A Couch in a Field

Yesterday took us from the train yards of Cheyenne, Wyoming to the Tetons of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  The scenery along the way was beautiful, changing from hills dotted with blue tinged sage bushes to mountains trimmed in pristine white.  Cattle poked along through the sage, munching and walking.  Except one white faced bull, he found a good spot to rub its chin on the fence and looked very content.  The trees slowly became more populous, and the pines stood higher, flecked with tiny cones. 

Among all of the sights, smells, and views, there was a couch in one of the fields.  Out with the cows, in the middle of a ranch, with no buildings around, sat a couch.  I didn’t give it much thought during the day, just that it seemed kind of a different place to put a couch.  But, then evening came. 

When I was last in the Teton area, we were camping.  I walked out of the laundry house and looked up at the night sky.  It was a sky I had never seen before – the Milky Way was spilled across the sky in brilliant color.  I couldn’t keep from staring, mouth agape, doing some sort of a happy dance there in the dusty drive. 

Knowing that we were coming back to this area, I have been dreaming of that sky.  So, last night, Dad and I headed out to the National Elk Refuge.  Driving out past the lights of town, we kept out an eye for elk, and kept moving away from the lights.  Then, sitting in the van, heater running, we waited.  Slowly the sun went down.  A moth came to visit a few times, fluttering against my window (and causing me to jump at the unexpected movement).  Eventually, the sky darkened, the stars came out.  Hello to the sky that I had missed seeing.  Oh, the stars – I never knew there were so many! 

Now I have a different idea about the couch in the field.  What a perfect spot to star gaze.