, sexes, and pro's at this weekends Dick's Ditch Slalom happening March 2-4.  Cheer them on!   03/01/2012

Legendary Elizabeth Taylor Auction Results THE NEW YORK SALES SERIES DEVOTED TO THE COLLECTION OFELIZABETH TAYLOR ACHIEVES $156.8 MILLION / €120.7 MILLION MOST VALUABLE SALE OF JEWELRY IN AUCTION HISTORY MOST VALUABLE PRIVATE COLLECTION OF FASHION EVER SOLD AT AUCTION CHRISTIE’S FIRST EVER ONLINE-ONLY AUCTION – CONDUCTED IN PARALLEL TO LIVE AUCTIONS – FETCHES OVER $9.5 MILLION 26 ITEMS SELL FOR OVER $1 MILLION; 6 ITEMS FOR OVER $5 MILLION New York – The landmark auctions of The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor at Christie’s New York from December 3-17 realized a combined total of $156,756,576 (£100,324,209/ €120,702,563) with every single item sold. The sale drew unprecedented interest from bidders throughout the world, with 36 different countries represented during the four days of live ... 12/19/2011

ROY LICHTENSTEIN’S ICAN SEE THE WHOLE ROOM!…AND THERE’S NOBODY IN IT!FETCHES $43,202,500–A WORLD AUCTION RECORD FOR THE ARTIST 16 NEW WORLD AUCTION RECORDSLast evening’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale at Christie’s in New Yorkachieved $247,597,000 (£153,510,140 / €178,269,840), demonstrating thecontinuing appeal of this category among collectors worldwide. Thirty-threeworks sold above the $1 million mark and 16 new world auction records wereestablished. In total, sell-through percentages were very strong, with 90% soldby lot and 87% by value. “The world’s top 10 collectors were present in the saleroom tonight, and a globalcommunity of collectors was bidding aggressively on works by the preeminentartists in this category,” said Brett Gorvy, Chairman and InternationalHead of P... 11/14/2011

Copyright: 1973 Danjaq, LLC & United Artists Corporation.All rights reserved. IMPORTANT WATCHES Four Seasons Hotel desBergues, Geneva14 November 2011   The present Rolexref. 5513, modified by the famous Q Branch, is certainly the most memorable Submariner to appear in movies and must be considered a veritable trophy notonly for the watch aficionado but also for the amateurs of cinematography andof James Bond in general. Especially designed for James Bond to be worn during 007′s mission in Live and Let Die, it was created in 1972 by the world-famous film production designer Syd Cain. Featuring not only a bezel spinning at high speed to cut ropes and chains, in the movie it also bore an ultra-strong magnet which was supposed to neutralize bullets but was,instead, used by 007 to unzip Ms. ... 11/14/2011

By the time we got out of bed in Jackson, Wyoming we already knew we had not planned this part well. Clearly we needed more time in this area. We planned on only 2 nights....due to the great distance we were including, but had no idea we would linger in Cody. So this was a busy day. Probably had we not brought my son, we would have spent more time shopping and lounging at the beautiful hotels. So far I had not even looked at the book I brought and the historic lodges in the parks would provide a nice backdrop to read. But since Connor had only been to this area once before, and he was 6, we didn't want him to miss the full experience. So....we headed out. From Jackson Hole you need to drive through the Grand Teton National Park to get to Yellowstone....such a beautiful drive. We were en... 09/30/2011

Billings was rather miss-able...is that a word? Bigger than I thought and clearly a business town. The small "down town" had it's share of tall buildings and fancy restaurants. Frankly...the best part of the stop was the dinner at Walker's Grill. We have had our share of lodge looking saloons with huge portions. This was the first salad of the trip that had items beyond iceberg lettuce. :) Since Billings didn't turn into the quaint Western Town we had hoped for, we headed out right away to Cody, Wyoming. This is also the Eastern entrance into Yellowstone National Park. I've been through Cody about 10 years ago and remembered it as a very rustic small town. It's home to the oldest rodeo in the country....continuously running every night since 1938. In 2001 when we came through, we saw so... 09/28/2011

As a mountain resort town, Jackson Hole has a high cost of living. It's expensive to live here, primarily because housing is (or was) so expensive, and because you can't actually grow food here. We do brew really good beer though. But I digress. My last blog rambled a bit about hitting cats with a dead Realtor® and about how easy that was here, because there are so many of us. But why are there so many? Is it something in the water? Word on the street is that it's an easy living. And with a median home price north of $1,200,000 in 2010 (less for condos and vacant lots), it's true that the average sale is going to make good money for that hard working Realtor. But how many sales are there in a year? And how many agents are there? Hmmmm. Let's look. The number of licensed agents in Jackso... 09/16/2011

    “The Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival is widely recognized as one of the premier cultural events in the Rocky Mountain West. Thousands of art enthusiasts are drawn each year to experience the diverse artwork and breathtaking natural surroundings that make Jackson Hole a leading cultural center. The 2011 Festival will take place September 8-18,2011. Experience the world-class installments of contemporary, culinary, landscape, Native American, wildlife, and Western, arts. Visitors will appreciate the works of nationally and internationally acclaimed artists along with an exceptional array of music, cowboy poetry and cuisine. More than fifty events round out our eleven-day festival.” -Chamber of Commerce Download your copy of the Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival 2011 Program Presented by... 09/08/2011

