Playing tourist/tour guide

Recently had Mom and my sister here to visit - awesome! Showed them around the region and saw quite a few things I hadn't experienced myself. Quite a nice mini-vacation, as it were. The girls are now in New York spending Mom's money (and possibly Dad's, if they find clothes that are expensive enough).

As is customary, I took them up to the Snowy Range first:





And did a lap around Centennial, pop. 100, home to the worst kitsch in the West:



I showed them how fantastic science is:



Then it was off to the rodeo at Cheyenne Frontier Days, which was unexpectedly cool. I'd never gone to one myself, and the girls had certainly never seen anything like it. They were pretty stoked, not least because of the fantabulous hats:



I was a little taken aback at the sheer violence of this most Western of sports, though. It's surprising that these guys last more than a few years doing it professionally:



Then it was off to Rocky Mountain National Park. Arguably one of the coolest mountain ranges this side of the Atlantic, it has grand vistas:





Cute wildlife (hi, Chip! Or is it Dale?):



Pretty lakes:



Unfortunately, most of the park sits well above 10,000 feet and seeing stuff does require walking uphill frequently. Evidently, this doesn't agree with city slickers from sea level for very long:



But temporary hypoxia-induced setbacks aside, we had a blast while they were here. Hope this becomes a yearly tradition - I think it's Dad's turn next year. This time you'll catch a fish, Dad, I promise!

Georgia Boy Awareness Day

I've recently been informed by a certain anonymous reader that I'm portraying my good buddy Tom in a somewhat negative light. Admittedly, it's easy to take that spin - for one thing he photographs so very, very... curiously:



But I'm not an unfair or cruel man - especially not to my friends. So, in an effort to remedy this perceived smear campaign against one of Laramie's finest, I give you a list of Tom's recent accomplishments:

• Acquired no less than three novel and derogatory nicknames in a single weekend up in Lander, including "Dr. Felchman", "Pantene" (an updated version of the previous "Silky") and "a wig riding a chicken".


• Through diligent work at the gym, swelled his already over-sized biceps to such a diameter that the last nickname actually seems appropriate:




• Yarded on gear up numerous finger cracks, while exclaiming "I had it that time!"


• Had a local bar proclaim Wednesdays "Tommy Night". Unfortunately, only patron on Wednesdays is the aforementioned Tommy.


• Had a novel drink named after him at the above bar. Again unfortunately, the name was in fact "Buttercup".


• Fell off a route at Beehive Buttress - likely the first time any climber accomplished this almost Herculean feat.


• Frequently took intellectual high ground by referring to his level of education - his "pH level intellect", to be precise.

Of course this is only a minute sample of all his neigh-well-heroic deeds - the most impressive of which might be putting up with all the shit he gets from his friends...

In other news, I've got family coming in this week and I'm excited about that. Hopefully we'll enjoy some rodeo, mountains and good steaks. If you want to come visit at some point, just shoot me an e-mail!