Wyoming-Part 1

After Colorado, we headed for Wyoming. I LOVED it. Looking at the pictures makes me want to move there. I am saving Yellowstone for a different post so this one is about the rest of Wyoming. Dean and I LOVE reading westerns and everything about the Old West and Oregon Trail. I often find myself wishing I could be in those books and go back in time. My hope in driving through Wyoming was to see of the the history and find someone riding a horse in town. Unfortunately, I did not see anyone riding their horse in town. I think if I had we would have moved right then.

We loved the vast, open spaces and the wildlife. We saw tons of Pronghorn Antelope. They seem so much more mysterious than deer. Searching for them helped pass the time. Another interesting wildlife was the prairedog. There was a rest area with its own little praire dog town. They were so cute scurring around calling to eachother.







The best type of wildlife Wyoming has is the Mustang. There are thousands of horses that run wild through the west. Many farmers and ranchers are not allowed to put up fences so the horses can still roam the land. You have no idea how excited I was to know that I could possibly see wild mustangs. We didn't actually see any wild ones but we see quite a few in corrals that were going to be sold. There are so many wild mustangs that the Bureau of Land Management rounds some up to be sold to keep down the population. Immediately, when I read that I wanted one so bad. Of course we have no where to keep it right now but one of my many cowgirl dreams is to buy a few and ride them all over our ranch. Someday.






As we headed to Yellowstone, we drove over the Oregon Trail and past the South Pass. It was cool to see the wagon ruts in the road and know that thousands of settlers rode right past you in their covered wagons. Or that the mail traveled past on the Pony Express. Its amazing to think the obstacles and landforms the settlers had to travel around to make it all the way out west. It was great history for us.







Later, we came to a town called Thermopolis. It is home to the World's Largest Hot Springs. They have a hot spring fed swimming pool, spa, and natural hot spring pools. The only bad part is that it smells the rotten eggs. The smell is so strong. I know I could never live there. The most awesome part is that the spring is so HOT. It really could burn your hand. Dean really wanted to jump right in. It is also amazing to see the amount of mineral build up and the colors they create. Besides the smell it was a great pit stop.









The thing I was most looking forward to (before I found out about the mustangs for sale) was Cody, Wyoming and the rodeo. We didn't actually get to go to the rodeo. It was storming when we arrived in town and included lots of wind and lighting. We decided to walk around town, hoping to get that Old West feel. It was mostly gift shops and some other retail stores but many of them were closed when we rolled into town. It was a nice little town but not as western as I imagined. We spent the night in Cody and the next morning it would be on to Yellowstone.

Colorful Colorado

After our short trip home we went back to my parents to get our dirt bikes and meet up with my grandparents for a week of camping in Estes Park, Colorado. My parents came too, they just drove seperately. We were so excited to be in the mountains. We really enjoyed the east coast but there is just something about going west that we love. We stayed with my family at the YMCA of the Rockies and my grandparents camped nearby.


One afternoon we went Whitewater Rafting. It was fun but freezing. There was a spot to get out and swim where when you jumped in the current carried you downstream. We had a really good guide and our friend Mike Anderson even came with us.

Another morning we went on a 2 hour horseback ride. We were the only people in our group which made it so much more fun. Dad had a great big slow horse and it was hilarious to see it maneuver around the rocks and down the steep grades. We had a lot of fun and even trotted some. We didn't see any wildlife but the view was still nice.

At night we went into Estes Park browsed the shops. We looked and looked for Elk all week but didn't see any. My grandparents and Josh drove up Fall River Road and saw lots of elk but we still hadn't seen any. On the last morning after everyone left we drove up Fall River Road to find some elk. We actually even got to see some young elk that had wandered into Estes Park that morning. The drive up the road was a little scary. The road was a one way narrow dirt road with lots of winding turns.
It made it even worse that we were pulling the dirtbikes. Dean was not bothered but I was. The drive up was actually really pretty. It even got better as we got higher.
We didn't see any elk until we got almost all the way to the top. The view was gorgeous.


We even crossed the continental divide on the way back down.



After we left the park we found a spot and went dirtbiking. It was quite muddy and I was quite scared so we didn't stay long.
We still had lots of the west to see. We had a great time with my family and grandparents. Thanks for a great vacation!!!

