Taos, Red River and into Texas

Even though we’d had to pay a premium price for our hotel in Taos, it was a comfortable room and we had real breakfast included with the stay. Not a bowl of cereal, rubbery scrambled eggs from a warmer tray, or make-your-own waffles that stuck to the waffle maker, but a real sit-down breakfast in the restaurant.  Surprisingly meaty bacon and real eggs done perfectly with toast, orange juice, hash browns and coffee. A basic breakfast, but well-done and the first we’ve had on the trip. After breakfast, we stopped for gas and then headed for Taos Ski Valley. The ski slopes of Taos are not near the town, but are over twenty miles away. The drive thru the mountain valley to get to the ski resort was nice. Because it was still fairly early, 9 am, the Fiesta Taos revelers were still in their hotels.

We walked around Ski Valley and noticed a lot of lockers near the base of the main chair lift. More of the walkways are covered than at Angel Fire. We picked up a trail map and spoke with the chair lift operator, who said that the end of January and first of February is the best time for good snow and fewer crowds. He claimed that Taos will never get as crowded as the big Colorado resorts because Taos limits the number of lift passes on busy days. One lift was operating, but we didn’t pay to ride it. We may visit Taos during ski season but it seems too far into the mountains to drive to if the road conditions are not optimal.

From Taos Ski Valley, we drove back to a main road, then around Mount Webster to Red River Ski Resort. Phillip skied there in 1973. It’s actually where he learned to ski when he went with a couple buddies who took him to the top of the mountain and did the “sink or swim” training. He said that by the time he finally made it down the mountain, he was able to stay upright and move thru the snow. A few more trips up the chair lift and he could ski. He remembers wearing Scotch-guarded blue jeans instead of ski pants, a good reason to keep his butt out of the snow! As we drove into the ski area, which is built on the main road, Phillip talked of his memory of staying with his friends in a A-frame cabin next to the chair lift. And what did we see across the drive from the chair lift, forty years later? Three A-frame cabins! They were still there and still being used. Although the rest of the resort (and hopefully the chair lifts) had been improved and expanded in the ensuing years, Phillip was delighted the A-frames had not been torn down.

I liked the set-up of Red River better than that of Taos, so we spent more time here. We did ride this chair lift to the top of the mountain. The operator said it was an hour-long ride up and down. The views were spectacular and it did take about thirty minutes to get to the top of the mountain, but the lift was moving very slowly. I hope it moves more quickly during ski season, or a skier would spend over half their day sitting on the lift! We didn’t take our jackets, but we didn’t need them as the sun was out and the temperature at the base was about 75 degrees. Although it was Saturday, the lift had no line of people waiting to ride. The $17 per person cost may have deterred some, or it may have been because Taos, Breckenridge, and Copper Mountain were allowing bicyclists and their bicycles on the lifts to ride down the mountain. I didn’t see that at Red River. Although I like bicycles and wish I was a bicyclist like my dad had been, I was happy to see that Red River is not a summer mountain bike mecca.

At the top of the mountain, the warming hut was open, selling sodas instead of hot chocolate. Of course, it had the same overpriced snacks and sandwiches as all the other warming huts, including the one at Angel Fire. We walked around, noticing that the staff is re-working the structure of the second chair lift that comes to the top from another location on the property. It is comforting to know that maintenance work gets done here, especially after seeing those 40-year old cabins below. The lift did not take us to the actual summit of this part of the mountain, so we began walking a bit higher. The trail, although wide, was steep. The effect that the altitude and incline had on us reminded me of walking those steeps streets in Quito! We only walked as far as the first overlook area. Phillip, of course, walked closer to the edge of the ski run to look down the mountain. I contented myself with taking pictures as the run he chose to look down was a black diamond run. That means it was difficult and steep, not a run I would be using if we ski here. Not mellow enough for me.

