Early Post For Trip Day

This entry is actually being written at 12:30 AM so we can get an early start for Jackson. Since we both worked late, it makes better sense to complete the post now rather than delay our start in the morning.

Our Supervisor at work - Pernille - asked Josie and I to come to a (unscheduled) meeting this afternoon. She wanted to let us know that we were being invited back for next year, and she wanted us to think about working as a team, along with Karen, at the front desk at the Comfort Inn next year. She indicated that the owner - Judy Blair - and she were discussing staff for next year and they wanted to make sure we were made aware of their desire to have us return in a capacity that would be more satisfactory to our needs. We have indicated on several occasions that the night shift at the cabins front desk was much too intense and stressful to suit me, and that the gift shop assignment was not what Josie wanted to do again because it was so boring. It made both of us feel grateful that we are considered part of the team for the future.

Other than that, the day was normal and we are packing our bags for a departure at around 7 AM. We are really looking forward to this trip and hope we aren't disappointed. From all that we hear from others, it will be a wonderful time, so we will start with a first day report tomorrow...

Final Preparations for Jackson trip

We are just about there with the final details for our trip tomorrow to the Tetons and Jackson WY. I picked up the certificate at the GM's office for the employee discount to be used for our reservation at the Holiday Inn in Riverton for Thursday night. I also have the names and numbers of two places we will go while in Jackson that require reservations - Bar J Chuckwagon and the Aerial Tramway - and will call this morning to complete those reservations. The Bar J Chuckwagon is a restaurant that has a dinner and show that is suppose to be excellent. The Bar J Wranglers are the group that plays there and are a Country and Western group that is nationally known and have appeared on TV on several different shows. The Aerial Tramway is near the Teton Village and is a ride that I'm a little nervous about but is one that is considered a must-do when you go to the Tetons. Josie and I both are anxious for this day to end - our last work day of this week.

We're hoping for some warming up by the time we leave on our trip. The temperature dropped to 43 degrees this morning and there are reports that say that Yellowstone will drop below 32 this morning. That's way too cold for this time of year. The forecast is for warmer weather starting tomorrow.

Our plan is to get a very early start tomorrow, so I'm not quite sure yet about getting the post done in the morning. We expect the drive to take about 4 hours, but we have to go through a part of Yellowstone in order to get there, so a lot depends on how long it takes for that leg of the trip. It should be fun...

Weather Patterns Changing

It appears that the fall season is arriving early here. Yesterday started out with some sunshine, but it turned cloudy and rainy the whole day. Our high temperature was 70, and our low was 50. Total rainfall for yesterday, through this morning was .36". Word has it that some snow is expected in Yellowstone this morning. Wow! This is still late August. I'm sure that whatever amount they get won't last long.

There wasn't much to talk about from yesterday. I fixed a leak we had in our refrigerator line in the morning and Josie made some preparations for a baby shower that she is helping to organize for our supervisor. She (Pernille) is expecting a baby boy sometime around Christmas, and we all will be leaving before that time.

We are looking forward to our trip to Jackson on Wednesday. I hope that the weather cooperates for us since we have to go through Yellowstone to get there. I had a bad dream last night that we went on the trip and we left our cameras home. No way. Two more work days and we can head out for a trip we have been looking forward to for a long time...

A Sad Event at Work

It should have been a normal work day last night with 46 cabins to sell and about 15 reservations coming in. It started out that way, but at around 5:30 PM someone poked her head into the office and yelled for someone to call 911 because a gentleman was having a seisure out front. We immediately called 911 and went out front to see what was happening. There was a man lying on the ground under our office window, and someone was already performing CPR on him. He was a rather large person and looked to be around 55 years old. The Medics showed up in about 10 minutes - way too long, I thought since they were only coming from just down the street - and they also tried to revive him before taking him off in the ambulance. It appeared that they may have briefly revived him, but we were told later he passed away. He was part of a tour that was staying at the Holiday Inn next door and his wife rode the ambulance with him to the hospital. It is said that her children will be flying in this morning from Florida and they obviously have to leave the tour and stay in Cody to make arrangements for a funeral - someplace. What a horrible ending to a vacation for that couple. We never know when it's our turn.

