Destination: Douglas

The day after my birthday, Saturday, August 11th, Nicia and I decided to meet up for the day. Ryan was going to tag along too, but since we named Natural Bridge as our meeting place with Douglas and the state fair as a possible secondary destination, he decided to stay home with Dodger. Dogs are not allowed at Natural Bridge and we wouldn't have been able to do anything with him in Douglas either. All day in the car: No. All day at home alone: No. (He probably would have been just fine at home. But Ryan opted to stay home anyway and give us girls a chance for, I don't know, girly time.)

Natural Bridge is 11 miles outside of Douglas. The trip was definitely a lot farther for Nicia, but I was very grateful she was willing to come. :) Natural Bridge is as it sounds. A natural bridge. It remains a hot tourist spot for Wyoming though. It is seemingly in the middle of no where (like a lot of things in Wyoming) but it is beautiful. There is no big fanfare. You enter the park and there it is - almost immediately as you enter. There are several picnic areas and some playground equipment. But that's it. It is a lovely day area though.

It was actually a little on the chilly side that day. (There was, however, a lightning caused fire burning literally two miles away.) The chill didn't stop Alyssa and Logan from taking advantage of the water and both asked if they could change into their swimsuits and play under the bridge. Don't you just admire children's spirit? I was cold enough that I went for my jacket in the car and here are these two kids toughing out the cold weather and the cold water in their swimming suits. They are amazing and resilient. 

When they had had their fun, they changed their clothes and we started to head over to playground area for some food. However, it decided to start raining and we decided that we would head to Douglas instead.

Neither of us had been to Douglas, so we didn't know what there was to do. The state fair was starting that day, but we didn't know where that was being held either, or if anything was really going on yet. As fate would have it, Nicia chose the right exit and found the fair pretty quickly. However, it didn't appear much was going on, so we decided to try and find the information center and see what else they could offer.

Only a block or two away was the visitor center/Railroad Interpretive Center. We were all interested in seeing the real life trains (boy are we a younger generation when trains are fascinating history). It was really neat! 

Below is the dinning cart and the kitchen. (You can't really tell we are in the kitchen, but we are.) It's amazing how cramped it was in the kitchen area. I can't even imagine working in those types of conditions.

Next we toured the sleeping train. Talk about tight quarters! And then you see the "1st class" ones and they aren't much better. I found the fold away toilets the most fascinating.

The sheer size of these things is what is amazing. Especially when you see the wheels. Wow! I picture all of those movies that have train jumping scenes. Scary! I don't think I could ever have done it. (I still remember seeing a younger patient come into the ER from trying to train jump... the foot [primarily the big toe] was degloved. Literally the skin and muscle were pulled off the bone like a glove coming off a hand. Nice visual, huh?)

And who can resist a picture with a giant jackalope? They really do exist! Haha. The a huge section of the visitor center was focused on these "elusive" creatures. They have lots of pictures with people at jackalope "sightings." Nicia asked if they had any magnets for her "places I have been" collection. They didn't have magnets, but they did have jackalope pins. We'll take it! I put mine on Pierscen's shirt. Nicia has since turned hers into a magnet and it is displayed with the others she has collected.

The last train we visited was the traveling cart (the yellow one behind us in the jackalope pictures.)

After our fill of the train exhibits (and yes, these trains were all used in real life) we went back to the state fairgrounds and toured the Pioneer Museum. I imagined it being filled with wagons and bonnets, but "pioneer" meant the much broader term of "those who came before us." Everything from the world wars to time period dresses, saddles and guns to children's toy and tp huts. It was pretty cool.

Just outside the museum, vendors were setting up for the fair. We wandered around for a while before deciding to get some amazing snow cones. Nicia got a red velvet cake one with real cream (very delicious.) The kids shared a Spider Man one, and I got the peach ring one. Yummy!