According to the trail map, and we saw this from the warming hut, several green trails meander down from the top, winding along the mountain to the bottom. The runs under the chair lift, because it goes straight up the mountain, were black diamond, but as we rode the lift back to the base, we saw the signs where some green and blue trails cross over with their less than vertical tracks. From the chairs, we were at tree-top level at times, so we had a good view of the aspens and pine trees. We didn’t see any large animals, but we watched several squirrels scampering in the grass below. Some of the chair lift structures were open metal tubes and swallows had apparently built nests in them. A few times, I thought the swallows were going to come after us, but they just swooped around us. They were too quick for my camera to capture, however.

We ate a normally priced lunch in a diner in Red River, then turned the SUV toward Texas. Although we were just seven miles from Angel Fire Ski Resort when we got to Eagle’s Nest, we didn’t stop, as we know that area from our previous skiing adventures. We took the same route out of the mountains that we take when we go to Angel Fire, but I will say the drive was much less nerve-racking than the last time we took it, in the middle of winter after a snowstorm. Phillip and I were still hoping to see elk or maybe a moose, but our hopes dwindled as the mountains turned to plains. The antelope were in the fields between Cimarron and Springer, so we saw more of them.

After Springer, we drove almost directly east on a New Mexico road that has a 60 mph speed limit but it should be higher. Miles of nothing. 81 miles of nothing, in fact. This edge of New Mexico is again not very enchanting. It was so inhospitable that the antelope didn’t even live there. Fortunately, it was cloudy again, so the warmer lowland temperature didn’t bother us. We turned the air conditioner on in the SUV for the first time in a while and it did keep us cool. As I look thru the pictures I took during this portion of the trip, I see an occasional out cropping of cedar trees near the few dry creek beds we crossed, but mainly just short bushes in the field.

After Clayton, we entered Texas. Three vehicles had stopped on the side of the road to take a picture of this sign. We frequently saw cars pulled over for the state signs (except New Mexico, I don’t think any else was enchanted, either), but my camera can get the picture of the sign at 60 mph so we never stop. This sign is about ¼ mile west of the town of Texline, Texas. Immediately after Texline, we began to see acres and acres of irrigated farm land filled with tall, healthy corn or dark green soybeans (remember, fields are rotated between corn, which uses nitrogen, and soybeans, which add nitrogen to the soil). The view wasn’t this green all the way to Amarillo, but the change from New Mexico shrub land was dramatic at this point. We continued on toward home, stopping for the night in Amarillo as we still have about 450 miles to go, even if we’ve made it to Texas. Tomorrow, we will drive to the ranch and then back to Zelda on Monday to conclude this adventure.

 

A Train, a Museum, and "Baby Doe"

When we set of this morning from Dillon, Colorado, the temperature was 45 degrees. Jacket weather and fortunately, I’d brought a zip-up sweatshirt for me and a jacket for Phillip. We didn’t break out the blue jeans, which I had packed in the clothesbasket in the SUV, but we needed the jackets until about noon. Our first stop of the day was in Leadville, to ride a train in the mountains. Our 2½ hour ride in the Leadville Colorado and Southern Railroad covered a 9 mile section of track that had originally gone all the way to Denver. Our average speed was 10 mph and we climbed over 1000 feet in elevation of the ride. The female conductor gave a history of Leadville and was easy to hear and understand.

We had our choice of a totally open train car, a car with a cover but not sides, or an enclosed car with an open door and windows that open. I chose for us and went for the enclosed car. Although the sun was out, it was still chilly when the conductor announced “All aboard!” at 10 am. I did, however, have the window open for the entire ride so I could take pictures. We were comfortable with our jackets. The train didn’t go over any trestles, as those had been too costly to maintain and the gorges had been filled in instead, but we did travel along the side of a mountain. We saw the lodge pole pines (the predominant tree of the area) at eye level and got a lesson on the aspen trees (white bark with “eyes” where the lower branches had dropped off as the tree grew).