We have most of our arrangements made for our weekend off this week. Josie and I both have made arrangements for people to cover for us so we can take an extra day off - Wednesday - to go to Jackson and the Tetons. Karen and George are also taking Wednesday off, but they are traveling to Rapid City SD to visit some friends that are staying there. We found a hotel that is 37 miles from Jackson, The Quality Inn, in Rexburg, ID, that is part of the Choice Hotels employee discount program and we will stay for $55. Much better than the $150 per night rooms we were looking at in Jackson. We will spend Wednesday and Thursday morning in the Jackson area and the Grand Tetons, and then head to Riverton, WY, again for Thurdsay night. We will stay in the Holiday Inn there where we stayed previously, and yes, we will do the casino one more time before we leave this area. I'm sure we will also stop in Thermopolis and do the Mineral Hot Spring again on the way home on Friday. It should be a fun weekend.

We had some rain yesterday afternoon and evening - a total of over .5", but it is sunny once again this morning. The temperature has also cooled to the mid 50's this AM, but it is very comfortable. Until tomorrow...

Pizza Party, Concert and Rodeo

The pizza party to celebrate the award that the Village received was held at noon yesterday. Josie wasn't on the invitation list because she works in the gift shop so I went myself and only stayed about 1/2 hour. Most of the people that were there were from the housekeeping and maintenence group so, except for a few other front desk workers, I didn't know anybody. Our supervisor (Pernille) and the owner (Judy Blair) gave short speeches and that was the gist of the party.

We made our final visit of the year to the Concert-in-the Park and the Rodeo. Karen and George also went went us. We went to the concert at 6 PM and they were having an ice cream social to celebrate the end of the season and they had the group "Front Screen Porch", which was a couple that played mostly Bob Dylan type music: 

We all thought that they were probably the least good of all the groups we saw this year at the concert. We still enjoyed the time there though and the ice cream was a nice touch.

It was 7:30 when we left the concert and went to the rodeo. The seats we had this time - it's always open seating - were on the second row just behind the gate area where the riders mount their horses and bulls. This shot is of one of the riders getting ready for his ride:

This particular rider didn't stay on the horse long enough and received "no score" for his attempt. There were the usual events - bull riding, bare back bronc riding, individual and team roping, and the barrel racing event. The big night for the rodeo finale will be Sunday night when the competitors will compete for $45,000 in prize money. Of course, we all have to work that night so we will have to miss that. The official end of the season is Tuesday night the 31st.

It will be interesting to see how the town changes after these summer events close down at the end of August. We can already see a drop in traffic and people walking the downtown area. Today we will stay home and relax before heading out to work for another week. There aren't many left, so we hope to see some things that are new - such as our trip to the Tetons and Jackson - coming soon...

Our Horseback Riding Trip

As indicated yesterday, the post was late as a result of our early start to go horseback riding. It's been at least 15 years, and probably closer to 20 years since we were on a horse. The Bill Cody Ranch, located about 30 minutes west of Cody, was offering free rides for employees of the Village:

We arrived at the Ranch around 8:15 and went into the office, registered and walked out to the corral where all the horses were located and watched as the crew prepared each horse for the riders based upon height, weight and skill level of the riders. All of the horses to be used for this trip were lined up and ready to mount:

Before mounting the horses, one of our 2 wranglers gave some basic instruction on how to handle the horses:

Basically, he indicated that the horses will stay in line and told us what to do if they stopped to eat or wanted to stray off the path when we stopped. We then mounted up - with the ladies getting some assistance:

It was then time to head out to the trail:

The trail was carved out of the forest and was a slow, but steady climb for about an hour:

Josie and Karen were immediately in front of me, and George was directly behind me. There were a total of about 15 riders for this 2 hour ride. We finally reached the top of our trail about halfway into the ride and the views were fabulous every way we turned:

We headed down the trail and were fascinated the whole way by this beautiful area:

It was almost exactly 2 hours on the horse and we all felt that it probably ended at the right time. When you aren't used to sitting on a horse, and you reach our age, 2 hours is plenty. They also have a 4 hour ride that includes a cookout and goes onto another trail to the very top of the mountain. We all decided that, if we can get in shape and, if we return next year, we would do that trip.

