Several years back, my husband, Paul, and I took our first trip to Wyoming--in February. Let me make it clear that this was his dream, not mine. At least, at first. My idea of the perfect winter vacation is digging my bare feet into warm beach sand on a Caribbean island. This is how it has always been, and my husband knows this. So it was with some trepidation that he approached me with the already done deal of a wildlife expedition to Yellowsone and the Grand Tetons--in Wyoming, and in the dead of winter--and wisely decided not to make it my Christmas present.

Well, it was beautiful. And it blew me away. It snowed a lot, to be sure. And there was no propect whatsoever of bare feet in the sand. But the unexpected colors were an artist's dream--gorgeous and stunning juxtapositions of red-orange from fields of  red willow shrubs (that we learned were a principal winter food of moose) and cool, blue-green complements in the tall firs that ringed the meadows, all set off by white snow, snow, snow. I painted a little and snapped hundreds of photos. We saw plenty of wildlife, too--moose, elk in their winter feeding grounds near the Wildlife Museum, big horn sheep,  the coyotes, and more. The wolves were elusive--we came close to a couple of the re-introduced packs, but never got to see them. Since I love to paint wildlife in a natural setting, my photos gave me fodder for many new wildlife subjects.

My husband has been back to Wyoming, but I haven't, so far. Every few weeks, from work, he will email me a Wyoming ranch listing. I know better than to respond. My dream is a little house on St. John, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. (See my website at www.claudiabrookes.com under "Events" for a listing of my February 2008 show there). But maybe, someday, there would be a chance for both--we can both dream, can't we?