Too Much Fun!

Where I went on the evening of the 4th of July to escape from all the celebration madness...the smokey appearance of Heart Mountain was due to the California fires.

We survived another 4th of July weekend in Cody, Wyoming!  For those of us who live in town, we learned for a few days what it is like not to have a parking space in front of our home, how to deal with bumper to bumper traffic, long lines at restaurants, long lines at Walmart, fire and police and ambulance sirens (in the parade and going to accidents).  We saw some poor cowboy who never made it home from the bar (which was open until 4 a.m. on the 4th of July) asleep on the street the next morning using the curb as his pillow...his cowboy hat a few feet away.  I saw the great great niece of Calamity Jane on horseback at the corner of 12th and Sheridan cracking a whip in front of anyone that would watch.  I saw more people than I had seen all year, some I knew but most I didn't.  I saw the governor of Wyoming ride a horse down Main Street, and watched the Mayor describe all the floats in the parade from his vantage point on top of the Irma.  I saw it all and did it all, and at some point in the day it all just got a little too much.

If you go to the Emergency Room in Cody (thankfully we were not there this 4th of July) they have a big bulletin board with a map, and they mark with pins the home of each tourist that ends up in the ER.  Then they categorize the accidents...rodeo, horse, hiking, car accident, snake bite...and then the catch all category, which reads "just plain having too much fun"!  (That category has more check marks next to it then all the others combined).

Having too much fun can be exhausting...so I escaped town and headed toward Powell, Wyoming to watch my son ride his horse out on farmland.  It was so peaceful, no noise, only the sound of the meadowlark and the breeze.  All still.

And that was my 4th of July, family and friends, fun...and some quiet.  Maybe it is because I am getting older, or maybe because I am getting saner, but I think I enjoyed the quiet most of all!  It was literally the pause that refreshed!

Hope you all had a fun and sane 4th of July!  DLB