Three (or More) Ways to Die

Meet Yogi and Bullwinkle (even though she's a cow). On this morning, we got our wildlife. I'm actually still looking for a bull(winkle) with a big ole' set of antlers. We spent our morning looking for moose and bears and found them. I've come to love the search almost as much as I like finding the animals. (I think there may be a life metaphor in there somewhere.)

After our morning of wildlife searching, our friends Ken and Sally Best drove from their place in Star Valley Ranch, Wyoming, (over two hours away) to have lunch with us at The Lodge! Ken and Sally, I hope you are reading this. We don't think you know how much you mentored us during our time at WCCC--thank you. We enjoyed a visit and some tips for doable hikes in the area...

So are you wondering about the title of this post, yet? Were you thinking that maybe we had a close encounter with one of our new furry friends? Nope. Driving around at dawn or dusk with active animals crossing the road? Possible, but not the case...

Tuesday, at Bluestem, while enjoying our meal, Tim and I were trying to have conversation at a volume that would not bring any undue attention to us. (For those of you who know Tim, this will come as no surprise). I commented on how much I enjoyed not only each course that was brought out, but the service, the pace of the meal...the whole experience--I summed it up in one phrase. Tim put his head in his hands and shook it. I thought he thought I was being a little over the top and dramatic. (For those of you who know me, this will come as no surprise, either.) I gave him a scowl and said, "Can't I just enjoy this meal?"

He chuckled and said, "Of course you can, but really, this is how you want to die?"

(Insert a pregnant pause as I try to figure out what the heck he's talking about.) "What did you think I said?"

"You said, 'This is the way to die."

Through laughter I told him, "Nooo, I said, 'This is the way to dine!'"

"Oooooh, dine."

(Although truth be told, if I died eating a meal like that...)

Soooo if I didn't die that way, it might happen that I would die from DEET poisoning since we are applying a mosquito repellent with 40% DEET on a fairly regular basis. Even with that application, the other possibility of death is West Nile or some other mosquito-born virus. If I showed you the palm of my right hand, you would see a mosquito bite on the lower section of my pinky finger. I also have too many to count on any other place my body was not covered by clothing since even a walk from the cottage to the lodge brings several bites.

But it's totally worth it. I'm trying really hard not to post 348,324 pictures of the mountains, but every time I look it's a different view--the angle, the lighting, the elevation all play a role in how the mountains look...and I just can't get enough.

This afternoon, we hiked about 5 1/2 miles on the Lupine Meadows Trail. It too, was gorgeous, and we made lots of noise as not to startle any bear. Some hikers coming down said they "scared one off the trail," so we were extra vigilant. We did see bear scat and smelled a musky, animal-like scent. If the bears on the trail don't kill me, the cardio-vascular requirements might. I guess on the side of a mountain wouldn't be a bad way to die, either. :)