Devils Tower, Meteetse, Thermopolis

Today, we are off to  see The Devil's Tower. It is in the middle of nowhere and sticks out like a sore thumb. Gary made a good observation that the tower was similar in formation to the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. He questioned one of the park rangers and she agreed with him saying that there was another formation in California that was similar.

The above photo shows a climber attempting to climb the Devil's Tower. He is in the centre of the photograph dressed in blue. He has more courage than I have.
On the night we decided to visit a rodeo in the town of Cody. I kind of enjoyed it but was afraid to see the cowboys get badly injured by the bucking horses and bulls. In fact, one poor cowboy got carried off on a stretcher. We learned later on in the show that he was up and walking around.

On our way to our next port of call (Thermopolis),  we passed through a town called Meteetse (Native American for meeting place). We stopped and had lunch at the Cowboy Bar using a door that had a rifle for a door handle. We were told by one of the locals (in fact, he owned the bar) that the bar was one of the oldest in the west. The man I was talking to was called Jim Blake and he told me that he had written several books about the area. He also told us to visit the museum across the street before we left this one horse town in the middle of nowhere. We took his advice and visited the museum and was pleasantly surprised to find it was full of interesting artifacts relating to the area surrounding the town. It also had a very interesting stuffed animal section. The taxidermist that stuffed the animals had made an excellent job.

There was also a book store in the museum and surprise, surprise, they had books written by Jim Blake. Gary bought one and I had the idea to have Jim autograph it for us. I went back to the bar and was told by his wife that he had left and gone home. Seeing my disappointment, she volunteered to take me to their home for him to sign Gary's book. We had to walk about 7 mins in 90 degree temperature to get to their home but it was worth it to get the signature. Jim  was at home and beckoned me into his house while his wife walked back to the bar (she would not accept a lift from Gary, who had followed us in the van). Jim proudly signed his book and then told me to go into his study and pick out two more books. When I got to the bookshelf I chose two and he said I did not choose his favourite book so go back and get it. This made three books plus the one he signed. He would not accept any money saying it was a pleasure to talk to us. I thanked him profusely and left a very pleased man. Thank-you, Jim.

 Thermopolis (Greek for hot city) proudly boasts to having the Hot Springs State Park which we just had to visit with plans of going in one of the hot springs to ease our aching bones. Prior to our projected soak, we walked around the area first. We found the Community Hot Springs area which had a swimming pool as well as the Thermal Baths. We also found some of the natural thermal areas which were quite colourful. For some reason that I do not remember, we did not go in the Thermal Baths.

The thermal springs created a formation similar to Mammoth Springs in Yellowstone.

Whilst we were walking around the park it looked like it was snowing due to seeds from the trees blowing around.

To get to Thermopolis we had to go through a town that had lovely murals on one of the building walls. I was so impressed I just had to take a photo.

Well, I think this is enough for this blog. See you soon.