It's been awhile since my last post, so I'll give a quick update of our December. On December 13th we had our annual Christmas party. Festive attire is always a must! We had a nice turnout of around 40 people. The new addition of karaoke was enjoyed by all-participants and audience members! Congratulations to our festive attire contest winners: Carlos as Mexican Santa and Cathy as a Candy Cane!
Andrea and I decided to rent a cabin in the mountains for Thanksgiving. After she gave me the job of finding the cabin, I set out to find a place with everything Andrea wanted (fireplace, complete kitchen, surrounded by nature) and then I added my own qualification...close to a trout stream. We settled on Anderson's Riverside Cabin next to the South Holston River in Bristol, TN. The cabin was perfect. Andrea slept in everyday and woke up to read by the fire while deer and turkey roamed around outside. I woke up by 4:30 everymorning to hit the river in search of trophy brown trout. I ended up landing 4 fish over 20 inches, including a 25 inch brown and a 29 inch brown. I only fished until 9:00am each morning and then AJ and I spent the rest of the day together.
Gus on Left
One of Gus's races on Saturday
for a few hours in the Gillette, WY Wal-Mart parking lot. We were up and about at 7:00 and on the road.
located 5 miles from the Presidential Monument. As we pulled into to the resort, I told Nick I felt like I was at the Ritz Carlton of RV parks! The park boasted 500 sites and 55 Kamping Kabins, two pools and spas, a water slide, American Indian dancers, miniature golf, hayrides, a restaurant, and even car rentals! After setting up camp and taking a nice shower we grabbed a bite to eat at the resort’s restaurant and headed to Mount Rushmore. The monument was amazing, but the sun was setting in all the wrong places, which made picture taking difficult. We hiked the mile-or-so Presidential Trail admiring the artistic masterpiece and decided to come back in the morning for better photos. After a campfire and a few s’mores we were exhausted and ready for bed!
Last night we debated the slight detour to Badlands National Park, and finally decided to make the stop. Wow! We were sure glad that we did! Amazing, crazy stuff! God’s magnificent creations once again leave us speechless!
Today we hit the river with our guide, Rob Orsini from Jacklin’s Fly Shop, to drift the Madison. Within a few minutes of fishing Andrea landed her first trout on a fly rod, a 16” brown trout. She ended up landing another and hooking several. Actually she hooked more than I did! I got a few browns and a nice rainbow, but lost a huge brown and missed probably 20 strikes!!! It was a frustrating day of fishing, but Andrea had fun and said she would like to do it again. Andrea also hooked me in the head on her back cast. She acted like it was an accident, but she was casting too good for that. Tomorrow we're off to Slough Creek in North Yellowstone. 
their natural habitat. 
This hike is a must do if you visit Grand Teton National Park. It is my favorite hike of the trip so far! We started at 8:45 and finished around 1:00. We were among the few hikers in the morning, but the trail really filled up on our way back. We were told that this is one of the most popular hikes in the area, so we would recommend starting very early in the day, possibly around 7:00 a.m. to avoid the crowds.
Mexican restaurant recommended by our river guide yesterday. We were both so hungry from our 12 mile hike we devoured our lunches! We then walked around the town and did a little shopping. Jackson has so many neat shops including souvenir shops, boutiques, and western stores. We only shopped for a few hours before the tiredness from our hike set in. We headed back to the campground for some rest. I took a two hour nap while Nick fished the Gros Ventre River behind our site. He caught 2 cutthroat and 2 white fish.
Our 5th anniversary didn’t start off as I had planned. I decided to turn off my mental alarm clock which has been getting us up at 5:30 and let Andrea sleep in. As she started getting ready in the morning she realized that she couldn’t read anything up close (Andrea does have prescription classes for seeing far away). After a couple of hours and still no improvement she called her eye doctor who told her to go to an Emergency Room. For a second opinion she decided to call our friend Leslie Guy (an Optometrist) who happened to be on vacation in Alaska, but AJ managed to call when they were in cell service. Within a few seconds and a couple of questions Leslie figured out the cause of Andrea’s blurred vision…a motion sickness patch. We then sat down to eat at a place called Bubba’s in Jackson. I had to read the menu to Andrea, but within a couple of hours of removing the patch her vision started improving, and within 12 hours was back to normal. Thanks Leslie (Dr. House)!!!!
After breakfast we met at Dave Hansen White Water where we were transported for a 13-mile float down the Snake River. It was absolutely beautiful. We saw 4 bald eagles, an otter, and some of the best fly fishing water in Wyoming, but they wouldn’t let me bring my fly rod on the raft. After the float we returned to Dave Hansen headquarters where we boarded another bus to the White Water section of the Snake. We were placed in an 8 man raft, and when the guide asked who wanted to be the front man I of course volunteered. However, I did almost fall out when we hit the first set of rapids. This was a ton of fun and Andrea has already talked me into booking another trip in the Carolinas.
