Well, you know me. Wherever I go I like to deploy my Trained Observer Of The Human Condition skills so as to deliver an instant Verdict For The Ages about…well, wherever it is I happen to be.
So what’s up with Jackson Hole?
Quirky? Hell yes! Artsy? You betcha. Overrun by humongous pickups driven by small-minded rednecks? Well, that’s pretty much Anywhere USA these days.
But I digress.
They are very proud of their frontier/cowboy heritage. And why not? “Yellowstone” is all the rage these days on TV. And who the hell can remember whether it’s set in Wyoming or Montana anyway?
But truth be told, these days Jackson Hole has fewer cowboys roaming the range and and more millionaires and billionaires snapping up ranches and turning them into gated Xanadus.
All I’m saying is that if you have to ask what it costs, you can’t afford it.
Jackson’s rich and shameless are said to include Kim Kardashian, Tiger Woods, Harrison Ford, and Sandra Bullock. I tried to close on some real estate, and they told me I could probably swing a table-spoon full.
But I digress.
You don’t have to be a billionaire to buy a T-Shirt in Jackson. But, listen, their money is certainly just as good as mine.
Did I mention that Jackson is a city of the arts.
Hell, you can hardly sit down for all the bronze figures taking up bench space.
I mean art is everywhere. If you consider a bronze fly fisherman and a bear with a mustache art.
Listen, you can have a good time in the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar even if you aren’t a millionaire.
Jill and I went in there and perched on one of their saddle bar stools just like we were Harry and Megan. I had a Wyoming whisky, and the bar tender didn’t even ask me for a credit statement.
They are very fond of their bison in Jackson.
They are incredibly bearish on their bears.
Not to mention their elk. Apparently they send Boy Scouts out into the back country after every mating season to collect all the discarded elk antlers (don’t ask). This so they can replenish the town’s fabled Elk Antler Arches. (Which may be a violation of the child labor laws.)
One thing. I didn’t think Jackson is an especially walkable town. There is a steady stream of traffic rushing through the middle of Jackson headed for Yellowstone, the Tetons and points north and south. And not all of those small-minded rednecks in pickups the size of Rhode Island are, um, pedestrian friendly.
But seriously. Who am I to talk? Let’s just say that Jackson, on reflection, is wonderfully weird and hospitable to billionaires and dollar-aires alike.
Yeah, let’s say that.
FreeGNV 