After the train ride, we visited the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum, just a few blocks away from the train depot. Phillip was excited to learn about rocks, but soon realized that there are a whole lot of different kinds of rocks. I’ve never seen such a collection as at this museum. We viewed extensive displays related to gold and silver mining, both examples of minerals and detailed explanations of processes. In addition to displays, the museum had dioramas and a mock-up of a mine, complete with life-sized miner mannequins, which wound thru two rooms. We spent almost two hours in this museum and I recommend it highly to anyone interested in rocks, geology, or mining.

When we paid our admission to the museum, we noticed that for a few dollars more, we could visit the site of the “Matchless Mine” and Baby Doe Tabor’s house, just outside the town proper. I remembered learning about this mine and Baby Doe in a US History class in College in 1975, so I paid for the tour. After a drive about two miles from the museum, we arrived at the location, but had to wait a few minutes for the next tour. Phillip panned for gold while we waited, something he is actually getting fairly good at, even if there’s rarely much gold in the trough that he pans in. He has learned the process, but I doubt if we’ll make our fortune from his activities!

The Matchless Mine is the story of Horace Tabor and his second wife, Elizabeth.  Tabor made (and lost) a fortune in the silver mines during Leadville’s boom days, becoming one of the most famous of the Colorado Silver Kings. Tabor purchased the Matchless Mine in 1879.  For quite some time there truly was no mine that was its “match” as it produced up to $2,000/day for Tabor in high quality silver. Although the mine is actually full of water and can’t be toured, the original rig and buildings were available to our tour.

The story of the Matchless Mine isn’t only about riches, it’s also about how Tabor, still married to his first wife, fell in love with Elizabeth McCourt Doe, (better known as “Baby Doe”), and in doing so, created one of the most famous and publicized love triangles of the century.  Horace (who did divorce his first wife) and Baby Doe lived in luxury until the repeal of the Sherman Act in 1893, which left them broke, struggling to hold on to their beloved Matchless Mine. Tabor lost his entire $9,000,000+ fortune in less than a year.  Although he desperately held on to his precious Matchless as long as he could, he eventually lost that as well to foreclosure. Appendicitis claimed his life in 1899 before his hope of buying back the mine could reach fruition, leaving his wife, Baby Doe Tabor and their two daughters, Silver Dollar and Lilly, flat broke on the streets of Denver. Baby Doe actually went back to Leadville and the new owners of the Matchless mine allowed her to live in the mine’s supply shack on the premises. She died there in 1935. We toured the one-room building she lived in, restored to how it was during her life.

After touring the mine, we decided to go ahead and try to make it to Taos, New Mexico for the night. Even if it was late afternoon, Phillip had only driven about twenty-five miles, so he was OK with the 200 miles we needed to go to reach Taos. Our route took us south in the central part of Colorado. Storms were in the area, but our way ended up skirting them. We did get cloudy skies (which is good, because the air conditioner of the SUV is not very effective) that gave me some great photos:

When we entered New Mexico on US Highway 285, the sign proclaimed “New Mexico: Land of Enchantment.” However, the terrain was flat and covered with brush less than a foot tall. No cows, no productive fields, no wild critters to photograph. The first houses we saw were run-down mobile homes surrounded by abandoned cars and broken equipment. I asked Phillip if he was enchanted, and he said “Nope.” Our first sights in New Mexico on the route we took were not impressive.

The sun was setting as we approached Taos. There was a spectacular sunset behind us, but I couldn’t get a good picture of it. We did stop at the Rio Grande Gorge and I was able to get some pictures. This was an impressive site, to see how much land had eroded so deeply by what was today a small river. Several people had stopped and walked to the middle of the bridge to take pictures, but with darkness quickly approaching, I just got a few shots from the rest area next to the gorge. We found a hotel just after dark, a lucky event as an annual festival was going on and the town was crowded with several streets shut down to cars for the event.

