Curt Gowdy State Park

Tuesday July 19, 2011

Dad had been talking about driving to a place called Cheyenne, Wyoming to see a motel he stayed in with his family almost 50 years ago. Where do these roads to childhood memories come from? I live for today and can’t really remember much about yesterday let alone 50 years ago. But, off we went. We traveled by dirt road first to Laramie, Wyoming and then to Cheyenne. The drive was really spectacular and the towns in Wyoming interesting.

We took Deadman Rd west from the house but found closed at the junction with Pearl Beaver Road, so we changed our planned route and headed north on Pearl Beaver Road.

A lot of the Colorado forests are being invaded and destroyed by large numbers of Mountain Pine Beetles.

Mountain Pine Beetle or Bark Beetle Damage to the Forest. From DenverPost.com

We passed through an area where the damaged trees are being cleaned up.

At the junction with Colorado Rt 80 we crossed Sheep Creek and Mom and Dad let me take a dip.

Sheep Creek

As we headed west on 80C we crossed many beautiful prairies.

Road 80C

Prairie along 80C

It it ranch area with cows and horsed everywhere.

Wildflowers

Blue Wildflower

Sand Creek Area

In the Sand Creek area we found this sign selling the rock in the background.

40 Acres for $40,000. I bet it gets cold in the winter!

We saw a heard of Antelope.

Antelope heard running across the Praire

We stopped in Curt Gowdy State Park and took a short walk on a snowshoe trail. Met some great people who liked to give me pets. She was a teacher in the South somewhere and he was faculty at Laramie Community College. They live apart until she can get a job in Laramie

When we got to Cheyenne we finally saw the infamous Hitching Post Inn. It looked like a war zone.
Dad went in and asked what happened. I guess there was an arson fire in September of 2010.

A member of Cheyenne Fire and Rescue carries a house to a fire engine as flames burst through the roof of the Hitching Post Inn September 15, 2010 Wyomingnews.com