The BLUGH: October 11, 2023
“Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.”
HOWDY YALL. That’s right, HOWDY. This BLUGH is going to be an advertisement for the wild west, very specifically the pocket of paradise, Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Right after college, I got to work there for Summer (May - October) and it was life changing. I met lifelong friends, hiked SO much, white water rafted, rode horses, camped, ate waffles from on top of the world (you can do this too!), and broke my arm (you can do this too but I advise against!). The landscape does not seem of this earth. It is seriously so beautiful!! It was an epic time and I found it all got started on coolworks.com.
My biggest takeaway/lesson from the experience was that if you have an idea, you can make it happen. I had an idea that I would live out west and work in a hotel and by golly, I hootin tootin did it faster than a wad of chewin tobaccy spit from a vmarmot angrier than a hog-tied moose chasin a rattlesnake outta the saloon in a tumbleweed town right after a tornado tears through it when the crop don’t grow higher than kangaroo rat that didn’t eat his beans.
🦬LEARNING OF THE WEEK: Did you know there is a hybrid between the buffalo and the cow? It’s the cattalo/beefalo. We love a hybrid and we love this bovine beauty. On the topic of hybrid, a great accomplishment of mine while in Wyoming was convincing my Czech and Slovenian friends that the jackalope was real.🐄
PRODUCT RECOMMENDATION
The human eye. It can only see 40% of visible sight and 0% of invisible sight. While this statistic is fake, binoculars are very real. If you are going to experience the west or any variation of the great outdoors, it would behoove (cattalo!!) you to bring some excellent binoculars in tow. These are a great variety buy a great brand. Be careful though!! If you look too long/too hard, you might see too much, like this poor soul, pictured.
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BOOK RECOMMENDATION
Want to read about the Wild West comfortably from you chaise lounge while you drink a martini and pet your long haired Persian cat? You have but to reach for Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. In my opinion, this is gold standard for western literature (no offense to Cormac!!). I was ENGROSSED reading this book. It contains so many rich characters and is truly an epic. Also, it was the first book published, but technically it’s the 3rd in a tetralogy, so if you love it, there is more to have.
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PODCAST!
If you want to get excited for your now inevitable trip to Jackson, here is an podcast episode with interesting facts about Grand Teton. It fails to mention that famed BLUGH author, Justina Sparling used to hike there but is still very informative.
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Summer 2011
Jackson Peak
Windswept hair, broken arm, on top of the world, South Carolina-shaped rock: THIS is living.