Wyoming - Casper and Worland

9/16/2010

We are now in Worland, WY (where???) for a few days.  We met up with an old high school buddy of mine, Pat Foley.  We used to hang out together and had a lot of good times.  Pat and his wife, Ellen, now live in Oregon but are here in Worland to look at property for a possible retirement area.

We left Broomfield, CO on Tuesday morning and drove to Casper, WY. 

Spent the night in a CG there and had an excellent Mexican dinner at Guadalahara’s.  On our way out of the CG, we spotted this group having a meal of their own. 

At our meal the plates were so big that we had plenty for lunch the next day.  Mom took a couple of pictures at our CG.  Those are the Rocky Mountains in the background, and, a bear came down and posed for us before we left.

We left Casper and drove west to Shoshoni.   The road was only two lanes but we made good time.  The scenery was beautiful – rolling hills and mountains in the background and we saw deer all along the way.

Then we went north out of Shoshoni and the scenery changed dramatically.  We saw mountains up ahead but couldn’t see how we were going to get around them.  Well, there was a way and it was almost overwhelming how we got thru there.   Before you see the pictures, here is a little history lesson for you:

As you travel north from Shoshoni into Boysen State Park, you come face to face with the windswept west. You can see the bare yellow and red rock of the Owl Creek Mountains stretching off to forever, and the deep blue of Boysen Reservoir rippling in contrast. You might even think, with the water skiing and swimming and the walleye and trout fisheries, that you’ve come to the high point of the Byway. But then you drive into Wind River Canyon. Spectacular rock walls rise 2,500 vertical feet on either side to the ridge tops. You can crane your neck and see some of the oldest rock formations in the world, dating back to the Precambrian period, (more that 2.9 billion years ago) visible right from the highway, their black and pink cliffs protruding to the sky. The geology of every layer is marked by interpretive signage, making the drive a geology lesson and a trip through time.

This is a huge reservior in the Boysen State Park:

Here we started our downward trek:

The dam for the reservoir:

Three tunnels - all were 14' clearance so we had a full foot to spare!!

Believe it or not - the  road just continued down and down.

A few miles north of the mountains is a town called Thermopolis.

And it is known for its:

We didn't stop because it was getting late in the afternoon.  On the way toward Worland, we saw this interesting site.  Check out the layers.

We will be leaving here on Saturday and then slowly making our way West to Jackson where we will meet up with Barbara and Nolan Klier from Resurrection and we will do some sightseeing together.

That's it for now...