Buffalo, Wyoming: A Blog Party!

 Warming up by the fire at the Occidental Hotel

As anticipated, Andrea and I traveled over the Powder River Pass, up and over the magnificent Bighorn Mountains, down into the open valley.  Buffalo, Wyoming is the town at the base of the eastern slope of the range, the nearest town to highway 16.  At Buffalo we looked for a place to settle in for a few hours, as we had homework to work on.  Surprisingly, Buffalo does not have a café, but we thought that the Occidental Saloon would be a good place to work from.  The saloon was closed, so we asked the owner of the Occidental Hotel if we could sit in the lobby for a few hours.  Dawn, the hotel owner, was so welcoming and gracious, offering us a seat by the fire and letting us know that we could tour the hotel at our leisure, as the guests hadn’t yet arrived.  

 

The old decor at the Occidental

Walking around the old Occidental Hotel offers up an interesting experience.  The hotel is decorated with old photographs, newspapers, textiles, and furniture.  The Occidental was once the residence of Owen Wister, the author of the short story, The Virginian.  It was also the hangout of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the infamous bandits that hid out at Hole in the Wall, near Kaycee, Wyoming.  Walking up the high staircase and entering one of the few rooms, among old quilts and bed frames, is about as much a step back into the past as you can get; it’s overwhelming, really.

 One of the gorgeous rooms at the Occidental Hotel

We put in a couple of hours of work in the lobby, then got ready for dinner over at my friend John’s house.  The story of how this dinner finally came to be is an interesting one.  John and I went to high school together in Martinez, California.  We did not know each other well back then, but his father was my Physical Ed. Teacher, and his sister babysat me a couple of times as a young child.  Last summer while working at the HF Bar Ranch, north of Buffalo, a friend had invited me over to a cabin in town.  Adam was staying at the cabin that summer, and while visiting him with other co-workers I recognized John in some of the photos on the refrigerator.  It was quite the coincidence…two Martinez kids living in Buffalo, Wyoming.

 

The view west, toward the Bighorn Mountains, from John and Ruby's backyard.

 Bud, by the fire. Since realizing our connection, via friends and location, John and I have kept in touch through following each other’s blogs.  He writes a fantastic blog about cooking, Make Delicious Happen, he primarily grows and harvests his ingredients, with an emphasis on getting as far away as one can from the factory farms and large corporation food industry.  I’d say he has been as successful as one can in Wyoming, as organic foods and environmentally sustainable products are in the vast minority.  

  Fresh vegetables from the garden

 John hard at work

 A lovely meal

 John and Ruby made delicious happen!

Last week I wrote John to see if he’d like to have a Blog Party, more or less an opportunity to get to know each other, take some fun photographs along the way, and eat some great food.   For supper John, and his fiancé, Ruby, roasted two chickens; made a gorgeous gravy from the renderings; the most moist, yet flakey biscuits; steamed vegetables from the garden; sautéed kale and bacon; roasted zucchini; and various red wines around the table.   We laughed, ate, and listened to funny stories from John and Ruby’s various family members.  It was so nice.  We briefly sat around the fire and Andrea and I lamented the fact that we had to hit the road shortly after dinner.  We have a “Fall recess” only in name, though our professors seem to disagree, as we each had essays to finish that very evening.  We said our goodbyes and started the thrity mile trip home to Sheridan, Andrea’s hometown, where we spent the remainder of the evening cranking out our respective papers.  It was a great visit with awesome people, and we felt grateful to have been included in what I like to think was a dinner to kick off the holiday season. 

Thanks John and Ruby!