Dear editor,
Reading Bill Sniffin’s column on Wednesday made me stop, smile, and reminisce about this Alabama girl’s joyful times in Wyoming.
When my sons were 24 and 17 years old, and my husband was about to turn 50, I decided we should take a trip together to celebrate the event.
So the week before Christmas in 2004 we flew into a snow-covered Jackson Hole. We didn’t rent a car back then, we walked or shuttled everywhere we needed to go. They loved it! We were hooked!
Fast forward to Match of 2020 as we creeped toward retirement, we went again, but this time, both sons were married, and we had a one-year old it tow.
It was in March, and Covid had arrived in Jackson just as we had, but in a snowstorm. Our rented three-bedroom condo was divine!
This time we rented a large suburban for transporting our crew and went wherever we were allowed. Once again, we had a blast riding snowmobiles to Old Faithful, hiking, playing board games, and skiing even though we feared coming home to empty grocery store shelves and perhaps no peanut butter or toilet paper!
Fast forward to 2025 and we are now officially retired, and we are planning our 6th trip back to Wyoming, and not just Jackson, because we have fallen in love with many other places in the state.
Originally we thought we would try another region south of Wyoming, but as we grazed over maps spread out on the dining room table and measured distances, and decided to think about what we really wanted to do, we finally decided!
We are coming back to Wyoming once again. We haven’t experienced the fall season there, and we want to go back to the places we love and take excursions with the groups we have enjoyed like the Yellowstone Hiking Guides and Casanova Tours.
What my husband doesn’t know yet, but I’m sure he’ll figure out, is once our 5th grandchild can walk and the two-year old can reason, it will be time to take the 9, 6, and 4 year old along with their parents back to that state where we had so much joy and fun and to all the places and experiences we love.
So thank you, Bill, for the reminder that family can be full of joy and when looking back on what I could have or should have done, I know that I did it, and It is in Wyoming!
Sincerely,
Louise V Gambrell
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
