Spent a good night at the little park in Fort Laramie - phone service was really spotty, but can't beat free!
Got on the road about 8:30, heading west back to I 25. I had debated taking a back road north, but as I was listening to local radio, I learned that many roads in the area were closed due to flooding from the heavy rains the day before, so I was glad I had chosen to take the main roads.
First stop was the Wyoming Pioneer Memorial Museum in Douglas. This museum is on the State Fairgrounds and I thought would be a quick stop. It took me over an hour to scan the thousands of artifacts spread over multiple rooms, including the basement! They had beautiful Indian beaded work, cowboy trappings (spurs, saddles, lassos, etc), fashions from the late 1800s through the 1950s, furniture, musical instruments, household goods, quilts, carriages and a lot of artwork, including great western sculptures - essentially, they had at least one of everything that ever existed in Wyoming.
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| The schoolhouse from the 1800s |
After browsing in the museum, I drove down to Jackalope Square. Douglas is the birthplace of the Jackalope when a local taxidermist created it.
A half hour west of Douglas 5 miles off I 25 is Ayres Natural Bridge.
It is a 150 foot sandstone natural bridge formed by the creek eroding the banks and finally undercutting the rock. The West-bound emigrants stopped here for the shade and fresh water (the North Platte was too muddy to be used for drinking so they had to find contributing streams and creeks for fresh water). I had a nice lunch at a picnic table next to the creek.
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| Cattle and Snow Fences - Wyoming! |
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| View of Casper |
My last stop of the day was in Casper for the National Historic Trail Interpretive Center. This is a Bureau of Land Management facility and is one of the best museums I have ever seen. Great displays, most interactive, showing the history of the various trails that crossed this area - the Oregon Trail, the California (goldrush) Trail, the Mormon Trail and even the Pony Express. The highlight was the great sensory experience (think Disney) of crossing the North Platte River in the back of a covered wagon as part of a wagon train. This is a definite MUST-SEE if you are visiting central Wyoming.
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| Part of the Main Display - the white screens above is where the intro movie is shown |
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| The multi-sensory wagon ride across the North Platte - guess you had to be there... |
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| The number of emigrants was staggering! |
Spending the night at a real campground right in Casper, but was disappointed to find it a gravel parking lot with sketchy WiFi, but my phone works well and I have electricity to charge up computers so I can update the blog when I do get reliable internet access.
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