Thanksgiving in Wyoming

Yikes!  I'm very behind on the blog updates, so here's a brief version of my time in Wyoming.  It stayed cold the entire week - lows in the -5F range, highs in the low teens.  I stayed with my aunt Joy and her dog Wallaby.   Wallaby reminds me of a much smarter version of the dog I had as a kid, so I liked her immediately.  Here's a picture of Joy and Wallaby at their house:

And a quick picture of the Wyoming winter landscape:

It was bitterly cold, but people in Wyoming don't let cold slow them down.  Joy took me cross-country skiing on Wednesday, and on Thanksgiving morning a whole group of people met at the Laramie Greenbelt for some brisk pre-turkey exercise.  With the wind-chill it was about -30F, so we bundled up, hiked around, and then stood in a tight circle chatting and drinking hot chocolate.  Some years it's quite a picnic, but this year it was just too cold and too windy, so after dancing around for a while, people hustled back to their cars.  Back at Joy's friend's house, thanksgiving cooking plans were interrupted when we discovered that the pipes were frozen, not under the house, but somewhere under the kitchen sink.  We cranked up the thermostat, opened the sink cabinet, and skillfully applied a hairdryer, and continued with the cooking. 

Friday we went downhill skiing in Colorado.  It was a great day!  Colorado was slightly warmer than Wyoming, and there was already several feet of good powder snow.  On Saturday Joy took me to visit another set of friends on their farm outside of town.  With lots of animals and two small kids, their house was quite exciting!  They are also trying to grow their own vegetables, which is difficult with the short growing season.  They built a big greenhouse, and have added a seedling area just off their living room.   They asked us to take their family picture for the annual Christmas Card, and I snuck a shot with my own camera as well:

I think this is a great shot!  It reminds me of the picture my family took a few years ago for the annual Christmas letter, with us all holding axes and chainsaws, taking a break from cutting firewood.