Lander, WY
If you had asked me when we left Durango if we were going to spend time in Lander, WY I would have said no! But, we spent four awesome days there! Our first day was what we would call a “town” day. We resupplied at the grocery store, posted the rest of our family cards, did a few other errands, then plopped ourselves down at the Lander Library for a couple hours where we connected to wifi to get several "technological" things accomplished. By the time we were done with the technology bit and running all our errands we realized the day had slipped away (in a great way), so we grabbed an early dinner in town before finding a camp.
Grabbing a bite at the Gannett Grill
And, then got ice cream!
We found a campsite at the Sinks Canyon campground with a great view. Sinks Canyon is a beautiful Canyon outside of Lander where the Popo Agie river goes underground through a cave (called the Sinks) and comes out 1/4 mile or so downstream in what is called the Rise.
The Sink
The Rise
The first morning, I went for a run to the Popo Agie Falls while John and the girls biked down to check out the Sink and Rise and the Visitor Center. That afternoon John went for a mountain bike ride with a friend, Scott, who lives in Lander and we enjoyed a quiet evening at camp.
The Popo Agie Falls
The weather was great while we were there. Perhaps a little windy (Wyoming, so far, seems windy), but nothing that was unbearable. Of course, whenever the wind picked up it made me think of the fires in Durango and I was just hoping that things were going well. On our third day, we hiked to the Falls as a family and later that afternoon our good friends from Durango, Todd & Ashley Wright, camped next to us. They happened to be meeting Todd's bother in Sinks Canyon! We were all so excited to see them! It had only been a week or so since we left Durango, but it felt like winning the jackpot to see them and get to hang out and catch up! Oh, and Isla lost another tooth!
Our great friends Todd & Ashley Wright
That evening John's friend Scott and his wife Michelle brought us a delicious home-cooked FEAST to our campsite. A real treat (thank you again)! On our final morning in the canyon we said goodbye to the Wrights - again - as they were heading back to Durango. We packed up our things and took the girls on their first high country mountain bike ride. They rocked it and I was so proud! While we were riding I found myself thinking, "this is what's its all about". For me, so much of the BT is about family time and having these kinds of experiences with our children. It made me so happy to be riding with my entire family in such a beautiful place! I know it was only a mountain bike ride, but I was so excited by thought of getting do do these kinds of things for a whole year!
The start of the Brewer Trail
That night we camped in Lander City park, resupplied and had a great dinner at a restaurant called Cowfish. We fell asleep to the sound of rain on our camper for the first time in a long time and hoped it was raining in Durango too!
