Wandering Through Wyoming

It wasn’t a long trip from Rock Springs to Casper, Wyoming, but we enjoyed the scenery along Interstate 80. 

In addition to racing the trains, we watched red sandstone cliffs, as well as rocky ridges and rolling hills flash by outside the truck windows.

In a short time, we were in Casper, well actually Evansville, a suburb just to the east of Casper.  Our home for four days was River’s Edge RV Park.  Like most parks in this part of the world, the sites are gravel, but it is right on the banks of the beautiful North Platte River.

There is even a teepee you can stay in if you want to experience what it's like to sleep in one.

The North Platte is famous, or more correctly, infamous, for the difficulty early settlers and cattle drives had crossing it.  The river runs, clear, cold and swift, and I can’t imagine what it was like for homesteaders to drive their wagons into its current and hope to make it across safely.  

We had a lovely area along the river where we threw balls for the dogs…

and posed for a family portrait.

We enjoyed our time here, and had a good walk among the tall trees on top of Casper Mountain, as well as in the off-leash dog park in Casper.

We saw a lot of this plant, it is a wild clementis also known as old man's beard.  The tiny white flowers are very fragrant, but what I really like about the plant is its delicate foliage.

The dog park was especially popular with the Bagley Pack because they could take a swim in the river. 

They also had a meet-and-greet with these two beautiful border collies.

John and I loved our walks, but also had a scrumptious dinner at a fantastic restaurant near our park called Fire Rock.  My prime rib and John’s lamb chops were done to perfection.

While waiting for our table, we met a couple of nice local gals, Kay and Diane, who gave us some recommendations for things to see and do.  Kay has lived in the area most of her life, but Diane is a former resident of San Antonio who left Texas in part because of our sweltering summers.  We enjoyed our time with them and appreciated their input.  Their suggestions, along with recommendations from our RV friends, Neal and Lana Caterson, helped us to make the most of our short time in town.

John and I left the dogs at home and spent a lovely afternoon at the Nicolaysen Art Museum.  The museum features traditional and contemporary western art, and had quite an interesting mix of exhibits.  Here are some of the pieces that especially impressed us.

We also liked the gallery of images by local photographers.

There were other attractions, like the Werner Wildlife Museum, that we didn’t have time for, but that will just give us a good excuse to come back.

On Tuesday, August 14, we packed up and wandered east toward Douglas.  Since it was a very short trip, we stopped a few miles down the road in Glenrock.  Originally known as Deer Creek Station, the town had its beginnings as a mail and stage station along the Oregon Trail.  The reason we were there, though, was to visit the Paleon Museum. 

The museum was founded in 1994 after the discovery of a Triceratops skeleton at a site just north of Glenrock.  Named Stephanie, the fossil remains of this Cretaceous period dinosaur date to some 68 million years ago.  The head and some of its vertebrae and ribs are on display.  Other bones are still being extracted and prepared for exhibit.  

This small museum has a number of exhibits, with the majority of the fossils being from nearby Wyoming locations.  Standing well above our heads, the left forelimb and shoulder of apatosaurus, a large, plant-eating dinosaur, was impressive.

Apatosaurus lived about 152 to 151 million years ago.  This creature had an average length of 69-75 feet, and an average mass of 16.4-22.4 tons.

This full-sized allosaur guards the entrance to the exhibit hall.

His shadow on the wall was almost as fearsome as the real thing.

Our thanks to Jim Davis for a great tour of the museum.  We were very fortunate.  When we arrived, another tour was in progress so Jim took us into the adjoining room to show us where fossils are cleaned, stabilized and prepared for exhibit.  

The large model of a triceratops mounted on the wall helps to identify the bones being extracted.

Much of this work is done by volunteers, as is some of the excavation work nearby.  Dinosaur enthusiasts can even contact the museum for a chance to take part in a dig. 

Less than an hour later we were in Douglas and parked in our favorite spot in the KOA Journey RV park there.  

We love this spot.  We have wonderful sunrises, convenient access to the dog park and are entertained by visiting as well as resident horses in the corrals and pastures below.

This trip, we met May, a beautiful tobiana paint mare, and her trainer.  May is 11 years old and had never been trained as a saddle horse.  While we were there, she for the first time had a rider on her back.  They said she was a perfect lady.

Following May, Cherri Block and Bea Yeager camped next to us, with their beautiful paso fino mare, Musa.  I was amazed to learn that she is 18 years old.  She looks and acts like a youngster. 

The dogs love this park because there are bunnies under every bush.  They know they aren’t supposed to chase them, but nature wins out if we aren’t holding the leash.  The bunnies always win the race, though.

And speaking of bunnies, Douglas is famous as the home of the legendary jackalope, which appears to be a cross between a jackrabbit and a pronghorn or small deer.  

There are various stories about the origins of the jackalope.  Roy Ball, “an occasionally sober trapper,” claimed to have seen the first jackalope in 1829.  However, Ralph Herrick, a Douglas taxidermist, admits, somewhat reluctantly, that his brother, Doug, and he created the jackalope in 1934.  Who knows?  Regardless of its origin, in 2005, Wyoming legislators declared the Jackalope as the state's "Official Mythical Creature." 

There are numerous depictions of the creature, including this one outside the Douglas Railroad Interpretive Center and Visitor Center, and a decorated jackalope inside.

John and I each obtained a “Limited, non-resident JACKALOPE LICENSE” when we visited the excellent Wyoming Pioneer Museum on the grounds on the Wyoming State Fair.  It authorizes us to “hunt, pursue, trap or otherwise take one (1) pronghorn jackalope within the lawful boundaries of Converse County, Wyoming on June 31st between sunrise and sunset only.”  Who knows, maybe we’ll bag one the next time we’re in Douglas. 

Again this year we spent a day at the Wyoming State Fair.  We were disappointed that the Fair has been shortened to only four days, and that they are no longer offering the cattle dog trials or the draft horse competition we have enjoyed in the past-`.  We did get to watch the Hereford cattle show, and were very impressed with the grand champion Hereford, this magnificent bull.  

His young handler did a wonderful job with him, though,

and the other FFA handlers did a good job with their animals as well.

The young riders were showing off their horsemanship skills.  I predict there will be more real Wyoming cowboys and cowgirls after watching them perform. 

Under one of the tents where we took shelter from the Wyoming sun, we found the poultry judging in progress.

These young ladies were exhibiting their chickens, which impressed me by standing still as a stone while waiting their turns to be evaluated.

The chicken competition was hotly contested.  

This silky reminded us of Jazz, our neighbor Becky Bence's rooster who took good care of the hens under his protection and also let us know when it was time to roll out of bed each morning.

I don't know what breed of chicken this one was, but Statuesque comes to mind.

We didn't stay around to see which bird won, but our bets were on this one; its handler was sporting an impressive belt buckle attesting to her showmanship abilities.

My mother sometimes used the expression "woolgathering."  By that she meant daydreaming, piddling or doing something else aimless and nonproductive.  At the fair we saw the results of another kind of woolgathering.  They were judging fleeces that had been sheared from various breeds of sheep.  The one on the right below was the grand prize fleece from a Rambouillet ram.  Nothing nonproductive about him!  That's quite a bagful of wool!

After wandering our way through the fair, John and I shared a custom-crafted root beer float. (Actually John got more than his share, but I'll get even later.)  It didn't survive long enough for me to get a photo.  It was another great trip to Douglas.