We tried to continue our wanderings, but it started to rain, and then really pour! We made a run for our car, but Nicia was pushing Alyssa in her umbrella stroller while holding Logan in her arms. Not easy. The umbrella stroller kept veering off to one side. So I grabbed one handle of the umbrella stroller and kept pushing Pierscen's jogger with the other. This worked for a minute until the weight distribution factor came into play and the jogger started veering sharply the left while the umbrella stroller went to the right. We were both in tears we were laughing so hard!

This picture doesn't look like much, but we were seriously soaked! Nicia wanted to take me out to dinner for my birthday present and we were on our way to a place a lady in the parking lot recommended, but her kids fell asleep in the car almost as soon as we started driving. So we opted for the Arby's drive through. Yum!

We sat in the parking lot and talked while her kids slept and we ate. I think that is definitely a major sign of friendship. You may not see each other in months, possibly even years, and as soon as you sit down together, it's like you have never been apart. It was awesome. 

Unfortunately, her kids decided to wake up and Pierscen decided to go into melt down mode. (He was MAJORLY exhausted. Even though he was super tired, he decided to stay awake the whole trip.) I finally coxed him to sleep and I headed back to Casper and Nicia to Cheyenne.

It was such a fun trip! Later that night Nicia called to let me know she had made it home. She asked what my favorite part of the trip was and I said the stroller incident. She busted up laughing and said that was her's too.

The following week, Nicia was planning a trip to Douglas on Saturday for a meeting with Alyssa's online kindergarten teacher. There was a parade in Douglas that morning, so Nicia called me wondering if I would like to join them. (This was Friday). As we were talking, Alyssa said, "Mommy, I want to go to Diana's house." 

"You do? When do you want to go?" she asked.

"Today," she responded. 

Listening to this, I chimed in, "You should!" 

Joe was on alert, so Nicia was home alone with the kids anyway. There was a long pause as Nicia sat thinking about it. I mean, Casper is only 45 minutes farther than Douglas for her... so why not? And just like that, we decided she should do it. She made me call and ask Ryan for permission, we he said yes, and within 45 minutes, Nicia and kids were on their way.

During the time it took her to drive up here (2.5 hours) I sat there giddy as a school girl. Best friend sleep over!!!

She made it in great time (just after 6 pm) and we decided to go out to eat. We went to HQ BBQ. It's located in an old gas station. The wait was SUPER long, but the kids were all really well behaved. And the food was super good!

As I was taking these pictures, Nicia said, "Everyone is going to think I am a single parent!" Yeah well, when Joe is out on alert, you pretty much are Sweetie. :)

After dinner, with not a ton of sunlight left, we took her for a brief tour of the city and did a drive by of our soon to be house. It was simple, but fun.

Back at the apartment, we set up the blow up mattress and got ready for bed. The kids were ecstatic about the mattress and were bouncing all over the place. It was pretty cute.

By the way, I just have to say, her kids were so stinking cute with Pierscen and Dodger. While we were driving around, Alyssa would say, "Pierscen..." in this sweet, high pitched voice and Pierscen would bust up laughing. It was really cute! They were great to play fetch and tug of war with Dodger, so he was thrilled with the attention. 

As much as Nicia and I would have loved to stay up all night and have girl talk like we used to, we are "old" and needed our sleep - as did the kids.

In the morning we had blueberry pancakes and then Nicia took off for Douglas. We decided not to go to the parade because it started at 10 and Alyssa's teacher thing was at 11. Not much time to play. And besides, we aren't big parade fans. Sorry Nicia!

It was such an amazing, impromptu weekend. Why we haven't done that every weekend since we moved here, I don't know. It was a total blast! I am lucky to have such an awesome best friend. I feel totally jipped that they are moving so soon. And to North Dakota none the less. Blast you United States Air Force! Just kidding. Kind of. The Air Force is an amazing thing. But I hate that it means my BFF has to leave within 4 months of me finally moving here. Life, right?! 

Anyway... it was awesome. And I hope it happens again before they move. It BETTER happen again before they move. You reading this, Nicia? ;) The end.