We're moving!

Hello Everyone,

This will be our last post here at blogger.com. Never fear, however--the SML blog will live on at www.signalmountainlodge.wordpress.com. We look forward to seeing you there!

Spring Stirrings--Ice Off

Teton winters tend to be pretty long, and the early signs of spring can be difficult to recognize with eyes desensitized by months of nothing but the colors snow white and moose brown , but we're here to tell you, Spring is on its way. These gray, rainy days may not make us feel like tiptoeing through the tulips, but they do serve an important function--they are great at melting snow. For example, in just a few weeks, the snow banks in the Signal Staff Housing area have shrunk from head height to hip height. Progress!

For the staff here at Signal Mountain Lodge (not to mention JH locals and longtime guests), perhaps the biggest and most important harbinger of the coming Teton summer is know as Ice Off--the date on which the SML Marina portion of Jackson Lake is completely free of ice. Predicting the official Ice Off date has become something of a competition among Moran Locals. But when will it all actually melt? It's hard to say for sure, but here are some images to help gauge your expectations. More importantly, they may just convince you that GTNP is indeed creeping towards springtime....



Here's what Jackson Lake looked like on March 8th...

And here's what it looks like today!

Here's the restaurant building in March

April 25th!



Finally, here's our parking lot snow pile the day it was plowed for Nacho Night, March 7th.

TODAY!  Quite a bit dirtier but noticeably reduced in size : )

We know these aren't exactly the kind of jaw-dropping scenic photos we usually post on the blog, but we hope they provide some encouragement to those who, like us, are still crawling out of Winter's icy grip. (Or for our readers in warmer climes, perhaps they will merely provide an afternoon's worth of schadenfreude...)

Either way, hang in there, friends, stay warm, and we'll see you May 9th!!!!

Nacho Nacho Night!

NACHO NIGHT 2014!!!

For those of you not in the know, Nacho Night is a benefit put on by Signal Mountain Lodge and Moose Corner Daycare in order to help fund Moose Corner Daycare which offers affordable daycare services to GTNP residents and employees. It is also the premiere social event of the Jackson Hole winter season, at least for us Park dwellers : ) SML staff prepare the food and Moose Daycare staff wait table and sell tickets.

Near-record snowfall in the month of February had the NPS road crews working overtime and brought into question for a while whether the event was even going to take place at all, but at the last minute they came through and we were able to move forward (which was fortunate as we had already ordered the food!) All in all we sold 123 plates of Nachos, and were able to raise of $6100 for Moose Corner Daycare. We would like to thank the following folks for their generous donations, both material and temporal: Nicholas Food Service, Sysco Food Service, High Country Linen, Teton Coca Cola, Snake River Brewing, Osprey Distributing, NPS Roads Dept

Thanks to everyone who came out, and we hope you'll enjoy some behind-the-scenes images from the night!

Executive Chef Andrew digs into the Nacho Beef/ Our shovel crew worked all day to dig paths into the dining room for  the event. Nice walls, guys!

Shenanigans in the dish pit

Beautifully plated condiments (if we do say so ourselves)

Pre-melting

Now where are these going?

Bar Manager Mike, Accounting Manager Steve, and F&B Director Erik are ready to pour you a margarita!

Chief Nacho Architect Danny Cornell and his faithful assistant Toby take a well-deserved break

 

These ladies know how to top a Nacho!