#bigpiney

With the cold settling in I am beginning to reflect on where I was last winter and the several winters before that.  The most recent winter was spent mostly in Denver in a hospital.  It was particularly strange to watch it from the 12th floor of the University of Colorado Hospital Anschutz campus. I would stare out the window and watch the snow and the people in the snow and the cars in the snow and the construction workers in the snow. All from a little warm room.  That was an experience in and of itself.

It was the winter before that that changed my perspective.  I had been in Colorado for 3 or 4 winters at this point, and being from Alabama I suppose you could consider them way more 'brutal' than I had ever experienced.  However, i found them exciting.  The cold here in Birmingham can be so drab and grey.  It isn't all together as bad as I just made it sound but by comparison the winters in Denver were much more beautiful.  I was amazed that the blue collar town I lived in went from having slightly unkempt yards and homes to looking like an upscale winter wonderland town. The snow hid the ugly.  Until it melted then things got uglier and muddy and gross.  But for the time it was blanketed in white it was so magical.  Pasco (my late husband) was a crane operator.  They can make great money out west.  Working on oil refineries and natural gas plants etc...  He was offered a job near Jackson Hole, Wy (a town called Big Piney).  He left us to work in Wyoming in October 2011.  I was a brand new mother for the second time and our home was well established.  His per-diem kept him quite comfortable out of town and so that is how it was. From that point forward that winter I traveled I-80 both ways more times than I can remember.  It was then I was introduced to a different world.  I'd stay for weeks at a time.  It was beautiful and even more exciting than Denver's snowy weather.  This snow stayed... permanently.  It was a way of life. I thought in terms of survival on a daily basis.  It is dangerous to get stranded in the open in the south in the winter at 30 degrees but it never really crosses ones mind.  There in the vast open area's of Wyoming with looming threats of avalanche and deep freezes, it was right there in your face at all times. So I began to do things like pack extra clothes and blankets and flats of waters and even snacks in my Subaru.  Driving between Pinedale and Jackson Hole was always a crapshoot.  Fog. Snow. Ice. Wind. Oh yeah... and the moose, antelope, deer, elk, and sheep... big horned sheep.  So much to always be aware of.  Even things as simple as sunglasses became extremely important.  The glare of the sun's reflection on the snow was enough to drive you crazy without sunglasses.  Although we never really had any close calls like you see on the discover channel's "I Shouldn't Be Alive", I'm quite proud of the way I adapted to living there. I feel at this point in my life I could do and handle anything.  It may be a touch grandiose, but it is how I feel. 

Now that I am sitting in front of my fireplace in my cozy little home in Chelsea, Alabama with my two sleeping angels in their bedroom and Life Below Zero on the television I can't help but think about how different this winter will be.  I won't be spending it in the "Icebox of the Nation"... nor will I be looking out at the snowy tops of the Rocky Mountains from the 12th floor of a hospital and although I understand the place those unique experiences had in my life (except for breaking my tailbone snowboarding in Jackson Hole, that was stupid)... I am thankful for my mostly mild and humid winters that I left here in Alabama several years ago.  It's good to be back home... and if it does snow this winter, I will absolutely love it.  I think it might, I can feel it in my bones.

Here's a few throwback photos :)