Out Here In The Fields
Leica SL with Super-Vario-Elmar-SL-16-35mm
Teton and Fremont Counties in Idaho can sometimes seem like the red-haired stepchild of Teton County, WY. They have Teton views, spectacular ones, but Pierre’s Hole is not the same as Jackson Hole, at least in the eyes of tourists and rich folk. Ah, but in these Idaho counties, around this time of year when it is too smoky to see the Grand Teton from downtown Jackson, they have something special going for them. We decided to drive over the pass for a look.
These are farming counties. Yes, many of the people who live there have a tedious and sometimes dangerous commute over the pass to jobs in Jackson, WY: construction, waitering, guiding fishermen, positioning the fannies of Easterners into the embrace of the chairlift that awaits them. But still, this is farm country.
Between Driggs and Ashton, on Route 32, cars and trucks rush on by. But sometimes it’s fun to mosey along, camera in hand, and pull into turnouts.
When I walked behind the silo to take a picture of it, the area around my feet exploded with grasshoppers, moths and butterflies. I heard them before I set foot there, but couldn’t see them. A little like Fremont County — you might not notice it until you set foot in it.
As we were heading back toward Jackson — with dinner planned at an excellent Thai restaurant in tiny Victor, ID — we saw an old abandoned barn near the road.
It was a reminder of how harsh life can be out here. And also how sublime it is, just a few miles away from Jackson Hole, which is considered among the loveliest valleys in the country. Teton County, ID looked every bit as pretty as its more famous neighbor across the Tetons tonight.
Tulip Frenzy 
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