Weddings, evil vegetarians and groaning

I know it's far too beautiful for a she-male like me, but I just ordered this weding dress. I'm so excited I keep grinning and clapping like a retarded seal. The experience wasn't as traumatic as I thought it's be, once the assistant had pried off my baggy shorts and T-shirt combo it all went quite smoothly. She brought me some rediculous underware that took several minutes of sustained effort to squeeze me into and left me looking like a burlesque dancer from moulin rouge. I was concerned the underskirt and corest combo was actually the gown, and she had me down for a slutty wedding, so I was vaguly relieved when she brought me several acres of chiffon and beading to go over the top. It's probably going to be a summer wedding and I'm wearing more fabric than the UN ship out for tempory shelters after an earthquake. I might have to go all roman and employ a legion of small boys to continually fan me during the wedding. I tried on 5 gowns before buying the first one, which was the one I'd gone with the intention of buying anyway. This is obscenely girly by my standards, but it was the nicest, Andy and Beth agreed. I did like one of the others purely because it gave me a Manga-style exagerated waistline, but that seemed like a vain reason to pick a gown. I'm totally in love with the one I have picked. If we get married here, we'll have a party in the UK too so I get to wear it twice, yay!! All I have to do now is figure out how to corner with a train attatched, or plan a route to the chapel that involves only ever walking in straight lines.

Of course, we haven't made any plans, set a date, or even decided which country to do this in, so I might end up a Miss Haversham style man-hater gently rotting in my lovely gown.




Left: Andy and Beth seem strangely excited by their pumping efforts

The next day we went into the Snowies, partly just for the hell of it and partly to look for potential wedding venues. We found a few nice lakes and wooded areas, but there was genrally something wrong; the lake might be popular with anglers, or the woods might be crawling with ants. Then we found a chapel that was just perfect. I am excited to be marrying Andy because I love him and want to spend my life with him, so I'd marry him anywhere, but if we could do it here it would be absolutely amazing. The views are breathtaking, with mountains on two sides, and a lake a short walk away. The fields are studded with wild flowers. It's a fair drive out of Laramie, it's icey in winter and spring and hot in summer and it'd probably rain, but I'm just completely captivated by the place. There's also a cabin nearby where we could decamp for food after the ceremony, but I'm getting way ahead of myself now. The chapel is owned by a local diocese, so there is a chance we wouldn't be allowed to have a non-religious ceromony there, but we'll see.

Left: views around the chapel

We came out the other side of the Snowies in Sarotoga, a dissapointingly uninspiring place. It does have hot springs though, which interested me on one level as a geologist, and on a much more important level as a runner with achy legs that needed a good soak.

Left: soaking in the disconcetingly warm stream.

I was having flash backs to being in a swimming pool as a child when you get a warm patch and know there can't be any good reason for it being warm.

After Sarotoga, we headed back to Laramie. It was Beth's last night so went went for a meal at Sweet Melissa's, Laramie's only vegetarian restaurant. The food was great, but I think they might have heard me and Andy winding Beth up for her sentimentality over animals (she isn't vegetarian), so they decided to get revenge on us. We were both ill when we got back. I felt like someone was stabbing hot knives in my stomache. I had a moment of relief when the pain ended, which was quickly replaced with humiliation when the noisier, messier phase of the illness started. Andy was ill too, but always manages to make less of a fuss than me. We ended up waddling around walmart at midnight searching for imodium, groaning at the sight of the 'restrooms unavailable, sorry' sign. Quite literally a crappy end to a nice few days, but we are better now.