grass stains: My trip to Jackson, Wyo.

When my sister moved to her new house in Jackson, Wyo., at the beginning of November, she asked if she could fly me out to help her with some design and decorating choices.

UM, YES.

She's lived there for almost seven years, but this is her first chance to really make a house "her own." It had been 16 years since I'd been out there, and I totally enjoyed my flights. We chased the sunset between Birmingham and Denver.

The strangest thing happened when the sun dipped below the clouds ... it lit them up from below, and it made it look like there was a forest fire down there. I'd never seen anything like it.

For a few minutes it was dark. Ish.

And then we caught up to the sun again!

For a few more minutes, it was brilliant again.

But then as we were on final approach to Denver, it dipped back below the horizon.

And all the city lights appeared below us.

(Have I ever mentioned that if I believed in reincarnation, I'd want to come back as a pilot?) (Well, maybe that's not exactly how reincarnation works.) (I'm no expert.)

I arrived on a Friday night and got a quick tour. Not quick enough for Sarah Ellen, who was like, "COME ON. I can see the wheels turning in your HEAD. Just follow me. Quit stopping IN EVERY ROOM."

I couldn't help it. It was like I was downloading information and then processing it with every step I took.

Saturday morning we got up and grabbed a quick lunch on our way to Idaho Falls, which is about a two-hour drive from Jackson. Sarah Ellen had rented a U-haul van for the weekend in case we were able to find some good deals on furniture. We spent about 12 hours round-trip driving and shopping -- not at high-end shops, mind you. We had to go all the way to I.F. just to shop at Target, Lowe's and a place called Furniture Row, which is kind of a furniture superstore area.

We made a VALIANT attempt to find Rooms To Go, but apparently it had closed some time ago and no one told the billboards or online ads that still proudly touted its existence.

Still, we packed that U-haul van FULL of area rugs, curtains, two leather push-back recliners, lamp bases and Lord knows what else. You know what I learned? I learned that I don't sweat like a pig when I spend someone else's money. Yeah, apparently that only happens to me when I spend my own. When we got back to Jackson at midnight, we were too tired to unload, so we just fell into bed.

Sunday morning, Sarah Ellen unloaded before I even woke up, but I stirred myself in time to go to Cafe Genevieve for brunch. I ordered chicken and waffles for only the second time ever.

It was terrible.

I wanted to go back the next day and eat it all over again.

When we got back from lunch, we painted one of her guest rooms ... it was a Kermit green, and it went mushroom. Official Before & After pictures are coming after all of her furniture comes in! We ordered a lot of stuff online, so some stuff won't be here until after Christmas. We also worked on space planning in some of her other rooms.

Monday morning when we woke up, it had snowed a few inches! This was the view out my bedroom window; if you've ever been to Jackson, you might recognize those slopes over there as Snow King.

Although it's not that exciting, one of the biggest jobs we tackled was hanging curtain rods, sheers and blackout curtains on every window in her house. And she has a LOT of windows. All told, that probably took us 12 hours. Here's a sneak peek of one of the sets of curtains and one of the rugs ... this is in her dining room:

We were getting ready to take the U-haul van back when I looked out the window and saw two mule deer right next to the garage. WILDLIFE!

I totally freaked. I'm a wildlife NUT.

I never get to see any because it's like wildlife hates me. Unless you count the kind that lives in my attic, but even then, the squirrels and raccoons don't want to SEE me. So yeah, this totally made my trip.

While we were out returning the van, we stopped at Betty Rock, a terrific deli/bakery. And we couldn't resist these chocolate chip cookies. Could YOU?

Before we headed back to the house to try to get a little more done during my last 18 hours in town, we drove out of town a little ways to look for moose. I knew it was kind of a lost cause -- and we didn't look for long, but we went to their "regular hangout" -- but we didn't see any. Still, I got to see the mule deer, so I was happy.

I wasn't there to see wildlife; I was there to work, so I wanted to get back to the house and work some more.

Monday night we met our friend Caroline (of our 2013 Kauai trip) at The Kitchen for supper. Delicious meal and great company!

After we got back from supper, we looked at what was left on our To Do and To Buy lists and settled onto Sarah Ellen's big bed with her laptop AND her TV to shop for what we hadn't been able to find in I.F.

At around 10 p.m., we wrapped up and decided to finish off my trip with a viewing of the unrated version of Sandra Bullock/Melissa McCarthy film The Heat. Excellent way to end my trip, by laughing so hard I peed on my sister's bed.

Overnight it snowed another several inches, so when we woke up IN THE DARK to head to the airport, it looked like this outside:

And it was still coming down.

The snowplows hadn't gotten to her street yet, as it was only about 5:30 a.m., but they'd cleared the main streets already.

Have you ever ridden in a car with a dog that loves people AND loves to ride in the car?

Meet Sunday.

These pictures will illustrate what it's like to ride with a lovey-dovey doggie in the car.

A dog who's in constant motion and can't be still even when she wants to be.

I MISS HER TO PIECES.

I have to say, as airports go, the Jackson airport isn't too shabby. Here's a picture of my gate. (Well, it's really ALL the gates.)

My flight was delayed for quite some time because, as you can tell by the fact that you can't even read "UNITED EXPRESS" on the top of the plane because ICE, it had to be de-iced.

On the wings, also ICE.

It is so normal for this to happen that honestly I don't know why they don't just go ahead and factor de-icing into the flight schedules during the winter months.