Ft. Bridger Rendezvous

This Labor Day Weekend Jeff and I decided to go with my parents to Fort Bridger, WY (about 100 miles east on I-80 from SLC). Its a small town with a lot of national history as well as deep family roots for me.

The modern day rendezvous is a celebration of the Fur Trade that occurred between 1825 - 1840 in the area. We were surprised that all of the vendors were in period dress that included buckskin pants, jackets, and furs; dresses and bonnets for the ladies, and many who came in loin cloths representing the Indian nations that also participated. (To say the least, we saw A LOT of old man butts)

Here are some of the pictures from our adventure into the Wild West...

This is the statue of Jim Bridger, the famous mountain man, who settled the area and later helped to build the fort there. (Some of this is from memory and may be wrong FYI)

The flyer said that over the Labor Day weekend, they were expecting over 50,000 people. Many were camped in period tents and tee-pees throughout the fort.

The best tee pee I saw

This was a campsite depicting what a family would have set out in the 1800's. And a family was actually living in this for the weekend! Much much braver than I.

There were also demonstrations like this...making rope from horse hair.

The best find in this whole place was the fur. I regret not buying this hat for myself...they also had matching gloves! Ah mazing!! (Sorry for all the fur haters...I happen to love it)

Of course we found lots of things with my namesake because my name is Souix.

Try to read this (I couldn't rotate it) but is was a rock tied to rope to tell the weather.

Period dress...we couldn't get a good one of the loin cloths.

We had so much fun...I think the best part was the Navajo taco...mmmm mmmm.