The Rendezvous Experience

This last week my family and I attended the Fort Bridger Mountain Man Rendezvous up in the prairies of southwest Wyoming. If you've never attended you should look into stopping by next Labor Day weekend to see what it's all about.
Rendezvous across the country are much the same. People dress up in period clothing (from the late 1700's to the mid 1800's), sleep in tipis (or teepee, depending on how you want to spell it), and hold shooting contests, buy and trade goods and have a merry ol' time. You might wonder what kind of goods they sell, well, anything you'd find during the nineteenth century. Nothing modern. The rules are strict and clearly stated. No plastic. Only items found during the time period.
Because of the strict policy it makes for a historical environment. It smells, looks and feels old.
Authentic.
Nearly every canvas covered shop you enter will hold the scents of metals, leathers, wool and wax. And it's not just a few shops you'll see. Trader's Row is what they call the dirt road that circles around next to the fort and you can meander all day to look over everything the shop owners have to offer and you'll still miss something.
Along with the shops and black powder shooting, hatchet throwing, and arrow shooting contests there are old homes to tour and of course the museum and fort itself. Several times a day over the weekend they have representatives from different Native American tribes show us a thing or two about their heritage by dancing in their traditional costumes. It's a sight worth seeing.

The only downfall of this trip was my camera didn't work as I needed it to. I had planned on taking loads of pictures to share with you all. My camera only worked for an hour before it decided it didn't like me anymore. Here are a few of my pictures worth showing . . .

As you can see we are all dressed up in period clothing. My daughters are wearing the wool cloaks I had made for them. I've spent all summer making an entire wardrobe for my family and because my camera pooped out on me I don't get to show you the rest of our costumes.

Here's my two little ones watching their Uncle made a leather pouch for my son. I wish I could have snapped a shot of his handy work.

Nothing would be right about this until someone wielded a pitchfork.

Stop on by soon and I'll have a drawing posted of a laughing horse I drew.

Native American Dancer

Tah dah! It's done!
Last year I attended the Fort Bridger Mountain Man Rendezvous and had a fabulous time taking pictures and enjoying the festivities. For fifteen years I would mention and or beg to attend this rendezvous and my husband would always answer, "Why would I want to go camp with a bunch of people wearing loincloths."

Well, there are men with loincloths, but it's a whole lot more than people dressing up.

This awesome colored pencil drawing is one of the Native American dancers that entertains and give us a gift of their ancestors. It's one of my favorite pictures I took and I knew I needed to draw him. So I did. :)
All summer long I've been preparing to return to the rendezvous by sewing my family an entire wardrobe and drawing work that I hope to sell. When all is done I'll post more pictures.