And Now You Are Wearing the Right Hat

We hadn’t returned to our favored campsite in Ten Sleep, Wyoming for five years, despite planning to go every summer — multiple times a summer, no less. A week or two ago I suggested we head that way, kind of in an off-hand way, the way I might suggest we hike the Appalachian Trail or start a dandelion farm. However, Brian ran with the idea, and so we went.

We are both in much better shape than we were five years ago. Instead of hanging out in the tent, watching Duck Dynasty on the laptop, and drinking whiskey while we watch coyotes hop around nearby, we decided to go out into the world. We did a little geocaching and then some hiking in the Big Horn Mountains. I have some photos I took on my antique iPhone (I can’t be bothered to lug the bulky camera around these days, especially since I’m always carrying things to save myself from being mauled to death.), but the perspective makes it look like we strolled up a slight incline instead of making a climb up whatever that rock formation is classified as — a mesa?

Fine. Look. I’ll show you anyway. But I’m telling you, it’s not being honest with the height and it’s quite annoying.

Gawh!

Here’s another from up there.

That’s our truck waaaaaaaay down there in the little needle-eye loopy dirt path thing.

On this side, if I had fallen, I’d probably have lived but I wouldn’t be walking back out on my own. On the other side, the behind me side, if I had fallen, I’d have died. We were at the top of some massive pines living way down by a reservoir. I didn’t take pictures of that because it was windy and I didn’t want to die.

This photo was to have a pretty background for our hats. The stuff in the distance is where we were but it still doesn’t look as impressive as I would like it to, dangnabbit.

Let’s just move on, okay?

Both of these hats are Turner Hats. Mine is the one on the right. It’s a very pretty and light-weight sun hat, because what you want when you’re looking for protection from the sun is a holey hat. Also, it’s made of 100% paper (the tag says so, I’m not exaggerating), which is why it was only $13.00. I hope I’m never wearing it when it rains. The other one is very structured and nice. It’s definitely worth the $40 price tag and it will absolutely hold up to humidity and sweat. I can’t find these exact hats online to link for you, though there are two very similar to Brian’s on their site. I can tell you we bought them at Bomgaars, which is only going to be helpful if you live in, or fancy a drive to, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, or Wyoming.

We took a bit of a break from healthy food while camping. We did pick up a cucumber, little heirloom tomatoes, mini sweet peppers, carrots, and angelcots, but those remained untouched. We indulged in a little bad food to make the eating portion of our trip a little less time consuming, messy, and boring. Our diet consisted of pepper jack cheese, crackers, hummus, artichoke/jalapeno/parmesan dip, cheese dips, mini bagels, and my favorites, Birchberry Bistro salads (macaroni and potato salad). Picnic salads used to be some of my favorite foods to eat, but I don’t eat mayonnaise much these days, so they were a fantastic treat. Sorry to report that it seems they’re only available in Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada. I didn’t mean to tease.

Tuesday will be the end of our little vacation, so it’ll be back to salads, fish, and grains. Hopefully the bit of weight I’ve gained will shed itself when things return to normal. I’d like to be able to breathe comfortably while wearing my pants again.

After emerging from a day in the mountains, Brian suggested I video our drive back to camp. Of course, I didn’t remember until we were a bit into the area, but I managed to get a little. Please excuse the bugs and dust — nature and all that.

I had to create a YouTube account to upload it, since it’s such a large file. You probably shouldn’t subscribe to me; I don’t have plans to upload anything regularly to that platform.

Here’s the video:

(Fun fact – The thumbnail is from the same place six years ago, when we sorta-kinda lived there.)

Title From:
A Beginners Guide to Elvish
by Nutmeg