After leaving the Ranch, we stopped at Arby's in town for some lunch and then headed home. The day was fun and provided a new and different experience for us in the Cody area. It doesn't get much better than this.

We are planning to go to the concert-in-the-park and the rodeo this evening for the last time this season. Before that though, there is a pizza party at the office that the front desk, maintenance and housekeeping employees are invited to in order to celebrate an award (The Best of Family Hotels in Cody) that the Village received. Josie and the Gift Shop workers were not included so I don't expect to stay too long. Until tomorrow...

Early Start, Late Post

Today's entry was delayed as a result of having to get up early to go horse back riding. That fun trip will be described tomorrow. We discovered that the Bill Cody Ranch, about 30 minutes from Cody on the road toward Yellowstone was offering free horse rides to employees of the Buffalo Bill Village, so we took advantage of that offer.

Yesterday was a long day for us at work. There were 53 cabins to sell which was the highest number since we started. There were only 17 reservations and no tours, so it made for lots of time on the radio communicating with the cabin show-ers. We're glad the week is over.

We are thinking about going to Jackson next week and maybe even taking an extra day so we can see everything. That would mean taking Wednesday off and getting somebody to cover for us on that day. People do it all the time, so I guess we can do the same if we need to. Our plan for tomorrow is to go to the Concert-In-The-Park for its final performance of the season, and then to the rodeo for the last time. The rodeo ends its season on the 31st of August. Things are really beginning to wind down now for the winter months.

More tomorrow about our nice trip this morning...

Weekend Coming Without a Plan

As we get closer to our weekend - today is our final workday for the week - we still don't have any definite plans for a trip. It is one of the few times that we don't have a place picked out to go. Actually, we have been to most of the areas that are of interest to us, with the exception of the Tetons. That trip is a bit too long for one day, and with the high hotel costs, will save that for September as a trip before we leave. One thing we will most likely do is go to the Rodeo one more time before it ends for the season at the end of August.

Yesterday morning was spent installing our replacement skylight in the shower of our rig. It turns out that the replacement is slightly smaller than the original and the night shade doesn't quite fit the new skylight. I sent an email to Doubletree, with photos, asking for suggestions. The only real solution of course, is to get a new shade that fits properly. Hopefully, Doubletree will see the problem and know it is theirs. More on that later.

We were told that there will be a Pizza Party on Friday for the staff at the Front Desk, Housekeeping and Maintenance for winning an award as "Best of Family Hotels, Cody WY". Evidently, it is the first time this award has been given to the Buffalo Bill Village Cabins so it should be nice. Josie and the Gift Shop staff aren't included, so that's a bummer. I probably won't stay long if I go myself. That's it for now...

Season Ending Sales Beginning

We went for a walk downtown yesterday morning before going to work and were surprised to see the changes beginning to take place. The season ending sales are beginning at most of the stores, especially at the clothing and specialty merchant shops. There were racks of clothes outside many of the stores and when we went into some of them, we saw merchandise that was marked down 50% or more. There also were a few stores that had "Business for Sale" signs in the window that were not there before. We suppose this is a natural event in town each year as these merchants need to make most of their money during the warm months of May through September, and probably starve during the other, colder, winter months. If a business doesn't make enough money to carry them over, they have to sell. There certainly is a large number of people coming through here in the warm months though - if our zero vacancy rate is any indication.

The new (replacement) part for the inner skylight arrived yesterday so I'm sure I will be installing that sometime this week. Remember the original part had damage on the side, so Doubletree RV sent a free replacement. This skylight is the one that is on the ceiling above our shower. There is a solid dome skylight on the roof that covers this one, and it is in fine condition.

Day 4 of our work week is today and we still don't know what we will do for our weekend this week. We want to go to Jackson and the Tetons, but we are having trouble finding a place to stay that is under $150 a night. That is a big nut to swallow, especially after staying in Riverton at the Holiday Inn last week for our employee rate of $39. Maybe the rates will go down if we wait until after September 1. That's about it for now...

