July 10, 2014 Travel to Thermopolis and Buffalo

We were up and out early this morning heading northwest to Thermopolis.

On the plains – the sun was playing peek-a-boo with us:

Ruins – it looked like there may have been a cold storage cave behind it:

Little pockets of houses in the middle of nowhere:

Up and down roads:

Fencing and fence poles in piles:

The clouds are breaking up:

Oil, oil, and more oil:

Interesting rock formations:

More up and down roads heading to the mountains:

Boysen Reservoir and State Park:

Coming into the Wind River Canyon:

Thru tunnel number one:

Tunnel number 2:

Tunnel number 3:

Down into the canyon that follows the Wind River/Bighorn River and the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad:

The northern mouth of the Canyon:

Thermopolis:

We landed at the Eagle RV Park where we are staying for one week – it will be good to sit for a while.  Now that we have come thru the Wind River Canyon, we may just pack a lunch one day and explore it by car.

After setting up and a small storm passing, we decided to check out the town.  Many of the roads in the town lead to Hot Springs State Park and we found ourselves on one of those back roads where we were treated to the local buffalo herd:

We parked the car and just watched:

Before long, they came down from the hill and crossed right behind our car:

They must be authorized personnel – LOL!:

A short video of their jaunt: http://youtu.be/VmapVgY_YLo

And away they went…..

We continued riding around and found the overlook to Hot Springs State Park:

We will definitely be checking the park out this week.

We ended our evening with a nice campfire chatting with our neighbors.  Another great day.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 128 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Wyoming: Fort Casper Road; Herold Street; South Wyoming Blvd; US-20

Enjoy today!

July 9, 2014 Fort Casper Museum

Today’s adventure took us to the Fort Casper Museum which was only two blocks from where we are staying.

The museum consists of two parts – the history of Casper and the fort itself.  The Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail, and Pony Express passed thru the fort:

Remember these?:

In our area, the mimeograph lasted into the 1970’s – :

Very interesting:

The beadwork was beautiful:

Lots of oil here!

The museum had a number of videos and displays about Wyoming and the area.  They had one room dedicated to the oil booms.

From there we headed out to the fort:

Two men to a bed, oh my, how crowded that must have been:

In 1847, Brigham Young led the Mormons from Winter Quarters in present day Nebraska to their new home in the Great Salt Lake Valley.  In the Casper area, they established a ferry service for Mormons and other emigrants along the trails.  A replica of that ferry:

What a wonderful little museum.

We have enjoyed our time in Casper and will be back – so much more to do in this area and south of here.

Tomorrow we are heading north west so stay tuned and enjoy today.