'Tis the season

It is so fall here right now, and I love it!

Fall comes quickly to this part of the county, and unfortunately it leaves just as fast. A nice long fall is definitely one thing I will miss about the East.

But the short season won't hold me back. Unlike most animals that start to slow down during this time, my planning starts to ramp up.

This is my time for pumpkin picking outings and pumpkin carving parties...picking Halloween costumes and Halloween parties. I want hayrides, and corn mazes, hiking in the fall colors, and early morning runs where you can just see your breath. Fall makes me want to read bios and history books and classics. I also want to have more dinner parties than ever in the fall with rich, red wines and spiked cider around my new fireplace. This year I'm looking forward to Wyoming Cowboys football games, which I haven't been to in seven years.

And even though I hate being truly cold - like winter cold - I like planning cold weather events in the fall. Like snowshoeing trips, game nights with wine, and renting a cabin with friends. This year I want to try cross-country skiing, and I've got a trip in the works to go back to Arrowhead and Bear Lodges to hang out with Candice and do some snowmobiling.

But that's a different season...

Right now, in fall, I'm roasting a head of garlic and last night I made a loaf of banana bread. I like to cook in all seasons, but fall just drives me into the kitchen to slice root vegetables with one hand while sipping an awesome cab from the other.

Ahhh, fall.

Note

I have a bunch of pictures from Yellowstone and the rest of the trip, but can't seem to find my connection right now to download those.  Yes, this is extremely annoying!

So, the Wyoming wrap-up is very text heavy, and consequently kind of long-winded.  

Hopefully it's still somewhat enjoyable.   

Wyoming Trip Wrap-Up

I'm back in Cheyenne after a long week of work and vacation. I made a huge loop through the state and saw lots of friends along the way - I absolutely loved my trip.

After I stopped working for the Senator I had no real reason to travel outside Laramie (where my girlfriends are) or Gillette (where my parents were), and after my parents moved to Colorado I really didn't get around the state at all. I could barely contain my excitement as I set out last week.

Because I was so busy I didn't have a ton of time to post, so let's do a little recap of the week...

Last Saturday I went through Casper on my way through Cody and stayed with my friends Jeff and Linda. It was so fun to see them and Paul and Carrie! We went to brunch at The Cottage, my favorite restaurant in Casper, then I stopped by my old apartment building before heading out of town.

I pulled into Cody on Sunday afternoon and spent most of the week helping out with a work event. After the event ended Wednesday night, I became a tourist in Cody, rediscovering how much I really like that town.

While I was there I hit about every coffee shop in town, sampled most major restaurants (including the Proud Cut, the Rib and Chop, Adriano's, the sushi place - which has a great eel roll and a FANTASTIC cab, and La Comida), had breakfast at several places including Granny's, the Irma Hotel, and a couple of coffee shops, and even attended a Rotary Club luncheon and an open reception for the Art Show at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center.

Let's talk about the Art Show for a sec. It was absolutely amazing! First of all it was open to the public and free - including heavy hors 'd oeuvres, drinks and a band. And the art work! So much of it was incredible and I wished desperately that I had an extra $30k lying around to bid on something. I was completely impressed with artists like Carrie Ballantyne, Michael Coleman, Julie Jeppsen, Kyle Sims, Gordon McConnell and Robert Pummill.

I went into Yellowstone National Park on Friday, which I had only ever driven through once. I really wanted to see Old Faithful, which I had never done, and had my fingers crossed for some exciting wildlife like a wolf or a bear. Instead I saw about a zillion buffalo, which was still cool.

I eventually met up again with my friend Sam. We had drinks at The Irma then made our way out to Cassie's on the edge of town for what we thought would be a night of country dancing, but turned into karaoke, since there wasn't a band.

Funny story about this bar: several years ago I nearly got in a bar-room brawl with some biker chick...I was singing my signature song at the time, Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Are Made for Walkin', when she came up and told me I was singing her song. I said sorry, shoulda signed up for it before me. She proceeded to try to sing with me and man...I wasn't happy.

On Saturday I made my way through the Big Horns, which might easily be one of my favorite areas in the state, to my friend Candice's. Her in-laws own Arrowhead and Bear Lodge's, two tucked in the woods places that I want to go back to this winter. After a trip to the Medicine Wheel, we had a delicious dinner at the Bear, then went home to settle in for the night.

The next morning, I kept heading east towards Sheridan where I met up with my old friend Jesus and his family for lunch. I love the Sheridan downtown. It's just full of cute boutiques, fun old bars and neat restaurants. However, it being Sunday not much was open. So, I got back on the road for home.

I took a swing through Buffalo, another town I love, and Story, which looks just like something from the pages of a story book.

I finally pulled into Cheyenne around 7 p.m. Sunday night, eight days after beginning my little tour of the state.

It feels like I was gone forever! How time flies when you're having fun!

Friday Fave(s)

Today is Friday Fave, but since I couldn't choose just one I decided to go ahead and post a few of the pictures I've taken this week, which remarkably aren't as many as you'd think. Also, Blogger is driving me nuts right now and won't load the rest of my pics, so this is all I have time or patience for at this point.

I'm heading into Yellowstone in a few minutes, so I imagine there will be many more to come.

Just when I thought I was done with rodeo this summer... We took some outdoor media to the Cody Nite Rodeo. They had never been to a rodeo before and really enjoyed it.

I also really liked the Cody rodeo. It was smaller and had a much more community feel to it than CFD. There were a lot of junior and peewee riders, which gave it a homegrown feel. It was fun.

The historic Irma hotel downtown. I had drinks outside here on Sunday night and breakfast with our writers before a day of fishing on Wednesday.

In 1895 Buffalo Bill Cody laid out the original town site for Cody, Wyo., from this spot here:

Bringing in my fish!

Here it looks like I caught just a head, but the rest of him's in there!

Big Days in Cody, Wyo.!

I’ve been in Cody since Sunday for a work event called Wyoming Outdoor Products days. Our office brings in outdoor sporting media to hang out with Wyoming outdoor product manufacturers, and voila! A marketing match made in heaven!

This has made it a bit difficult for me to post this week, since much of my time has been spent working.

However, I've had some time to experience Cody from a different perspective than a total tourist, which I will become tomorrow. Among other things, this means I shot a gun sponsored by a Wyoming-made company at the Cody Shooting Complex, and spent all day today fishing on the Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone River, which was guided by Tim Wade's North Fork Anglers. I have to brag here - I was the first or second of two fisherman to catch a fish - a Yellowstone Cut-throat, to be exact.

My pride is tempered, however, by the fact that I was also one of the first two people to fall in the river. I’m going to blame this on the boots the fishing shop rents...or…maybe I should have just crossed in a different part of the stream, who knows?

And really, to humble myself even more, I guess I should share (TMI?) that I also tinkled without provisions off a log. This was before falling in the river, and well before learning there were napkins in our guide's truck. This knowledge was a little annoying, but oddly a relief at the same time, because now I could drink fluids again while out there.

So, tomorrow begins my first real day of explore Cody. I will keep you updated with posts and pics as the days go on.

Preliminarily speaking, however, Cody is awesome.

More to come...!