Another Normal Day

Except for a storm that went through yesterday afternoon, there isn't a whole lot to say. It was heading for another hot day when the storm arrived at around 3:30 PM. The temperature at that time was 86 degrees and the storm cooled it down so that it was in the 60's by the time the dinner hour came for us at 7:30.

There was another potluck dinner for the workampers last night that we didn't attend. The dish that everybody had to bring was dessert, and we didn't want to go and stuff ourselves with food we would later be sorry we ate . Both of us are losing some unwanted pounds and that would have been suicide for the weight loss. There were lots of people that didn't go for the same reason.

Some forms were distributed to the workampers over the weekend to fill out if they planned to return next year. We will complete the form and submit it by the end of August. Karen and George are also planning to return and we all decided that, if we do, it would be for the AM shifts in the areas we work.  People that return get some benefits that first year workers don't receive - such as choice of shift, totally free site (now, we are paying $3 per day, $2 of which is returned at the end of the season in the form of a retention bonus), and choice of site for your rig. Things may change, but for now we are planning to return.

That's about it for today...

Cabin Traffic Slowing Down

After a half hour of madness at the front desk when I went on duty yesterday, it was noticeably slower as the cabin traffic is slowing down. We started with 26 cabins to sell at 2 :30 PM, and by the time I left at 10:30 PM, there were still 10 cabins available. That's the first time since we started that there not only were cabins left vacant, but that they weren't all sold by around 5 PM. We had 1 tour come in and only about 20 reservations. We are told that as we get closer to the end of season, more tours and fewer singles will be the norm. Families - especially with small kids - are all gone.

The weather, although beautiful and dry, heated up yesterday. The high was 97 which is hot for this area. There haven't been too many days like that so we can live with that. Another day in the 90's is expected today.

One of the individuals that checked into the cabins the other day was a gentleman that was born at the Heart Mountain Japanese Internment camp that we visited during our early days here. There is a Foundation that was formed to provide education of the events and memorialize the internment of these people during WWII. The group will be meeting at the Holiday Inn here and we understand that their goal is to construct an Interpretive Learning Center at the site which is only a few miles from here. It is an interesting story, and one that we Americans are not too proud to tell.

We have until 2:30 today to relax before heading back to work. Nothing else is planned this morning, so until tomorrow...

Drive Home from Riverton

We all met for a buffet breakfast at 9:30 in the hotel dining room before heading out to come home. The timing probably was bad since the buffet was scheduled to end at 10 AM and almost all of the food was old that was sitting in the hot trays. Anyway, we were on the road by 10:30 and we made it a great trip home by stopping at several different locations on the way.

There is a spectacular section of highway that lies between Riverton (actually, Shoshoni) and Thermopolis and goes through what is known as the Wind River Canyon. It was a beautiful section of highway and we stopped several times to enjoy the views and we came upon a cabin that was also a small store on the river that winds through this canyon. Here are a few photos taken while at this cabin:

After leaving the cabin and enjoying a "smoothie" there, we found this bighorn sheep that was just walking and grazing along the railroad track that was on the river:

We arrived at the town of Thermopolis - remember the trip that Josie and I took to the Dinosaur Museum there a few weeks ago - and stopped at the Mineral Hot Springs that the town is known for. They have the worlds largest mineral hot spring and they have several pools within the State Park, some of which are available for the public to use. As you enter the Park, you see this giant Teepee Fountain:

The park is an area that reminded us of the Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone only people were enjoying the benefits of the mineral hot springs in this town. The pools all drained into the river at this location:

After walking around the pools on a "boardwalk", we came to this pool that was one of several that were available for the public to use:

Josie and I had our bathing suits with us, so we went into the bathhouse and changed and went into the pool to enjoy the 104 degree mineral water:

There was a strict 20 minute limit for everybody that entered the pool and we enjoyed every minute of the time in there. Karen and George didn't have their suits, so they sat on the edge with just their feet in the pool.

