March 13--Wyoming

After breakfast and watching the geese take off, we stopped at an original Pony Express station that has been restored.  It was not open to go inside, but we got to read all the plaques and take some photos.  (After discovering frost on the leaves when we got up, it was great to see that the bright sunny day was going to warm up quickly.)  Then, we got back on I-80 and headed west to the Ft. McPherson National Cemetery.  This was interesting, beautiful, and sad, all at the same time.  I'm glad that we stopped to see it.

Along the way, we saw a roadside stop that has a very old pine tree growing through the middle of a boulder.  The highways (old and new), as well as the old railroad that ran there, all changed their routes to leave this tree and rock in their original location, alive and growing.  Check out the photo--it's pretty neat to be in the median of an interstate highway!

Many miles down the road, we reached the highest point on I-80 and stopped to check out the view and monument to Abraham Lincoln.  (Confused?  So were we, until we learned that I-80 was the Lincoln Highway.)  In any event, there was a lot of snow at that elevation and we took a few photos before setting off again.

Sometime around a late lunchtime, we crossed into Wyoming and had a picnic lunch at a nice rest stop.  It had a visitor's center, a nature trail, and an Archaeological Hike to an actual dig site.  The signs said that the dig was closed, but we took the hike around the side of the mountain to it anyway.  We were slightly rewarded, as there was a stone shelter outside the locked building that houses the dig.  We got some fun photos of miscellaneous things along the road, but found the driving more difficult as the afternoon went on.  The highway emergency signs were lit up with "Wind Advisory--50+ mile an hour winds."  NOT a fun drive for us, so we pulled into Rawlins, Wyoming to spend the night.  Seriously, we almost couldn't open or close the van doors at the hotel, but when we got up the next morning, those winds were gone.  Thank goodness!  Off for another day of blue skies and warm temperatures!