Yesterday my friends arrived from New Zealand.
A. and her husband, V.
Now… as some of you may know… time sure flies by…
A. and I worked together at a place once known as Girl Scout National Center West.
It was the ultimate camp for Girl Scouts back then… much like the Boy Scouts’ Philmont.
I will be honest here and admit we were 20 years old at the time.
Twenty.
So…
That was like 15 years ago… right????
<hysterical laughter in the background>
Never mind the fact that our oldest children now are in their twenties…
I’M TELLING YOU IT WAS ONLY 15 YEARS AGO!!!!
<laughter grows in volume>
<head hanging with a *sigh*>
OK.
Thirty years ago we worked together at National Center West.
We’re 50 now.
WOW.
Do a search for it… you’ll find links for it under “Vintage Girl Scouts”…
Vintage.
Like most Ebay items…
Vintage.
Unfortunately… Girl Scouts of the USA showed poor judgement… and sold it, all 15,000 acres of it to the Nature Conservancy.
Don’t get me started on that…
Though it is GREAT that Trey (NC manager) and the Nature Conservancy put up with us “vintage” Girl Scouts when we return to reminisce! Thanks, Trey…
What we did today was visit our favorite sites…
The Chugwater Formation.
A. talks of traveling across the Pacific Ocean… coming to Wyoming in the dark… and waking up her first morning in a new country *in a NEW WORLD*… and this is what she saw…
A. was a Girl Guide from New Zealand…
chosen to work alongside U.S. camp counselors…
giving the girls the perspective of the Girl Scout/Girl Guide worldwide movement.
She got to work with…
ME!
One of our favorite places…
We called Pow Wow…
a natural amphitheater of impressive size…
I’m sharing these photos larger than usual so you can see the scope. Look closely in the shadow on the right side… there’s A.!
We loved Pow Wow because…
The upper wall is covered in pictographs.
Gorgeous mystical artwork from the past.
Though A. and I worked in a horse camp called “Saddle Straddle”… I returned later and often worked as the archaeology consultant.
It was a dream job.
We talked about it all afternoon…
How so many girls today will never get the chance to do what we did…
Spend a magical summer in a canvas tent …
and make friends…
and learn…
and grow…
and share…
And thirty years later… meet up again… in classic vintage style…
And smile when a relic is found of our days gone by…
Seems like yesterday…
Seems like only fifteen years ago…
(Thanks to V. for sharing his photos…)
Find me here!
Hey, Old Girl Scout/Horse owner- now Boy Scout Mom here. Did Saddle Straddle in when I was 17. In 1980. Drove through Wyoming on the highway between Buffalo and Worland- through Tensleep when I moved up to Billings Montana- in 1990. But the highway was as close as I got. Now was just searching for familiar landscapes of google maps when I started researching to see what info I could find on it. Ran into your blog. Nice to meet you. Dee (aka Dannette) at sedonasgold@yahoo.com
Carol, a busy ranch lady, how do you ever have time to share daily all these Love Red Dirt pictures and stories? Delightful!