We then drove around the rest of the park and went to the top of the hill that overlooks the entire city of Thermopolis, and we saw these Buffalo at the top of the hill:

We then stopped at a burger place while in Thermopolis and had a late lunch before heading out for the final leg of our trip.

It was a fun trip and one that we were happy to share with Karen and George. It was near 6:30 PM by the time we reached home and we just relaxed for the rest of the evening.

It's back to work again today - it's too bad that the days off fly by so fast. We are reaching the time where the traffic at work will slow, so it will be interesting to see what happens over the next several weeks. Until tomorrow...

Greetings From Riverton

Our scheduled departure for Riverton was right on time yesterday - 10 AM. It took us about 3 hours and, except for a construction delay on the way, was uneventful. When we arrived at the Holiday Inn, we checked in and decided to ride around the town a little while to see where everything was - such as the casino - before actually going to the room. The town itself is quite disappointing. It's not at all like Cody. There isn't much to see or do except for going to the casino. We stopped at the casino just to check it out for later and we were somewhat disappointed in the casino also. There were about 350 slots and a few gaming tables, but the slots were almost all penny and dollar machines. There was one line of quarter slots - about 10 machines - all of them being the same type. We also signed up for a casino card (which is not used in the machines for credits like other casinos) and each received $5 of free play. We can't figure out why they even issue these cards unless it's for future drawings. Anyway, we drove around the town looking for a nice place to have dinner and found a good steak house called The Bull that was recommended by the clerk at the hotel. Since it didn't open for another hour when we got there, we decided to go to our rooms and freshen up before dinner and our "exciting" evening at the casino.

We were surprised when we entered our room to discover that the hotel had assigned our rooms backwards. Karen and George were supposed to get a room with a queen bed since there reservation was made last and the king rooms were all taken, and we were supposed to get the king room - both on the first floor. I went back to the front desk and, after some shuffling of rooms by the clerk, was re-assigned a king room on the second floor. That was OK.

Dinner at The Bull was excellent, although pricey. There weren't many people in the restaurant which concerned us at first, but we figured it was near empty as a result of their high prices, rather than the quality of food.

It was then off to the casino:

It's not the greatest picture of the casino, but you get the idea. It was a fun time there as Karen and George learned a lot about what was a new experience for them. They never have been to a casino before and they enjoyed watching everybody although they did play about $10 each. Josie and I had our usual stake and she lost hers while I was fortunate to break even for the night.

It should be enough of a casino "fix" to last us for awhile. We came back to the hotel and had a glass of wine in the lounge before coming back to the room at around 10 PM. Today we will meet for a buffet breakfast at 9:30 here at the hotel, and then head home. It was a trip that, although a little disappointing, satisfied our curiosity about the only "real" casino in Wyoming. Later...

Off to Riverton

First of all, the eye exam yesterday revealed, or I should say, confirmed, that my right eye has an "eye floater". The Doctor did a thorough examination - including pictures - and showed me where and how the problem occurred. It appears that I will always have this occurring in my right eye but he indicated that the brain learns to live with it and the floater will become non-obtrusive over time, except for when I look into a bright background. Aging is not fun.

We are happy to see the weekend  arrive and are getting ready to leave for Riverton, WY. Of course, the main attraction there is the only "real" Casino in Wyoming. The employee program for discount rates makes a huge difference in our room costs for the trip. We will be staying at the Holiday Inn Conference Center there which is another hotel owned by the Blairs - our employers - and we get the room for $39. The normal rate is $130 per night for our type of room. Not a bad deal. Karen and George are also taking the trip with us and it was a last minute challenge to get them a reservation. They had the additional problem of getting a baby sitter for their little dog, which they accomplished.

Our plan is to leave here around 10 AM since the drive is only 2 1/2 hours to Riverton. That gives us time to visit other attractions in the town and spend a leisurely evening - like maybe at the slots?? Until tomorrow...

