Wyoming....who knew?

I came home from our trip to Yellowstone with 404 pictures on my camera. This first post is going to focus on our trip through Wyoming on our way INTO the park, a day trip to the Tetons, and our trip again through the state on our way OUT of the park to home. This is the last shot I took of Nebraska before we crossed over into the beautiful state of Wyoming.

I was prepared for a long, boring drive. Several people had told me that Wyoming was literally painful to drive through. Boy, were they WRONG!!!! It is truly a beautiful state. I have never seen such varied terrain and crazy geology. If you are rock lovers, as we are, this is the state for you!

Pronghorn! Tony was beside himself when he spied his first pronghorn. Pronghorns are his second favorite animal. We made many, many stops on the shoulder to view them.

Like I said, crazy geology. The rock formations were unbelievable. I could have taken hundreds of pictures of them. We were just itching to climb, but there were fences all along the highway.

Same state, but totally different scenery. About every 30 minutes it was like entering a whole other planet.

Our Lady O-Gaga. Kids did a good job of keeping busy. Tony spent 99% of the time just looking out the window. The scrub/prairie of Western Nebraska and Eastern Wyoming is his favorite habitats. He sure has a LOT of favorites doesn't he?

What a treat it was to drive through Wind River Canyon at dusk. We were like kids in a candy store and got to our hotel in Thermopolis MUCH later than anticipated.

This is what was right at the road's shoulder all the way through.

Watch for falling rocks!

There were so many campgrounds right in the canyon along the river. What FUN that would be! There were railroad tracks on the opposite side of the river also. When we got to our hotel, they told us a train had derailed just a few weeks prior because a big boulder fell on the track. Crazy.

Just outside our first destination of Thermopolis, Wyoming. We all want to live by that river.

We spent just one night in Thermopolis on our way to Yellowstone. It was about 12 hours from here. After breakfast at the local cafe, Tony spied this dinosaur statue....we'll get to that later in the post.

After we left Thermopolis, we made a bathroom break along the way. We did a little exploring and the kids were pumped to spy this lizard.

Chris and Tony paid no attention to the signs everywhere warning of rattlesnakes and to please stay on the paths. Rattlesnakes? What rattlesnakes?

THESE RATTLESNAKES!!!! We stopped a bit later when we spied the mountains for the first time. I climbed up the hill next to the shoulder to get a better shot....one more step and my trip would've been over before it started. Let's just say I wasn't proud of what came out of my mouth, but I sure did run down the hill fast! Funny thing was, as I headed up the hill I was teasing Chris that he'd have to suck the venom out of my leg if I got bit by a snake. Too close for comfort if you ask me.

This was the picture I almost DIED for.

After this we got to our house in West Yellowstone and spent 5 days in the park. I will do a separate post just for Yellowstone. Later in the week we took a day trip through the Tetons....I will pick up there....along with our trip home.

We headed out towards the Tetons and made a stop at Mesa Falls. This is the historic "Big Falls Inn" (now a visitors center) located there. I just love the combination rustic/victorian architecture. Somehow it works.

GASP! What a sigh the falls were. We could not believe our eyes. This photo does not do it justice, but comes awful close.

The crew I was traveling with thought this looked just like Ireland. They've never been there, but everyone knows there are lots of rainbows in Ireland.

Just another shot of the cool building. Chris, can you build me this to live in....please?

A perfect photo op of our little cowgirl. We looked HIGH and LOW for the perfect hat, y'all.

Yikes...I guess we were up pretty high! (FYI Sally, THAT is the REAL Snake River)

One last shot of the falls before we head to Idaho.

Ah, Idaho. Such a contrast.

The rolling hills were gorgeous with the Teton Mountain Range as their backdrop.

And then....we crossed back over into Wyoming and meandered up a BIG mountain to this spot.

And then...back down again and into Jackson Hole. What a quaint little, overpriced town for rich people. But is was cute and scenic and we bought a few tshirts. Just doing our part.

The town square has these arches at each corner. Pretty impressive. We'd hoped to find our own antlers but never did. As you may guess, we did come home with plenty of rocks.

Tony couldn't believe his luck when he found this statue of "Big Foot." If you ever wondered what a Cryptozoologist studies, you're lookin at it. Now there's a lucrative career!

We noticed that they have a cool way for you to cross the street in Idaho and Wyoming. You grab a flag on one side, then deposit it on the other. Tony thought it was great to be the flag bearer and Livie is looking around hoping nobody notices her dorky brother.

