Our last full day in Wyoming...Things were really heating up today in honor of the cowboy gathering this weekend.
Last night the campground was full of random groups of musicians singing cowboy songs. There was a dutch oven cook-off in the town square and the melodrama was fun and really funny. There were can-can girls, cowboys, villians and lots of audience participation.
Sadly, since we leave tomorrow we will miss the cowboy poetry slam, the chuck wagon breakfast, the storytellers and the concerts...
The stars were so bright last night the kids lay down by the river to watch.
BTW, as I write this the Mangy Moose, an establishment across the street is hosting a mechanical bull night. From what it sounds like there is some SERIOUS fun going on over there!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Saratoga Hot Springs (Wyoming)
We checked out the museum in Grand Encampment, the town next door. Riverside (where we are) has a population of 57, Encampment is 245. The town swelled to a population over 3,000 in the late 1800's due to the discovery of copper mines. Once the bottom dropped out of the copper market, most people left leaving it a ghost town.
Once again a very small town has an expansive, interesting museum with lots of old stuff to show due to the frugality and "never throw anything away" attitude of the homesteaders who started arriving in the 1870's.
General stores, saloons, carriage barns, school houses and mountain cabins were all hauled to this spot and FILLED with almost anything you can think of. There were guns from the civil war, a hearse from the 1850's, tools, food and clothing items, a couple of completely intact conestoga wagons, a two story outhouse and much much more!
There were a few things you couldn't touch but if you wore white gloves (provided) you could touch lots of things. Tomorrow night in honor of the Cowboy celebration this weekend, the Encampment Opera House is hosting a cowboy melodrama. We WILL be there!
Afterward, we drove to the nearby town of Saratoga which has a town pool (already really hot) and a super hot, hot spring. The hot spring was 128 degrees and most people (except for a reckless man who kept shouting he was from Texas and an older couple from Japan) could not put more than a foot in without screaming. Vinny did manage to get in up to his waist. There was a center rock pool in the spring called the "lobster pot" which was even hotter (???). While most people in the town don't go in much in the summer, they LOVE it in the winter where it can get to be 10 below zero.
Just a few photos of the local grocery store. The abundance of taxidermy really threw me.
Once again a very small town has an expansive, interesting museum with lots of old stuff to show due to the frugality and "never throw anything away" attitude of the homesteaders who started arriving in the 1870's.
General stores, saloons, carriage barns, school houses and mountain cabins were all hauled to this spot and FILLED with almost anything you can think of. There were guns from the civil war, a hearse from the 1850's, tools, food and clothing items, a couple of completely intact conestoga wagons, a two story outhouse and much much more!
There were a few things you couldn't touch but if you wore white gloves (provided) you could touch lots of things. Tomorrow night in honor of the Cowboy celebration this weekend, the Encampment Opera House is hosting a cowboy melodrama. We WILL be there!
Afterward, we drove to the nearby town of Saratoga which has a town pool (already really hot) and a super hot, hot spring. The hot spring was 128 degrees and most people (except for a reckless man who kept shouting he was from Texas and an older couple from Japan) could not put more than a foot in without screaming. Vinny did manage to get in up to his waist. There was a center rock pool in the spring called the "lobster pot" which was even hotter (???). While most people in the town don't go in much in the summer, they LOVE it in the winter where it can get to be 10 below zero.
Just a few photos of the local grocery store. The abundance of taxidermy really threw me.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Lazy Acres
We left Laramie Wyoming in the middle of a rodeo, there were people out in the courtyard of the hotel last night roping plastic pvc pipe cattle.
After a brief drive we arrived at our next destination stop, Riverside Wyoming. A place Carmine and I randomly ended up visiting 20 years ago and always thought of returning to. To be honest, I was a little worried, what we loved about it might not work for this group...
Well, it is now just as wonderful as it was then. The air still smells like cinnamon, the Beartrap Cafe still makes huge homemade cinnamon rolls every morning and the river flows right next to our cabin.
There are no big amusements, no mini-golf, NO chain restauraunts and no television (in our cabin). It is a beautiful place with super friendly people, a place where each day feels a little longer than a regular day back home.
Shortly after we got here, people in the campground came up to us and started welcoming us and making suggestions of some things the kids might like to do. There is a hot spring nearby, a homesteader museum and this weekend is the annual Grand Encampment Cowboy gathering (I didn't even plan this!). Right now the kids are loving walking the river stones and building fires in the pit.
