Wyoming 2010

The long awaited horse vacation to Wyoming is here and gone. What's the saying? "Take only pictures, leave only footprints." That we did. Plus a lost EZ boot minus the gator.

In true Vasa fashion, we had truck issues on the way out. John thought there was a problem with the differential, but ended up, we were just overloaded. We drained some water and got back on the road. Later, after lunch in North Platte, the truck decided to not start at all. After a four hour delay, John somehow bypassed the starter. We had a choice of finding a Chevy garage or heading on down the road. We opted for the latter and pulled into camp around 7:00 PM.

It's strange to go somewhere you haven't been before. We were most anxious to hit the trails, but the first day found us wondering around aimlessly. I lost that aforementioned EZ boot in the first hour or so. Torn right from the gator when we got into some mud crossing a meadow. The warranty is worthless because I don't have the lost boot. Although they seemed to protect Windy's unshod back hooves, I am very disappointed they could that easily rip away. I was worried about losing them, not destroying them! Oh, well. Back at camp, I have to say we were all disappointed in our ride. We just weren't seeing the good stuff. But that soon ended.

That evening we drove across the road to another area that looked promising. We talked with some other horse campers and found out where they ride. And headed there on horses the next morning. We started out on a trail marked with orange ribbon that soon found us hanging on the steep side of a mountain! We backtracked to another trail head and here we found the kinds of trails we drove 8 hours to ride! Beautiful tree-lined trails taking us up to the summit with spectacular views along the way. We even saw a moose!


Now that we got our trail riding groove back, we explored the first area once again the next day and went deeper into the forest and up on the rocks. We kept it fairly easy that day as the horses had been putting in some long hours. Once again, we had some beautiful views and a day of riding entirely different from the previous rides. And did I mention beautiful?

Our next venture was over to Vedauwoo, specifically Devil's Playground. Again, something different but awesome in it's own way. We watched in awe at rock climbers hanging on the side of the mountain. And the skies were so blue.

Unfortunately, we had to cut our vacation short. The truck was not handling the mountains well and was overheating, not to mention that pesky starter problem. John's decision to try to quit smoking while in the mountains was taking its toll on all of us. Family vacations aren't all they're cracked up to be, especially when only one of us is passionate about the ride. I do give Case credit - for not having another kid around to hang with, he did pretty well. I enjoy watching him ride and hope he will remember Wyoming fondly. Me? I'll be back. To do it again and more.

Pictures say so much more than words. Here are a few of my favorites.