Let's go, Let's show, Let's RODEO!

Let's get wild, rough, rugged, and a weeee bit western!

I'm back from Dubois, Wyoming--the most remote location in the lower 48 states (true story)--where I have spent six weeks working on my cowboy walk. I was a counselor for ten girls, ages 13-16, and I learned from them that my tastes in music, celebrities, and movies are about ten years younger than me. This wasn't really a surprise; I'm the first to tell you that I'm growing down instead of up, a gravitational wonder. Anyway, Teton Valley Ranch Camp is a crazy cool place and the kids who go there are as lucky as any I know. My girls went on a four day pack trip, a four day backpack, and spent days in camp doing awesome activities.

My favorites were the petrified wood hike, and pretty much anything that involved the swimming hole, Lake Lebato. The pack trip was a five hour ride to camp, where the cowboys and trail cook had set up a sweet kitchen and sleeping tarp for us. Pack trips are the lap of luxury: horses to carry you, cooks to feed you, and large guns (courtesy of the cowboys) in case of bears. I actually slept with my hand on the bear spray...though I tried to hide my paranoia from my girls since I was supposed to be the brave one. For our backpack, we started at Jenny Lake, hiked up Cascade Canyon, took a detour to the Wall, went up over Hurricane Pass into Alaska Basin, summited Static Peak, and ended at Phelps Lake. There may not be more beautiful country in the whole world... "I won't say I'm much better than anybody else, but I'll be darned if I ain't just as good!"....

A few things I learned from TVRC:

-everything is better outside

-mice are, in fact, as gross as I've always thought

-never tell a fourteen-year-old she's being dramatic

-time will pass--it always does

-almost everything can be funny

-there is very little you need to get along, especially when everyone around you has very little too

-loving people makes living with them so much easier

-i quite like being in charge

-jackalopes are not real. i promise

Summers are made for exploring the wilderness and yourself.

It's been a good summer.