Tag Archives: WY

Torrington, WY

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Today we took the ‘stage’ to Torrington to see the Pony Express re-ride. Here they did a changeover of horse and mail just as occurred in 1860-1863.

Outside Bomgaars Supply the horse and rider came through just as we arrived and managed to video! A minute later and we would have missed the changeover as they were slightly ahead of time!

One rider jumped off her horse, grabbed the mochila throwing it on to the next rider’s horse and then she was on and heading out of town.

The rider (Stephanie, hope that’s right) we spoke with has been doing it for 25 years now, she started with her Dad. Now her, her husband and kids do the re-ride each year.

The riders today do approximately 2 miles each (so as not to wear their horses out) compared to the past where the original pony express stations were 50miles apart. However they often rode 75-100 miles in a stretch changing horses every 10-15miles.

I had to laugh, her husband said they use 5 horses and a back up. Sounds like cowboy shooters – take what you need plus your backup’s.

I’m glad we got there in time to see it!

We headed into Torrington and made a short stop at the Goshen County Museum situated in the original South Torrington Union Pacific Depot.

It had some very interesting artifacts in there and also had the 1996 Pony Express mochila. The rider we spoken to carried the flame for the Atlanta Olympics during the 1996 ride.

Back we headed towards Hawk Springs (population 45) where The Emporium steak house was calling us for late lunch.

What a neat little place! Has a great cowboy decor and feel, beer garden and drive thru!

The steak and dessert were divine! Highly recommend a stop there or make the 80 mile trek from Cheyenne up there! It was worth it.

We headed back to Wild Horse Haven and doubt very much we will need anything much for dinner tonight!

Yours in touring

Kat xo

Day In Cheyenne

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Last night we had a fabulous dinner with Wild Horse John, Saginaw Sue, Trigger Happy Ted and Misty Rider. A good catch up to start off our short stay in Cheyenne.

This morning was a leisurely start over coffee and then off to the country club for lunch on the deck overlooking the golf course.

 

A visit to the museum made for an interesting afternoon. Passing some of Cheyennes spectacular 1800's buildings, the Nelson Museum Of The West awaits.

 

With everything from taxidermy, firearms, Hollywood posters, Indian, cavalry, vaquero outfits, Spurs etc it is a fantastic exhibit over two floors, the third floor below – Lawmen and Outlaws display.

 

Gambling, guns and whiskey were the essentials for outlaws of the time or more likely is what caused the most grief in small railway and cowtown's of the west.

 

This a neat little museum and worth a visit if you are short on time, you can do it in a couple of hours.

We did get an extra personalised tour into the war bonnet room and the new exhibit acquisition room where they are organising new displays.

 

Then across the street into the military uniform display, what a collection! Mostly uniforms from actual military members and displayed with their name plate and photo! Such amazing collections!

 

A little saunter later down the road we arrived at The Plains Hotel for a rest and a beer. Yep, a Saddle Bronc for me, always got to try a local brew, well it comes out of Sheridan which is still Wyoming.

 

That takes care of today, won't be much to report tomorrow until we are at the airport!

Cheers

Kat xo

 

Jackson Hole, WY

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Spent two nights in Jackson and a full day of just walking the streets, wandering in and out of shops. It really was just a nice casual couple of days.

Jackson has a town square like a lot of old town districts in other places. Jackson however has its four unique arches at each corner entrance. A popular tourist photo destination.

 

The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar is a must to stop at. We ate there both nights.

If only to partake in the bar, grill, beer, and sit astride one of the saddle stools at the bar. Or you could play at one of the pool tables. Jack beat me real good this time.

 

The Cowboy Bar has a restaurant downstairs also and is renowned for its line dancing and entertainment. In the past they've had Hank Williams Jr., Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings to name but a few!

Is was one of the recommended places to eat by the hotel owner, as well as 'The Local' and 'Town Square Tavern'.

We met a couple of young Aussie's from the Central Coast in the Tavern around lunchtime, heading off to Vegas for the 2nd last leg of the their East to West coast experience.

There are endless places to eat though and a stack of art galleries, shops and souvenirs to take in. We were within walking distance of the town square but Jackson is quite a big place and there is lots to choose from.

 

And then there is the unusual fur purchases. Anyone for beaver underwear?!?!

 

This place must be jumping during ski season! It was busy enough now in the summer.

Cheers!

Kat xo

Mon 3rd Aug

http://www.milliondollarcowboybar.com

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson,_Wyoming

 

Yellowstone Day 2

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Driving into the park this morning we round the bend on Sylvan Lake and it is literally like glass.

The park is beautiful and covered in wildflowers of various shade of white, yellow, red, pink, purple to blues.

Yesterday I found there is an app tour guide that you can get, so remembering to download it this morning we now have our own in car tour guide by GyPSy Guide.

So we hit the Grand Loop and our guide starts telling us where to go, nicely. Lol!

 

This is a fantastic app. Gives you information for points to stop, scientific, physics and geological information as well.

Our first stop After crossing the Continental Divide again is Kepler Falls.

 

Our guide suggests a stop at Lake Village and a visit to the historical Lake Hotel that was built in 1890. Are we sure glad we did the detour! It's huge and grand in its decor. And there are cabins and a whole other separate wing you can't see in the photos. Small balconettes were added to windows at the lake side and for many years it was referred to as the Lake Colonial Hotel. In 1929 the dining room and sunroom were added.

 

Onto West Thumb Geyser Basin we go to view bubbling holes of spectacular colour that sit right beside the lake. Back in the day the guide said that fisherman were known to catch a fish from the lake, swing around and drop it in the boiling water beside it.

