Spring BReak!

Matt and I left Utah for spring break. He had a week off, so I took it off too! The only plans we had were "let's go see Devil's Tower and Mt. Rushmore." What the rest of the week would be, only the road would tell! An adventure!

We did not book any hotels before we left. Nowhere to be, just the road and whatever strikes our fancy. The first thing was a brown sign saying "history this way", so 50 miles later (shouldn't the sign be for something closer to the road?) we saw some awesome fish fossils. 

 Next stop that I wanted to see, Name's Hill. There are three places in Wyoming where you can see the names of people who crossed the West. Names Hill, Independence Rock and Register Cliff. Names Hill is popular because Jim Bridger signed it. Well, at least that's the controversy. As geeky history people know, Jim Bridger couldn't read or write. Some say he must've known enough to carve his name. Others say someone in his company may have carved his name.

James Bridger, Names Hill 1844

 Do you know what happened in 1844? Thinking of all the things going on at that time, this is awesome. Joseph Smith martyred and saints preparing to go west, A Christmas Carol was first published in the U.S., the first telegraph message "What hath God Wrought" was sent from the U.S. Supreme Court in D.C. to Morse (the inventor) in Baltimore,  Abraham Lincoln was campaigning for Henry Clay (Whig Party), and this one blows my mind and how fast time actually flies- 12 years before (1832), the last signer of the Declaration of Independence passed away of old age.

Anyway, I'm getting carried away. I just love history! Speaking of old stuff-

Saw this in a town we drove thru for gas. A wooden car. That's awesome!

Next stop was Martin's Cove and Devil's Gate. I was exited to see this with Matt. He's never been. If it weren't so cold and snowy, we'd've walked to the cove, but it was really windy and really cold. Not as cold as it was for the pioneers, and not as much snow, which left us to marvel at their faith. I was very excited at the end of the tour to find this: my great great grandmother!

Eliza Cusworth Burton Staker with her daughter Martha, her daughter and her daughter!
From Martin's Cove visitor center, where she and Martha (and son Joseph) were with the Martin Handcart Co.

Did I mention the wind and snow and cold? Yay for SPRING break! Every road we took had signs on the side of road with two lights above it. The sign read "If lights flashing, the road forward is perilous with deathly snow drifts and wind. Return from whence you came." Something like that. I wish I got more pictures of the car. This is the passenger side that faced the sun... like the ice mushrooms? We managed to stay ahead of the road closures until we got to Douglas. Can't go forward, every room in every hotel in this town is booked with other trapped souls, save two rooms. Guess how much they cost. Enjoy.... and we did. Room with a jacuzzi. Yep, definitely an early anniversary present. 

In the morning the roads were plowed, we could see long stretches of road that would've been invisible in snow during the night. We made it to Devil's Tower! The walk around was nice. 1.3 miles, no biggie. Matt was so excited to be there, he took pictures galore! I'm sharing my favorites. :) Here we completed a quest begun on our first camp trip together... find a good walking stick! Bug Sticks from the Badlands are fantastic! Got one the perfect height for each of us. The plan is to add patches to the sticks with future vacations.

Then on to Mt. Rushmore... with a quick drive thru Deadwood, of course. We got to Mt. Rushmore in time to see it in light, but late enough to see the illumination of the yellow spotlights at night. It was awesome! Smaller than I remember, yet, still massive! 

The next morning we stop at the Cosmic Mystery Place or whatever it was called. Illusion central. An old house that sits on a hill, found by some kids wanting to build a cabin. Definitely worth a visit. Matt had seen in on some mystery show and was thrilled to be able to say he had been there and figured out how the illusions worked. Don't worry, we didn't spoil it for anyone.

We are standing upright, tho it looks like we're not!

Then to Crazy Horse.  We got patches to add to our sticks. There's a restaurant there with windows looking at the monument. It's massive! The sculptor's studio had a big box full of rocks from the last blast. Donate and take a rock. Mine sits on my desk at work now. Beautiful granite (did I ever tell you I seriously considered changing my major to geology? History in stone. It's fascinating, I don't care what Sheldon says!)

 

1/34 scale by Korczak Ziolkowski, what will hopefully be finished in my lifetime :)

 Now that we've seen what we left home for, what shall we see on the way back home? Mammoth Pit was on the map of Wyoming we had. Let's go there! It was intense. An old sand trap that was found by a farmer when his plow hit mammoth tusks. It has since gone deeper and deeper with no end in sight. They've also found an ancient bear, llama, camel. Definitely worth a visit. They only dig in July and the rest of the year is spent with preservation, cataloging and other lab work.

Our last stop before booking it home because we were vacationed out was Fort Laramie! A place I had always wanted to visit. It was not only a very important fort in the wilderness, but a critical stop and supply point for all travelers going west. Many buildings have nothing left, some have a little foundation so you can see where the barracks used to be. Others, like the old hospital have pieces of walls still standing, but not much else. To restore a building, NPS requires a certain percentage of the building still be standing, so they won't be restored without some serious private funding. A lot of supplies (roof, windows, etc.) of the buildings were stripped with the fort was abandoned in 1890 and used for the town, so there are homes with pieces of the Fort Laramie hospital roof!
 We got there after it was closed, but one park ranger was there for security until midnight. He walked us around and told us some stories of life on the fort.

The calvary barracks are behind us.

It was so nice to be away from our jobs and everything for a while. Just us and the open road! There's a lot still to see, so we have to go back sometime and hit Register Cliffs, Fort Bridger (much easier to manage, only 2 hours from Salt Lake), Fort Hays (used in Dances with Wolves, very close to Mt. Rushmore), Jewel Cave, the Wind Caves... yup gotta go back, but until then, I think we'll go south next spring break :)