628 Miles

Let's face it...you just need to get a map of Wyoming so you can keep up with Joe and me. We are making hay while the sun shines - literally! One of these days it will once again turn too cold to go much of anywhere so we're seeing as much as possible.

We left on Friday morning heading north to Buffalo which is about 115 miles north from our home. We spent a rainy day driving around in the Bighorn Mountains (see blog). We will be going back there for more exploring in another part of the mountains. We spent the night in a cabin near the bottom of the mountains.

Saturday morning we got an early start and headed for Gillette to attend the Celtic Festival some 70 miles east of Buffalo. In the early afternoon, we decided to go for some further exploring and headed towards Devils Tower. That was about another 60 miles northeast and almost to the state line of either Montana or South Dakota - depending on which direction you took.

So, between Friday morning and Saturday evening, we traveled 628 miles. That's some exploring, huh?
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In case you're wondering...we left the furry kids home by themselves with lots of food and water and hoping they wouldn't drive the neighbors crazy. All was well when we returned home to lots of tailwagging and excitement.

Another Meeting With An Author

While at the Celtic Festival, I purchased a book written by a husband and wife who were vendors.

It's a story about a 12 year old boy who is an outcast who travels through a redwood forest every day on his way to school, losing himself in books and the fantasy world of elves, fairies and wizards. His life changes one day when he uncovers an ancient magic wand that is inhabited by a powerful wizard, Rowan.

The authors signed it for me and maybe one day Derek may want to read it.

Close Encounters of the Awesome Kind!

It was like this...Joe and I had enjoyed the Celtic Festival about as much as we wanted to from early morning to early afternoon. This was despite the sun and the blowing wind which made it a little cool at times. We loved watching the various sports competitions and absolutely LOVED the Celtic bands.

However, realizing that we were fairly close to Devils Tower, we decided to make a spontaneous trip to check it out and off we went heading northeast. It became even more apparent to us how much the state of Wyoming changes in the way of topography. Here were beautiful green rolling grasslands and hills with lots of pine trees and wide open spaces and no sagebrush! When the wind blows up here, it's as though the grass is alive on the sides of the hills. We even saw a couple of eagles.

It was about a 60 mile drive from Gillette to Devils Rock and finally you could see it off in the distance. Now comes the reasons for going here...(1) "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was filmed here; (2) It was/is featured on the old Wyoming license plates; and it is America's First National Monument and run by the National Park Service.

This is a sign at a store near the entrance of the park.

First "official" view of Devils Tower at the park entrance. In 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower the first national monument under the new Antiquities Act. His action made Wyoming the home of both our first national park - Yellowstone in 1872 - and our first national monument.

Inside the park are incredible amounts of black-tailed prairie dogs that live in their town. There are lots of signs up saying "Don't Feed The Prairie Dogs"! They have apparently become so used to humans that they come right up to the side of the road and look at us looking at them.

These pictures were taken on the road leading up to the monument. It almost looks like Georgia clay.

The Kiowa Indians say:

"Eight children were there at play, seven sisters and their brother. Suddenly the boy was struck dumb; he trembled and began to run upon his hands and feet. His fingers became claws and his body was covered with fur. Directly there was a bear where the boy had been. The sisters were terrified; they ran and the bear after them. They came to the stump of a great tree and the tree spoke to them. It bade them climb upon it and as they did so it began to rise into the air. The bear came to kill them, but they were just beyond its reach. It reared against the tree and scored the bark all around with its claws. The seven sisters were born into the sky and they became the stars of the Big Dipper."

Bear Lodge is one of many American Indian names for the Tower. Col. Richard Dodge named it Devils Tower in 1875. He led the military expedition sent to confirm reports of gold being discovered in the Black Hills and to survey the area. Scientists then thought Devils Tower was the core of an ancient volcano. Recent data suggests it is instead an igneous intrusion.

Note the "bear claw" marks. They are very large and are big enough to run a tractor in between.

Outside the park I saw the remains of this old storefront. The picture below shows where it stands in relation to other old buildings. It looks like this might have been an old town at one time.

This is the remains of another old homestead I spotted as we were driving down the road.
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Devils Tower rises 867 feet from its base and stands 1,267 feet above the Belle Fourche River (which carved most of the landscape that exposed Devils Tower. In the 1700s French fur trappers named it the pretty fork river). It is 5,112 feet above sea level and the area of its teardrop-shaped top is 1.5 acres. Big huh?!

The Wyoming Celtic Festival 2009

We left Buffalo heading towards Gillette and the layout of the land changed almost immediately. The roadsides appeared to be littered by ginormous black/red volcanic rock which really stood out against the green grasses. Then we began seeing lots of very large dunes, many of which looked like pyramids.

This was the beginning of the 2009 Wyoming Celtic Festival with many of the competitors coming together for prayer.

One of my favorite types of music - drums and bagpipes!
Some of the participants and vendors...

Let the games begin which consisted of: 1) Stone Put; 2) Braemar Stone Put; 3) Open Stone Put; 4) 56 lb. for Distance; 5) 56 lb. Weight for Height; 6) 28 lb. for Distance; 7) Scottish Hammer; 8) Sheaf Toss; and 9) Caber Toss.

My favorite to watch were the Scottish Hammer where a skirted man winds a very LARGE, LONG hammer over his head and releases it over the shoulder withoug moving his feet.

This is one of the women competitors, named Becky, who we met that morning. She used to be a school teacher, but now is in construction.

Just what you see every day...a guy in a kilt standing next to his 4 wheel drive pickup truck. (I kept waiting for the wind to blow his kilt up).

The "fairies" who were passing out "wishing stones" from their little pouches. Joe and I each got one.

Some of the fantastic bands that entertained us. The group above is Gobs O' Phun who plays fun and traditional folk songs of Ireland and Scotland. Below is Seven Nations who took its name from the seven Celtic Nations. They played at the Torch Lighting ceremony at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. They were incredibly great!!!

Isn't this guy great in his costume?!? He's from South Dakota and also does re-enactments fo General George Custer.

Just Discovered Moving In Pics

I just found these old pictures taken the day we moved into our home in Casper. (Can't believe that was seven months ago)!!! Can you tell it was cold that day?

Ooooh...I get shivers when I look at all those boxes piled up around the house. Don't wanna do that again for a l-o-n-g while!

Joe's probably telling me that's where I needed to get if I didn't quit supervising everyone.

This is the outstanding team of C&R Moving Company. They work real cheap, but they work real good!

This is where I put my poor ole beleagured Christmas Cactus that survived on my car dash for the three day trip. (It's still doing well and has put on lots of new shoots).

Just Because Pics

This is an old country store we passed on one of the back roads. It is supposed to be open, but we didn't stop and see.

These old bathrooms were situated next to a church. One is marked "Boys" and the other "Girls". Hey, it's better than trying to squat down behind a short sagebrush, isn't it?

We were driving down the road to go to my friend Trina's house when we came upon this antelope that didn't want to move. So we waited. We waited until another antelope showed up and they ran off.

This looks like Georgia cotton. It is, however, cotton fibers which come off the Cottonwood tree out here. The picture below this one shows what it looks like spread over a yard - almost like snow.