Eye Doctor Visit

About a week ago I woke up with a wierd distortion in my right eye. It appeared that curved lines were in my vision and would not go away. Thinking it was a temporary condition, I lived with these "lines" in my vision for several days before contacting an eye doctor here in Cody. When these kinds of  things happen, I try to self diagnose the problem by researching the symptoms on the internet. The closest thing I could find is what is called "eye floaters" and that is a condition for which there is no cure and results from a change in your eye chemistry as a result of aging. It could also mean that something else is happening that could be more serious. I contacted a local Opthamologist and will go this morning to have a Retina examination to determine the cause of my problem. Results will be known later.

Our last day of the work week is today so we will be planning for our fun time beginning tomorrow. We still are looking at a trip to either the Tetons or Riverton. My guess is that the first trip will be to Riverton as Josie has been having Casino withdrawal symptoms for a while now. Maybe not.

We went to Greybull yesterday and saw 2 groups of the wild mustangs on the way there. The first group was seen in the same area as last week and we were able to get a little closer this time:

The town of Greybull was a little disappointing but we did see another, much larger group of wild mustangs, but they were too far away to get good photos. On the trip back home, we saw these Pronghorn Antelope that were grazing fairly close to the highway:

It was a very busy day at work and both Josie and I had to work a little later in order to balance our financials for the day. Looking forward to tomorrow...

A Walk Downtown

It was a beautiful day so we decided to to take a walk downtown. Josie has been wanting to go to this antique store at the other end of town, so yesterday was the day. It is a nice, old home that was turned into a store and the entire house was filled with old relics of Cody and surrounding areas. There was some interesting merchandise inside, but the real attraction was the house itself. The woman inside told us that it was built in the early 1900's, and she related stories about the former owners and the fact that the kids that were raised in the house come by occasionally to relive their days spent in the house.

We stopped at a place called "Pete's Cafe" in town and had an ice cream cone to make the walk more enjoyable. This has become a favorite for us as they give nice, large scoops of ice cream for a failrly low price. All in all, the walk was good for us and we probably should do it more often - without the ice cream cone, of course.

Day 4 of our work week is today and we long for our weekend. We are still undecided about where we are going, but it will be someplace different, for sure. More tomorrow...

Erratic Traffic at Work

It's hard to figure out what is going to happen at work these days. Saturday was super busy to the point that we barely had enough time to sit down for a short break. Yesterday, we were sold out of our cabins by 5 PM and the last reservation checked in by 6 PM. That left from about 6 PM to 10:30 with very little to do. I'm not sure which is better. The time goes by faster when we're busy, but the stress level is higher. Maybe we'll get a good mix someday before we leave. We know that it will get less busy as the kids all begin to go back to school and the crowd turns to almost exclusively retired people. September will most likely be a slow month.

While having less work to do, we had more time for casual conversation. We're trying to figure out the best route to get to Patty's house in Naperville, IL, from here in early October. No matter which way we choose, there are mountains to go over with some degree of passes. That makes Josie nervous, as she will be following in the Jeep. The only way to avoid the mountains is to go a couple hundred miles out of the way - either to Billings to the north to pick up I-90, or to go way south and take non Interstate roads for several hundred miles. We still have some time to figure out the final route. One of the people at work has suggested the route that I thought we should take which includes just a short trip through the lower mountains, and picking up I-90 in Buffalo, WY. We'll see.

Today is "hump" day, which means mid week for us. We are probably going to do one of our longer trips this week on our days off - Jackson and the Tetons, or Riverton and the casino. Or, maybe we'll do one this week, and the other next so that it breaks it up a little bit. We'll decide soon, but that's about it for now...

A Walk Around the Cabins

We have been here since early June and one thing Josie hadn't seen was the cabins, so yesterday morning we took a walk to see them. There are 83 of them and they are spread around the rear of the Holiday Inn. I thought I would share a little bit of the history of these cabins, as reported by Judy Blair, one of the Owners:

"They were originally built by Col. "Buffalo Bill" Cody to house the crew he imported to do the infrastructure of the town of Cody. Many of the crew were Mormons from the Salt Lake Area. Col. Cody negotiated with Prophet Brigham Young to bring settlers to this area. These pioneers not only assisted with the building of Cody, but also in bringing water to this area by the creation of the Sidon Canal between Cody and Lovell, WY.

