Huntsville, AL and Planting Tomatoes in the Dark

I am making the most of my time in the south.  That’s right.  I am living in Mississippi while my husband does one of his internships.  Where in Mississippi, you ask?  About an hour away from Tupelo (the birthplace of Elvis, people).  We are living with my husband’s wonderful parents, and let me tell you, it is great to be here.  We want to see as much as we can of the south before we leave (and eat as much southern cookin’ as we can possibly eat).  On her day off last week, my mother-in-law took me to Huntsville, Alabama and we walked around the botanical gardens.  The flowers were beautiful.  It was so nice to be outside. Everything was lovely.  We got some great gardening ideas (and by we, I mean my mother-in-law, because I do not have a green thumb). We also ate at the tea room at the gardens.  The desserts caught our eye so we decided to have lunch there.

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Huntsville Alabama 3

And just to prove to you how absolutely beautiful the south is…

Alabama Horses

Alabama Horses 2

These images illustrate my family’s complete and total dedication to their garden.  Tomato planting in the dark.

Iuka Mississippi

Iuka Mississippi 2

Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park, Taggart Lake Trail

Most of our time in Jackson Hole was spent at Grand Teton National Park.  Being poor college students, we spend a lot of our time on vacation hiking.  It’s not that we are particularly granola, it’s just the most fun activity we can do for free.  We preemptively pop a few Advil so our old creaky bones don’t ache too much and head out on the trails. Don’t get me wrong, we really enjoy it, but if we had more dinero to burn, we might throw a few more activities into our repertoire…such has rafting or horseback riding.  You can even go llama trekking. Yes, that’s a thing.  And I would highly recommend it (even though I’ve never done it) just so you can brag about it to all your friends.

We also visited the National Elk Refuge.  Although the refuge can have up to 7,500 elk visiting during the winter…we did not see a single one.  We did, however, see antelope, coyote, moose, and deer.  We will have to check the elusive elk off of our list some other time!

On our first day at the park, we hiked the Jenny Lake trail. It was a beautiful, clear lake and it was close to the parking lot.  It would be a great hike for little ones.  The trail goes around the lake.  It followed the road for a while, so maybe not a good hike for those who want to get off the beaten path.

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Brandon used his wildlife spotting skills to find this cute little guy right off of the path.  Some hikers ahead of us walked right by him.  Get a load of those ears!

Picnic Jackson Hole

I took a break for a picnic with this handsome fella.

The next day we did the Taggart Lake trail.  It was a little more challenging, but still doable for two couch potatoes.  It makes a nice loop and only took us 2-3 hours.

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Grand Teton National Park Moose

Some pictures from the elk refuge.

Elk Refuge 1

Elk Refuge 2

Elk Refuge 3

I would recomend following up any healthy, outdoor activity with a high calorie food, such as pizza.  Wouldn’t want that food baby melting away.  I would miss it too much.

Jackson WY Pizza