773. Hot Seat: Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Fearlessly Failing Hot Seat: Wyoming Edition with Matthew Sofo

In this ep we reminisce about the unforgettable adventure through Jackson Hole and Yellowstone National Park. This special edition of the Hot Seat captures the essence of western living—from million-dollar cowboy bars to rare grey wolf sightings—while revealing how travel can strip away our everyday personas and connect us to what truly matters.

In this intimate conversation, Matthew opens up about discovering a renewed sense of self amid Wyoming's breathtaking landscapes. The couple shares their favorite moments, from savoring award-winning bison chili to branding their cowboy gear with personal initials. Beyond the travel tales lies a deeper revelation about finding freedom from others' expectations and embracing authenticity.

Timestamps & Key Takeaways:

0:00-0:30 - Introduction to the Fearlessly Failing Hot Seat format
0:31-2:15 - Favourite food experiences in Wyoming (Cowboy Steaks, Bison Ribs, Snake River Brewery's award-winning chili)
2:16-3:40 - Best spots for whiskey, including the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar and their special Yellowstone National Park edition bottle
3:41-4:15 - Coffee recommendations in Jackson Hole
4:16-4:45 - Most memorable animal encounters: bison and the rare gray wolf sighting
4:46-6:00 - Favourite nature spots, including Old Faithful and Taggart Lake
6:01-7:30 - Most cherished moments together, from Shore Buckers to the Cowboy Bar
7:31-9:15 - Discussion about different travel styles and Matthew's surprising sociability
9:16-10:45 - Reflections on how Wyoming inspired a desire for a simpler, more authentic lifestyle

Want to experience more of the magic of Wyoming? Listen to Monday's long form episode (episode: 772) for an intimate glimpse into how travel can transform our perspectives and remind us who we truly are beneath our everyday masks.

Big love, Lola 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Fearlessly Failing hot Seat. In this EPP, I
fire rapid questions at one of our fearlessly failing guests. PS.
I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm not so good
at the rapid part. I get too intrigued by the
awesome answers. Now a new EPP is going to drop
every Wednesday, so enjoy this shortest style episode of Fearlessly

(00:23):
Failing Hot Seat. Welcome to the hot Seat. Hello, what's
your full name? Matthew Sofo, Matthew Habernio Abanero. It's Tap
of Chili because you're spicy.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
No no middle names?

Speaker 1 (00:44):
I know, I know. Okay, this is the hot Seat
Wyoming Edition. Favorite meal you had in Wyoming or Jackson Hole?
Should I say er?

Speaker 3 (00:55):
I'd probably just have to say the first night Moon
doll A Cowboy Steak yours.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
I'm going to say the last night their Gun Barrel
Steak and Game House. And we got Bison ribs.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Great. Well.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
I love the Snake River Brewery too. I love that chili.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
Yeah, that was really good bison chili we got. They
had won like three town awards for the best chili.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
It was so good and it came with corn bread.
A favorite place for a whiskey.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Just million dollar Cowboy.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah, I would agree. I would say we tried to
find other little places, but nothing really beats it.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah, it was just it's just because also I think
it's probably the least expensive.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
It's the cheapest, Yeah for sure. Okay, I would say
the same million dollar Cowboy. I also really had fun
when we did our little improperty whiskey tasting off.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
That Yeah, I like that. Yeah. Also the bottle that
we bought, we didn't say the long form.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
We bought their like special edition National National Park one
which was you know, the profits or some of the
profits Wyoming whiskey donate back to the national park.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Yeah. This one was Yellowstone National Park and on the
little ticket it had the Mammoth Hot Springs, which we
didn't get up to.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, so that.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
That was like a special edition one that I thought
was It tasted amazing and I was like, it's also
a cool you know to buy.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
We're going to keep that bottle boot. Yes, A favorite coffee.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Spot, well, we just prosephonees.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, And I would say that I would preface with
we didn't make it here, but Cowboy coffee is meant
to be amazing. I'm secretly heartbroken and happy we didn't
go there because I would.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Have bought the merch. Yeah, but we can do that
next time.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
I know you did say that. He was like, we
can do it next time, don't worry.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
Yeah, but remember, Yeah, everyone drinks black Drip coffee and.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
It was at our hotel area the morning.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
It's free. Yeah, it's actually like it's pretty good.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah, I love that favorite animal encounter.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
Well, I know what you're gonna say, so I would
just say, in general, I think it's fucking cool that
you're like so close to bison.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, I think and kill and for me gray wolf. Yeah,
because it's so rare and like I love I love
seeing predators. Yeah, like I love when we see sharks.
I love uh Okay, favorite nature spot don't be general,
because you can't just go oh yellow all the Yellowstone.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Stone favorite nature spot.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
I I would say seeing Old Faithful just because it's
like so iconic.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah you know yeah, yeah, and that's like what one
of the things Yellowstone is most famous for. Yeah, and
you're literally on a volcano.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yeah, that's pretty kil.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
I think Taggart Lake I loved because it was such
a beautiful having the water and the mountains behind it
when you got to the lake, and I do like
even though it felt like we were in danger bear zone,
I like the feeling of that we face the risk.
Oh yeah, yeah, like being in danger and coming out
the other side. I enjoyed that feeling and that felt
like a little bit of a feat you know, like,

