Thunderstorms in the dog park

One of the down sides to the place we are staying here in Casper is the fact that the doggies don't get outside to run around as often. Luckily, we found an off leash dog park that runs along the river that is just 10 minutes away and allows the fur babies to run, harass other dogs, swim and get some of their energy out. 

It is also public access to the river which means we will be able to fish there once we get our licenses :) 

We took the dogs out today (had plans to fish but... lightening and fishing don't mix) 
Here are a few pictures of the Wyoming scenery in this beautiful park. I feel like the pictures perfectly capture this area of Wyoming. 

Our First Wyoming 'Storm'

It's been far too long since I've been in a good storm, and though this was just a small thunderstorm, I sat outside and by the window to enjoy it. Wyoming does have some beautiful sunsets! Will try to capture more as the days come and go... But for tonight, this teaser will have to do.

Hiking The Bridle Trail

So, as a traveler I don't always have the most say in scheduling preferences. My first week is looking like that, as I was called upon to cover the upcoming weekend when a PRN therapist flaked. ((I'll leave out my comments on unreliable professionals)). Working a weekend means getting days off during the week, which are usually pretty nice since you get to enjoy things with less crowds. Today was one of those days, and we took off to hills to explore Casper Mountain!

The elevation of Casper is over 5,000 feet which put the trail head at over 6,000. Hello elevation! Bridle rises around 1200 feet as it winds through the mountains, over creeks and by waterfalls.

We may have broken the rules of the above sign which told us to not climb rocks, but in our defense we truly didn't read the bottom part until we had finished our climbing for the day. 

Even the doggies got some trail magic along the way! An entire mailbox full of treats!!

And towards the half way point of the trail, we got to walk THROUGH the rocks. How cool is this?? They appropriately named this spot "split rock".

After a fun day hiking, we dropped the pups off for their mid-day naps and went treasure shopping around town for some essentials and filling up our bookshelves. We even both got library cards, and I am impressed by the size of the library in this city! 

You aren't to shabby at all, Casper.

Settling in to the new place

So, we knew the lake house was setting the bar a little high for future housing, but the next rental was amazing as well. This time... not so much. It is an extended stay with a new/young/inexperienced/probably overwhelmed owner.

So the first information we get is about how the key pads aren't working properly to get into the rooms. I figured I have had this before, no big deal. No, its a huge deal. We have a stack of 10+ key cards we have to carry around and try every time we want to get in our front door, and cross our fingers that one works. Average time: 2-3 minutes to get in the front door. That's annoying. Even more annoying when the front/back doors to the building lock at night as well and your dogs need to pee before bed.

The first night we were here we got locked out of our bathroom after conquering the monster that is the front door keypad. Brad shut the bathroom door, and when I tried to open it again the handle turned and nothing happened. Instant panic. I didn't really feel like peeing my pants in front of my rather new live-in boyfriend or getting arrested for peeing in a bush behind the building. So maintenance arrived and literally just took off the handle, because they were unable to fix it at 10pm.

Then I tried to go into my bedroom and the light bulb was burnt out. This was the tone for our first day/night.

Luckily, they have made diligent efforts to fix such problems and have so far mostly won me over (only for effort, its def no 5 star hotel). I think we will be quite content here as the other options we looked at over the weekend were no better.

It's always an adventure, just thankful to have a roof over my head tonight. It is a two bedroom place so me and Brad still have our own personal space and some freedom. We don't have an oven, but the crockpot is my best friend anyhow!  Plus we are on the ground floor so we can still do our plyo workouts and not get kicked out :)

Because a bike rack outside would be too radical. Check out that killer TV too!! :/

Traveling to Casper,Wyoming from Spokane, Washington

We recently ended the most gorgeous drive to our new location in Wyoming. Because my new car is AWD, we could not tow it as we did before so we both got to drive. We had a couple extra days between assignments so decided to take the scenic route. After leaving Idaho, we dropped South in Montana and went through Yellowstone Park. It was a short trip to such a huge park, but still worth the cruise through! We got to see geysers and took the dogs for a couple walks along the lake and scenic spots. We did a drive through by Old Faithful but I had no idea it was such a massive complex and would be loaded with thousands of people, so we didn't stop. In fact, I had such anxiety with all the people I stalled my car for the first time! On the way out, Brad was able to see the top of Old Faithful as it went off, but I missed it. I also missed the dozens of elk, bison, deer and antelope wandering through the park, apparently I was much more concerned with watching the road and not wrecking my new car!

Yellowstone Lake

Turbo at the lake

Stretching our legs by the road

It was an amazing drive, especially in the WRX. It conquered the Rockies without skipping a beat, taking 50mph turns at 80 without even making Ani flinch in her passenger seat bed. Across Wyoming I was able to open it up and see a lil bit more of what she can do, and I am impressed! I definitely made the right decision for this season of life. It averaged 33 mph through the whole trip, and over an hour stretch of downhill from Yellowstone to Cody it averaged 50.3!!!

I wish we could have taken more picture of the beautiful canyon lands and river roads we got to enjoy on this relocation, but it was one for the memory book! And now we are in Casper, to adventure and to work.