We had a “Close Encounter” of our own when we visited the Devils Tower National Monument:
Sheridan:
A brief stop in Sheridan
provided us with an opportunity to check out The Mint Bar, the oldest bar in
Sheridan. Since 1907 The Mint Bar has
been a meeting place for cowboys, ranchers and dudes!
Grand Tetons National
Park / Jackson Hole:
We had a close-up, Ansel Adams view of the Grand Tetons! Our Caravan trip included a Snake River Float
trip. The day started out rainy, but
turned into a beautiful day on a very high river.
We spent the evening in Jackson Hole.
The town is a fun place to take a stroll.
Check out this entrance to the central plaza:
To really experience the Old West, you can take a Stagecoach ride:
Cody:
Our drive from Yellowstone toward Cody featured amazing views:
(2) The Buffalo Bill Museum focuses on the life and times of William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody. Buffalo Bill was more than a showman – he started out as a guide, scout and frontiersman and was later an entrepreneur and town founder. I particularly enjoyed learning about his personal life, his wife and family.
(3) The Whitney Western Art Museum provides another experience of the Spirit of the American West through art.
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| Buffalo Bill in the Limelight by Frederic Remington |
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| Where Great Herds Come to Drink by Charles M. Russell |
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| Yellowstone Falls by Albert Bierstadt |
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| Shadow by Linda Raynolds |
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| Sacagawea by Harry Jackson |
There are 2 other museums: The Draper Natural History Museum and
the Cody Firearms Museum. The
admission ticket is good for two days, which is necessary to see everything!
Laramie:
On our way to Laramie, we stopped at the Ft. Laramie National Historic
Site:
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| Inside the Barracks |
Nearby are 2 other interesting sites.
The Oregon Trail Ruts National Historic Landmark where you can see some of the best preserved wagon ruts of the Oregon Trail, along the Platte River:
And the Register Cliff State Historic Site which was an important
stopover for the emigrants during the westward movement of the 1840’s and 1850’s. The emigrants inscribed their names, dates,
places of origin and messages into the soft sandstone cliffs.
On a more contemporary note, one of our primary reasons for traveling
to Laramie, Wyoming was to view a building of architectural note designed by
architect Antoine Predock. This building
resides on the University of Wyoming Laramie campus. It houses the American Heritage Center as
well as an Art Museum. What luck! This is a real gem!
The entrance hall features an installation of reflective aluminum
sheets by Sharon Louden, entitled “Windows”.
One of my favorite exhibits on view is by Pavel Acosta, Stolen From
the Museum. Acosta is a Cuban artist
that stole dry paint chips from crumbling buildings to create collages. When he came to the U.S. he learned about
sheetrock and began using that as his canvas to create detailed copies of
masterpieces (using paint chips!):
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| After “The Starry Night” by Vincent Van Gogh |
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| After “Coquelicots (Poppies)” by Claude Monet |
Another work that I especially liked was this one by
Robert Martinez:
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| Northern Arapaho by Robert Martinez |
I really liked this sculpture on the University of Wyoming Laramie
Campus:
We had been driving on the Lincoln Highway (Interstate 80) and thought
it appropriate to stop and view the only Lincoln monument along his namesake
highway: the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Monument.
This monument was sculpted by Robert I. Russin to commemorate Lincoln’s
150th birthday.
Our Airbnb host suggested a drive to see the Vedauwoo Recreation Area. Of course, it took me several efforts to
figure out what name he said and after asking a few other people I finally
located the place. This is definitely a
place to go if you enjoy rock climbing; however, it was a lovely drive for us
with some terrific views!
Casper:
Our last Wyoming visit is in Casper.
It has a nice historic downtown with shops and restaurants. I especially liked this sculpture on one of
the street corners.
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| "Eagle Against the Sun" by Chris Navarro |
The Tate Geological Museum at Casper College has some wonderful exhibits
and “Dee the Mammoth”. Dee was
discovered in Wyoming and is thought to have died around 11,600 years ago!
Our final stop was at the Wyoming State Penitentiary Museum! We had a tour that allowed us to see the
original cell blocks built in 1901, the library, gas chamber and more.
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| Cell Block A |
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| Library |
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| Gas Chamber |
Next week we’ll visit northern New Mexico. Yes, we’ve already been to this Land of
Enchantment, but that was in January when we stayed south where it was warm!