posted by Ashalah on destinations, Life, travel, united states, Where in the World Wednesdays

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I was sitting on a lawn chair on someone’s driveway completely stuffed full of good BBQ, an amateur fireworks show put on by mostly kids was going off in front of me (and overhead) and the wide expanse of stars looking down on me and I thought, I could live here. I could do this.

I almost didn’t go. Even as I was packing up the car on Thursday morning I was pondering whether I really should be making this eight hour trek north to visit my friend whom I had just seen in April for Easter. Especially when I hadn’t started my job yet and I hadn’t gotten any unemployment money. As my friend said, “Can I ask you with what money are you here with?!” I wasn’t really sure but I wanted a getaway for a weekend, and I got one.

I am glad I decided to go, despite the horrendous eight hours it takes to drive up there. It should be illegal for me to drive while bored (DWB?) because I tend to text, eat, drink and basically start looking around to see if I can spot ANYTHING of excitement. I’m a danger to Wyoming residents. That is, if there were any. The roads luckily are pretty empty so driving while bored isn’t so hazardous, except maybe to bunnies or baby cows. (None of which were harmed while driving!)

The majority of the weekend was spent relaxing, something which I am always guaranteed when I come to visit. I can sleep in, I can take my time in the morning getting ready and I don’t have anything pressing to do during the day. We took drives into town, had lunch at the Bread Bowl, a great sandwich place and took drives through the country while her two year old napped. I’m not sure how good quality these naps were considering the one we took on a certain Stagecoach Road was about as terrifying as a drive could get. Dirt roads, hairpin turns, steep drop-offs and a lot of squealing coming from the two girls in the front seats. Somehow she slept through all this.

When we weren’t relaxing or driving around, we were drinking and having a grand old time. Friday night we decided to go to La Comida, a local mexican joint we always go to when I come visit. I had a mexican margarita and just one was enough to get me drunk. Add on a couple glasses of wine and I was good to go. We had a dance party in her living room, complete with cowboy hats and a fox stole that made its way around the room. Luckily, there is photographic evidence of this crazy dance party:

We went to street fairs, baked cakes and pies and laughed a lot. Cody apparently is big on parades so on Sunday, the Fourth of July, we got up early and headed into town to watch the parade. There were a lot of horses, tractors and marching bands with cowboy hats on, a very different approach to a parade than any I’ve been to! Sunday afternoon we headed out of town to go to a BBQ at a family friend’s ranch. The scenery was gorgeous, only enhanced by the beautiful evening weather we were having. There was tons of food and conversation and at the end of the evening we all found ourselves in lawn chairs under the stars, watching a fireworks display put on by a couple adults and all the kids in the front yard.

It had been decided when I arrived that I would stay an extra day so that I could also go to the party Kira’s family was having on Monday evening. Since I didn’t have to work until Wednesday, I agreed with them on staying and so Monday morning I woke up bright and early and went for a hike with her dad, uncle, cousin and her brother in law and his family. It was supposedly a nice easy to moderate hike. I am never trusting her father again. I nearly broke myself climbing up Heart Mountain, a beautiful hike that nearly caused me to need a hip replacement. It wasn’t any harder than ones I’ve been on before, yet for some reason my hip started to ache about 3/4 of the way to the top. The beautiful views helped distract me from the pain but barely dulled it since the pain lasted for the rest of the day and well into yesterday’s drive home.

I climbed to the very top of that mountain.

The view from the top

That evening after taking a long hot shower, we had the second party which involved even more great food, including my Tres Leches cake. We sat around talking and laughing over something or other, Kira and I texted each other while sitting next to each other and at the end of the night we shot off fireworks in her driveway.

This blog post doesn’t even begin to properly sum up what a fun weekend it was. There were more inside jokes made, a ton of food eaten and beautiful scenery all around. Sometimes I think I’d like to live in a small town like that, to live in wide open spaces and know everyone in town. Sometimes it sounds nice but I know I will never be that type of person. It’s nice to have it as an escape for a week here or there but all the time? I don’t think I’d appreciate it as much.

Now, tell me what you did with your Fourth of July weekend!

Tags: Friends Make My World Go \'Round, Funemployment, Life in Photographs, The Good Times