The cabins retain their historic exterior as much as possible. The same hand-hewn logs used in the early 1900's are in service today. The cabins have had considerable upgrades in the inside and now have full bath and private bedrooms (rather than outdoor plumbing, bunk beds built into the walls with a pot belly stove in each). All units include air conditioning and heat, coffee makers, hair dryers, full bath (tub & shower) and a western decor."

Here are some photos of these cabins:

These cabins all come with beautiful, new interiors and are offered in several different configurations: Single with double, queen or king bed, double with two beds, triple and Quads, having up to 4 beds, which are 2 bedroom cabins that share a bathroom. So now, when I refer to the cabins, you have a little better feel for what they are.

Also, all of the cabin customers have access to, and the use of the swimming pool at the Holiday Inn. That nice pool looks like this:

The rest of the morning was a relaxed morning before heading to work. We get to do it again today, although nothing is planned for this morning - except for maybe watching the final round of the PGA golf tournament on TV. Until tomorrow...

Cool, Cloudy and Damp

Yesterday was one of those very cool and overcast days with a little rain and very breezy. It was the first day like that that we've had since we arrived. We don't know if it's a sign that summer is ending or if it was just a freak weather front that went through. Whatever it was, it resulted in our staying close to home and not doing too much of anything. Josie did a little bit of laundry and I watched the PGA Championship on TV for most of the afternoon.

I had planned to install a new inner skylight to replace the one we have that has a crack in the plastic siding but the replacement that was sent to me has an imperfection on it and I need to send it back to Doubletree for a good one. That left the day open for watching golf. Too bad.

It is still pretty cool outside this morning (48 degrees) but at least the sun is shining. Our work week starts today so we will again remain close to home. There isn't much else to write about this morning so we'll see what today brings...

Red Lodge MT

Our planned trip to Red Lodge, MT, started at 11 AM by picking up Karen and George at their rig and traveling to Powell, WY, for a Chinese Buffet. It was excellent, and we will revisit this restaurant before leaving in October.

The trip to Red Lodge was planned with an eastern route to get there, and traveling the Beartooth Highway and Chief Joseph Scenic Highway for the return trip. We arrived in Red Lodge at around 2 PM and enjoyed this small town - population of around 3,000, for nearly 3 hours. The weather turned sour just as we arrived, so some of our pictures were taken with an overcast and dreary sky. It was a quaint little town with nice little shops and flower baskets hanging all up and down the street along the curb and outside the businesses:

With the rain starting to come down and the time flying by, we left the town after 5 PM to head to the Beartooth Highway. The road is probably 50 miles in length and is full of switchbacks that climb to an elevation of almost 11,000 feet with spectacular views along the way. There were several areas where you could pull off the road to enjoy the views. We stopped at this one, about halfway to the top, and took the following photos:

We kept traveling along the switchback roads that, in some places, only had a guardrail between you and a thousand feet or so drop off the side. Josie was stressed to the point of wanting to sleep through the rest of the drive on this road in order to avoid looking at the straight down dropoffs. It was a good thing I was driving and had to keep my eyes glued to the road, or I would have felt the same way. It was definetely the scariest drive we have taken in a long time. At the same time, it was the most beautiful drive.

We reached an area near the top of the pass and walked along a path (paved, and with stone walls about 2 feet high, with railings on top) that provided views all over the valley. We took pictures for a group of girls and they reciprocated by taking a picture of the four of us:

In the same area, which was close to 10,000 feet in elevation, there were chipmunks all over the place looking for handouts. These chipmunks were so tame they would walk right up to you, stand on your shoes, and look up at you as though to ask for food:

We kept driving - up - and finally reached the summit of the pass which was at an elevation of 10,947 feet:

We were so high, that we were above the snow line - in the middle of August. In fact, what we were getting as rain at the lower elevations, was snow at the top. We saw one vehicle that had run off the road earlier in the day, so we were thankful that we were here later in the day. The overcast sky undoubtedly restricted our photo shooting of some of these spectacular vistas:

Our trip down eventually connected with the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway that we previously took when we went to Yellowstone through the Northeastern entrance. The following is a picture taken from the top of the pass on that beautiful highway:

Our drive was just spectacular the whole way back from Red Lodge. We saw several deer along the way and we even spotted this moose, which was the first one we've seen since we arrived here:

The rain continued off and on the whole way home, and we finished with this photo of the rainbow that followed us most of the way down the mountains:

It was another wonderful day with good friends in this beautiful part of the country. We arrived home at about 8:30 PM and watched a little TV before turning in for the day.

