498 miles

We began our exploring yesterday very early - 3:00 a.m. early. We planned on driving to Riverton which is about 2 hours west of Casper for their annual Hot Air Balloon Rendezvous. The balloons were being displayed and made ready for flight on the soccer field at Central Wyoming Community College between 6:00 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. so that meant getting up early to drive there.

The drive was quite uneventful since most of it was done in the dark. However, I really don't like driving in the countryside in the dark since there is quite alot of animals who hang out during that time. As a maintenance precaution, I'd had the oil changed in my car as well as had the front brakes replaced. I'm so glad because while driving down the road, I came upon two deer standing in my lane and had to stomp on the brakes to miss them. Might I mention that they had the "deer in the headlight look"? They weren't the only wildlife we saw by the side of the road, but they were the only ones who ventured into our path.

We made it to the Balloon Rendezvous in plenty of time and then made plans for the rest of the day. We knew we wanted to eat lunch at the Golden Corral, but it wouldn't be open for about 4 hours. That's when we decided to drive to Lander and check it out. More about that in another blog.

For our final visit of the day we went to Castle Gardens. That was a real adventure.

So, by the time we returned home we'd driven 498 miles from Casper to Riverton to Lander to Riverton to Castle Gardens to Casper straight to the carwash. It was a long day - about 16 hours from wakeup to arrival at home. But, what a great day!