(04:18):
oh we did that scary thing.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Definitely took a bit of mental resilience.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yes, it did. Boot The next question, favorite moment that
you and I shared doesn't need to be romantic, just
something you and I did together. So it can be
a nature thing, it can be non nature.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
Favorite moment, Well, I think favorite for me because you
got so much joy out of it.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
But the last morning at shore.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Buckers, Oh yeah that was a noise.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
I think just yeah, just knowing how much that meant
to you and how special that was, I was like, oh, yeah,
this is a nice moment. Even if I was like,
oh take it or leave it, like it was like
knowing that you loved it and enjoyed it.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
I got to see it perfectly enjoyed it. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
I loved getting our stuff branded, so like your cowboy beout,
my cowboy hat. I love getting our little initials on it,
and I love the whole experience of that together.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
I really enjoyed that. Yeah, and I loved just sitting
at the Cowboy Bar because we went twice, moving on all.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
The Cowboy Bar would have gone three times.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
But I know, I know I canvinced you to find
other places my era, my era. I'll take full responsibility
for that.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
It's just like the easiest, coolest bar.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
And like you said, not crazy spinny. Yeah, yeah, Okay,
do you have any questions for me?

Speaker 2 (05:45):
No?

Speaker 3 (05:46):
Not not really do you have any notes on my
participation or behavior or anything like that.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
I think you're perfect. I think we both travel differently.
Like I think I'm like like go go go go go,
pass out at night, Go go go, go go go.
Where is your Like you want the balance of a holiday.
You want to be able to relax, you want to
be able to do the cool thing. You want to
be able to like reset, you want to be able
to like you're quite good at like finding that balance
where it's like I will come back from a holiday exhausted.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
Yeah, like to the point where the last morning we
really only had like forty five minutes where we could
have packed really quickly, yeah, and then gone into town
for like forty minutes.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
And you're like, oh, we should we should have done
this and you should have done that. I'm like, no,
just like relax, like pack, like get it all sorted.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, have to feel like fill the car with petrol.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
When then we get to the airport and then you know,
you go a little bathroom visit, you feel your bottle,
fill up your bottle of water, and by that time
we really only had ten minutes before we boarded.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
This is true, you know, yeah, this is true.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
You know what I would like to say about this trip,
I've never seen you make so many friends and talked
to so many random people like you did on this trip.
I would say, in general, you're not like a not
not that you're not like a chatter, but like I mean,
we sat down when he's random, This random lady complimented

(07:21):
Lola on her hat, and then we ended up sitting
down with him for like forty minutes and chatting.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
You know, an.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
Introvert, but I felt I felt more myself.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
Maybe, but we've just met like the nicest couple we met,
these ouzzie couple.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yet like at breakfast and so nice on the airport.

Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yeah, on the aeroplane and they ended up swapping seats
with us, so Lola and I could sit next together.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
But then I was like, I was like, where are
that we got off the plane. I was trying to
find them.

Speaker 3 (07:52):
Yeah, but you've exchanged numbers and I'm like, who is
this person? But yeah, it was nice to see you,
just like so like relax and meeting nice people. And
you know, I think that's the cool thing about traveling
is that you do meet all these random people and
you just get in these random conversations and it's cool.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
Yeah, definitely, Like I think the cool thing about traveling
is like you get a renewed perspective on things, and
I think I forget that sometimes I get in a
bit of a rut of like just like I've got
to achieve this is and this by today, I've got
to do. But one thing this trip made me realize
is like we suit that lifestyle of being in nature

(08:35):
and especially a westerning kind of lifestyle.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
We're definitely got a boot barn.

Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah, we are going to get a boot barn that's
feed by Cowboy Boots in America. And I think this
has taught me that, like, I want to work really
hard so that we can live that lifestyle, to like
build a ranch somewhere and live that way, because that
brings me so much joy. And I said to you
before I turn four, I was like, I just want

(09:01):
to be myself. Sometimes I feel like I live like
trying to manage my own perception of other people's expectations
of me, so it's all my own shit. And I
just like there, I felt like we could live our
way absolutely, and I feel like I just didn't care,
Like I spent a lot of time caring about what
other people think of me. Yeah, and that's obviously like

(09:23):
a lot of mental health work's got to be done
around that. But it just made me like, yeah, feel freer,
and I want to live that way because we're forty now, like.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
We are forty bus Yeah, Okay, I've gotta live free,
all right. Well, I love you, love you, have a
great day, you too.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
Thanks for jumping on the Potter Rooney Jackson Hole Special
Wyoming Special Jackson Hole. You're gonna sing the Johnny Cash song.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
Going back to Jackson Love you love you, babe, Bae,