Three weeks in Wyoming

I recently took a break from my surprisingly stressful life (considering that i do not have a job, house, pet, or significant other and all i really do is travel through Latin America) and visited my family in the states. The first stop? Home... well, as close to home as any place can get these days anyway: Wyoming.

My fabulous mother was having a birthday, and my father (whose spouse had arranged my flight) thought it was a good idea to send me to see her first. The only problem? I had become increasingly lonely over the previous weeks by myself, slowing wasting away to an unknown illness, and my mother had a plan to take her spouse to climb the Teton Mountains for their fifth anniversary (which also happened to be on her birthday). So that meant that i was flying home to an empty house... in the middle of summer in Wyoming...

But as it turns out, my mother and i had a few days together before she left, and one of the first things we did? Go to her local asian nail salon and get my year-and-three-months-traveling feet addressed. As we walked in, and everyone greeted my mother warmly, she stage whispers that my feet are in pretty bad shape (which is very true) and gives a conspiratorial wink to the poor woman who will be in charge of making them presentable.

After much soaking, filing, shaving, and scrubbing my feet looked like they belonged to someone else!

(Just as long as you ignore the open wounds from mosquito bite scratching... I have little to no self-control)

Did i mention that my mother's birthday/wedding anniversary also happens to fall on my beautiful nation's Independence Day (she is a scientist and finds it very logical to celebrate everything at once)? So we both got fancy flag designs on our new toes! And as an additional safe guard to my sanity, my mother had her father come up to keep me company while she was gone. And let me just say, my grandfather is AWESOME!

My grandmother has already relocated up to my hometown of Casper in an assisted living apartment in order to be closer to her doctors (there aren't doctors in the town they live in that's about 3 hours away... in fact just about the only things in that town are a post office, a bar, and a really good Mexican restaurant) and have help with her depreciating sight and hearing. But she and i have a tenuous relationship in the best of times, so having my grandfather as a buffer was very appreciated.

Granddad showed up, took one look at my fancy toes, and decided that we should probably pack up the old lady (his words) and take those toes out to the Municipal band's concert in the park.

Taking my toes out to enjoy the Municipal Band

Other than that i experimented in cooking meat for the grandparents (it turned out edible), giggled and wrestled with my grandfather, and watched some fireworks with a glass of scotch and water. The best moments of Wyoming are always saying something that surprises or amuses my soft spoken grandfather, watching him raise his wild eyebrows up to the middle of his forehead, big eyes peeking over his spectacles, while he says oh, really? And then his whole belly shakes with his little chuckles as his eyes squint into well-worn crows feet while a hand either taps me on the shoulder or pushes his glasses back up his nose. He is so precious to me it literally hurts my chest!

Mostly, we enjoyed each other's company in quiet, watching the clouds or listening to the many birds sing from the trees that were once no bigger than i am but now stretch up over all the homes in the neighborhood. The place has changed quite a lot since i lived there nearly 15 years ago, with houses filling in most of the fields we used to run through. There is still one at the end of my mother's street, clearing the view to the mountains at the south of town.

The only field left...

Oh! And we also went down to the Humane Society and adopted a dog for my grandfather to have company in his now empty house. Her name is Lady and like all shelter dogs i have met, she will claim your heart in ten minutes or less.

The two of them are getting along quite well from what i hear. They go on adventures, have conversations throughout the days, and enjoy the same old movies on television at night.

But as the title says, i spent more than one weekend in Wyoming with my mother. For three weeks i kicked about the house, working on my TEFL certification, baking from time to time, and drinking wine. The best thing i tried to bake up? Strawberry Pizza inspired by this blog.

Strawberry Pizza

I can't follow directions properly, and i couldn't find the mixer for a while, but that's the general idea. Mine turned out wonderful! Also, i used the sugar cookie recipe from here for the crust because in my lazy browsing i did not come across the crust in the first blog. Again, keep in mind that i can't follow a recipe to save my life, but other than being a little thicker than the ideal in my head, using it as inspiration was a good choice.

The more appropriate view of what i'm doing each day

Both the wine and the pizzas were delicious!

Of course while i was in town i had to take in the Central Wyoming Fair and Rodeo. It was less controversial for me than i remember (maybe something to do with the bull fights and animal treatment in Latin America...), and i LOVED when they plopped little cowkids onto the back of sheep and tell them to hold on as long as they can... so adorable!

At the end they let the horses run free around the entire complex a few times and then around the arena until we all leave.

They were beautiful.

Also, mum and i took part in a 5k glow run/walk, which encourages the best costumes to come and exercise to benefit Safe Kids. So we went to Target, found anything that glows at night... Which for mum turned out to be an adorable butterfly outfit while i crafted a glow in the dark lake with these adorable ducks i found.

Yep, those are glow in the dark fishes hanging down

It turned out well. And the exercise bit was fun too (who would have ever thought to hear me say that!)!

And then I packed up myself, put Clifford into Bitty's little yellow car, and moved along to visit friends before I landed at my father's house for his birthday.

Overall, not only did i survive the heat, i had a very pleasant visit with my family... Until next time, Wyoming!