The Strawn's spent the first half of the week in Casper, Wyoming for the Fall Pastor's Conference. I had more fun this time than in time's past, and I think it's because Lars didn't cry nearly as much as usual. Maybe we're finally getting somewhere with him.
The conference didn't start till lunch on Monday this year so we got up before dawn and piled in the car, picking up another pastor in Scottsbluff on the way. We got to the church about 11:30 and made sandwiches before the kids & I left the preachers to learn and we went shopping. Since I'm finally remembering my way around Casper, I didn't have to study the map too much and we got to about 6 stores, including the mall play yard, before supper. Talk about a woman on a mission!
Tuesday morning, Eden wanted to go swimming. After Daddy left that morning, we suited up and headed down to the pool. It was locked up tight. Got a maintenance man to unlock it and jumped in. It was freezing! I was shivering within 2 minutes, and the kids were blue in about 5. Of course, Eden wanted to keep going and Lars was happily standing on the bottom step, splashing away. I sat on the edge wrapped up in blankets, eyeing the hot tub on the other end of the concrete. I finally convinced the kids we needed to warm up over there, so we took a dip in the hot tub, which had just been cleaned and was full of 72 degree water. Needless to say, I headed back to the room for a hot shower.
After lunch, Tte guys have Tuesday afternoon off to golf, but since Al doesn't golf or even want to attempt it, we try to do something in the way of 'family time'. This day, it was a drive out to Alcova Lake while the kids napped in the car. This is a man made reservoir from the dammed up North Platte about 30 miles from Casper. The drive was fairly mundane, unless you like to see herds of antelope playing in the sage fields. Once we got to the lake, it was beautiful. Rock climbers were about to rappel down a deep gorge and the winding roads made it worth the drive.
Ater that, it was back to Casper for some more shopping. I found some material for the top panel of my quilt and we found material for the back panel of his quilt. I was blessed enough to find a sticker sale at Hobby Lobby, something I haven't been able to do in over 3 years, and stocked up heavily, along with kid paint brushes, as Eden has a new painting fettish. I hope this is a stage that too shall pass... unfortunately, I forgot to buy new paints. Bummer.
We headed back home on Wednesday afternoon. Since the weather was nearly perfect, not too hot, not too cold, not too windy, and BOTH children were awake, we stopped in Gurnsey at Register Cliff and the Oregon Trail Ruts. The cliff is a spot where trail weary travelers stopped for a day of rest on their westward migration. The cliff provided a large amount of shade from the otherwise arid, dusty land & hot desert sun. Hundreds of travelers etched their names in the sandstone, along with dates & other messages. A dozen or so bodies are buried in a make shift cemetery at the base of the cliff, with little known about the dead. Up until the 1960's, people were etching their names in the cliff, so that, too, has become a part of history.
The Trail Ruts are a few miles away and, as you can see by the photos, are very defined through the rock, which was worn away with the hundreds of thousands of wagons that passed through, following the river on their way to California, Oregon, Utah & other lands. It's hard to imagine walking that route for more than a few hours, let alone months on end.
We arrived home Wednesday evening and I've spent the rest of the week catching up on laundry and 'stuff'.
Last night, in order that I didn't have to dress up the kids in warm clothes, we hired a babysitter to stay here while we went to a wedding reception up town. The place was packed and everybody looked beautiful in their fall colors, depsite the snow. The food was great, with lots of Greek desserts to pass around.
In other news, after nearly 3 months of no activity on the '98 pick up, a couple from about 90 miles away came to look at it yesterday. They happened to have cash on hand, and we struck a deal. Didn't get what we were wanting, but had to weigh the odds that it had been on the market for so long and our gasoline bill is through the roof with two 4 wheel drive vehicles. We simply needed to get rid of it so we could get something with better gas mileage for the preacher to drive all over the place for his meetings and visits. I hate not having a pick up, but if we buy a cheap enough vehicle, maybe we can buy his '78 Chevy back. :-)
Until next week, Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!
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