Kittens From The Dark Side: 2025

I went to Wyoming to visit Cindy on the occasion of her father's memorial service.

I'm pleased with what I packed.

I cooked up a bunch of stuff and packed lots of food.

The kitties helped!

And then I was off on a 13 hour drive!

It's a lovely drive.

The Jolly Green Giant!

The fall colors were quite lovely along the Minnesota freeways.

I haven't driven that far or long since my diagnosis of corneal dystrophy, and it was a bit tough. I used extra drops.

The restrooms sign is very cute in this gas station!

And p.s. I bought that yellow t-shirt on the top left!

Travel outfit:

Getting closer!

Made it to South Dakota!

This was in a restroom in South Dakota!

One right here!

Yum - time for a snack!

I love driving up to this river!

I come over the hill and down and over the long bridge and it's beautiful.

South Dakota is beautiful and stark.

Exit here to go see Gregory!

But sadly, he was far away.

No one else on the road!

The sunset was beautiful but my eyes were unhappy with the lack of light.

I made it to Wyoming!

The hotel was great and even had these carts.

I brought a lot of stuff because I wanted to be able to cook and use my blender and air fryer plus a big cooler and fan and suitcase. The cart helped a LOT!

In the morning (after a terrible night of "sleep" - For some reason, I slept poorly the whole trip!), I found the gym and did a nice run on one of their treadmills. The mirrored wall was distracting (I might feel powerful when I'm running, but I don't love looking at myself because I look weird).

This place was nice and had free laundry machines!

This mirror made me feel weird. Turns out I don't like to watch myself running (and it seemed a bit warped).

To cool down, I went outside.

They had some very interesting rocks in the landscaping!

Then I made my breakfast! Turned out great.

The first day I was there was Saturday, and it was the day of the memorial service for Cindy's Dad.

I wore this:

It turned out to be quite warm that day, but it got chillier as the day went on.

There was a memorial stone with weird things on it!

Pastor Phil did a great job talking about how he believes we all get the chance to meet Jesus at some point.

I got to meet Cindy's sister for the first time. It was fascinating; they are very different.

The trees were changing color and falling even though it was quite warm.

Later that day, the family and friends met at Cindy's house for a memorial party.

The neightbors had great big pumpkins in their yard!

Cindy's Dad Jack was a great artist and left behind some gorgeous paintings. She put them out at the memorial party and let us choose our favorites. I already have some of Jack's pieces I love, but Cindy generously allowed me to take some more, and I choose these.

Goodbye, for now Jack!

Meanwhile, Greg was having fun with my family!

They picked out pumpkins and then went to lunch!

And he was snuggling the babies.

I thought of him when I saw the big stack of ramen!

The Walmart in Gillette, Wyoming, had a great selection of gluten-free things, and many vegan options, of course (beans, rice, veggies, fruits).

I had forgotten pajamas so I bought some at Walmart - these are really good and soft!

I started out with this outfit for Sunday morning.

I was happy to attend Cindy's church. The building is lovely and the people are welcoming and kind.

After church, I went for a little walk through the golden hills.

There's the Gillette airport!

Some of the rocks were red like in Sedona.

I took a rest on the bench at the top of the hill.

Meanwhile, at home in Minnesota . . .

Allistair was getting smushed!

The following morning, I went for a run around a little pond. I ran around the pond lots of times to make 3 miles! It was chilly; very nice weather for running.

I tried to take a nap, but there were kids screaming outside. It was a nice day; I understand why they were having so much fun!

And later on, I saw these pronghorn outside my window!

I made potato wedges and had leftovers and watched "Elementary".

I went shopping at Marshall's and found these great burgundy pants.

At home in Minnesota, Allistair was enjoying the fire!

I also found this tunic sweater!

These wide leg pants were a NO.

Though I love the color.

I also bought this sleek faux-leather jacket. I needed one because my old one was starting to fall apart.

And some hand soap because I hated the smell of the hotel one!

Meanwhile, at home . . .

Outside the hotel were boot scrapers to scrape off the mud on our shoes. I didn't really get much mud on me, but I liked the idea of these.

Back to Walmart for more groceries!

I really liked this outfit. It was a chilly day all of a sudden after quite a few warm days.

I went to the park and actually got too chilly!

Then I tried an Italian restaurant nearby.
At least they had gluten-free and vegan options, but the pizza wasn't my favorite.

Looks good, though I could've used more veggies!

Then I moved from the hotel into Cindy's house! She wasn't there until work ended, so I made some cookies and some delicious dinner (sweet and sour veggies with rice and crispy potato cubes).

Turned out yummy!

The next day, while Cindy was at school, I visited a secondhand store in Gillette and bought that white and black striped sweater!

Cute!

I checked out a couple of things around town before Cindy got home from school.

This table is made from a bicycle!

Then, back to Walmart for more groceries for dinner!

My purchases from the day:

Oh, I also checked out Marshall's again and bought this cute blouse.

And these great flowy pants!

That night while I was making dinner, I participated in a class I was taking on Wednesday nights through church. It was fun not to have to miss it just because I was out of town!

I decided to make mushroom bourguignon with mashed potatoes.

It turned out great!

The following morning, I was ready for another run, so I took off from Cindy's house and ran up the hill to the park - it was very difficult because of the elevation increase as well as the elevation in general!

There was an area of wild fire:

This cute new house reminded me of our house in Arizona!

More walking, less running . . . extra slow at 4500 ft elevation (in Gillette)!

Compared to more running at 74 ft elevation (at home)!

That afternoon, I went to Cindy's school to hang out with her during some required after-school hours. I got to meet some co-workers and see her new classroom!

It's a very cute school.

The relax room has a HUGE bear!

Cindy has these neat rolling cups:

Cindy has great signs and reminders everywhere (because she's an amazing teacher!)

And then it snowed!!!

We woke up to snow on the ground, which was FUN!

It melted quickly, but it sure was nice to see the snow - which we hadn't seen since the previous winter, and which we both love!

Cindy had a half-day of work the following day, so I enjoyed a slow morning in Cindy's cute house.

I went insane when food storage containers fell out of the cabinet, so I asked if I could reorganize them and Cindy said YES! I got a great deal of satisfaction out of the final result.