Keystone, Breckenridge, and Copper Mountain

We left the Lady Luck Casino Hotel in Blackhawk this morning after a good night’s sleep. After about fifteen miles of winding mountain road, we entered onto I-70 to head west for a bit. We immediately encountered slow traffic and road construction. Traveling on the interstate, we realized that driving in Colorado in the winter is serious business. Apparently, when conditions get back enough, vehicles are required to be equipped with tire chains. We saw several of these signs, all on the interstate.

Fortunately, we weren’t on the interstate for very long before we exited at Georgetown. We planned to see a little museum in the town’s power plant. This town still uses the same power generating technology that they built in 1900, based on the water flowing down the mountain. Unfortunately it did not open until 11 am. We noticed the town had a wildlife viewing area nearby, so we tried that. It was a nice little raised area with a free binocular machine. Phillip and I scoured the hill for Bighorn Sheep, as the signs told all about them, but none were to be seen on that mountainside. So, I took a picture of the nearby reservoir with the mountains in the distance.

Instead of getting back on the interstate, we took the scenic route out of Georgetown toward Keystone, on a mountain road with went thru Loveland Pass. You made read the word “pass” and think that the road was the valley route thru the mountains. Nope. The road wound up and up with more of those hairpin turns. Maybe there’d be a guardrail, maybe not. And another thing, the roads all seemed to go up the mountain in a way that put the passenger side, my side, on the outside of the hill. The higher we got and the snakier the road became, the farther over toward the console I moved. By the time we made it to the top, I was practically sitting on the console like Zelda does. Phillip was laughing at me, but he was considerate enough to take his half of the road out of the middle if no cars were coming and he could.

The drive did make for some spectacular photographs. Some of these are from the pull-off at the continental divide.

After coming down the mountain from Loveland Pass, we arrived at Keystone ski resort, a planned stop. We wanted to check out some ski resorts in case we decide to ski somewhere else than our usual, Angle Fire in New Mexico. At Keystone and the next two ski resorts we visited, the facilities are used in the summer with mountain bikers. Because of all the off-road trails available, the bicyclists weren’t an issue for the motorized vehicles on the road. Keystone didn’t have a chair lift operating, so we walked around the resort. We stopped at the Starbucks and talked with the barista (he was male, so was he a baristo?) about Keystone and the other resorts. I noted that I prefer green runs. He referred to those as “mellow.” I sure like that better, to know that I am a mellow skier, not a wimpy skier, which is how I thought of it before my discussion with him.

Our next stop was Breckenridge Ski Resort. It is the largest in the area. We saw the gondolas operating, carrying folks up the mountainside. Phillip and I were prepared to pay up to $20 each to ride the gondola, so imagine our surprise when we went to the lift ticket window and found that the ride was free! The resort was not crowded and we did not have to share our six-person enclosed gondola on the three-stage ride to the top. At the top, and this is probably why the ride up and down was free, we found the family park area. Many activities (for a fee) for kids, including an area with snow that they could play in, bungee trampolines, and bobsledding. We ate lunch, walked around a bit, and rode the gondola back down the mountain. The pictures from our ride were taken thru the scratched plastic windows of the gondola.

The Keystone barista had mentioned Copper Mountain ski resort as a good one for mellow skiing. We made that our next stop and sure enough, it has an entire side devoted to green slopes. We saw that the open chair lift was operational. It was 3 pm and the sun was out, so the chair lift would not be uncomfortably cool. We approached the chair lift operator, again prepared to spend $20 each. This one wasn’t free, it was $10 each; however, for every $10 of food or merchandise we bought at Copper Mountain, we’d get a free lift ticket. So, inside the closest store, which happened to have all their ski gear, including ski socks, on sale, 50% off. I hadn’t bought a new pair of ski socks for about five years. Two pair of ski socks later, spending a total of $23, and we had our lift tickets! The chair lift took a full thirty minutes for the round trip up then down the mountain. It was great, comfortable but not cold, and no plastic between my camera lenses and the scenic view. Copper Mountain was our favorite because it was not a large as Breckenridge (which had plenty of green slopes but was too huge for us) and it was more “mellow” than Keystone.