After leaving Jackson Hole we drove through Grand Teton National Park back up to Yellowstone. The two parks are basically connected and it was a really nice drive.

Pronghorn! Oh, if only I had a dollar for every time someone shouted that on this trip.

We kept stopping to take pictures, then we'd drive 10 minutes and stop again because it got better and better as we went along. It was pretty warm out so there was a "haze" over the mountains. We wondered if people who live there even see them anymore....I don't think I'd EVER get tired of that view.

Lake Jackson in Teton National Park

I like this picture of Tony and Papa John taking a five.

So now, we're done with our week at Yellowstone and we drive back through Wyoming to Thermopolis again for two nights.

We stopped for lunch at the base of "Sleeping Giant".

On our way we stopped in a little town called "Meeteetse", which means "where Chiefs meet." At the visitor center we picked up a key, an actual key, and we proceeded to drive another 20 miles or so to the Legend Rock Petroglyph Historic Site. We drove down a LONG dirt road to what seemed like the middle of nowhere (it was). Finally after MANY miles we came to a gate. You use your key and open the gate, let yourself in, then lock the gate behind you. Once "inside" we were able to view hundreds of petroglyphs spanning a time period of thousands of years. We were the only people out there....kinda creepy, yet very cool.

Oops....I'm not sure how this picture got here. It's a pain in the hinder to delete them at this point so I'm just going to leave it. This is the original town of Cody, Wyoming. We were too cheap to pay to go inside so I just snapped a picture from the parking lot.

Back to the petroglyphs....I admit, I am a natural skeptic, but these were pretty amazing and I'm glad we went to the trouble to find them....in the middle of nowhere. The kids really thought they were neat too.

We all had fun trying to identify each petroglyph and imagine the story they were trying to tell. They are working hard to preserve the area, that is why they make it so difficult to get to. We let ourselves out of the gate, locked it behind us and deposited the key in a receptacle.

I managed to prop my camera on several rocks and snap a group shot. You don't see the drawings, but you do see that endless Wyoming sky.

The rock formations were something to see. Notice the craggly path that we had to walk on. I'm guessing if you got lost or hurt out there you would just end up a big pile of bones.

We had two things on our agenda when we got to Thermopolis....Dinosaurs and Hot Springs. Thermopolis must have been quite a town in it's heyday, but it was looking pretty shabby in 2010. We were a bit skeptical of the Wyoming Dinosaur Center to say the least.

But man, that place did NOT disappoint. It is a world class facility. Immaculate and more well kept than many others we've been too....and we've been to a lot of these places trust me. Tony was excited to pose with his favorite, Velociraptors.

Even the non-dinosaur lovers in the family (i.e. me and Liv) enjoyed the visit and the awesome exhibits.

This was pretty cool to see. I guess it is the only one of it's kind in North America.

Here's the lowdown if you're interested.

We also wandered around Hot Springs State Park and enjoyed getting up close to the thermal features. In Yellowstone they make you keep your distance, but here you could put your hand in the water if you were so inclined- isn't that right Chris?

Here's the info on the Hot Springs, again, if you're interested. Like I said earlier, in it's heyday Thermopolis was THE place to come and get 'well' by soaking in the mineral water.

I just loved this rock formation near the hot springs. It was like a giant just took a handful of rocks and tossed them in a pile.

This is where the water comes from that is pumped into the Bath House and the two swimming complexes in the park.

We spent our last day at the "Star Plunge." It had an indoor pool, outdoor pool, several hot tubs, a "vapor cave" (p.u.) and a couple water slides. The water temperature was literally like a bathtub in the regular pools. The hot tubs were different temps. All heated by Mother Nature! It did have a "sulfur" smell that tended to linger. Kind of like when I make egg salad.

The kids loved it and so did Chris and I. They even got me to go down the water slide - twice! Everything was covered in the hard residue left from the minerals, making it look really ancient.
It was a nice way to relax after a crazy week of sight seeing.

Can you tell they spent 6 hours in the pool and sun? We stopped for ice cream before we watched the fireworks on the 4th. Sure love your hat Liv!

What a perfect way to end a fantastic vacation!

Pronghorn! We got to see many, many more of them as we traveled East through Wyoming back to Nebraska.

We made one last pit stop through Scottsbluff to see Chimney Rock. After all, it is on the Nebraska state quarter.

So that was Wyoming (and Idaho) in a nutshell. Hopefully in the next few days I'll find another 3 hours to blog about Yellowstone.....stay tuned!