Our plan was to stay one night at Saratoga Lake, and then head straight west down Interstate 80 to Rock Springs, Wyoming the next morning. But our plans often change based on the weather, advice we get, and natural phenomenon. Yesterday, all three impacted our decision-making. As we looked back towards the mountains that we just left, we could barely see their outlines because of the smoke that has blown here from the wild fires in the west. We decided that we didn't need to be in any hurry to head straight west. (Also we don't really want to stay here very long because the mosquitoes are vicious. Those specks in the picture below are not birds, they are mosquitoes buzzing in front of the camera.) The smoke and mosquioes are natural phenomenon that might change the trajectory of our travel.
We took some pictures of Saratoga Lake last night, including a little local wildlife on the water.
There were small waves on the lake last night, but the weather forecast called for big waves the next day. It would be a terrible day for driving a motor home across the plains of Wyoming. So we made the decision to stay an extra day in Saratoga. When the winds blew 40 miles per hour with gusts to 50, it rocked the motor home in our camp site. We were certainly glad that we weren't on the highway fighting those winds. It's an example of the weather changing the timing of our travel.
Twice yesterday, someone mentioned that Lander, Wyoming, was one of their favorite places. It happened when we were talking to hikers at South Gap Lake, and again when we were talking to locals at the hot springs. But Landers would take us in an entirely different direction than we had planned. So in the extra day of sitting out the wind, we planned a whole new direction to travel based on the local advice we'd been given. The next day we then headed north on Highway 287 toward Lander--a town we didn't even know existed until two days ago. It was a two-and-a-half-hour trip through 165 miles of sage brush.
We're so glad we made the decision to stay put during the windy day, because this route is already known for "strong wind possible."
We also recognize that this route gets lots of snow in the winter. We saw around 165 miles of these wooden snow fences on the side of the highway.
The drive today also gets the auspicious prize for having the most expensive diesel fill-up since we bought the motor home almost seven years ago. At $3.60 per gallon, it was actually the cheapest diesel we saw today. We're afraid that this situation isn't going to get any better.
We got checked into The Twin Pines RV Park outside of Lander around noon. This is our first full-hook-up site in a while, so we had lots of laundry to do. But we also had places to see in this interesting area that everyone says we need to visit. So this afternoon we took off on a loop drive through Red Canyon.
This place comes by its name honestly, as everything in Red Canyon is red--the hills, the road, and the rocks.
The last part of this red road runs through the Red Canyon Wildlife Habitat Management Area. We had our eyes peeled, but the only wildlife we found was this single mule deer, with those huge ears sticking up over the tall grass.
Our next stop is Wild Iris, and our map described it as a "climbing crag on Limestone Mountain." After several miles driving down the bumpy gravel road, we arrived at the rock walls that make this place famous among rock climbers.
We're taking pictures in these cracks and crevices, but we don't have the equipment or knowledge to climb to the top.
We walked along the rock face until we found people that did have the equipment and knowledge. It was fun to look at these tall walls and see the tiny climbers make their way all the way to the top. Can you see her at the upper ledge?
There were squeals of delight when this climber touched that top rock surface.
We stopped and watched three different climbers in three different locations . . .
and it just so happened that all three were women. We also noticed that all three of the people holding the safety rope at the bottom of the wall were men. We struck up a conversation with two guys that were heading out to climb, and they took the time to explain the procedures and terminology and share some of their experiences. We meet some of the nicest people in our travels! They also told us that Wild Iris is a world-class place to climb, and the International Climber's Festival will be hosted here next weekend. People from all over the world will be climbing at Wild Iris in a few days.
Our last stop of the day was at the tiny historic town of South Pass City.
This is a collection of historic old buildings that makes up a Wyoming State Historic Site. Today they are celebrating their annual fund-raiser--Gold Rush Days. So the buildings are decked out in red, white, and blue; and the wagon and stage coach are waiting for visitors.
We're sad to say that we arrived when things were closing for the day. A few kids were still panning for gold in the stream that runs through town, but we missed the last anvil launch of the day. Nobody wants to miss a spectacle like an anvil launch!
We did manage to buy a piece of cherry pie before the bake sale closed up for the day.
We ate it while watching an inning of the old-fashioned baseball game that was taking place at the end of Main Street.
The left fielder was out in the sage brush close to the log cabin (and not far from the outhouse).
The players are wearing uniforms and using equipment reminiscent of an earlier time. Check out how small that baseball mitt is.
The cowboys were calling it a day, and all the volunteers from the festival looked tired. But we were glad we got a sampling of the fun before we headed back to Lander.
As we looped back on the faster route via the highway, we could look down on the red roads of Red Canyon.
We are in a hurry, because Mark read that the Gillygirls are performing in the downtown park in Lander this evening. No, we've never heard of them before, but the music on their web site sounded good. It also intrigued us that these four are sisters--two sets of twins! We really enjoyed the show, and they are all exceptional musicians!
The two girls in the middle are twin 15-year-olds, and the two on the ends are twin 17-year-olds. But their story is even more interesting. When Mr. and Mrs. Gilly couldn't have children, they looked into adopting. They actually adopted cryogenically frozen embryos through the "snowflake" program. So embryos were implanted and Mrs. Gilly carried the first set of twins to full-term. They adopted more frozen embryos two years later, and she gave birth to another set of twins. They have an amazing story, and we enjoyed meeting the whole family. By the end of the concert in the park, we were sitting between their Mother and Grandmother, and spent the entire intermission talking to their Dad. What a great family!
We meet such wonderful people on our journeys! We enjoyed the Gillygirls so much that we're meeting them tomorrow morning at the church in Lander where they are helping with the worship service. Just yesterday we were planning to be in Rocksprings, Wyoming, and today we are in Lander driving the Red Canyon and listening to the Gillygirls. Sometimes we are amazed at how our plans change, and we find ourselves in the most interesting places.
