7/26/14 Saturday - Wind River Reservation & Dinosaur Capital of the World

We headed north out of Lander to the Wind River Reservation, hoping to visit some of the spots we found last year. 3 strikes!! If you are in this area, we suggest you don't visit on a Saturday, and if you do, make sure you have appointments. We didn't know that, so all 3 of our sites were closed - we missed Greeves' studio, the Shoshone Cultural Center at Ethete, and the little museum & shop at St. Stephen's Mission.  But...we had a great lunch at the Shoshone Rose restaurant at the casino, and saw some scenic backroads on our way.  Yesterday we got a couple of windshield chips, Randy & Reed used a repair kit to get them under control. Here Reed is working in front of the Wind River Trading Co (while Bryn and Bret were in the post/museum looking around). Hopefully we won't get any big cracks before we can get home.

 Thermopolis, WY was our destination of the day, and we arrived in early afternoon.  Off to the Wyomng Dinosaur Center, one of the world's top dinosaur museums. Like last year, we spent a lot of time reading the excellent label text and noting the new displays. This museum has exceptional specimens and detailed information. Randy liked the really big crinoids.  Bret's favorites are the pterosaurs (flying dinos), and here he is pointing to a replica Tapajara, an Early Cretaceous flyer from South America. http://www.wyodino.org/

Thermopolis is also famous for its Hot Springs State Park. There are mineral springs here, and several water parks. We went to the Star Plunge, which opened in 1900.  Today it has several hot pools plus some of the longest water slides in the country.  Bret enjoyed the high dive.