After a brief drive we arrived at our next destination stop, Riverside Wyoming. A place Carmine and I randomly ended up visiting 20 years ago and always thought of returning to. To be honest, I was a little worried, what we loved about it might not work for this group...
Well, it is now just as wonderful as it was then. The air still smells like cinnamon, the Beartrap Cafe still makes huge homemade cinnamon rolls every morning and the river flows right next to our cabin.
There are no big amusements, no mini-golf, NO chain restauraunts and no television (in our cabin). It is a beautiful place with super friendly people, a place where each day feels a little longer than a regular day back home.
Shortly after we got here, people in the campground came up to us and started welcoming us and making suggestions of some things the kids might like to do. There is a hot spring nearby, a homesteader museum and this weekend is the annual Grand Encampment Cowboy gathering (I didn't even plan this!). Right now the kids are loving walking the river stones and building fires in the pit.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The Badlands, Heatstroke and a Tornado
We took a drive to Badlands National Park yesterday. It was HOT there, about 102 but dry with a slight breeze. Went through the visitor center and then drove the 20 mile loop road and stopped along the way.
While marveling at the landscape we noticed that the sky to our right was becoming increasingly dark, darker than then the now usual hail/thunderstorm. I kept driving through to Wall at which point we put on the radio and heard the national weather service warning that there is a tornado warning in our immediate area.
Wall looked ripe for a weather chasers team, the sky was pitch dark and you could see very strong winds picking up in the distance. I got right back on the highway going west. From the look of the sky we were going in the right direction, AWAY from the storm...
I was wrong. About an hour after we got back to the campground, the tornado warnings were announced here. Vinny was really scared until a boy he met at the pool told him that South Dakota tornadoes are pretty weak and only lift you about a foot off the ground! That seemed to work. He ran happily off to the evening movie (indoors). In the meanwhile nobody seemed to be doing anything different than usual here other than closing the pool.
Isabel and I decided to try to make dinner in the sheltered kitchen area. Within minutes the thunder and lightning moved in. It was really intense and LOUD. The wind picked up, the sky grew very dark and (once again) large hail started shooting down. All of this by the way, happened super fast. We covered our heads and ran to the car and drove across the road to the building where Vinny was. The roads and parking lots were flash flooding. The water was moving up to the top of the car wheels. I sat in the movie theater soaking wet for about 10 minutes and went back out to find the sky totally clear! The man at the desk said the tornado skirted us and had passed through.
After that the campground activities were over for the night. I met women in the laundry room from Alaska, Texas, Minnesota, Kansas, Ohio and Michigan (uh oh Laura!), each having their own extreme weather story to share.
While marveling at the landscape we noticed that the sky to our right was becoming increasingly dark, darker than then the now usual hail/thunderstorm. I kept driving through to Wall at which point we put on the radio and heard the national weather service warning that there is a tornado warning in our immediate area.
Wall looked ripe for a weather chasers team, the sky was pitch dark and you could see very strong winds picking up in the distance. I got right back on the highway going west. From the look of the sky we were going in the right direction, AWAY from the storm...
I was wrong. About an hour after we got back to the campground, the tornado warnings were announced here. Vinny was really scared until a boy he met at the pool told him that South Dakota tornadoes are pretty weak and only lift you about a foot off the ground! That seemed to work. He ran happily off to the evening movie (indoors). In the meanwhile nobody seemed to be doing anything different than usual here other than closing the pool.
Isabel and I decided to try to make dinner in the sheltered kitchen area. Within minutes the thunder and lightning moved in. It was really intense and LOUD. The wind picked up, the sky grew very dark and (once again) large hail started shooting down. All of this by the way, happened super fast. We covered our heads and ran to the car and drove across the road to the building where Vinny was. The roads and parking lots were flash flooding. The water was moving up to the top of the car wheels. I sat in the movie theater soaking wet for about 10 minutes and went back out to find the sky totally clear! The man at the desk said the tornado skirted us and had passed through.
After that the campground activities were over for the night. I met women in the laundry room from Alaska, Texas, Minnesota, Kansas, Ohio and Michigan (uh oh Laura!), each having their own extreme weather story to share.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Is There Gold in Them There Hills?
