Preserved

2 Chronicles 7:14

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

Visiting Historic Sites

We love to visit sites that are rich with the history of our land. What a privilege to live in this country with its many freedoms and heritage. We always come away with an increased knowledge of those who have gone before us!

Mt. Rushmore National Memorial

Although we have been here before, this memorial, so grand in scale still moves us with its history. Each of the four figures represent important times of our national history. The dedicated careful work of the sculptor, his employees and his family have no equal.

The idea for carving figures into the Black Hills was actually a plan to promote tourism to the state of South Dakota. From the number of tourists we saw at the memorial and elsewhere in the area I would say it was a very successful plan!

National Presidential Wax Museum 

Not far from Mt Rushmore, we visited this wax museum, which contains amazingly lifelike representations of all of our country’s presidents. 

Most every Presidential figure is placed into a historic tableau highlighting a pivotal moment in history. 

An audio recording gives interesting facts and stories of each individual president, along with their legacy and accomplishments or shortcomings.

Custer State Park

This is a great home base to camp in when visiting the Black Hills of South Dakota. The park is vast in size, providing ample range for bison, elk and other animals. Additionally there are trails and lake to enjoy. We visited two lovely lakes within the park for some gentle hikes. 

• Sylvan Lake 

• Legion Lake 

Gordon Stockade

This stockade was erected in December 1874 by the Gordon Party, an expedition of white settlers who travelled to the Black Hills at the beginning of the gold rush, on the site of a previous encampment by George Armstrong Custer. The party's settlement of the area was illegal under the1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie and the group was removed by the United States Army in April 1875, who subsequently began using the Gordon Stockade as a base. Now part of Custer State Park, the fort was recreated in its current form in 2004.

But you can’t stop a gold rush and the Treaty of Fort Laramie was soon revised, removing much of the Black Hills from the reservation. A sad tale indeed!

Casper, Wyoming - National Historic Trails Interpretive Center

Between 1841 and 1869 hundreds of thousands of people moved through this area on their way to Oregon, Utah, and California. They travelled along the North Platte River by wagon, mule, foot, horse, or stage, in groups or alone, and for a variety of reasons. They all came together here to cross the river and continue the journey west.

Located in Casper, WY this wonderful interpretive center recounts the stories of the four trails that came together here at the last crossing of the North Platte River.
-Oregon Trail
-Mormon Trail
-California Trail (Gold rush)
-Pony Express 

During our many travels,  we have been on the lookout for a museum that focuses on the history of this great westward American Migration. This Center exceeded our expectations by bringing together details of these various trails and the various reasons for heading west!

We learned that there is actually a site where we could view Oregon trail ruts that are carved into the sandstone of a hilltop. Wow!! We revised our route to include a stop at this site.

After spending time reading all about the trials and troubles of crossing the country on one of these early trails, we are so thankful to live in a time with such great highways and byways to travel to amazing places! Although our transportation corridors may follow these early trails we can travel great distances in short time, making any number of stops for fuel or food. The pioneers committed themselves to a 2,000 mile journey, over six months, walking alongside all of their possessions! What an Adventure on the road (trail) that was!

We appreciate your interest in our travels, and as always your prayers mean the world to us!

Wild and Wonderful

Yee Haw! 

Welcome to Wyoming!

44 Stars over Wyoming

The 44 star flag was flown after July 10, 1890, when Wyoming was admitted to the Union as our 44th state. As we have driven across the rolling plains and high mountain passes, and visited a few of the small towns of this state we have discovered things new to us and revisited places we have been to in the past. Wyoming is truly a beautiful state to explore!

Yellowstone National Park

Grasslands and ranches lie atop some underground marvels. Of course the Yellowstone basin is one of the biggest marvels not only in Wyoming but in the world! 

Because Yellowstone National Park sits atop a super volcano, hydrothermal activity rises to the surface here in various ways producing amazing and colorful results.

Yellowstone National Park is immense in size! Near the southern entrance we visited West Thumb Geyser Basin. Here bubbling springs of various colors line the shore of Lake Yellowstone. Boardwalks bring the many visitors around the boiling hot features.

As we continued North on the Grand Loop road we stopped in the middle of the park for some views of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River. The canyon walls are bright yellow, red and white stone. Several viewpoints on either side of the river afford views of the falls and the long canyon.

We camped near Mammoth Hot Springs at the North end of the park and took a walk around the formations from the base of the mountain to the upper portions of the gigantic hot springs. Water bubbles up near the top of the hill and slowly seeps down the hillside. The minerals form pools where the water accumulates, looking like so many steps!

After enjoying walking around Mammoth Hot Springs we drove down the west side of the park to Grand Prismatic Spring. This is one our favorite sights in Yellowstone; the multi colored spring can be enjoyed by way of boardwalk right over the steaming spring or from a view point located a short hike up an adjacent hill. Either way this is a stunning display of God’s grandeur revealed in His creation!

Coal Mining

 In the town of Gillette, we learned that Wyoming produces about 30-40% of the nation’s coal in large open pit mining operations. The Visitor’s Center here arranges tours of local features, including a tour of the Belle Ayr Coal Mine. We boarded a small bus with our knowledgeable tour guide for a drive out to the open pit, where mining is taking place 24 hours a day. 

We were dwarfed by the huge mining vehicles which were coming and going on the dirt roadway around us, bringing coal from the open pit to crushers which then sent the coal by conveyers to be loaded onto rail cars. This mine loads three trains a day, each train being about a mile and a half in length!

Small Town America 

The main streets and historic downtown districts of the small towns we visited show off brick and stone architecture of the late 1800’s.

Sculptures recall great people of the past while murals entice visitors with what to see. 

Unusual artifacts take on new tasks. Any ideas on what function this planter container was originally intended to have?

By far, the best small town museum we have encountered is Frontier Auto Museum in Gillette. Billed as an auto museum, it is really so much more. Filled with amazing pieces of Americana from the first half of the 1900’s we were constantly amazed by the careful curation of pristine collections ranging from clothes, jewelry and housewares to automotive tools, porcelain and neon signs, gas pumps, pedal cars, automobiles and too many other things to list. 

 This 13,000 square foot museum reflects the collections of three generations of one family lovingly displayed and cared for! They have an eye for picking great pieces of history from homes and ranches in the area and then displaying them in such a great way! Just look at those cars on the mechanic's auto lift. We felt like we walked into a gas station garage in the turn of the century!

Devil’s Tower National Monument 

Our last adventure in Wyoming was a revisit to this amazing geologic feature. Great columns of stone twist and turn their way skyward creating this massive stone tower. There is a path around the base that is about 1 1/2 miles long through the surrounding forest, past the boulder field at the tower’s base, which has great vistas of the surrounding valley.

I think that Wyoming gave us more than we expected on our summer Adventures on the Road.

“I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, And on Your wondrous works.”

-‭‭Psalms‬ ‭145‬:‭5‬