Kittens From The Dark Side: Wyoming!

I went to Wyoming to see Cindy!

Yes, I drove 13 hours! I did much better than expected staying alert and driving safely. It was quite an easy drive, without major mountains or even ditches I could accidentally drive into and die.

I only drove over this lake/river (the Missouri River, I think). It was beautiful. I barely saw any other cars once I left Minnesota. Google took me on back highways because there was a lot of construction along I90. I liked the back roads!

I was very excited to see water after many hours of fields. Though I have to say, I like mile upon mile of nodding sunflowers!

When I arrived (around 9:30 PM on the Friday of Labor Day), Cindy had vegan shepherd's pie waiting for me! We both giggled and smiled a lot.

Hooray for my dear friend!

We didn't waste any time; the next day we drove to Buffalo and then up into Cindy's beautiful Bighorn mountains!

Cindy showed me her favorite places.

Off we go!

Cindy showed me a pretty lake where people were kayaking and swimming. I was recovering from carsickness and a short nap at this point, so I walked around and enjoyed, but didn't get in the water.

Pretty water!

The trees and the dusty path smelled like Arizona to me.

Do you see our friendly cow on the path?

Cindy visited this campground and stayed in these tiny cabins throughout her life!

We explored and then ate our lunch by the stream behind the cabins.

I had leftover shepherd's pie, an apple, Fritos, and cashew cheese. YUM!

Cindy threw her apple core when she was finished and it landed in these tree branches - ha!

Wyoming feels like it's in between Arizona and Minnesota.

It's not as dry as Arizona, not as full of moisture as Minnesota.

It's not as brown as Arizona, not as green as Minnesota.

It's not as scraggly and poky as Arizona, not as lush and full of foliage as Minnesota.

It's not as mountainous as Arizona, not as flat as Minnesota.

We found wild raspberries!

Some were even growing over and around this old chair on the porch of one of the cabins.

Cindy decided to gather a vine to take home.

Then we went to the next on Cindy's list of places to see!

The road was pretty dusty.

But we made it! It's near a town called Tensleep!!!

This tree had a heart-shaped hole.

Hot but happy:

We followed the trail down by a creek to a small lake and played in the ice cold water. It was very clear and pretty, and in the middle of a golden field.

We followed the path further . . .

The view was lovely.

Cindy showed me a waterfall!

I'm a big fan of waterfalls.

We explored and maybe napped.

I definitely got in the water here!

Then we headed home again. We didn't want to be coming down from the mountains in the dark!

I got to meet Lily, the neighbor's cat, who spends a lot of time at Cindy's house! She is ADORABLE and hilarious and round. I love her.

She isn't a fan of selfies.

Sunday I got to go to church with Cindy and then we checked out her classroom (she's a special ed teacher and the best one I've ever known!) Here's a cute bulletin board outside her classroom. Look at those students succeed!

The rest of Sunday, we napped, cooked and ate, and watched Grace & Frankie on Netflix. I hadn't seen the last few episodes of the series yet, so we watched it together and it was special.

Monday we decided to drive to Casper to check things out and do a bit of thifting!

We started out the day by visiting Cindy's Dad and Step-Mom, Joy. They are great and I'm glad I got to meet them! Cindy's Dad is very interesting (he was an oil man and he's a great artist) and Joy also has Celiac Disease, so we were able to commiserate a bit about that.

The drive was beautiful, and I looked up restaurants in Casper - and found Racca's! They had lots of gluten-free and vegan options!

Hot again (it was 96 degrees F).

The restaurant was neat inside, too. Very industrial . . .

but slightly fancy (look at that wallpaper!)

MMMMMMmmmmmmmmm!

This is the best pizza I can ever remember eating.

Then we went to some thrift shops around Casper. I gathered up all manner of interesting and useful items! More about these later . . .

A second shop:

Then we headed back to Gillette. We saw tons of pronghorn sheep, antelope, and beautiful golden waving grasses.

And oil derricks!

Here's my thrift haul:

A painted metal duck
I love the shape and the patina. He's now on my mantle. Who knows where he'll end up but I love him.

A wooden pull duck
Yes, I might have a thing for ducks, especially in our new house, which is on a pond. This duck will be displayed in my office, which is being styled around a "playful vintage" theme, meaning old toys, and child-friendly oddities.

A ceramic brown & blue pumpkin
This is now sitting on my coffee table.

An Elmo alphabet "briefcase"

ALL the letters are there! I'll be using this with kids.

Each letter has a picture underneath of something that starts with that letter.

Who What Where game

This game is especially useful for helping some of my students/clients learn about subject + action phrases and prepositional phrases via funny drawing activities!

A rice paddle!

I've never even seen one of these, never mind one this beautiful.

Tiny bowls, made in Japan.

They're beautiful. I might use them for supplements at mealtimes or for jewelry.

Monday night, I made cookies and prepared everything to leave for home early in the morning. The cookies turned out great. That recipe never lets me down.