August 1, 2007

Today’s adventure was a short drive to the west and a visit to Laramie, Wyoming. On the way we stopped at the “Tree Rock” point of interest. This small limber pine tree that seems to be growing out of solid rock has fascinated travelers since the railroad was being built in 1867-69. The age of the tree is unknown although limber pine trees can live as long as 2000 years.

The view was magnificent for the remainder of the trip to Laramie. We saw large boulders balanced on top of each other. We had fun finding the faces and animals hidden within the rocks. In the picture below we saw a manatee on the left side.

After arriving at Laramie, we visited the restored Wyoming Territorial Prison that was built in 1872. One of the most famous residents of this prison was Butch Cassidy. It was interesting for all of us but especially for Richard. For those of you who don’t know, Richard retired after 25 years as an officer in the New York State Prison system. Surprisingly, some things he pointed out remain the same as they were back then. We did have the opportunity to see what it was like to be in the sheriff’s wagon that was used to transport prisoners. I think Richard was explaining the rules to Vera in the picture below.

The cellblocks contained three floor levels with 14 cells on each floor for a total of 42 cells. Generally two prisoners were put in each cell. The cells were seven foot wide by seven foot long and seven foot tall. Some of the cells had stacked beds and some had hammocks for sleeping.

Here Richard and Vera are in one of the guard towers high in the corner that overlook the cellblock.

There was what looked like an early horse drawn RV on the grounds. It was actually a sheepherder’s wagon like the ones used by a company that raised 12,000 sheep annually in the area years ago. Although small, it looked comfortable on the inside. I’m not sure I would like the canvas roof over my head.


On the way out of town, we saw a lovely bunch of hollyhocks on the street side of a building. We couldn’t resist stopping for a couple of pictures.

The weather forecast for today called for rain. We were lucky that everything stayed dry all day except for the drive back to the RV Park. The sky turned very dark and it rained hard for the last 15 or 20 miles back to Cheyenne.