Although our day started out badly, no museum and no bighorn sheep, it actually turned out quite well at the three ski resorts. We returned to the town of Dillon and a room at the Comfort Suites. The town grocery store is half a block away and we stopped there en route back and picked up dinner: (fresh) sushi, cherries, chocolate milk (for Phillip) and beer (Buffalo Gold, brewed and bottled in Colorado). Tomorrow, we head for New Mexico. It is actually a travel day that may have too much in it, a planned 260 driving miles as well as museums and other stops. We’ll either stop closer than planned or not have time to post a blog once we get to a hotel in Taos.     

Into the Rockies

Drizzle was falling this morning and rain fell several times today, but it didn’t interrupt our plans or cause any driving problems. We left Fort Collins and headed south for Boulder, Colorado. I had a tour of the Budweiser plant in Fort Collins on our itinerary, but it didn’t open until 10 am and we were ready to leave the hotel at 9, so we skipped it. We drove to Boulder where our first stop was at Chautauqua Park for views of the Flatiron Mountains. We didn’t stay long as the park was very popular, no parking spots to be found. After the snow peaks of yesterday and the uniqueness of Devils Tower, the view of the Flatirons was rather unimpressive. I jumped out of the SUV, took a few pictures and we continued on to our next destination.

Our next destination was only a few miles away in Boulder, and we did spend over an hour there, at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). NCAR is a scientific research laboratory sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Over 100 universities partner with them for atmospheric research. In addition to climate change research, some of their work has had direct impact on us, such as their studies of wind shear that have made airports safer. NCAR’s Mesa Laboratory has a visitor center with two floors of interactive exhibits. Phillip and I had fun with the tornado, wind, cloud, and the lightening exhibits. He’s making lightening in the picture. We also watched several videos about the work of NCAR and the huge super computers they use to do their atmospheric models.

Before we left Boulder, we made one more stop, for lunch at Foolish Craig’s Café. This location had been on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. I checked our route before I left home against the list of locations visited by Guy Fieri on his show and Adam Rickman on Man vs Food. Only Boulder had restaurants visited by Guy and Adam. Three Boulder restaurants were on the list and I chose the one with the crepe cake. Twenty-one crepes stacked to make a cake, in this case, a butter rum crepe cake. Was it tasty? Yes, especially the cream cheese frosting. We were very glad the serving was just a slice of the twenty-one crepe stack, not the whole thing. I had a mushroom and cheese crepe plate for lunch and Phillip had a stuffed Reuben sandwich, so this slice was plenty of dessert for us.

We left Boulder and headed west, driving in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. As soon as we left Boulder, the road began to climb. A stream ran beside the road for quite a distance up the mountain. I took several pictures of it from the SUV, then Phillip stopped at a turnout for pictures when we saw a particularly intense section of rushing water. We drove with the windows down and heard the rushing water. We also didn’t want to tax our SUV or make it suck quite as much gasoline by running the air conditioner as we ascended the mountains. Also, the greater the altitude, the cooler the temperature. I read somewhere that, other things being equal, the temperature drops three degrees for every 1000 feet. It certainly did get chilly, but we didn’t go high enough today to be in snow. We were in a beautiful forested area as we drove.

At one point, we began the downward descent into the valley where we are spending the night. We are still in the Front Range, just not as high as we were at one point. As the road dropped, it also continued worming its way down the side of the mountain. We didn’t just see “curve ahead” signs or even just what I call the “snakes in the road” sign (actually just an “S” figure). This sign was the common sign, and it accurately depicted what the road did. We didn’t drive as far as usual today, but it took us just as long because of the road.

