Wow Wyoming

Our first stop in Wyoming was in Teton National Park, and while Yellowstone was spectacular in its natural beauty, the Teton Peaks certainly hold their own with a combination of magnificence and intimidation capturing the eyes all at once.  We were luckily meeting our good friend John Williams, current resident in the area, at the trailhead of Lupine Meadows for an afternoon hike.  While John is a former student and advisee of Ryan’s from our days at Gilman, he has become a close friend over the years, co-working with Ryan at Deerwood in the summers.   The beautiful thing about meeting up with a ‘local’ is that they know the inside treasures of an area and John met up to these hopes and took us up to a secret location known as Delta Lake, a turquoise colored gem just a little more than four miles up the trail tucked exquisitely between the largest of the Tetons.  The switch back trails in the west

are a nice change from the east coast "direct line straight up the mountain" ones, and even better are the beautiful views and vistas that exist along the entire trail line.  You truly don’t have to wait until you reach the summit for the spectacular photo op.  But with this territory comes cold weather in the evenings and as the sun started hiding behind the peaks, the boys found a wee bit of hidden snow to throw a few snowballs before we headed back down the mountain for a delicious burger at Liberty in Jackson. 
 
The next two days John took us mountain biking up Cache Creek, climbing at Rodeo Wall, and then more mountain biking up Munger Mountain.  All of us thrived off of John’s innate enthusiasm combined with the very rewarding vistas earned by some  intensely aerobic exercise biking up seemingly never ending steep ascents.  

I also enjoyed some new decorative bruises and scrapes much thanks to my extremely new and unfortunately very tight bike pedals.  Yes, that is right. I was feeling quite optimistic when purchasing our new bikes thinking there was no better time than the present to challenge myself with clipless pedals, otherwise known as pedals that never let go of your feet.  Unfortunately eager and optimistic didn’t exactly equal expert in ability or even slightly average, since I couldn’t even seem to get my feet detached even while pedaling in the parking lot never mind rocky, narrow, steep, single track trails.  So, that led to some very interesting moments being attached to my bike upside down in the woods, unable to release, unable to get up, unable to move at all. Good times, but all was quickly remedied as soon as we hit a bike shop and I learned that I could loosen the clips to make for easier releasing.  Good to know.

So, it felt like life had come full circle as we spent three days with John based out of his house, getting a chance to see him in his new job.  It was not too long ago that John was coming over to our house for lunch breaks as a high school student, and while I suppose that means we are getting older, it feels good and rewarding all the same to see connections made as teachers form into meaningful friendships.  Which segues nicely into our next destination which took place in Daniel, Wyoming.   ​

Sixteen years ago Ryan and I had left our first teaching job at the Verde Valley School to head to Malaysia and had not seen our former friends and colleagues Kevin and Amy Warren since we left.  And yet, it is reassuring in the best of ways to be able to pick up right where we left off, and the Warren’s warmly welcomed us in to their beautiful home located in the high plains of Wyoming.  As Grant and Ethan both mention in their blogs, Kevin gave them the time of their lives showing them how to be cowboys and according to Grant and Ethan, the current plan is for us to move to Wyoming and buy ourselves some horses.  ​