Never mind that the overlook itself looked totally different. There was a rock wall, and plaques I had never seen before, along with a binocular viewer. The little building with maps on the outside wall was gone. But the view . . . ah, the view.
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| Even that tree on the left is the same. |
Heading down into Stanley was also almost entirely unchanged in 35 years. There were a few more houses, but it was still mostly cows and sagebrush, with mountains along the sides.
The view from the chapel was also just the same as when my Dad & Sharon got married there in 1984, though I don't remember the stained glass panels. To be honest, Stanely HAS changed a little. It's more touristy now, with kind of a hippie cowboy vibe and not a lot of honky tonk left. But it still feels small town, unmarred by big developments. Of course, it still costs $250K if you want to buy a small house in town.
High on my priority list was Redfish Lake. I remembered that there was a good beach where the water wasn't too deep for quite a ways out from the shore, and we found it easily. The thing to realize here is that we'd been preparing for cold weather before we left. I was actually worried that I'd forgotten to throw our winter coats in the trunk, because I knew it was still getting pretty chilly at night. Instead, they had a massive heat wave. Seriously, Stanley NEVER gets to 90 degrees! So that cold water felt pretty good, and we all enjoyed it at least a little. The kids wanted to go get bathing suits on so they could do real swimming, but they had to make do with their shorts.
We met up with my friend Pat (note: Pat & I knew each other in high school, but weren't friends. In fact, we barely tolerated each other. It took college and a mutual friend with terrible taste in music to make us realize what a great team we were.) He took us out to dinner and then said that since I'd never been to Stanley Lake, that was where we should go.
WOW. Every bit as gorgeous as Redfish, but only about half as many people (that would be 4 at Stanely, and maybe 10 at Redfish, by the way). The kids again had a really good time playing in the water, and the rest of us just hung out on the shore, laughing our fool heads off trying to explain our particular brand of college stupidity to Jeff.
The real high point, though, was when Jeff told Pat that he was relieved that he was a real person and not just a figment of my imagination, humph. Ever the smartass, as he was leaving, Pat leaned over and stage whispered, "So can you pay me now, or will you send the check to my agent for this performance?" (I know; I told that story already. It's worth repeating!)
Next up: The Diamond D
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| I love this "toy camera" setting. |
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