I did not arrive at The Irma Hotel under the best of circumstances.  I had a migraine that would rate about nine on a scale of one to ten and the building was blurring before my eyes as I approached. To add additional trauma, I arrived on a Fri. night, the hotel was full, the […]

Sept. 24, 2009 I would have been kidding myself to portray my night as even remotely resembling one of a true sheepherder. The lonely worker of the late 19th and early 20th century would not have turned on a laptop to type notes about that day. Inside the 6 by 10 ft. space with rounded

Sept. 14, 2009 I don’t know exactly what I expected when I drove into Afton, WY, with plans for an overnight stay at a log cabin. Most likely I expected something funky and rustic, something a big step down from the upscale accommodations seventy miles north in affluent Jackson Hole. After all, Afton is a

Sept. 5, 2009 I arrived at Cottage House of Squaw Creek amidst a flurry of rustling leaves and the long shadows of a late afternoon sun.  It had been a peaceful drive through the Wind River area, with straight, open stretches of highway and not many vehicles on the road.  But the afternoon was wearing

August 29, 2009 Weather is not always cooperative on trips, but I was in luck this past Tuesday when I headed through Yellowstone National Park and, turning right just past Lake Yellowstone Hotel, aimed for the park’s east entrance. The skies were clear and crystal blue and sunlight shimmered across the surface of Yellowstone Lake.

Feb. 23, 2009 For a girl who was fortunate, as a teen, to study in France, the hardest thing about visiting Dubois, WY, was forcing myself to pronounce the town’s name correctly by local standards: DEW-boys. Then again, I could have been faced with the name “Never Sweat,” the town’s original choice, reflecting either the

September 16, 2008 I blasted across central Wyoming in one day, determined to make it to Buffalo, a Wyoming town nestled against the east side of the Big Horn Mountains. The Occidental Hotel has a long legacy of western hospitality. Built in 1880, it started with humble beginnings – a main log building with six

July 1, 2008 I found Lander Llama Company the same way I find a lot of places on the road, by running endless Google searches for interesting accommodations. Cabins, cottages, historic inns and hotels: they’re all possibilities. Anything out of the ordinary becomes a potential destination. And so I had bookmarked the llama company’s website,

Sept. 4, 2004 It is early morning, a fire going in the wood stove. A few cars roll by as guests depart. It’s still very quiet, but not as quiet as it was at six this morning when I woke to a freezing cabin, frost-breath billowing from my mouth as I tried to breathe in