horses

Day 3.  Íslenski Hesturinn, the Icelandic horse.

Met M & Eli downtown (Bus Stop #3, across from City Hall). Destination: Hestar Stables.  Shorter & stockier than their American cousins.  Genetic relative to the Mongolian ‘Genghis Khan’ breed.  Long way Mongolia to Iceland – how did that happen?

Jacket, pants, boots.  Safety video & a helmet.  Go, go, go!  Probably not the best pre-race activity (saddle sore) but 100% wanted a try after Ash & Tom’s 2017 vacation pics.  Beautiful day.  Dug the lava-scape, view of Mount Hekla.  And lucky for us – no RAIN!

Bib pickup at Laugardalshöll Sports Hall.  Lamb dinner & Christmas shopping.

Learned of the 13 Lads who help Icelandic Santa & YULE CAT (Jólakötturinn), an evil Christmas MONSTER cat who eats kids that don’t get new clothes.  Think I’ll stick with ‘cookies-n-milk’ American Santa & his high-flying reindeer.  Yikes! 😲

Run day tomorrow:  Reykjavíkur Maraþon 2019

 

Íslenski Hesturinn

 

Icelandic Christmas folklore depicts mountain-dwelling characters and monsters who come to town during Christmas. The stories are directed at children and are used to scare them into good behaviour. The folklore includes both mischievous pranksters who leave gifts during the night and monsters who eat disobedient children.

 

The figures are depicted as living together as a family in a cave and include:

 

Gryla and Leppaludi – Gryla is a giantess with an appetite for the flesh of mischievous children, who she cooks in a large pot.  Her husband, Leppaludi, is lazy and mostly stays at home in their cave.

 

The Yule Cat is a huge and vicious cat who lurks about the snowy countryside during Christmas time (Yule) and eats people who have not received any new clothes to wear before Christmas Eve.

 

The Yule Lads are the sons of Gryla and Leppaludi. They are a group of 13 mischievous pranksters who steal from or harass the population and all have descriptive names that convey their favorite way of harassing.  They come to town one by one during the last 13 nights before Christmas (Yule).  They leave small gifts in shoes that children have placed on window sills, but if the child has been disobedient, they instead leave a potato in the shoe.

 

KANGAROO 🦘

 

Daddy of ‘em All.  Cheyenne, Wyoming.  Frontier Days.

After a four-year absence, I’m back folks.  America’s largest outdoor rodeo – & later tonite, country legend Tim McGraw.  Goin’ BIG – no regrets this summer season 😊

Cowboy’d up with Stephen, Saturday morn.  DIA flight from New Hampshire; hour-half highway north on I-25.  First out-of-state trek for my BIG FORD TRUCK.  Rodeo adventure, bang-on perfect.  Have I told y’all how much I LOVE my new truck?  HA!

Bronc buckin’, steer wrestlin’ & calf roping.  Missed the bulls this year, probably my  fave-absolute next to the buckin’ broncs.  An event which NEVER disappoints.

123rd CFD Rodeo – older than the state itself.  Dig the big-voice announcer, crowd of cowboy hats, parking lot of trucks & horse trailers.  My season.  Good to be back.

Cowboy up y’all.  Rodeo season – mmm, feels like summer.

 

 

Cheyenne Frontier Days 2019

 

 

AMAZING morning sunrise.  Watched for half-hour before rustling up breakfast – eggs & chicken-apple sausage (sadly, warm runny eggs/pan-fried 20 minutes).  Brushed teeth, shut up the tent, tethered Ro to my belt – HIKE day!

Mile/mile-half drive DOWN from my camp site.  Secured parking near Rotary Park, short tenth-mile walk to Garden Creek Falls.

Previously trekked this trail, day-before the Casper Marathon 2015.

[June 2015] …hiked Casper Mountain.  Not the Rockies experience of the Bighorns, but a good 5-mile day hike.  Probably not the best prep, day before a marathon but…I’m a lover of mountains.

Bridle Trail: 5 mile loop up/over the Falls.  June 2015 vs August 2017?  Today, whole lotta hikers.  Whole lotta COLORADO hikers.  Appears much of the Front Range arrived in Wyoming overnight & were doing what Coloradans do – get OUTDOORS.  Literally met only ONE Wyoming-based family on today’s trail.  [Thanks to Ro – everyone stops & says hi.  He’s a very pet-able Pup. 🙂 ]

Englemann spruce, Rocky Mountain juniper, Ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, Green Ash, Cottonwood, Chokeberry, Quaking Aspen.  This trail’s a tree BONANZA, landscape more reminiscent of Boulder County than Central Wyoming.

Bridle hiked counter-clockwise, finishing over the Mountain’s rock-canyon outcropping.  WIDE-OPEN Casper 2800 feet below, today’s WOW shot (‘though skyline bit hazy due to BC/Western Canada forest fires).

Picnic’d by the Falls, then drove into town before roads closed for tomorrow’s eclipse.  YMCA-showered (FREE/very much appreciated!), check’d out the Cowboy Code of Ethics, shopped Wyoming’s (dog-friendly) Eclipse Festival.

7pm ‘til after next day’s TOTAL Eclipse (noon-ish) – Mountain gated off from Casper.

Dusk-walked Ro by our camp owner’s wild mustang rescue.  BEAUTIFUL horse.  Another pink, high mountain sunset.  Dinner plans?  Shrimp, mushrooms & olives in a wilted bed of spinach.  Camping B-I-G on BIRTHDAY weekend ❤

 

 

Bridle Trail, Casper WY