Today will be a stay at home day. There are a couple small projects that need to be done at home and the skies are overcast again this morning. It will be a good day to just relax...

More of the Mustangs

It was such a nice day yesterday that we went for a drive before work to where the wild mustangs herd was located about 20 miles outside of town. We went up the same dirt road turnoff that we previously took and drove about a mile in without seeing any horses at all. There was a herd of cattle grazing and lots of horse sign (road apples) along the way, but no horses. There was another vehicle coming out that I stopped and asked if they had seen any of the horses further in and they indicated that the only thing they saw were the cattle. Well, we were getting low on gas, so we decided to turn around and head back to town. Our binoculars are always in the car in case we see something and need to use them and it was a good thing we had  them yesterday. Just before leaving the area we spotted the herd about 2 miles away, standing on a hill that looked like it was fairly close to the highway. We headed east and sure enough, there they were standing on the edge of a cliff about 1/2 mile off the road:

As luck might have it, there was a small dirt road that went into this area a short distance down the highway. We went in, and although it wasn't the best or smoothest road, we could get a little closer to the herd:

At this point, our gas light came on and we were forced to turn around and leave. We aren't sure if we could have gotten much closer though since the dirt road ended and we would have had to "blaze" a trail to get closer. It's always nice to see the wild horses.

It's the "weekend" at last for us once again. We have planned a trip to Red Lodge Montana today with Karen and George. They are going to buy us lunch at a Chinese restaurant that they went to in Powell some time ago and, even though it is a little out of our way, we plan to eat lunch there around noon today before heading to Red Lodge. There is a beautiful and scenic highway that goes there called the Beartooth Pass highway that is about 10K feet high and suppose to be one of the most beautiful scenic highways in the country. Hopefully we will have some good photos from our day. It is another gorgeous day, so we expect to have clear views along the way. That's about it for today...

The J Hanging L Ranch

As mentioned yesterday, we all (Karen, George and Josie and I) went to the ranch where the lady we work with (Jeanne) keeps her horses and where her friend (Jack) lives. The ranch was named the J Hanging L for the name of the owner, Jack Lantz. He is a retired individual that made a lot of money building homes, mobile home parks and one campground. He also had a home in upstate New York that he is selling and is now in the escrow process. The ranch is 1500 acres, 400 of which are irrigated, and it is a sight to see. There are several buildings on the property, including this corral, where Jeanne brought out two of her horses for us to see:

That's Karen, Josie and Jeanne.

There are a total of 9 horses that Jack keeps on his property, including those that belong to Jeanne. Below is a picture of Jack talking with Josie:

We were all offered the chance to ride one of the horses around the corral, and George, Karen and I took up the offer and had a good time riding the horse around for a while. It has been probably 30 years since I was on a horse, so it felt a little strange:

Jack has homes on his property for 3 of his daughters, plus his own, new log home:

He took us on a tour of his home and, even though it was relatively small to suit just himself,  it had everything you would expect to see in a log home, including this beautiful great room:

Below is a shot of one of his daughter's homes on the property:

Jack then took us on a ride on the dirt road that goes to the back portion of his property where we had this view:

His property is totally fenced, and the fence line could be seen just on the other side of the small mountain in the center of the photo. It was an amazing property and there were mountain views in every direction.

The rest of the day was spent working on our 4th day of the week. Yes, today is our "Friday" and we are looking forward to our days off starting tomorrow. We will be taking a short drive this morning before going to work - not sure yet which direction we will be going, but we'll let you know tomorrow...