On July 4th 2000, I left Manchester England to fly to the USA. This was my first time outside of the UK. Within Minutes of taking off I was flying high above the river Mersey, I could see Liverpool and the Mersey Ferries but Wirral was under cloud. In a short time I was over Dublin Ireland and before long left the west coast of Ireland behind. My next sight of land was Goose Bay Canada ( I asked the stewardess and she asked the captain). After following the coast of Canada and down past Maine USA, (waved to Lyda) I landed in New York's JFK Airport.

I soon found my connecting flight to Salt Lake City. This was the only flight I couldn't get a window seat and it annoyed me when everyone closed the blinds to watch the very boring movie. On approach to Salt Lake City there was lots of turbulence as we flew over the mountains. It soon passed and the landing was smooth. From there I boarded a small plane to my destination, Jackson Wyoming. As I took off I could see the Great Salt Lake shining blue, unusually filled with water after heavy rain. On landing in Jackson I was walking toward the airport terminal when I turned and I was hit by the magnificent view of the Teton Mountain Range. From there I got a taxi to my hotel at the Jackson Hole resort. The taxi driver, Pete (Hi Pete) welcomed me to the USA with a big handshake :) On the way to the hotel he gave me loads of advice including have a beer in the Mangy Moose bar, that was indeed good advice

The Sleeping Indian Mountain

The next morning I called Pete to take me back to the airport where I was to collect my car. He took me along some back roads just to show me around. He told me about the area and the town of Jackson. Harrison Ford lives there and ex-president Clinton goes there for his vacations. Grand Teton is 17,000 feet high. He turned off the engine and quietly rolled into a siding where he said there were often Elk drinking from the river. He showed me the Sleeping Indian mountain, (I'd seen it in a movie once). We eventually arrived back at the airport where I collected my car. I'd never driven on the right hand side of the road before, so this was going to be an experience. I was glad that these were country roads (easy to learn on) and the town of Jackson was small. I went back to my hotel room and collected my things. That was the only room I had booked for the entire six weeks of my stay, so now my holiday really began.

The Town of Jackson Wyoming

The horses have been replaced by cars and SUV's but the town is still pretty much the same as it was in the old wild west times.

The Elk Antler Arches

You may remember seeing this arch in a fight scene in the movie Any Which Way But Loose.