First Month of Pinedale

We have been in Pinedale for one month now. Or 5 weeks, whichever way you like to look at it.  Sometimes, it feels like we are simply on an extended vacation, other times, it feels like we've been here forever. So here it is, the update on everything so far. What I like about living in Pinedale:

The people. Everyone I have come in contact with has been helpful, friendly and welcoming. I have yet to come across a rude driver. Aaron says he has, but that it was a “tourist” and they were leaving town. It seems more people here make better eye contact, and therefore seem to smile more. The kids have found good friends, and O says she has more close friends here than before. They seem to be very accepting and down to earth.

The schools: The teachers are great. The programs are awesome. The faculty is wonderful. And, they serve optional gluten-free lunches! So for the first time in my children’s school career, they are having school lunches. Halleluiah!  I love that I don’t need to make sack lunches for them anymore. Life just got a lot simpler. The cafeteria is a room with massive windows to let in all that natural sunlight, and to see the occasional moose walk down the street in front of the school. The student-teacher ratio is about 14-1, which is perfect. The kids get their own full sized lockers. One entire wall in the gym is a climbing/bouldering wall.  Even though the school is less than 1 mile away, the bus stop is a block and a half away from our house….so the kids ride the bus in the cold mornings and walk home in the sunshine (and make it home 15 minutes faster.) The kids are both in choir for the first time, and they are both accompanying their choirs on the piano. AND—they don’t have homework!  I kid you not. They are given sufficient time in school to finish their assignments. They have gone all month with no homework, except O had to finish up an art project one night.  ONE night. That means we have a lot more free time.

My work. I love my job. I teach a gentle yoga class twice a week. I work with wonderful people, and the students are delightful. I get a free membership to the PAC (Pinedale Aquatic Center), and my family gets 10 percent off of theirs. Nice perks.

The wilderness. Seriously. It’s so close, and so wild. We are excited to explore this summer.

The community. Pinedale smells like snow and wood smoke. The pace of life is a bit slower. I love it—though it did take some adjustment.  The community is also very close—without being invasive. Pinedale definitely nurtures the introvert in me—meaning I get enough “alone time” to feel balanced, but the people are friendly and open. Pinedale and Sublette County is very good at keeping their websites updated, with calendars of events and lots of info. It’s refreshing. Good stuff. There are LOTS of recreation programs, and there is a high level of athleticism. I heard some locals discussing the low number of people in the county dealing with overweight/obesity...and they were attributing that to the high level of activity/support of the community, and the fact that there are no fast food places. Not one--unless you count the Subway in the gas station. The community is very big into continuing education—in the form of community classes—for both adults and children. Aaron and the kids have signed up for some pottery classes…and there are SO many other options as well—and very affordable, or free at the library.  And all 2 minutes away, which leads me to the next thing….

Our location: Everything in town is seriously 2 minutes away, Aaron’s work, my work (the PAC), the school, the library, the grocery store—any store, actually. A town park, on the river (Pine Creek) is 1 minute walking distance, and visible from our window. There are trails up and down the creek for walking or running. Or walking the dogs. And even though we are in the middle of town, it is still so quiet. I’m surprised.

How much sunshine we have: Clean air! No nasty inversion that makes the winter doldrums all the more gloomy.  And surprisingly little wind. We’ve had a few breezy days, but nothing like other parts of Wyoming. And I am NOT a fan of wind. I’d rather have cold any day over wind.  I think we experience more sunshine also because of our large south facing windows—and we are no longer in a basement apartment—so the contrast seems quite substantial.  Speaking of cold…when we moved here, it was just in time for the cold snap—where the temps dropped to -30 at night and rose to -10 in the day. That was hard. I’ve never experienced that kind of cold before…so there may or may not have been lots of hot chocolate consumed. But most of the month the weather has been very typical Cache Valley weather. We don’t have much snow. We are hoping for something epic soon.

Aaron’s work: A is enjoying the variety of his work. He has one-on-one clients for mental health, and also teaches classes at the jail, and at the office for those in the substance abuse recovery program. He has a great boss and enjoys being looked to as a professional in his field.

The PAC: Hello. We have not exercised this much since...ever…yoga, swimming, racquetball, rock climbing, running, and all the other things that go with a full rec center. And all 2 minutes away. The PAC has huge windows that fill it with natural light…so you can run inside, and still be in sunshine. Or swim/soak in the hot tub—in the sunshine. In winter. I don’t know how people survive the winters up here without a PAC membership. L can’t get enough racquetball right now. It’s his new favorite sport. Often, the kids will walk from their school to the PAC and I will go pick them up after a couple of hours. They have the time for it because they don’t have HOMEWORK.  J 

The ward: friendly and interested, but not overbearing. The ward is about 150 active members, and there are only 2 wards in Pinedale.  We feel welcomed. Here, people are simply happy that you show up. The end.  Anything else is just bonus.  I find it intriguing that with about 13 different churches here, people don’t define or label you as a “Mormon” or “Methodist” or “Catholic” etc. People seem much more interested in getting to know you as YOU, not necessarily a “religion”. Religion rarely comes up, at least in the conversations I’ve had. I have found people to be very respectful of all different religions—one of those being the Wilderness. ;) 

The Library System:  They got it right. The whole state is on the same system. Brilliant. And the library here is beautiful, with a new addition that has a full blown labyrinth in it. The library has community classes offered by those interested in teaching –pick-your-subject. 

Our house: windows—big and south facing. We have a dishwasher!! And, our piano. It gets lots of attention.  Having two bathrooms is dreamy—a wonderful luxury—even if they only have showers, not tubs.  A fenced yard is also very nice…dogs stay in, other things stay out.

The things I miss the most, living here on the frontier—is Amazon Prime 2-day shipping. We still get free shipping, but it is standard shipping. And you have to go to the post office to pick up your packages. I know. Instead of waiting only 2 days, it takes about 1 week . Oh, the horror!  I also miss trash collection/recycling. We take our trash out to the transfer station, unless we want to hire a private trash collector. I miss Maceys grocery store and the great selection of everything. I miss having a mailbox, too.  And a garage to park in. And storage space.  But hey, we found a great place to board our horses, and will be bringing them up around the first of March. Yay!

So all in all, we are loving our new area. We are excited to explore it in the summer, which is around the 3^rd week of July.