A little country

While sitting in my office today trying to figure out yet another convoluted federal pollution control statute and its accompanying regulations, Waylon Jennings decided to make an appearance. Or, more precisely, Pandora's algorithm decided I wanted to hear some classic Waylon Jennings. "Damn," I thought, "not in Wyoming any more."

I've been in Anchorage for over two weeks now. Both The Wife and I have a fair number of friends here. One of my undergraduate roommates lives here; a coworker from my time in Southeast Alaska lives near here; a few of The Wife's college friends live in the area. I have a great job--and The Wife likely does too. There's nothing wrong with the fishing--at least in the fall. The skiing ain't bad. Anchorage will treat us well.

However, . . . nobody ever rides their horse down Main Street. There are no cows. A rye at the LB with my good friends is a long ways away. Nobody claims the local coffee shop as their primary domicile for tax purposes. Yes, for those in Lander, I'm talking about Juan. Sagebrush? What is that?

Two days ago while walking Karta I had to turn around because a moose was in the way. She (the moose) seemed nice enough and Karta was eager to be friends, but I figured there's no need to push things. Three days ago while commuting to work, I had to slow down because a moose was on the on-ramp. There's been a mild, yet persistent, volcanic eruption for months. And a 4.6 earthquake last week. The Wife is 3,000 miles away.

Yup, not in Wyoming any more.

Nothing to see here, move along

Well, Lander graced the pages of Fly Rod & Reel as the top trout town in the Northern Rockies. Sure, Lander is a great place to live and has wonderful fishing, but the top trout town? Who knows. Maybe.

A couple things are certain though, we do have several "local stream options"--it's just that despite what the article says none of them are "Red Creek." What's more, although "the Magpie" may have been "a natural place to hang out, eat breakfast and caffeinate before heading out on the stream", don't search too long for it because it burnt down about 8 months ago. Oh, Mr. Thomas, did you actually visit Lander?