Road Trip June 2024 - Sheridan, Wyoming

The Sheridan Inn is another beautifully restored historic hotel. It opened in 1893 and, of course, its most famous guest was "Buffalo Bill" Cody. Over the years, the hotel closed and, for a time it was an office building. Thankfully it was purchased again in 2013, renovated and updated back to a hotel. Each room is named after a character from Bill Cody's life. Our room was named after "Death Valley" Scotty. 

We went downtown both for coffee and for supper. Main Street features some really nice, and interesting, sculptures. A lot of them had an "old west" theme but there were also lots of animal ones that we really liked. The sun angle wasn't the best for some of these so a few are not the greatest photos but at least they give an idea of how nice these were. 

This lizard was on one side of this, with the snake on the other.
See below photo for how the lizard's tail falls over to the snake side at the top. 

The poor squished frog on the bottom! :-)

Without the foggy conditions we had on the way there, the drive back was very scenic. We stopped at this overlook where there is a paragliding launch and a nice landing zone below. Conditions weren't quite right for Andrew to fly. 

Road Trip June 2024 - Wildlife in Sheridan

We had a rain day after a few good days of sunshine and Andrew being able to paraglide so we drove to Sheridan to spend a night, get cleaned up, and stock up on fresh groceries. 

It turned into an amazing day of wildlife viewing! These two moose were right along the side of the road. 

Then (not wildlife related but interesting) we found lots of snow left in the high country. 

And miles and miles of very slow driving with hazard lights on due to the thick fog. 

After lunch in Sheridan, we went for a walk along the creek and then to a park with a large fishing pond. In the creek, Andrew spotted a mink swimming along with a catfish in its mouth (and got a good photo of this!). It then hid under these rocks to eat it but kept popping his head out to have a look at us. 

Around the fishing pond we found several turtles, a couple frogs, and some red-winged blackbirds. 

On the way back we crossed under a bridge and found these swallow nests with babies in them and the parents flying back and forth with food. 

 

Road Trip June 2024 - Victoria to Montana

We're on another road trip to Wyoming! As we were waiting to leave Victoria on the Coho, we caught the last minute or so of the water taxi ballet -- I've always said I should go and watch it and this has inspired me to do so when we get home. 

The first couple days, driving down the coast of Washington, it rained pretty much the whole time. It let up as we moved east through Idaho. We followed the Lochsa River through the Clearwater and Bitterroot National Forests and camped at a riverside campground.  So beautiful this time of year, especially with the remnants of clouds hovering over the trees in the evening. 

We also stopped to camp at Holter Lake (near Helena) as there's a small hill to paraglide from but the wind was strong and in the wrong direction so we kept going. 

We always love staying at the historic Sacajawea Hotel in Three Forks, Montana. So much history and the decor is stunning. Good food at the restaurant as well! 

This statue of Sacajawea and her baby is across the street from the hotel.