Land That I Love

 

God Bless America!  I feel so blessed to live 1 and 2 1/2 hours away from places that I love. Home and the Cabin.  I've shared some of these pictures on my blog before of the farm in Belfry where I grew up and then the mountains around Cooke City where I grew up during the summers as a teenager.  These are two places that I sometimes can't get enough of.   I love riding a four wheeler with Jaden through pastures, by fields, and along the river on the farm in Belfry.  We see wild turkeys, deer, and all sorts of critters. When we found the latest turkey hideout a few weeks ago, we had to take home some of the shiny, iridescent feathers for Gramum and the visiting Schurdell cousins.  Obviously these pics are from years past.

When I help drive a hay truck a few times in the summer, the best part is feeling the cool, dewey air in the late evening and seeing Heart Mountain and the Beartooth Mountains as the sun goes down.  I'm reminded each year of just how surreal it feels.

I also love Cooke City. Yes, I hate the mosquitoes and occasional Japanese beetle but this place is so beautiful. It's so easy to feel the Spirit in the mountains. The views are breathtaking. Someday, I will have to thank this amazing man, V.O. Jackson and his wife Ada for making my connection to this place possible.  In the 1930's, V.O. had the opportunity to buy over 200 acres of land around Cooke/Colter Pass.  Evidently, the Forest Service didn't take too kindly to him grazing his cattle on government land!  He had brought cows from Belfry up to Cooke Pass and had a dairy and butcher shop.  During that time, there were gold mines and evidently his was a profitable business. 

So this has been a gathering place for the Jackson family ever since.  Fast forward 80-90 years and it becomes an important part of my history and identity. I loved going to Cooke City as a child and spending time with my cousin Lara. We'd pick wild strawberries and walk to Aunt Phyllis' store to buy candy.  There were horses and amazing meals and late nights talking in the loft above a tiny one roomed cabin.  There was Aunt Phyllis's store in Cooke City where she, without fail, always made us pick out a t-shirt as a gift. There were horse rides to Kersey Lake and awesome afternoon rainstorms. It's always exciting to see Pilot and Index become closer the further we drive.

Then as a child, my parents were able to buy an acre of land and have spent the past 20 years in the process of building and finishing a cabin. My summers working for my Aunt Phyllis from ages 15-20 were a growing and stretching time. I started to learn independence, work ethic, and to say I was out of my comfort zone, would be a vast understatement.  But I also got to meet and love hundreds of my Jackson relatives. Going to church in a former barn is still priceless. And so I feel so blessed that I could revisit these places every weekend if I wanted.  And they never get old.  I get excited when I drive past the cemetary and around the hill and overlook the Clarks Fork Valley. Turning that corner and seeing that view is breathtaking, whether it's winter, or fall or summer. I know I am only a few miles from Home.  When I turn the last winding corner just before Cooke Past that same excitement resonates.  These and a million more reasons are why I have a special place in my heart for these special places!