Our takes on life in Japan. : Back in the Saddle

While I love that Sarah has written so much for this blog lately, it's time for me to update our people on whassa happenin', hot stuff.

First things first:

That's a Wainer!

Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals for their big win tonight. Any of you who jumped on the Pirates' bandwagon can go ahead and switch to watching football. And Philip and Stefan and Bergs and any other Dodger fans--let's have some fun. By which I mean, Prepare to Die, again.

So we are enjoying Wyoming just fine but I have to say, it would be better if Yellowstone were open.

A sign is not enough--We demand yellow stones!

Since we are spending more time in cities than we planned to, museums have been an almost daily destination for us. And we have been to some great ones. Sarah told you about the Museum of the Rockies, but that's not Bozeman's only one. Just down the road is the first of

THREE GREAT MUSEUMS IN the Montana/Wyoming bi-state area

Number 1.

thank you Vanna

First of all, it's free. We donated $5, but still, it's awesome that it's free. Maybe 7 or 8 rooms in a nondescript building in a little strip mall. But so much cool stuff. From the printing press to telegraphs to video games and tons of Apple computers and a dancing robot, they have centuries of comm tech on display. An original copy of a book by Francis Bacon, another by John Locke. Maybe only philosophy lovers like me appreciate that, but we all should. The book is over 320 years old! Of course, the boys were more into the robot stuff.

OK, I admit it. So was I.

Funny story--the night I met Sarah in my dorm (yaaah Bobb-McCulloch!!), my roommate was showing Terminator 2 to about 9 sweaty hallmates, so Sarah and I had to sit in the hall. Lucky for us, I had low-rider lawn chairs.

OK, movie buffs will appreciate this one from Fritz Lang's Metropolis. I think it's a reproduction though.

I thought this was the one from Lost in Space, but it turns out it's Robby the Robot. He says stuff like "Bozeman is a nice place." Sounded kinda brainwashed to me.

We also got to hold a real cell phone from back when they doubled as dumbbells. Desi thought the number buttons were pretty stupid, nevermind the price ($1499!)

We reluctantly left Bozeman (know anyone there who wants to hire us?) and headed east. Turns out there had been a storm of some force. Lucky for us, we just got to see beautiful aftermath.

Random sighting of fiberglass guy:

That's no cowBOY. He a cowMAN

Better late than never, I got the real Welcome to Montana sign. Does it count, on the way out?

PS I look sunburned, but not to worry Mom. Camera trick.

Here in the MT/WY bi-state area, we have been treated to some Big Skies. It's not just marketing. Something about being in a valley, with mountains on most if not all sides. Huge banks of clouds looming overhead. Rather humbling, in the best way.

We rolled into Cody, WY just in time. The campground closed for the winter the day we left. Lots of places were closed, including the Wild West show. But we got a show of our own at sunset. These photos fail to do it justice--I am inching closer to buying one of those honking big ones everyone in Shanghai has.

The sun looked really cool. Right, D?

See? Like a huge cotton ball

A pre-dinner hug before Wyoming Rib and Chop House. My iPhone couldn't get both cuteness and beauty, so see below for what the sky looked like.

All right, after setting up camp and going out for ribs, we caught up on our sleep. It was cold that night, and the tent hadn't had the benefir of a day in the sun to warm up. Probably 35 or 40 degrees in the tent. Did I mention we have an awesome sleeping bag big enough for both adults? Which would have been great if not for the fact that by dawn, ALL FOUR OF US ENDED UP IN THE SAME SLEEPING BAG. (Long story, involving bad dreams and maybe one too many pineapple juices at dinner). I am all for family closeness, but I hope sincerely that doesn't happen again.

The next day in Cody we went to

GREAT MUSEUM IN the Montana/Wyoming bi-state area

Number 2: The Buffalo Bill Center of the West, which houses 5 distinct museums. Spendy but kickass, and I do not throw that word around. Photos to follow when I update this post tomorrow morning. For now, I need sleep after a night of tense baseball. I leave you with some scebery from Wyoming. Including a bait vending machine. (And you thought Japan had all the weird ones.)