Day 5 - Cody

Today was pretty great, partially because we didn't have to go go go all day. While our trips are always awesome, they are also tiring and we typically are up and out early and then back for a late dinner and immediate bed time. This morning, we slept in (except Ethan, I imagine) and then Will and I went for a quick run. We went into a neighborhood and then onto a recreation area around a large reservoir. With rattlesnake warnings posted, I was sure to stay in the middle of the paved trail. It was a pretty place to have a much needed run. 

After stretching, showering, and packing a lunch, we set off to see if we could find a place to explore the Shoshone River. We parked at a spot near town that had a paved Shoshone River Trail. There was a rafting group pushing off as we started our hike. The kids and I campaigned pretty hard to do a rafting trip, but Will has a lot of paranoia concerning the kids flipping out. The "rapids" are very light, and we watched a 2 year old getting into the raft trip we saw, but Will is convinced we will find something in Jackson to do that's a bit more his speed. We plan to hold him to it. The paved trail was fine but not all that secluded or impressive, so we went back to the car. 

While on our way to find this cave on Spirit mountain we read about, we turned off the highway when we saw a "place of interest" sign. We could see a road going along the river into a canyon. We stopped to eat lunch, and a random man in a truck stopped to asked if we'd gone down the road yet. He works at the power company along the river and told us to drive as far as we could down the road until we got to the public parking area. After that, only authorized vehicles can go down the road, but pedestrians are welcome. He told us to walk to the end, where there is a tunnel gated off, which would be the end of the line. It turns out that this was the closest we could get to the one side of the Buffalo Bill Dam. We did as we were told and were so glad we did! It was such a gorgeous walk in a canyon with the river at the bottom. The water was rushing more furiously here, and there were no areas calm enough for us to explore, plus we were up too high most of the time. But it was gorgeous! On one side we had the river with a high wall, and on the other side we had the other canyon wall. We could see where climbers had put in their metal clips for ropes all along the canyon walls. Apparently it is a popular place for climbers. We walked until the end where you could see half of the dam and the spray from some water being let in. There was a spot at the end were were able to go and feel the water (cold) and enjoy the nice, cool spray. 

On the way to this spot we found, we had passed a horse trail riding place we had read about. The kids, especially Eleanor, had expressed great interest, and so we decided they could do it. We gave them the option of going to see the Stampede or going for a horse ride. They chose horse. They said they'd rather be cowboys than watch cowboys. Will knew he would not go (remind me to tell you about our honeymoon  volcano horseback riding experience), so it was just the three of us. And now, I'm going to hand the iPad off to our mystery author while I wash some horse trail off of me in a much needed shower:

The horseback riding was overall, a splendid, stinky, stupendous, and scenic trip. For an hour ride, the horses/we hiked up spirit mountain, which was at least 75 yards up in the air. Not very much of the expedition was level. Most of the time we were going uphill. Michelle's horse was named Apache. He didn't seem to jazzed about the fact that he was going uphill, with a person on his back, in the blazing sunshine. Eleanor's horse was named Fluffy, and was second in line with the horse caravan, tied to our guides horse, Turbo. After Fluffy was Ethan's horse, Blackjack. Our guide told us that Blackjack was considered a "Grumpy old man, but overall nice to his rider." I guess that  the term, "Grumpy old man" comes from the fact that he really didn't like going downhill. But other than that, he was a "Spectacular horse," as Ethan quotes. On top of  spirit mountain, you could see all of Cody, Wyoming. Like a bumpy airplane, Will claims he would get "Motion sickness," when he decided to bail out. I think he just didn't want to smell the horse manure and look at the shiny green doo. Or he didn't want to pay to do it. Since you read this whole thing, I will tell you who I am. When I next see you.

Thank you to our mystery writer. I will add that this ride was definitely fun, if a bit scary at first. My horse had a mind of his own and kind of liked to do his own thing. Before we started, he walked over to where a bunch of other horses were tied up. They hadn't taught us how to reverse, and I was sort of scared of another horse getting spooked, so I had to wait for one of the employees to lead my horse back to the group. And, yes, the trail was quite steep at times. We were to lean forward while going up and lean back while going down. Apache stopped often to rest while going uphill; it started to give me a complex. We learned some neat things along the way, like why it's called Spirit Mountain. The mountain has a cave that has sulfur springs in it. Every so often, the Indians would see steam coming out of the cave and think they were spirits. Also, the Shoshone River was named by Indians and it translates to stinky river, due to the sometimes sulphuric smell. All in all, I'm glad the kids chose to ride the horses, as it's certainly not something you get the chance to do often. I have no doubt Eleanor will talk solely of this experience when telling about this trip. She was in heaven. 

While we were on our ride, Will had to drive to an ATM because the place only took cash (seriously?), and then he came back and waited, talking to the other employees. When we were leaving, he was talking to another man who worked at the power plant and urged us to drive up the road to see the dam from the other side, where there is a visitor's center. So that is what we did. Looking down the dam from the top is quite the experience. In 1910, Buffalo Bill Dam (previously Shoshone Dam) was the tallest in the world. Not so much anymore, but the video that showed how it was built was pretty incredible. The workers only had a few months out of the year to work because the flooding in the spring/summer was so bad. They had to do a lot of work in the bitter cold winter months and even finished it in January of 1910 after record breaking cold. The engineering of things like this is so beyond me, but I can appreciate how very difficult it must be. 

From the dam, we drove back through town, stopping at Walmart for a few staples for the next leg of our trip. Then we made a pit stop at Dominoes and ordered a pizza. Will took us back to the hotel to shower while he went back to get the pizza. We watched some Chopped and relaxed. 

To cap off our night, I got a voicemail from the department chair from Downers North, asking me to call him to "discuss the next steps." I went outside to call back and he told me he would love to offer me the position. Hooray! It was nice to finally get good news from a school administrator. He said he talked to the teacher taking the leave and told him that after several interviews, he had one obvious choice. He gave him the option of meeting me first, but the teacher said, nope, let's do it. So I will have a leave position until early Oct, and with some luck, maybe another one right after at Downers South. The chair said he will send an email in the next couple of days, putting me in touch with the teacher taking the leave so that we can find a time to meet. Exciting! Scary, but exciting!

I will try not to stress too much, though, and enjoy the next part of our trip. It feels likes we've been gone for so long, even though we aren't even in Yellowstone. The lake house seems like weeks ago. Funny how time works. Tomorrow we enter Yellowstone -can't wait!