On Salmon Clubs?

Posted by johngl

After a really rough week of long hours, I found myself yearning for the quiet and solitude of a recent visit to the Yellowstone area of Wyoming. My thoughts drifted to tranquil settings.

As I was spacing on the wonderfully scenic views around me, I glanced down and found these little winged creatures right at my feet. They seemed content and I just watched them for a couple of minutes.  This could have been anywhere; bees and moths are not uncommon, so it is somewhat odd to me that this is one of my favorite memories of our vacation.

Looking up, we decided to climb what I call the Great White Pyramid of Yellowstone.

What?  You didn’t know there are pyramids in Yellowstone?

There isn’t; it is white travertine formed by a build up of silica from cascades of hot, mineral laden water.

Those aren’t icicles either.  These are more like stalactites.

Mammoth Hot Springs is cool.

So, after hours of trekking about the White Pyramid and walking miles of trails, the most glorious spousal unit and I heard/felt our stomachs starting to rumble. Feeling a bit like a pair of bears in search of our next meal,  we moseyed into the village in search of food.

Lo and behold, we weren’t disappointed.  Stopping at the Mammoth Hotel, we found we were still in time for lunch and the place was nearly empty.

As an aside: The herding mentality of us humans sometimes boggles my mind.  Flash mobs appear out of nowhere and swamp a dining establishment and just make for a bad experience for everyone.

So, we were seated by around quarter to two and only one other table was occupied.  It was an entire tribe of non-native light-brown skinned people having a great time and speaking a foreign language. This is one of the coolest things about Yellowstone: there are as many aliens here as natives and everyone seems to be on their best behavior.  Okay, excluding the total asshole that was honking at me from behind while a big bull bison was standing directly in front of my car. There’s a Republican in every crowd I guess.

But I digress.

At last, food!  A Smoked Salmon Club!  This concoction of cold-smoked wild Alaska salmon, wasabi mayo, applewood-smoked bacon, tomoto, and romaine lettuce piled on three slices of toasted nine-grain bread was a meal in itself.  It was, without a doubt, the best food I had while in the Park.

This is another of the great things about traveling around.  If I hadn’t seen (then eaten) this sandwich, I probably would have never thought to put smoked salmon on a club instead of the traditional ham and turkey.

A day or two later we were on our way South to Grand Teton National Park.  We took a side road to head over to Jenny Lake. We were cruising at the blazing speed of 20 mph and heading around a curve, when all of a sudden…

this grizzly came down off the hill to our right and sauntered right out in front of us and a lovely young lady driving the Honda. We had just enough time to snap off a photo and the bear was gone. Both the Honda driver and I were seat-dancing and singing the “I saw a bear” song.  I’m glad the bear didn’t have a camera.  Silly humans.

Arriving at the Jenny Lake Lodge, a smallish log cabin kind of place — I call it early log architecture and there is a lot of it in these parts — we took a look at the menu and what ho! a smoked salmon club!

These folks haven’t quite grasped that a club sandwich requires three slices of bread, but the Russian style peasant bread was plenty hearty.  While different, this sammy was just as tasty as the Mammoth Hotel version.

Lately, whenever I feel the stresses of our urban life are becoming oppressive, I just go to my collection of vacation photos and relive a moment or two of quiet bliss.