The Noehren's

I knew I loved Wyoming back in college when I spent lots of time in the Teton, Yellowstone and Star Valley areas, but on this trip we drove completely across Wyoming twice - the northern section heading out and the lower section heading home on Interstate 80.  We saw more cows than I knew existed, mixed in with beautiful scenery and small country towns.   It brought completely new meaning to the term cowboy.  You really have to have a horse to manage all of those cows!  We got to see so many modern day cowboys doing their thing - moving cows to new pasture, over and over again.  It all seemed so romantic and cool.  Probably because it is soooo different than our way of life, and the weather was good.  In reality, I should probably just look into a dude ranch vacation.  Full time ranching might be too much.  Unless I lived with the Pioneer Woman and she did all the cooking.  I could do that.  :) Anyway, I really do love Wyom...

We left West Yellowstone and headed 5 hours south for Salt Lake City.  Brian was feverish and pretty sick so he slept while I drove.  I get so sentimental when I go to Utah and Idaho.  I just have so many happy memories from visiting my grandmas in Orem, Utah and Nampa, Idaho growing up and from my college years.  I may be a West Virginian but I have always been proud of my western roots.  I thoroughly enjoyed the drive going down memory lane in my head and stopping for a quick drive through of BYU-Idaho for the kids to see. Once we checked into the downtown Hilton we headed straight over to our favorite watering hole - The Lion House Pantry.  Oh man I love that place.  Why, oh why wasn't it there when I lived in SLC?  That is something I said over and over as we saw how much cooler and alive downtown Salt Lake is now than 20 years ago.   Some things are very much the same in a good way though - like temple square.  I just love ...

We spent the last day hanging out with Brian's parents driving to a few spots we hadn't stopped at yet.  By now, Brian had caught Haley's cold and was not feeling that great, but he plugged along.   Me, on the other hand still had intense calf pain from the hike two days before, mixed in with some saddle soreness, so I shuffled the best I could.  I've never had that happen before!  My legs were so sore I couldn't even make it down the little hill below so I happily sat and took in the view and ease dropped on hikers walking past.  My favorite snippet was from two ladies in their 60's walking up a steep section to where I was sitting.  One says "I just love the geology here!  Barb...just tell me if you are getting tired of me going on an on about all of this amazing geology."  Not missing a beat, Barb replies amid huffs and puffs climbing up the hill "Ok...(puff, puff)...I'm getting tired of hearing about all of this geology,"  to whi...