 

From here we headed along the route learning about thermal springs etc and made it to Old Faithful Geyser. Just in time actually to grab lunch and watch it blow! They said 1.30pm give or take 10mins. Well some small eruptions from 1.20 and sure enough spot on 1.30pm it goes off for almost 2 mins. Amazing! Steam and boiling water shooting up to 100ft in the air.

 

Now the guide had also said we should go stick our head in the Old Faithful Inn and at the last minute we turned into the car park to run in and see it. Another glad we did moment! This is like the ultimate of log cabins!

 

We headed North stopping at Biscuit Basin, Firehole Falls and back along past the swimming hole along Firehole Canyon Drive.

 

We reached Madison and turned around to start our trek back south and down through Grand Teton National Park to Jackson. Heading back past Kepler Cascades and still in search of wildlife, I did get to see a wolf! But no turnouts to get a pic 😦 We didn't see any other wildlife today other than little birds but it has been an incredibly colourful day that's for sure!

Kat xo

http://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm

http://gypsyguide.com

 

Yellowstone National Park

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Into Yellowstone National Park we head, winding through some spectacular scenery and hoping for a day of wildlife spotting!

 

We passed Sylvan Lake where a deer was down at the waters edge.

 

The smell of sulphur is starting to permeate the nostrils as we get nearer to Yellowstone Lake. We stop at Steamboat Point for a view of the steam rising from vents in the rock. You can hear it escaping. The water is absolutely crystal clear.

We stopped at the Dragons Mouth and Boiling Cauldron and it's a pity I can't turn photos into scratch and sniff, the sulphur is rank, I'm sure it has some healing properties right?!

 

Then!! What we've been waiting for, a buffalo out on his own taking in the fresh air lol!

 

As we rounded the bend after, we got the whole herd! Excited much!

 

A truly magnificent sight!

The next lake scenery changed again. Still waters with four white swans gracing it that slowly changes and flows into rapids.

 

Continuing to Canyon Falls, spectacular, spectacular! The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone!

 

Saw a few more deer and more herds of buffalo before making our way out the North eastern entrance of the park. We hit Silver Gate and Cooke City in Montana before back into Wyoming's Shoshone National Park heading back to Cody.

Didn't get to see any bears or moose but there is always tomorrow!

A long scenic day!

Kat xo

http://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm

 

 

Cody, Wyoming

Posted on by kathousekelli70

In the late 1890's when William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody arrived in this area he fell in love with it, the river and the hot springs. He supported the progress for the town and its infrastructure.

Buffalo Bill was everything from a rancher, Pony Express rider, an Army soldier and scout, a scout for the railroads and Wild West Show Performer.

Best known for his Wild West Shows he performed in 48 of the lower States, in fact the only one he didn't perform in was Nevada.

He took his 500 strong group of Cowboys, cowgirls, Indians, work crew and theatre sets across the country side and even took them all on a ship to Europe performing for the Queen and other dignitaries.

 

Buffalo Bill built 3 hotels along the route from Cody to Yellowstone (it was already the nations first state park) offering rest stops for travellers. Would have been one hell of a trek out here in those days!

The Irma Hotel in Cody, so named after Buffalo Bill's youngest daughter was to be furnished with only the best of everything. It opened in November of 1902. Apparently the Irma Hotel rooms still provide steam heating and are decked out in antique furnishings, some still original to the hotel.

 

The Museum still has the silver ware and dishes from the hotel.

 

The Buffalo Bill Centre of the West Museum is a fantastic place to visit and yes preferably you will need a good full day if not two and your pass will get you two days anyway.


His life took many twists and turns and some of his ventures were not always profitable.

Married to Louisa Frederici, Bill and Louisa's first venture was running a hotel in Leavenworth, Kansas but he longed for the plains. He left Louisa for 9months. This was the start of many trips away from his wife and children. They had 4 children, Arta, Kit Carson, Orra Maude and Irma Louise. He was not present at any of their births!

Kit died at the age of 5 from scarlet fever and Orra would also die 8 years later at age 11. Along with financial strains this put further strains on his and Louisa's relationship. Arta, the eldest, married but later passed away in her early 40's. William and Louisa divorced in 1904.

This left Irma who spent several weeks with Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show in 1894. She would later travel with him at other times for the show. Annie Oakley had taken Irma under her wing, the cast referred to her (endearingly) as “Buffalo Bill's pet”.

Buffalo Bill was also an advocate for women's rights and he was convinced that they were equal to men. He had many women trick riders and sharpshooters including both Annie Oakley and Lillian Smith perform with his troop.

 

This is only a very very brief insight to Buffalo Bill, his relations with the Indians, various ventures – newspaper publishing, mining etc.

 

He died January 10, 1917 and is buried on Lookout Mountain West of Denver.

After this we had lunch at The Eatery within the museum, excellent choices, buffet, build your own sandwiches, wraps etc.

Then we went into the seemingly endless Firearms Museum. Holy moly! There is just about anything and everything, beautifully displayed, cut away's to see internal workings, gun tools, lathes, original engineering drawings etc!! There are some very interesting international firearm samples on display also.

 

So!

Pre dinner drinks at the Silver Dollar Saloon after a stroll down the street in our period costumes. We visited the Irma for the gun fight in the street, drinks and dinner. The original cherrywood bar is stunning!

We met some amazing people. First time Sturgis participants from the U.S. and New Zealand! Chatted with the shootout performers and enjoyed ourselves…….perhaps a little too much! 🙂

Good times!

Kat xo

http://centerofthewest.org

http://www.irmahotel.com

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cody,_Wyoming