Michigan

It is now July and we are about halfway through our summer. It seems like we have done so much already but there is still so many more places to visit before August. When we arrived in Michigan I got a phone call from the school district that we work for in Houston. They wanted me to come in for an interview. I could not be hired by my school if I did not come in. We were a LONG way from home and had NO intentions of driving back especially for such a short visit. I needed a job so we decided we would go. So most of the time we were in Michigan I was preparing a lesson to teach and Dean was trying to fix a four wheeler. Unfortunately, he never got it fixed. We did get to enjoy our time visiting with Dean's family before we had to leave. We went fishing with them one night and Dean decided to go swimming in this ridiculous looking inner tube. What a great vacation!!





Our anniversary actually fell during our visit in Michigan so we decided to take a little two day trip to Mackinac Island. It is a great little island on Lake Michigan. There are only two ways to get around the island. Horse or bike. We took our rollerblades because we thought that we could rollerblade all around but we weren't allowed to rollerblade in town. We didn't know where our hotel was so we decided to walk there. It was a long walk and we got turned around a couple times but we finally found it. It was called the Stonecliffe Inn. An old mansion on a cliff overlooking the lake. There was no air conditioning and no TV. It was great. We walked back into town and had some delicious fudge. Mackinac Island is famous for their fugdge. They say there are two smells on the island. Fudge and Horse poop.






The next day we decided to go horse back riding. There are lots of trails all around the island and they even let you take unguided rides. Dean and I went off on our own and had a great time. We were definitely wishing for our own horses after that.


After we left Mackinac we headed into the Upper Peninsula to Tahquamenon Falls. They were pretty falls and a very coppery color. It was a nice little side trip before we headed back to Dean's parents house.



I finished up my lesson and we headed for home. We stopped in Iowa to drop off the dirtbikes and then hightailed it home to get there in time for my interview. We were there for about 24 hours.Then back to Iowa to rest up and finish the summer.If you were wondering I got the job!!

New York: Part 2

After Maine he headed west. Our next stop was Buffalo, NY. My great aunt lives there so we decided to stop and rest up for a couple days. We arrived there just in time for the 4th of July. We went to this city park to watch the fireworks. We were sitting on a hill and could see fireworks from cities all around. Instead of just seeing one fireworks show we got to see 5 or 6.

My aunt Margaret and cousin Reid showed us all around the next day. They even took us to see one of those Sears and Roebuck houses that you used to buy from the catalog. It was cool.


We went back to that same park where we watched the fireworks to see these toboggan slides. They are huge slides that they use in the winter. They use tubes or sleds and slide all the way down. It looked so fun. I wish we could have see it in the winter.





Most of my mom's extended family lives in or around Buffalo so we went and spent an afternoon visiting with my great uncle Gordan, great aunt Kathy, and their family. It was fun to see them and to hear uncle Gordan talk about the old days and the things that my grandpa Romine and him used to do. They were very hospitable and even got us some buffalo wings so that we could say we came to Buffalo and got to have Buffalo wings. They were delicious! Thanks Sheffers!!

We also went to the stadium where the Buffalo Bills play. The stadium is right down the street from Gordan and Kathy and right near their farmland. Unfortunately it was the day after the 4th so only the team store was open. We couldn't go in the field house or anything like that. When I was growing up my dad was a HUGE fan of the Buffalo Bills. My Aunt Margaret worked for the city so when the players came to the city office to get the licenses or other legal things she would ask them for their autographs. She would then send them to my dad. He now has them hanging in their basement along with a piece of the old field turf. It is pretty awesome.




We had a really good time visiting them and after we left there we headed to Niagara Falls and Canada. Dean had never been there before so it was fun to go and see them again. I had been there a couple times when I was little. The only thing I really remember is that I hated being near the edge.



I was SO AFRAID of falling over the edge. I was still afraid this time. Apparently some people don't think its scary at all the way they leaned over, sat on the edge, or held their babies over the edge. It almost made me sick. They have a few really cool things you can do at the falls. One is Maid of the Mist where you can ride a boat right up to the falls. We didn't do that. There was another thing too but we don't remember what it was. And then you can go under the falls in these caves they have there. That is what we did. We got a cool poncho and went on our way all the the down. When you get in the caves you are right behind the falls. The water pressure is amazing. So many gallons of water just flowing over the falls. The roar was sooo loud. It was cool to be so close. I think my favorite part of being at the falls was getting to go behind them AND all the rainbows. There were so many rainbows. When the sun hit just right you could even see two or three. We had a great time there and made some super great memories!!