I've been hearing how easy it is to hit a Realtor® by swinging a dead cat, so I thought I'd do a little research. I couldn't find a source that tracked dead cats, so I focused on the number of Realtors instead. In Hawaii, there's a licensed Realtor for every 161 people, but in West Virginia you'd need to whack 648 people with that cat to be sure you hit a Realtor. I looked up the stats for my local market, Jackson Hole, WY, and WOW! Just over 400 licensed Realtors belong to the local board, and the year-round population here is just 20,000. That works out to be one Realtor per 50 people in Jackson Hole, WY! It was even worse in 2008, when there were some 1,000 licensed agents, making the ratio an astounding 1 Realtor per 20 people. One in Twenty. Think about it. Now that's competition. ... 06/12/2011

How many antlers does it take to make one of the Antler Arches on the Jackson Hole town square? The Town Square has an antler arch on each of its four corners, which have served as the backdrop for countless photographs taken by visitors to Jackson Hole. We get an estimated 3,000,000 visitors each year, and I'll bet that half of them stop for a photograph in front of the arches before they head over to the Cowboy Bar for another photo op on a saddle at the bar. The arches were built around 1950, and have slowly deteriorated. Over the past three years, two of the arches have been taken down and rebuilt with fresh antlers, and today, work crews were dismantling the third arch on the northeast corner of the square. The Rotary Club of Jackson Hole has undertaken the herculean task of raisin... 06/08/2011

That's right, the foreclosure does not necessarily wipe out a lien for unpaid HOA dues. I didn't know that, and apparently, neither did Bank of America. Here's the story. I represent a buyer for a house in Melody Ranch, Jackson Hole, WY. The seller is  Bank of America, who acquired the house via foreclosure a few months ago. The previous homeowner quit paying their homeowner's association (HOA) dues months before the foreclosure, and the HOA placed a lien on the property for the unpaid dues. After the lien was filed, the bank foreclosed. My buyer put the property under contract, and the title company prepared the closing statement. The title commitment showed the HOA lien as an encumbrance, and the closing statement showed that the seller would have to pay the amount of the lien, just u... 06/07/2011

Except that the seller, a bank, decided at 4pm to contest the lien placed on the property by the homeowners association. The bank foreclosed on the property 5 months ago, and the lien has been on the property since foreclosure. Why did they wait until 4pm on the day of closing? Who knows. The title company says it's a valid lien, and the treasurer of the HOA confirmed the amount, again, today. Sigh. Perhaps we'll close on Monday. My buyer remained in good spirits. He is getting a GREAT deal on the house, so I suppose it comes with some hiccups...   06/03/2011

Real estate in Jackson Hole tends to be expensive, but here's some bargain property! Last Friday, this parcel had a lovely view of the Snake River. By Sunday, it was riverfront property, and since then, it's been heading downstream... What doesn't end up in the Snake is being hauled off by the Wyoming Department of Transportation. The heavy winter snowpack and wet spring caused this drainage to slide off the hillside, blocking Highway 89/26 between Hoback Junction and Alpine. The slide covers 300 feet of the highway, is 40 feet high, and extends over 2,000 feet from the top of the slide to the river. Highway engineers estimate it will take a week to clear it off the road, once the slide quits moving. At one point it was moving at a foot per minute, but as of today, it was down to a foot... 05/21/2011

Join Rotary in the Spring Cleanup! The second Saturday in May each year is the annual Town Clean Up, sponsored by the lunch Rotary Club. Jackson Hole is covered in snow from November to April, and when it finally melts, the roadsides have accumulated a lot of litter. Who still throws garbage out of their cars anyway?? The Rotary Club sponsors a cleanup day every May. The day starts with coffee, juice and donuts on the Town Square, and then friends and businesses all set out for different areas of town and sections of the highway. Trash bags are donated, hundreds of people show up to participate. The work only takes 2-3 hours, and then everyone meets back at the Square for a huge free hamburger cookout, live music, and storytelling. Everything is donated, so all you need is a good attitu... 05/14/2011

What do Abbottabad, Pakistan and Jackson Hole, Wyoming have in common? A. Home to wealthy second homeowners B. Beautiful mountain setting with wildlife, wild rivers, and wild nightlife C. Politically tolerant haven in a conservative stronghold From the Yahoo News story about Abbottabad: "Abbottabad  is a mountain city of approximately 120,000 people in the northern region of Pakistan. It has a reputation for greater tolerance than many other cities in the conservative northern region—largely because it has been home to many foreigners and outsiders over the years. It is a retirement town known for protecting the privacy of its wealthier inhabitants—the Jackson Hole of Pakistan, to put it in American terms." Well, they say any press is good press, so I guess I won't complain. But for my ... 05/07/2011

Cut your own Christmas Tree! For $5, you can get a Forest Service permit to cut down a 12' tree. With Jackson surrounded by literally millions of acres of National Forest, getting a Christmas tree is a family event here in snow country. This year, by early December, the snow was already too deep to go to our usual stomping grounds to look for a Christmas tree. We drove out to the turnoff, but the road easily had three feet of snow on it, so that was out. So, we headed out the back door and up the hill. The dogs were helpful, as usual, and we found a perfect tree less than a quarter mile uphill from the house. Sweet! I think next year, we'll head straight back up this way, but I'm bringing my snowboard with me to make a couple of downhill runs while I'm at it. It's almost April now, and ... 03/29/2011