We arrived in Black Hawk this afternoon, the town with the highest concentration of casinos in Colorado. Within a two mile stretch, 25 casinos lure folks like us and people coming from Denver for a day. I checked the internet this evening and found that in 1991 Colorado passed a referendum to allow casino gambling in three locations, including this one. This town was a gold rush town, but after the gold rush was over, it began decaying. The expectation was that the town could renew itself with the money from the casinos. I’m sure that did work out because this is a really nice area. We decided to spend the night here and have a really nice room for less than we’ve paid outside this area. Free wifi, a huge room and a quiet air conditioner. The toilet doesn’t leak like at the hotel in Deadwood. And, we have mints on the pillow!

Snow, Butch Cassidy, and Brooms

After breakfast this morning at the hotel, we filled the SUV with gas and headed out on our next adventure. We had the three things we’ve found to be essential to start our day on this trip: a full tank of gas, a full belly, and an empty bladder. We had just gotten started when Phillip questioned whether he had actually plugged in the cooler in the back of the SUV. As we discussed whether he had or not, a sign came up for the Fort Steele State Historic Site. So, since we needed to stop and check the cooler, we went to Fort Steele. Fort Fred Steele was established in 1868 as one of a group of forts placed along the route of the Trans-Continental Railway to protect the railway construction. It was only in use until 1886, then abandoned. We saw a decent batch of ruins, but nothing else. Workers were present who appeared to be reconstructing a cabin, so the State of Wyoming may be turning this rather dismal site into a real destination. On the way out, however, we did see something fun, pronghorn antelope fairly close to us. In fact, Phillip had to stop the car as three of them crossed the road in front of us, one at a time. We’ve had deer cross in front, but this was our first antelope crossing. FYI, Phillip had plugged in the cooler.

We only had to drive on the interstate highway for about twenty miles from Rawlins before we headed south again. Our next stop was the hot spring in Saratoga. It is a free public hot spring, so it is called the “Hobo Pool.” We walked around it and I went down the steps and tested the temperature. It was quite warm, hot in fact. The travel websites reported that the hottest water was right at the steps. I hope the rest of the pool was indeed cooler, because the water I felt was uncomfortably warm. As we walked around the pool, we could see the bubbles coming from the rocks on the bottom where the spring was feeding the pool. We didn’t see any hobos in the pool, though! Actually no one was in the main pool, although a family from out of town arrived to take a dip as we were leaving.

From Saratoga, we headed east onto the Snowy Range Scenic Biway through the Medicine Bow National Forest. Glistening white remnants of the winter’s blizzards lingered in basins along the side of the 12,000-foot mountain peaks. We could tell it wasn’t fresh snow because the road took us right to many snow drifts, and they weren’t fresh. It was still great to think we were in snow in mid-July. The mountainsides were covered with trees that made it difficult to look for elk and moose. While we stopped at a lookout, we overheard a fellow traveler talking about the bull moose he had seen just down the road. Unfortunately, the moose had moved on and we didn’t see him. Although we didn’t see any big critters, it was a beautiful drive. And cool. The SUV doesn’t have a thermometer like the truck and Toyota do, so we don’t know how cool, but my guess is mid-50s. We could hop out of the SUV for picture taking, but if we’d taken any of the trail walks, we would have needed to break out the jackets.

From the Snowy Range, our travels took us to Laramie and a tour of the Wyoming Territorial Prison and Old West Park. Rain storms rolled in just as we arrived, but fortunately, most of the tour was indoors in the prison. The prison and the grounds have been mostly restored and we saw how prison life was in the late 1800s. Signs throughout the museum included pictures of prisoners and described their offense, behavior at the prison, and life after their stay here. The warden’s house had been restored on the grounds and furnished with period furniture from the 1880s. The wallpaper had even been matched as close as possible to what had been there originally. Outside the prison was a prison wagon, which Phillip scampered into and posed for his picture.

