Lazy Acres RV, Riverside, WY - JUL 2006

We had intended to stay at one of the national forest campgrounds in the Snowy Range Mountains, but when we happened upon the Lazy Acres RV Campground in nearby Riverside, Wyoming, we decided we were ready for the luxury of a full hook-up site and the Snowy Range was a mere 20 miles from the park. So, we stopped for a night and liked it so much, we ended up staying for a week.

Lazy Acres was a cute little park -- lots of grass and large shade trees and really clean facilities. We've got a nice spot that backed up to the Encampment River -- little more than a babbling brook at the time, but scenic nonetheless. There were lots of deer that wandered through the campground morning and evening. I saw two 3-point bucks and also a female with her very tiny and still spotted fawn. The not so good things were the mosquitos and the traffic noise. One side of our RV was right next to the highway, but the noise wasn't too bad and it quieted down to nearly nothing at night. Now the mosquitos -- they were bad and were out in full force and we had to put on lots of repellent when we sat outside.

While we were there, the nearby town of Encampment had a Mountain Man Rendezvous Festival in the town park. The folks camped next to us at Lazy Acres were participants and they piqued our curiosity about what all went on, so one day we went over to check it out. There wasn't much going on when we arrived. It was not much more than a bunch of scruffy looking, middle-aged men pretending to be mountain men -- kind of humorous actually -- as they were dressed up in buckskin and furs (despite the sweltering heat in the open field where they were camped), living in teepees and carrying around tomahawks, knives and muskets. Our neighbors only participated in the musket shooting competitions and they didn't dress up, nor camp at the event. They said that some of those folks were waaay over the edge in their obsession with the lifestyle. There were a couple of other folks at the park that also participated in the event. One morning while walking the dogs I passed a man who was dressed up in his buckskin outfit (complete with fur cap) and he was loading a flintlock type rifle -- complete with powder horn, ram rod and musket ball. It was a little daunting and I hoped that he didn't think Rudy and Scotty looked like moving targets. Even though the Rendezvous wasn't our cup of tea, there was an interesting and impressive museum on the grounds and I would recommend stopping if you're ever through Encampment, Wyoming.

The couple camped next to us were also musicians -- he played the fiddle and mandolin and she played the autoharp. We went over to their "yard" on several nights and listened to them play. We really enjoyed their music and also had fun chatting. She showed me how to play the autoharp and it was fairly easy to strum a few tunes. He and I played a duet of "Amazing Grace" and Frank said I sounded pretty good (for a beginner!)

We took several drives up to the Snowy Range Mtns and I took so many photos, that I had to create a separate blog entry for them. One day, we also took a drive in the opposite direction to the Sierra Madre Mountains. It was a long drive through pine forests and when we arrived at Hog Lake we all enjoyed dipping our feet in the cool water. Although the Sierra Madres are nice, they are not nearly as dramatic nor as beautiful as the Snowy Range.