Visitor's Guide to Pinedale, Wyoming
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Holiday Craft Fair The Senior Citizen Holiday Craft Fair at Rendezvous Pointe drew a large crowd on Saturday. Antelope on the move Antelope and deer are moving south to their wintering grounds. Large antelope herd This large herd of antelope doesn't seem to mind grazing next to a natural gas well as they migrate south between Daniel and Big Piney. Marbleton cattle drive Cowboys move cattle along Hwy 189 to get to winter pasture near Marbleton last week. Coyote and horses A coyote passes through a pasture unnoticed by these three horses near Big Piney last week.

We had a taste of real winter last week, with temperatures dipping down to -22F overnight and hanging around 0 during the day. Warmer weather returned over this past weekend with a splendid day on Saturday. Locals were back to taking their coats off and wearing t-shirts outside (temperature climbed to about 27F, if you are wondering what the Locals call ‘warm’.) Our last significant snow was before Thanksgiving, and we currently have an inch or so of snow on the ground in town.

White Pine Ski Area opened just before Thanksgiving and lots of people have been enjoying skiing and snowboarding just 10 miles from Pinedale. You can check out their current conditions on their two web cams, one on the lodge and one at the top of the ski runs. Snowmobilers are finding several feet of snow up in the Wyoming range to wet their whistles and start their season.

Everyone is starting to spruce up for the holiday season. The Town crews got the holiday street light ornaments up awhile ago down Pine Street. Businesses are doing a nice job of decorating their storefronts with lights and ornaments. There are lots of holiday events going on throughout the month between concerts, the holiday parade, parties and open houses. The Museum of the Mountain Man’s annual Chocolate and Wreath auction Friday was a whole lot of fun, with several of the hand-made wreaths going for between $1000-$1500 each.

There are a couple of new businesses in town now. There’s a new party-supply store in the Summit Building in Pinedale called A Barrel of Fun that can supply weddings, birthday parties, showers, balloon bouquets, singing telegrams, rent-a-clown, piñatas and more. Country Antiques & Gifts just opened up in the back of the Spirits of the West building in Pinedale with antique furniture. The old Moose Creek Trading Store is being converted into a new restaurant called the Stage Stop Restaurant (the building with the moose statue out front that everyone likes to take a picture of). They will be opening any day now serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Marbleton’s Short Stop Gas and Convenience store just recently sold and closed. New owners will reopen it soon as an Exxon gas station and convenience store with some facility upgrades.

You don’t have to drive very far out of town to see tons of deer and antelope, which are making their fall move to their wintering grounds further south. Anyone driving the highways right now should be especially alert for deer and antelope munching the grass along the highway right-of-way or groups suddenly crossing the road in front of you. If you see one, there usually are a bunch more, so be alert for more not far behind the first one. Ranchers are also moving cattle herds to winter pastures, so don’t be surprised if you encounter a cattle drive on the highway or area back roads.

We had to chuckle this past week when, between the Sublette Examiner newspaper stories, and our Pinedale Online front page pictures, we had a bald eagle, big bull moose, and a coyote picture all up at the same time. Each of these animal photos were chance encounters as the photographer was going on their way from one place to another, not specifically out LOOKING to find a great wildlife picture to take. We always take our cameras with us wherever we go. We never know WHAT we will see when we're out, but we know we'll see something, every day/any day, no matter where we go. This truly is a wildlife haven and wildlife watcher’s dream place to live.

For those who are following Wyoming football, the Cowboys will be playing against UCLA on Thursday, December 23rd in the Las Vegas Bowl. The Cowboys haven't appeared in a postseason game since the Copper Bowl in 1993, and have never met UCLA on the football field. The Las Vegas Bowl will be played at UNLV's 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6:45 p.m. PST, and ESPN will televise the game. Each team will reportedly get a payout of about $750,000.

Thanks to all of you who have written with your ‘What I Love About Pinedale’ e-mails and other notes. We always enjoy hearing from you! Happy Holidays!

- Dawn Ballou, Editor, Pinedale Online!