Priscilla’s Weekend

Well, we certainly had an eventful weekend around here, and I became even more of a traveler. On Friday, Pat, Jane and I jumped into the car (it was too cold for me to fly) and drove down to Denver. On the way.  we drove through the area that Vi had told me about, Vedauwoo (locals pronounce it vee-duh-voo, don’t know why) and I could see why she had been so impressed with it. The rock formations was incredible, and those were just the ones we could see from the car. Then we drove through another area that might be interesting for some of you. Jane pointed south from the interstate highway and said the the horse books written by Mary O’Hara, My Friend Flicka, Thunderhead, and The Green Grass of Wyoming, had been set in that area between Laramie and Cheyenne. It was open, rolling grassland, dusted with snow on that November day.

I had flown over Denver when I was going from Arizona to Wyoming, but we actually visited some of Pat’s family and stayed overnight. It was nice to meet more people, and they gave me a big welcome. On Saturday, we started back for Laramie. The weather wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t really bad until we got about 45 miles from Laramie on highway 287 outside of Ft. Collins, CO. Then we hit fog. Then we hit snow. And by the time we got to the border, it was blowing snow everywhere. I didn’t know that snow could fall horizontally! We crept most of the last 30 miles at 15 miles per hour, looking for the next reflector by the roadside and feeling for the rumble strip on the highway so we knew we were still on the road. Jane and Pat were grumbling that the road should have been closed, and I was just thinking that if it weren’t so cold, my broom would be a good idea. But we made it back fine, just late, and Jane and Pat told me that it wasn’t the first time they come into town like that.

The snow was over in Laramie, and it was beautiful and white. I wanted to make a snowman, but they told me that it was the wrong kind of snow. Apparently, it takes wet snow to make snowmen and snowforts, and this was dry snow, called powder. They told me it’s good for skiing on, though.

 On Sunday we just relaxed, and in the evening, the family lit the first candle on their Advent Wreath. Jane said she likes to wait a week or two before getting out all the Christmas decorations, so for now they just have the Advent Wreath.

Yesterday and today the wind has been blowing, which is very common in Laramie. Most of the snow has either drifted or blown away. Around here, they joke about the snow being blown to Nebraska, which is the next state east and about 60 miles away. We did catch a beautiful sunset this evening, though.

The view to the south -  the funny looking fence on the left of the picture is a snow fence, put up to keep the snow from blowing  and drifting onto the road quite as badly as it might otherwise.

The Denver skyline, unfortunately with its brown cloud of smog showing

Advent Wreath

December sunset in Laramie