Enjoying the Outdoors

"I want my son to be able to take his grandson hunting and fishing the way I took him."
- Gov. Dave Freudenthal

When Gov Dave talks about the need to take a balanced approach to development of natural resources, he speaks from experience.

Growing up on the family farm at Owl Creek outside Thermopolis instilled in Dave a healthy respect for the land. He learned to hunt and fish with his family, and he has passed on this outdoor heritage to his children on camping trips to the Big Horn Mountains.

The Freudenthals used to have family reunions each summer at the Deer Haven Lodge, east of Ten Sleep, where they would rent cabins or pitch tents. Three generations of the family participated, as Dave and his family joined his parents, his seven siblings and their families.

On fishing days, everybody would pile into pickup trucks and drive down bumpy dirt roads to reach the forks of Tensleep Creek that trickle through the meadows of Willow Park. They would hike up and over what everyone remembers as a steep hill and descend to secret ponds teeming with trout.

There they would "drown a worm," as Gov Dave says. He would help his daughters, Hillary and Katie, by baiting the hook for them and removing the fish they caught.

"He was a good coach," Hillary recalls. "Some of my earliest memories are of him carrying me over streams that he would walk through, with the fishing rods and worms in the other arm."

Afterward, the families would take turns cooking up the day's catch, then play Hand and Foot -- the Freudenthal family card game -- late into the night.

In the Big Horns, one didn't have to walk far to get away from every day life. For First Lady Nancy Freudenthal, being out in the fresh air and rich forest brought back memories of her childhood in Cody, where she often camped with her family on the North Fork of the Shoshone River.

"Dave was surprised when we first went camping that I knew how to cook over an open campfire," she says. "I thought, 'I've done this before.'"

The outdoor fun continued in winter, when Gov Dave and the kids would tow each other on sleds behind four-wheelers. The family also enjoys snowmobiling when they get a chance.

First Lady Nancy learned to ski as a child at the Sleeping Giant Ski Area, which only had a rope tow when she started. She continued skiing until law school, when "a combination of too many falls, poor knees and study" took her away from the sport. She still occasionally hits the slopes with daughter Katie. Gov Dave and Nancy's sons Bret and Don also spend considerable time in the mountains and are very experienced with the difficult trails.

As Bret grew older, Gov Dave would take him hunting. They hunted pheasants and deer in the grasslands near Torrington and elk in the mountains of western Wyoming. The family freezer is stocked with deer and elk meat from some recent hunting trips.

This summer the Freudenthals attended another family reunion at Deer Haven Lodge in the Big Horns, which was a chance for Hillary and Katie to revisit many of the places they knew as children. Katie made great strides and started to put worms on her hook and even gut a fish!

Around the house, Gov Dave has always kept busy outdoors. His "inner farmer" shows in the way he cares for the lawn, plants and trees -- he constantly has projects outside, such as working on the sprinkler system or other landscaping. The outdoor work helps him stay active and feeling good.