Casper, Cheyenne and North Platte

One of the most fascinating things I've seen on our travels is how rapidly the terrain and landscape changes.  Between The Tetons and Casper, Wyoming we saw mountains, mesas, rugged canyons, rolling plains and scrub brush.  These photos were all taken with 260 miles of each other as we drove to Casper.

 We visited the Fort Caspar Museum while staying in Casper.  What a neat place that was!  We also toured the fort and saw barracks, a store and the supports for the bridge that once spanned the North Platte River on which many settlers crossed to go on to Oregon and California.

Fort Casper Museum

Danny is looking out over Casper from the observation deck at the museum

Here is a photo of the barracks in Fort Caspar

We were able to sit in a covered wagon that simulated fording
 the North Platte River. That was fun!

North Platte River is not as wide as it was during the days of the settlers,
 but it is still a very deep and swift river.

Here we are headed into Poor Boy's Restaurant for our last meal
together with our traveling buddies.  We separated the next morning.
We headed to Cheyenne and they went on to Colorado.

On July 2, Danny and pulled out of the Casper KOA and drove toward Cheyenne.  We detoured near Gurney, Wyoming to see the deep Oregon Trail Ruts and Register Cliff.  We could almost feel the presence of those settlers from the 1800's as we walked along the 3 foot deep ruts.

Danny walking in the Oregon Ruts

Here I am standing with my hand on top of the deep wagon ruts.

Register Cliff is the site settlers would carve their names and the dates as they passed that place.  We resisted the urge to carve our own names and dates in the cliff.

Register Cliff behind us

A couple of photos of the many carvings on Register cliff.

By mid-afternoon we arrived in Cheyenne and took time to take a walking tour of downtown, the state capitol building, and the Old Governor's Mansion.  Cheyenne has a rich history, and we enjoyed our short overnight stay here.

Cheyenne Old Railroad Depot - now a museum and visitors center

Six foot tall Cowboy boots were located all over town.

S

One of my favorites

Downtown Cheyenne

Great shop downtown

Old Governor's Mansion

Wyoming State Capitol Building

The capitol building was filled with beautiful arches, wood carvings and a gorgeous dome.

The next day, we traveled to North Platte, Nebraska hoping to enjoy a local celebration of July 4th.  But no city fireworks or parades were held.... bummer!  We spent the day doing laundry and balancing the check book.  Late that afternoon, we toured the Golden Spike in North Platte.  It's a tower overlooking Bailey Rail Yard, which is the largest train rail switching station in the USA and maybe the world... can't remember which the guide said.  

Golden Spike Tower in North Platte, Nebraska

Part of the Rail Yard

Another part of the rail yard.

Rail Car on display.

We left North Platte with great anticipation of joining our Tyler, Texas friends in West Point, Nebraska to help out with the annual VBS,  More on that in the next blog.