Cooper vs Smith Reunion

My annual Smith family reunion generally entails swapping a lot of stories that have happened over the past year, eating a big Sunday meal with a lot of starchy foods and swimming in the river.

We've gotten a little more sophisticated through the years, with keeping the flies off the food and ourselves out of the sun; Alan Miller picked up some patio tents at Walmart.

This year was a little more unusual. Reg Cooper pulled in about 12:30 and said the Cooper reunion was about to start playing music. The Cooper reunion is held the 2nd Sunday of every August on the other side of the mountain. So it's a little unusual for someone like me of the Smith descent to go a visting over there but I was so interested in getting some video footage of the music I figured I'd a risk getting shot or something.

When I got to the Cooper reunion I couldn't believe my eyes. Theirs was being held underneath a pavilion and the people were dressed up in their Sunday finest. Not only that but they had electricity and were speaking through amplifiers. Some people had stitched 'Cooper Reunion' onto pillows and towels and things. The music was wonderful and I got some good video too.

When I finally got back to the Smith reunion Reg was there and he asked what I thought of the Cooper Reunion. I looked around at my family, they are all sitting around, some shirtless, bellies hanging out, food on the table with flies buzzing around. The fence is broken down and the house lists to one side. I said, "Come on people, let's pull it together. Over there at the Cooper reunion they're giving out door prizes, they've got printed programs and everything!"

My family didn't bat an eye and just kept on talking. I think that's when we all went back for 3rds.

Mad Men Party

To prepare for the Mad Men party event, Asya prepares some tea, 60's style.

Before entering the party our ad executive and his 2 cohorts make a plan.
This photo is also known as "High School Science Club Reunites".


I think this is where Susan McIntosh first put out
into the public consciousness her newest persona,
Schmoozin Susan.
The biggest smiles on the West Side.

After leaving the party this individual was checking their email
on the corner of 23rd and 7th Ave at 1:30am, in the morning!
Is she homeless or what? Is that a tent in the black bag?
What's with the Louis Vutton bag?

House Of Yes Party

At the recent House of Yes party
Susan McIntosh works the strings of the master of festivities.

Everyone loves the music of Bajah and The Dry Eye Crew.


I hope they're singing in harmony with the band.
Interesting stuff that can be done with a mannequin.



Chillin after the band.

Yellowstone River and Falls

This is another set of images that gave me a bit of vertigo.

Snowy Range Medicine Bow Wyoming

Seeing flowers growing amidst the glaciers in southern Wyoming really filled my heart with wonderment. We're walking up the path towards the top of the Snowy Range in The Medicine Bow Mountains.
This must be a 500' drop. I scooted over to the edge and stuck my feet out for perspective.


This south facing pic is of myself and my son with the Rocky Mountains in the distance.
When we were coming back down the trail, a hiker with skis on the sides of his backback was planning on skiing down the center glacier for some summer recreation.

Bye Bye Roadside Attraction

The Indians called the Whites, Wasichus, meaning greedy, as they watched their conestoga wagons and their occupants lusting for gold and treasure trapse across their lands. I guess we're still doing it, not taking the time to check out the local scene or know the country we're traveling through.

Here is Hells Half Acre, a state run park located about 30 minutes west of Casper. It would seem to me someone would take an interest in the place.

The Virginian and Cody

Legend has it that my great grandfather, an Alan, had assassinated someone of political import in Wyoming and had fled to the hills of West Virginia. So I kept wondering about the karma that might befall me heading to such a severe part of the universe, in particular, a seemingly lawless part of the United States of America called Cody, Wyoming. What really turned me onto this were the smashed guard rails leading down from Yellowstone where the vehicles that had turned them into metal spaghetti must have fallen 500' to the valley below. There were at least 3 turns where someone or something had met there maker.

So we arrive in Cody where they have a nightly shoot out from 6 to 7 pm. Unfortunately, I didn't think to bring the camera to the nightly rodeo where the under the age of 12 bull riders would limp off the field and the MC and clowns would make fun of them in their own unusual forms of self deprecating humor. Something along the lines of that the recently injured don't know where they are, they think they're in Dallas.

As the guns blare and the smoke builds the onlookers stare unaffectedly. Strangely enough, with all of the guns and ammo in town, I couldn't find one outfit that dressed and/or dried wild game, like moose, elk or antelope. All of the jerky had beef in it yet everyone in the place was a hunter.

Heading south from Cody we passed through Medicine Bow which was made famous by the movie the Virginian.

The film is most memorable for a card-playing poker scene. Insulted by the words, "When I want to know anything from you, I'll tell you, you long-legged son of a ---," the Virginian (Gary Cooper) responds by laying his gun out on the table and threatening the gambler:

Trampas: ...you long-legged sonova -
Virginian: If you wanna call me that, smile.
Trampas: With a gun against my belly, I-I always smile.

Here is the Hotel, in the middle of a basically deserted town. I walked in and asked the bar keep what the folks would have drank 100 years ago. He though about it and said Jack Daniels. So I had a shot.
Check out the doll in the middle of the bar!

The place had the original tables, brass beds and lamps. They told me there was a ghost that haunted the place and I began to get the heebie jeebies.

Yellowtone Geysers

The Riverside Geyser erupts twice a day and if you catch the sun right it will be filled with rainbows. Late day eruptions would have em cause it's on the west side of the river.

Yellowstone Hot Pools

Take this as fair warning for what you are about to see. I'm not sure who this sign is directed at, do they want spanish asian minority children with cameras to pay special attention so they aren't scalded to death. I sure hope that kid is gonna be ok.

The Grand Prismatic spring covers several acres. Notice the size of the trees in the background

A sign nearby for the Morning Glory pool asks that humans please don't throw anything into the pool as it was changing the coloring of it. The color is caused by algae that live in the heat, the blue colored algae live in the hottest parts.

Grand Teton

We camped out at the south end of the Flagg Ranch Resort and these are our views. At first the camping attendant wanted to put us near the office and I asked for something a little further away. The crowded little campground had rangers driving through all night, probably making sure people weren't being eaten by leaving PBJ sandwiches out on the tables for the marauding bears.

There were a ton of mosquitoes, I think they had one of the wettest Junes on record and it was at this point in the trip that Felix and I started saying we sure were seeing a whole bunch of wildlife with the mosquitos and all.

Camping in Jardine, Montana

We wanted some real camping out in the middle of nowhere and boy did we get it. Up a dirt road from Gardiner we passed Jardine; a place where they still pan for gold. This must be where you exchange your gold for goods.


Up the mountain we went, where it was dropping into the low 30's in late July. We didn't have bear pepper spray so we were real careful about not leaving food around after eating. We kept the leftovers in the truck.

Heading southbound from Jardine to Gardiner, heading back into Yellowstone,
I snapped this shot of what I'm guessing to be a cold storage house.
This shot is from the road leading from Jardine to Gardiner, looking SW.
Mammoth Hot Springs would be off to the left.

West Virginia Reunion 3

These guys are my cuzins and it pretty much sums up the reunion!