Thermopolis, Wyoming to Red Lodge, Montana

After the rafting trip, we were ready to hit the road and head to Montana. Our first stop was Legend Rock, a petroglyph spot near Meeteetse, Wyoming. You have to check out a key in the Hot Springs State Park as the site isn't manned. Luckily, you can drop the key off on site.

The Petroglyphs are in the Dinwoody style, meaning they're often fully pecked (completely filled in). No one can say for sure exactly how old the petroglyphs are. There were people in the Big Horn Basin 11,000 years ago. Best guess is that they were made over thousands of years. The boys are sort of petroglyph enthusiasts, so they were eager to visit this site where you ccan see more than 300 in one spot.

Graham is very into photography. He likes to take pictures of wildlife and natural formations. He has a great picture of a diamondback rattlesnake on his camera that I'll try to post sometime. Ruth, if you're reading this, we were thinking of you.

From there, we drove up through Cody and then up to Red Lodge Montana. We didn't stop in Cody, as we're coming back that way later on. Red Lodge is gorgeous! This picturesque town features a very cute downtown with lots of bars and restaurants. The boys will also tell you that there is a great store called the Montana Candy Emporium where you get a paper sack and walk around the bins and put one and two of whatever you want in the sack. You then weigh the sack and pay by the pound. Huckleberry candy will take the place of pie for today.

After dinner, we headed out to Wild Bill Lake for a walk around the lake and a little creek crawling and rock skipping. Living in rockless Houston as we do, the boys love every opportunity to boulder scramble and play around with rocks.


We were going to go on another short walk, but a rain shower got us. Of course, a little while later it's sunny and clear, but we had already settled into our motel.


As I type this it's 8:30 pm and as bright as day. Paul has gone off to Red Lodge Ales to fill up the growlers for when we're at the cabin. I tried their Glacier Ale at dinner and can highly recommend it.

Tomorrow we're going to drive the beartooth highway and head into Yellowstone. We'll be staying at a cabin just outside Yellowstone. I know we don't have cell service, but I'm not sure about Internet. My guess would be no, but if we can, I'll try to upload some more pictures. If not, I'll post again on Thursday.