Another unbelievable day at Custer State Park. The park has an expansive and extremely well organized educational program for kids. We drove over this morning for a presentation on Bison , went panning for gold in the creek and learned about park ecology. There were also several sites in the park with additional activities. Kids could earn certificates and badges. The list of what they offered was long and varied. Everything was hands on, each presentation only had about five kids show up, so there was lots of time to ask questions. On the way out we of course left through the wildlife loop again and the Bison were out! We passed through two large herds and got about as close as a human can get.
On a sad note, one of our cabin cluster friends has left. Carroll and his wife went home to Deadwood SD. We miss then already. Carroll, being an insomniac, was always out on his front porch swing at all hours ready to shoot the breeze. I would often find Vinny there with him instead of in bed. There are some new people in their cabin, they seem nice but it's not the same....Tomorrow, Roy and Amy return to Nebraska. They have really become our closest friends in the KOA. There was an easy community feel that is slowly diminishing, the bright side is that it will make it easier for us to leave on Tuesday.
On a sad note, one of our cabin cluster friends has left. Carroll and his wife went home to Deadwood SD. We miss then already. Carroll, being an insomniac, was always out on his front porch swing at all hours ready to shoot the breeze. I would often find Vinny there with him instead of in bed. There are some new people in their cabin, they seem nice but it's not the same....Tomorrow, Roy and Amy return to Nebraska. They have really become our closest friends in the KOA. There was an easy community feel that is slowly diminishing, the bright side is that it will make it easier for us to leave on Tuesday.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Where the Buffalo Roam
Today was truly unforgettable. My favorite day so far. Our destination Custer State Park. I had wanted to go there many years ago and never got the chance. Because we entered the park the wrong way we had to drive through the white knuckle needles highway to get to the visitors center and the wildlife loop. The needles highway was terrifying, six inches to the right and you were dead off a cliff.
Anyway, we finally hooked into the wildlife loop road which took you out through acres and acres of grazing plains. There are bison herds, wild horses, mountain goats, wildcats and prarie dogs roaming completely free. We stopped several times because the road was blocked with buffalo. At one stop there were a bunch of cars stopped for wild horses. In spite of the fact that there were several signs warning NOT to feed the animals, people were out feeding the horses pizza flavored Doritos. At first, being from ecocentric Portland I was mortified but after a few minutes I was having the most incredible experience with wild horses. While we had no Doritos, there were two other families from Montana sharing freely. These were horse people. They knew that wild horses love pizza flavored Doritos with a certain sincerity. Afterward we took their cue and did NOT get out of the car when the Bison walked across the road and through the cars.
Anyway, we finally hooked into the wildlife loop road which took you out through acres and acres of grazing plains. There are bison herds, wild horses, mountain goats, wildcats and prarie dogs roaming completely free. We stopped several times because the road was blocked with buffalo. At one stop there were a bunch of cars stopped for wild horses. In spite of the fact that there were several signs warning NOT to feed the animals, people were out feeding the horses pizza flavored Doritos. At first, being from ecocentric Portland I was mortified but after a few minutes I was having the most incredible experience with wild horses. While we had no Doritos, there were two other families from Montana sharing freely. These were horse people. They knew that wild horses love pizza flavored Doritos with a certain sincerity. Afterward we took their cue and did NOT get out of the car when the Bison walked across the road and through the cars.
Night Lights
We went to the night lighting ceremony at Rushmore. There were over 3,000 people in the ampitheater for a program that started at 9:00. First a park ranger came out and gave a 20 minute talk about all of the people he had met that day (including Vinny), then there was a group pledge of allegiance followed by a film about the four Rushmore presidents (the film ended with everyone standing and signing the national anthem while the spotlights went onto the now dark mountain). After that the park ranger invited all veterans and peace core workers to the stage and had each one introduce themselves (there had to be over 75 people onstage) while the crowd cheered and clapped and yelled out their thanks. The kids were transfixed, I don't think they had ever been anywhere in their time that was this infectiously patriotic.
P.S. We missed the Greenpeace protesters by one day. According to the gossip in the laundry room about five people climbed up on Lincoln's head and hung an anti global warming banner across his face. They were arrested shortly thereafter.
P.S. We missed the Greenpeace protesters by one day. According to the gossip in the laundry room about five people climbed up on Lincoln's head and hung an anti global warming banner across his face. They were arrested shortly thereafter.
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