Trying to do His will...

The week following our trip to Boise and Salmon, ID we were off in the opposite direction for another interview. This time we would have the opportunity to drive across the great state of Wyoming and Mountain Man would be interviewing for a job in Cheyenne. 

One of the family homesteads...

When we researched the different states Wyoming was actually in our top three choices. My family homesteaded in Wyoming several generations back and I still have cousins living in the Hulett area. I had grown up hearing stories about home in Wyoming and have always imagined the possibility that someday I would live on my own little piece of land there. I have never seen more wildlife anywhere than we saw two years ago on a trip to Hulett. When we picked Idaho it was in part due to the incredible homeschooling laws and in part due to the amount of land that is available for public access. Our family values the ability to head out in the woods and see land stretch for miles without any signs of modern times. The time we spend hiking or fishing a mountain stream is soothing to my soul and starting over at this point in our lives I do not know that we will ever have more than five acres of our own to explore.

Where some of my cousins grew up. It is so beautiful!

I had no idea that I would fall so much in love with Idaho when we moved here. After all, none of us had ever been here before and the decision was made based on internet searches, however, after three months we feel very strongly that we had made the right choice. Ultimately, however, we had committed to going wherever we felt called to go and beyond that we want our family in a solid home by winter. Off to Cheyenne we went with quite mixed feelings.

This is one of the views as we left Idaho for Cheyenne.

In route I received a message from a friend letting me know that my priest at the home parish we had left behind in Maryland had mentioned my family in the homily that morning. He was discussing how decisions are made and used the story of our faith in the Lord’s will as an example. This was such an uplifting message to receive as we headed into the unknown and such a spectacular reminder of my own intention not to live in fear of the future but to rest assured that God had plans for us that would be revealed in time. I truly wish to do His will.

It is a nine hour drive for my family to Cheyenne from our starting point near Idaho Falls so unlike our trip to Boise it was actually to late to do any real sight seeing when we arrived. We stopped at one store that had the most spectacular array of boots I have seen since moving East almost 13 years ago. With Mountain Man’s interview at 9:00 am the plan was for the children and I to see what we could see while he interviewed and then to head back out on the road so that we could make it back to our little home by nightfall. With the Bear in tow we did a little exploring and then picked the Mountain Man up. He felt his interview had gone well and liked the man he would work with if he should get the job.

Honestly, we are not big city folks. Aside from meeting a few friendly people and having the general idea that the town had a very Western feel there wasn’t much I could say about Cheyenne on such a short trip. Driving into the city the surrounding land scape was lacking in two of our favorite things, mountains and trees… On the plus side there were many pronghorn sightings alongside the highway and the landscape had a certain beauty of it’s own with the gently sloping fields.

Alpine lake above Laramie

  As soon as we were away from Cheyenne we found the closest mountains just outside of Laramie and pulled over when we reached an elevation of nearly 10,000 feet. It was time to stretch our legs, let the Bear run, and let mom check out the wild flowers while Mountain Man took the kids a little further up for a snow ball fight. 

Mountains outside Laramie

                                

     Adventurer was excited to report that she climbed the mountain all by herself in the snow and I found myself thankful that we had stopped in to a little thrift shop that morning in Cheyenne and picked up a pair of boots. She has been barefoot since our trip to Yellowstone nearly two months ago. The Sandman and Cat loved having the opportunity to have a good snowball fight in early September. We all started envisioning a spectacularly white winter and all the possibilities that would bring.

Cat at the bottom of the snow slide. :-)

Once we reached Rock Springs we detoured again and took a path through Hoback Junction. While on the road we found a church named Our Lady of Peace and we found the Mountain Man Museum… Getting closer to Idaho we felt like we were coming home.

Museum of the Mountain Man road sign