I planted my boots firmly into the years of the 1800’s. After opening the time machine that was our white truck, I was immediately thrust back into a world filled with memories. This was the area that I was born in. My senses soaked up all that they could. The smells of fresh wild flowers, pine, and aspen trees filled my soul as my family settled into our camping area near a little creek. Soon many campers, tents, and teepees decorated the hills.
People from all over the United States attended this 1800’s style rendezvous of a marriage between two great people. Some dressed completely in the attire of the time period while others, like us, just had on cowboy style clothing, but rather strange was a clash between young and old when a young ‘punk’ kid and his girlfriend came with their hair in multi-colored spikes and dressed in complete black.
The wedding took place at high noon the next day. What a lovely day for the wedding too. The sun sat in the sky occasionally peeking out of a cloud as the trees swayed in the slight breeze dancing to the music that the birds created. Then the bagpipes began and the bride came walking down the field. The wedding was short and sweet. They exchanged vows and locked hearts forever. A fiddler played a few jigs and then it was time for the shindig to begin!
First we had a great dinner of Indian food. My favorites included the buffalo stew and fry bread that was filled with sweet honey. Then began the dancing. The fiddler played all the melodies of the times while people stomped their feet and danced. Once worn out everyone gathered by the television set of the 1800’s. The fire. The flames danced around being the only source of light except for the luster of the stars above. Lots of tall tales were told as the sweet smell of the wedding cake began to drift in the air, slowly cooking in a Dutch oven in the coals of the fire.
The next day was full of activities. Up first was the tomahawk throw. I managed to hit the target a few times but never once did the ax part of the tomahawk stick. It was very difficult because the ax must rotate in the air and strike the target blade first. A little tiny lad hands up won the event. He flung the ax and each time the blade stuck. He had the cutest giggle each time an ax stuck, and everyone would cheer.
After the tomahawk throw, I traveled up yonder to the black powder rifle shoot. I had a blast literally. The man showed us how to fill the guns with the correct amount of gun powder and then how to stuff the ball down into the chamber with a ramming rod. This process took forever and I was careful not to drop the precious black powder grains. I don’t know how the civil war era armies managed to load their guns like that wilst people shooting them. I salute them. The guns were powerful and loud! Everyone was required to wear ear protection and the shooters wore eye protection in the event of a black powder mis-fire explosion. I was one of the first people to go and as I focused on my site and put my finger on the trigger I nervously prepared for a major kick into my shoulder from the back force of the shot. I made sure to get my target in the sight of the gun and then slowly pulled the trigger back KABOOOOOM! It fired as a thick cloud of black smoke enveloped me and I was thrust backwards. Wow! I hit the target.
That night we had another fire and their was a science teacher sitting next to me talking about a comet and a NASA satellite that are going to collide in a massive explosion on July 3rd. Here’s a website to watch it live in case you don’t have a telescope or are in a city in which the night sky is overwhelmed by the city lights. We stayed up really late watching the stars and ohhing and awwing over the many shooting stars. I’ve never seen such a beautiful atmosphere then on that night. The stars blanketed the sky. I had the most glorious sleep that night, I slept soundly ‘neath the stars.
In the morning we had a nice breakfast and then had more fun. There was a fishing tournament but I didn’t do that because I’m not much for fishing, but there was an archery shoot and another gunpowder session. I did both. I especially liked the archery. Much faster then loading the black powder. They had 3D targets of deer, elk, moose, and bear all over their ranch. The archers stood from different distances with trees, boulders and even a pond as an obstacle to shoot over and try and hit the target. I became really good at pulling back the string of the bow, aiming and launching the arrow at all of the targets, after a few tries on some and a lost arrow in the thick bushes down by the creek. That afternoon everyone gathered by to perform a flag ceremony and my mom lead everyone in singing our national anthem. After that we packed up and got into our time machine, leaving this beautiful place behind.
