Cowboys and Indians

I had never heard of Cowboys and Indians, The Premiere Magazine of the West, until my friend, who lives in Big Horn, WY, called to say there was an article about the polo field near their home in the current issue. They had built this beautiful home there several years ago, and we were fortunate to finally visit them when we flew our small plane there a few years ago.

So, I promptly picked up a copy with Tom Selleck At Home on His Ranch on the cover and much to my surprise found the entire issue thoroughly entertaining and interesting.

The teasers on the cover of this Special 15th Anniversary issue are:

-Cowboys: Men Who Made the West
-Boots: Envy-Worthy Kickers
-National Parks: The West's Best.

How apropros since we just returned from visiting two National Parks: Mesa Verde in Colorado and Canyon de Chelly (pronounced Shay) in Arizona, where we had taken tours to learn how the Indians lived 300 AD. It was interesting to note that we had actually visited over the years nine of the 15 listed as the best . We had stayed in two of the four "Lodge Envy" resorts listed in the parks: The Ahwahnee at Yosemite Nat'l Park (where two deer walked right past me as I was headed to my cabin from the main lodge). We actually never stayed at Old Faithful Inn, but we watched the rain come down and ate lunch there once. El Tovar, at the Grand Canyon, which hosted Zane Grey, Albert Einstein, and Teddy Roosevelt, among others, underwent a $4.5 million facelift shortly after their centennial.

In 1995, Sharon Stone called and cowgirled her way onto the first celebrity cover of C&I to promote her movie, The Quick and the Dead, about a female gunslinger. That changed everything for the Western-lifestyle magazine. Movie-star covers became a staple for C&I, allowing them to find a niche where celebrities and the West melded into Americana. Consider John Wayne, Robert Duvall, Sam Shepherd, Sam Elliott, Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, Harrison Ford and Tom Selleck (again) and Tommy Lee Jones as appealing cover cowboys.

I, who have never really been in to cowboy/cowgirl gear, was even fascinated to see the selection of great boots. Check it out: Star Boots Jolly Roger, inspired by the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean.
Cool features: Skull-and-crossbones inlay on toe and heel.
Best worn with: A leather motorcycle jacket, big loop earrings, and lots of chunky bracelets that jingle.
Why cowgirls like them: They're Nancy Sinatra-tough.
Sheryl Crow wears a pair of the Old Gringo Cowgirl boots with pink inlay breast-cancer-awareness ribbons on the toe, shaft and heel of the boot.

The story about best-selling author, Robert B. Parker, provided more education. Fans of Parker's 2005 Western novel, Appaloosa, are eagerly awaiting the film adaptation, starring Viggo Mortensen as Everett Hitch and Ed Harris (who also directed the movie) as Virgil Cole. Appaloosa--which costars Renee Zellweger and Jeremy Irons--is slated for a fall release.

I highly recommend you pick up a copy of this July, 2008, issue (try Border's), while it's still on the newstands.