We crossed into Wyoming and were immediately greeted by an information center that was like a small museum with free guidebooks, postcards, and stickers. Shortly thereafter, Devil’s Tower came into view. The movie Close Encounters of a Third Kind came out when I was in the 5th grade, and I loved it. I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I even had a Close Encounters belt buckle. The Devil’s Tower figured prominently in that movie, so this was my favorite thing so far. We stopped and took pictures as we drove towards it, then more as we hiked the loop around it. I climbed a little to touch it. Beyond that, you had to be a true climber. I did take photos of a couple of folks we saw climbing it. That is not and will never be on my bucket list. We also saw a mule deer, just off the trail. As we left the park, there was a huge line of cars to get in. I am so glad we got an early start. We drove right up to it. We saw signs that said 75 minutes (as we zipped past them) and realized they sometimes had long lines, and we couldn’t imagine waiting that long. I would rather deal with cold, cloudy, and windy weather during the off-season than wait times like that. As we left the park, we passed a field full of prairie dogs. The Native Americans called it Bear Lodge, and somehow, in translation, it became Devil’s Tower. I took a photo of a sign about that. It is kind of interesting.
We pulled off the Interstate to grab a snack from the back of the car and saw some train tracks. There was a BNSF yard there, and they had over 100 locomotives parked in a line. Dane was filming a video of those, and I was going to pick him up down the road. There was a curve, so he had no idea how long it was or how many. Meanwhile, I saw a train coming from the other direction. So I jumped out and got a video of it for Ryan. Dane got a big kick from all the train action.
The beauty around us has been magnificent. We will make it to Yellowstone tomorrow. We have not even gotten to the good stuff. We stopped and took photos at some of the pullouts.
We found a place to stay in Wapiti, WY. We passed through Cody and stopped at Legacy Butcher and Burger. Dane had a bison burger, and I had a Philly Cheesesteak.
My nephew was flying back from Banff to Houston today. I just talked to him, and he flew over Wyoming. He and I share our locations on Google Maps, so he could see where I was. He had WiFi on the plane and thought he was going to fly right over us, but the plane turned. Still, you have to marvel at the technology.
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