The museum had a section on Butch Cassidy, who spent a year and a half at the prison for knowingly buying a stolen horse. Robert Leroy Parker began his criminal career at age 13 when he stole a pair of pants from a store and left and IOU note. The storekeeper didn’t think it was funny and called the law. Parker began robbing banks somewhere around 1879. He changed his name to Butch Cassidy to protect his family from his growing criminal record. It was 1884 when Cassidy was caught with the stolen horse and sent to this prison. He actually got out early for good behavior. That’s when he formed the Hole in the Wall gang and really started the high profile robberies, eventually getting the Pinkerton detectives to come after him with a vengeance. We say displays about the photograph that was taken of the gang in Fort Worth, and read how it was a Fort Worth police detective who recognized Cassidy in the picture and called Pinkerton. Neat stuff!

After the tour of the prison building itself, we walked thru the Prison Industries Building. In the 1880s, the prison didn’t get enough money from the state and the prisoners were just sitting idle in their cells, so the warden decided to put them to work. The most successful work program became the Laramie Broom Company. Under the watchful eye of a prison guard, the prisoners would use broom corn and make brooms that would them be sold at a profit to help with the operation of the prison. A volunteer, dressed in 1880 prison garb, told us the story and gave a demonstration of the process the prisoners used to make the brooms. Original equipment used by the prisoners was still in the building. More neat stuff! The museum had an old west town recreation behind it, but we did not tour it, as it was now muddy, and we’ve been thru old west towns already on this trip.

We headed south from Laramie into Colorado. At one point, we came across road construction. The state was widening this two lane road to four lanes. To do this, they had to take out more of a ridge in two places. We noticed different heavy equipment, more than just construction equipment. As we passed one of these ridge areas, we realized that they were crushing the rock they were removing and hauling along the construction site to provide the base for the new lanes. Great idea! No need to haul off material to clear the route, then haul in other material for the road.

The terrain in Colorado is much friendlier than that of Wyoming. Sagebrush and rocks as far as the eye could see turned into native grass fields as far as the eye could see. We also began seeing herds of cows, something we hadn’t seen in the barren central Wyoming landscape. We still saw the pronghorn antelope, as they appear to live off of any vegetation. On the horizon, we saw mountain ridges, but the native grass fields filled my screen as I took pictures on the road. We still came across interesting rock formations as the following one that I end today’s post with. What does it look like to you? Maybe UFO?

 

The Trifecta and a Whole Lot of Nothing

Last night’s hotel was the best one we’ve stayed in so far. Not surprising, since it was also the

newest. Phillip and I had a good night’s sleep, probably because of the swim and hot tub visit, to tackle what has become the trifecta of our trip: a museum, a historic site, and a natural feature. Our first stop was about a mile from the hotel, the Wyoming Pioneer Memorial Museum in Douglas. The museum had a nicely displayed collection of historical and cultural materials related to the westward expansion and the settlement of Wyoming.  

Some of the more unusual collections in this museum included the display of musical instruments, the pioneer crockpot, and the pony express memorabilia. I saw a zither and a dulcimer, both string instruments. The pioneer crockpot was a lidded wooden box with a round metal insert. A round stone was heated and put inside, then the pot was put on top of the hot rock and the lid was closed. The pony express display told the story of its formation in 1860 by a stagecoach operator who hired young men to make the trip from Missouri to California by horse in ten days. And of course, like a lot of places we’ve visited, this museum also had a tie to Dances with Wolves. They had one of the teepees that was made for the Indians in the movie. I really need to watch Dances with Wolves again when we get home!

Our next stop was the Ayers Natural Bridge. Water had eroded through the rock and created an arch above a wide stream. This small state park was quite nice with trees along the stream and a path that we clambored up to walk atop the arch. The rock around the natural bridge was a mixture of the red slate and gray granite. We also saw chunks of rose quartz (same stuff that sold for $3.50 a pound in Keystone and $2 a pound in Kadoka).

