listening after dark: Recap: First summer camping trip

Last weekend, despite the promise of rain, we took off north, for Buffalo or Story or somewhere thereabouts. As is usually the case when car camping, we had enough supplies for a week. Yet we forgot the dutch oven and charcoal (rather, I forgot to ask Wes to bring his), so we had to turn around a few miles north of Casper to get them. It always takes a long time to get out of town: getting gas and donuts, me buying a fishing license, Wes buying a map. Etc.

During the drive, Wes observed the progress of his weed killing endeavors along I-25, while I...what did I do? Oh yeah, took pictures of stuff. The green green lands. Wes's pygmy tongue. My feet.

Driving toward Story, we passed this fire and of course had to turn into a side road to get a closer look. Alas, there were many trees in the way, but it didn't look like an intentional fire. Fun! I mean, bad. Nearby, we stopped to learn about the Wagon Box Fight. Wes was excited!

A short while later, we intended to fish a certain stream, but the water was so high that it covered part of the trail. So we thought this path might take us up and over. It did not. It also ceased to be a trail, provided much poison ivy to navigate around and continued upward at an extreme angle. Then we came back down. (Please note, Wes is not wearing a fanny pack. It's a fishing waist pack. Very different.)

Now this is camping.

Big bag of dry wood, courtesy of my neighbor. Hatchet, of course. Wine and backgammon. See the fancy dutch oven with hot coals on top? That was my contribution: dinner, in the form of Mexican cornbread casserole with lots of cheese on top. I've made it many times at home, with great results. Somehow the dutch oven was hotter than my home oven, and so I burned it. The cheese-crusted cornbread was great, especially with the honey Wes had luckily brought, but the meat, onions, olives, corn, tomatoes...incinerated. Evaporated. Not stuck to the pan, just gone.

Wes said, "We're too ugly for photos." Really, we (I) just don't do the camera-held-at-the-end-of-the-arm thing very well. But these are nice shots of Wes's (big, and Portuguese) nose.

He smiled! Almost.

Later in the evening, with darkness settling, our stomachs full of cornbread and honey, our palates tempered by wine and beer, we turned to other entertainment: firewood as drumsticks and chew toys.

I leave you with images of some common Wyoming wildlife: White-Tailed Deer, Lazily Grazing Horse and, my personal favorite, Scruffy Wild Man With Truck. Take care, these creatures are not as docile as they may seem.