WILD, WILD ART WORK

At first I thought these were real.  Thanks to whoever came up with this clever idea placing the sculptures along the road (on our way to Flaming Gorge Dam in Utah)  There was enough space to allow us to pull over safely to take the photo. 

The above and below sculptures were outside an art studio in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

Also seen in Rock Springs, Wyoming.  I bet there are a lot of anger and resentment from the male deer community about this sculpture!

IS MY HORSE READY?

It has been a pleasant week after the big snow storm on Sunday.  The snow has melted.  The temperature is holding steady at upper 40s and we all love the sunny bright blue sky.  I am ready to get on my "horse" to go riding on another annual 4,000+ miles road trip again - go West geezer - haa haa !!!!!!

FRIDAY SKY - EDEN, WYOMING

There is no particular reason for posting these photos, I just thought they would go nicely for this week Friday Sky post during Lenten Season. Last September, as we were on our way to Rock Springs, Wyoming, we passed by the little church as we approached the town of Eden, Wyoming. I could not resist capturing the image of the rustic look of the building against the sunset. My husband was again very accomodating to my request to turn around so I could take a few photos.

I am sure there is a lot of interesting history about this Saint Christopher's Catholic Church. My personal reason was because Christopher is my baptismal name. (Yes, I know that Christopher is traditionally baptism name for boys. It is an acient tradition that babies at their baptism are given the name of a saint whom later they should come to know, to love and to venerate. As an adult who coverted to Catholicism, since there are no doctrines against selecting baptismal names according to genders, I got to choose my own baptismal name and that is Saint Christopher.)

Above sculpture of Saint Christopher in front of the church as he is usual depicted as a giant of a man with a Christ child on his shoulder and a staff in one hand. For people of Christian faith, we believe that Saint Christopher is patronage saint of travelers. Medallions with his image and prayers are kept in vehicles as we request protection when traveling. Do you have Saint Christopher's Church in your town?

FRIDAY "DEVIL TOWER" SKY

"A brave man is a man who dares to look the Devil in the face and tell him he is a Devil." Benjamin must have felt so brave (not a yellow belly) when he recited this quote by James A. Garfield while looking sort-of up at the Devils Tower. I thought these photos from our trip in September would be appropriate for this Friday before Halloween.

After Sturgis-South Dakota, we continued to follow I-90 and then US-14 to Devils Tower National Monument in Wyomong. This landmark in the Bear Lodge Mountain could be seen from far away. It rose approximately 1,300 feet above the Belle Fourche River and over 5,000 above sea level. The Tower was the result of a volcanic uplift that took place almost 40 millions years ago.

Pieces of broken columns, boulders, small and large rocks at the base of the Tower. Some of the erosion were clearly visible. I started to get a bit nervous when I saw a rather large crack on the side of the Tower as if ready to fall off. My husband said we just had to get ready to run as fast as our feet could carry us!

I never saw the movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Now that we visited the Devils Tower, I plan to watch the movie to we could carry on the tradition of saying, "We were there!" whenever we saw the places we visited being featured.

See that boulder on the left, it used to be part of the Tower. We did not take the path to walk around the Tower. I could not image being there when this boulder broke off and fell down to where it landed.

2011 WESTWARD ROAD TRIP

(In a blink of an eye, the month of September flew by. It is Friday, September 30th and here I am trying to catch up with postings that will be in reverse chronological. To all my adoring fans and faithful readers, thank you for your concern. I am fine, just got off the blogging tracks and it took awhile for geezer like me to get back - haa haa.) Our 2011 Westward road trip began when we left St. Louis around 1:00 p.m. on Friday, September 2nd. We stopped for an early dinner in Hannibal, Missouri. After checking in at a hotel in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, we walked across the street to a local diner for homemade pies. The next day, Saturday, September 3rd we drove a fairly straight line across the vast land of cornfields of Iowa. At around 5:00 p.m. we crossed the state line into Nebraska.

Sunday, September 4th - we woke up to a beautiful day in downtown Columbus, Nebraska. After 8:30 a.m. Mass at St. Bonaventure Church, we got back on the road continued following Lincoln Highway. Exactly as written in the Lincoln Highway Companion guidebook by Brian Butko, trains were a constant companion as we drove across Nebraska. Giant grain silos, cows and horses dominated the landscape. On Monday, September 5th, we could not wait to get on the road to get out of Nebraska. Nothing against the good people of Nebraska or the State, just a negative experience in Sidney, NE that almost ruined our vacation. I promise I will explain later what happened. We cross the state line into South Dakota at 10:50 a.m. After visited Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore, we drove to Sturgis. I was tempted to get a tattoo and a Harley to drive around town with the boys! After dinner at Easyriders Saloon, we were ready for a night of rest in a room with clean bed and no extra charge for soap and towels - haa haa.

Tuesday, September 6th - It was a sunny but a bit cool morning when we arrived in Aladdin, Wyoming. After a good breakfast at Cindy's Diner, we felt strong and ready to face Devils Tower National Monument. After Devils Tower, we took I-90 straight into Montana. It was a nice surprise and a learning opportunity at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. We arrived in Gardiner, Montana around 9:30 p.m. only to be told that our room reservation was cancelled. Fortunately, we were able to find another hotel nearby. Another not-too-pleasant experience but when we spoke to that hotel the next day, the matter was resolved to our satisfaction. I promise to share the details in future post. We spent the following day, Wednesday, September 7th, at Yellowstone National Park. It was most memorable and definitely one of the highlights of our trip. Old Faithful was as young and energetic as ever!

Thursday, September 8th - We drove thru the Grand Teton National Park. After exited the South Entrance, we proceed on US-191 and stopped for a night in Rock Springs, Wyoming. The next day, Friday, September 9th, after breakfast we decided to visit Dagget County, Utah before heading toward Vail, Colorado for a niece's wedding on Saturday, September 10th. JP was one of the flower girl at our wedding 23+ years ago!

Sunday, September 11th - We did not leave Beaver Creek, Colorado until after a 10:00 a.m. brunch. I did most of the driving heading east on I-70. CP took over when it was getting dark. We stopped for the night in Hays, Kansas. The next day, Monday, September 12th we got up around 6:30 a.m. eager to get on the road. We had a wonderful time but after 10 days on the road, we were happy to be home.

We pulled into our driveway around 5:30 p.m. After we unloaded everything from the Mustang, I took off to a city council meeting scheduled at 7:00 p.m.

I spent the next two weeks washing, cleaning, putting together a spreadsheet of expenditure, organizing items we collected from places we visited and sorting thru all the photos. Then my home laptop was attacked by virus. The "computer guy" was busy so it took a few days before I got my laptop back. Fortunately I saved all my correspondence and photos on the flash drives. I only had to put back all the favorites websites and re-connect the printer. It feels good to return to normal routines. I look forward to sharing photos and stories from our trip. Thank you for visiting and please come back again soon.