Even more interesting than the bridge itself was what we saw on the rock of the bridge, hundreds of swallow nests. The nests appeared to be made of mud and the swallows flew around with their rapid turns and banks. We didn’t see many bugs in the park, probably because of the swallows whose diet consists of flying insects. Another fact about sparrows is that the male makes the nest then courts the female. And the females are attracted to swallows with longer tails. Swallows also defend their nests, but we didn’t get close enough, even when we went to the top of the bridge, to threaten the nests.

On the side road to the Natural Bridge, we had seen a herd of buffalo. On our way back to the highway, we stopped and took pictures of the buffalo herd. It was a privately owned herd, grazing in a field just like we’d see cows graze. We were able to see baby buffalo along with adult ones.  This picture shows about half the herd, as they were spread out in the field and I wanted to show the concentration of them and the closest buffalo calves.

Our next stop was the third trifecta visit: to a historic fort. We actually planned a stop at the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center, rated the #1 attraction in Casper, Wyoming in TripAdvisor, but unbeknownst to us, it is closed on Mondays. We found out from the clerk at the fort that the Center started closing on Mondays because it is staffed with federal employees and the government cutbacks caused them to close on their slowest day, Monday. The fort, Fort Casper, was interesting with its re-creation on site of the actual Fort Casper from the 1860s. Many of the displays in the buildings were actual items used by the soldiers who staffed the fort.

We then left Casper and headed south toward Rawlins, Wyoming. About 55 miles south of

Casper, we stopped at the Independence Rock State Historic site. Independence Rock is this huge rock jutting out of the land that has a smooth, polished, and glossy surface caused by a process called “windfaceting.” On this smooth surface, the pioneers crossing on the trails that cut thru here had carved their names. Although some of the carving had weathered away, we could still make out some pre-1900s carvings. And yes, that is Phillip in the picture climbing the rock. The sign at the entrance said it was allowable to climb to the top. Phillip said it was easier to climb up than the climb down. I stayed on ground level.

Our next stop, just a few miles south, was at Devil’s Gate, a small state park (actually more like a pull-off with a walkway, signs and an outhouse style restroom). I signed the unattended visitor’s log that showed we were the first visitors of the day, at about 3 pm. The Devil’s Gate is a 370 foot high, 1500 foot long fissure in the rock that was a major landmark on the Oregon Trail. About that Oregon Trail, 1 in 10 people who tried to make it died, mainly from disease. The most common killer for these emigrants was cholera, which they got from drinking tainted water.

I need to correct something I wrote in a previous post. The blue-gray bushes we see in the

fields is not the sticker bushes we have in Texas. It is sagebrush. Sagebrush does not have stickers. It is still an invasive weed, but it’s about the only thing that grows here. Average annual rainfall in this section of Wyoming is about 11 inches a year. Sagebrush can handle the arid conditions as it has two sets of roots, a long taproot that can go three to eight feet deep and a series of lateral roots that can get the moisture near the top of the soil when it rains. My apologies to sagebrush for mistaking it for nasty sticker bushes.

Both before, and especially, after Independence Rock and Devil’s Gate was a whole lot of nothing. No cattle. No trees. No green grass. At times, the conditions were so harsh that we didn’t even see sagebrush growing. Occasionally, if we were within a few miles of a river or man-made reservoir, and the sagebrush was growing, we’d see small herds of pronghorn antelope. Pronghorn antelope are one of the few animals who eat sagebrush.

We easily found a hotel in Rawlins, as I-80 runs east-west through town. After renting the room, we drove thru downtown Rawlins in search of a place for dinner. What did we see but a Thai restaurant. We stopped and were very happy we did. The owner and wait staff were Thai and the food was authentic and delicious. My larb was spicy and Phillip’s chicken yellow curry was flavorful with lots of sauce for his rice. And sticky rice with mangos for dessert! They did something, possibly whipped the coconut cream a bit, to give the sauce over the sticky rice some extra body and silkiness. Heaven in Wyoming and a nice end to a drive thru the desolate landscape of east-central Wyoming.