April is Wyoming's snowiest month

In many states, March is the snowiest month.

When I lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota that was very much the case. Snowstorms always seemed to coincide with March Madness - all the basketball tournaments going on.

In Wyoming, and in particular Cheyenne, April is the snowiest month.

The view looking west outside my door, about 7 am on Tuesday, 25 April 2016

Just three or four days ago we had 70 degree weather and I was out for bike rides. 

Today I opened my door and saw a covering of snow - see the photo above. This was about 7 am.

By 8 am, the snow was really coming down. Blizzard conditions.

I had to go into town for my bowling league and just got into my car and went.  By the time I got to Greeley Highway I realized that the conditions were serious but by then it was too late to turn around (didn't want to be late for bowling and didn't know how long it would take me to get the 10 miles to the bowling center).

I spent the white-knuckle drive bemoaning the fact that I'd taken all my Winter Storm Survival Equipment out of my car - the blanket, the water, the food, an extra pair of sweatpants and sweatshirt.

I wasn't really afraid of getting stuck - I've got brand new tires and front wheel drive, but  lots of people drive too fast for the conditions and I'm always nervous that someone will run into me!

By the time 11 am rolled around and bowling was over, the snowplows had been through, and the roads were clear and the snow was melting.

Explore historical artifacts from Wyoming National Parks

 If you're like me, you use Google as your search engine of choice.

And all day today, in celebration of 2016 being the 100th anniversary of the founding of the National Park Service (on August 25, 1916), Google has a link on their home page saying " Explore historical artifacts from our National Parks."

Every state with National Parks is represented, though there only seems to be 4 photos from each park.

But, here are some screen captures of the artifacts on display from Wyoming National Parks.

(Note - since the National Parks service is a government entity, it's okay to share all these screen captures.)

I went to the home page (https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/u/0/collection/centennial-one-object-exhibit?projectId=national-park-service&utm_campaign=national_parks_us&utm_source=google&utm_medium=hppromo&utm_content=desktop)

and this is what it looks like (click on image to show full size):

National Park Service, Centennial One Object Exhibit

I did a search for "Wyoming"in the top left hand search box, and it came back with 5 results for some reason...

Five results found including Wyoming National Parks

Here's the home page for the Wyoming National Parks exhibit

Collections from Wyoming National Parks

First page - a painting from 1937 depicting the bear climbing Devil's Tower, which explains the grooves in the surface of the extruded column of basalt (actually, that's what happens when basalt cools), and a photo of David Haddenham from Fossil Butte National Monument.

Devils Tower painting, David Haddenham photograph

Sutler's store token, Fort Laramie National Historic Site, beaded buckskin dress, Grand Teton National Park

Our National Parks need your support, and deserve it, since there are so many beautiful and/or historic things to see at each and every one of them.

Cheyenne: What to do if you're in Cheyenne on a Thursday night

If you're visiting Cheyenne in the winter time (which runs all the way until the end of April - April is the snowiest month in Wyoming!), and in particular on a Thursday, you may wonder if there's any point in leaving your nice warm hotel room.

Well, if you are a fan of trivia, consider visiting Scooter's Scoreboard Bar at 507 E. Lincolnway. (Lincolnway is a west/east road that runs through Cheyenne, Scooter's is on the right hand side of the road as you head east. As you head east, first you come to the Village Inn Restaurant, then Scooters. On the left hand side of the road is Halladay's Collision Center.)

Sign for Scooter's Scoreboard Bar, heading east on Lincolnway, on a cloudy morning

Scooter's Scoreboard Bar on a cloudy (and snow on the ground) April mid-morning

Geeks Who Drink is, according to features writer Ellen Fike of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, "the popular trivia game series started in Denver and is currently held in 600 bars and restaurants across the nation."

If you don't drink but like trivia, I'm sure Scooters will have soft drinks for sale as well.

I learned about this in the Saturday, April 16, 2016 edition of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. The trivia series has been in Cheyenne for several months. Sadly, the original location that hosted the Geeks Who Drink series, the Cheyenne Brewing Company, closed about six months ago. (I am always sad when a business closes - well, most businesses!)

The Quizmaster at Scooters Scoreboard Bar is Tom Wann. He says that every Thursday, an average of 25 people come in to drink and play the trivia game.

The quizzes change from week to week, and consist of 8 rounds, with 8 questions in each round. The games usually run about two hours.

According to Wann, via Fike: Questions are geared to pop culture, random knowledge, current events and anything based in nerd culture. There are occasionally themed quizzes, such as "when a new Marvel movie is released." First prize, a $15 gift certificate, second prize, a $10 gift certificate.

If you're a trivia fan, check it out!

Good Friend's Oriental Chinese Restaurant

In the same building as Scooter's Scoreboard Bar, to the left/east, is a Chinese restaurant, Good Friend's. It is open every day EXCEPT Sunday. Hours are 11 am to 9 pm Monday through Thursday, and from 11 am to 9:30 pm on Friday and Saturday.

What is the Blue Star Memorial Highway?

If you stop off at a Rest Area on I-25N (or, as it might be, I-25S), chances are you'll see a sign saying it's a part of the Blue Star Memorial Highway.

Blue Star Memorial Highway at Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center

Several highways or sections of highways, in all states,  have received this designation throughout the years.

This tribute to our armed forces was started in the 1950s by the National Council of State Garden Clubs.

The use of service flags was started during World War I. Families of solders were given flags by the military to display in or outside their homes. The number of blue stars on the flag (which consisted of a white background) indicated how many brothers/sons the family had serving in the military. If the star was gold, it meant the soldier had died (either killed in action or some other service-related death).

Photo Comparison: Wind Code

Sculptor Stan Dolega and his crew installed "Wind Code" outside the Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center on July 17, 2012.

http://wyoarts.state.wy.us/stan-dolegas-wind-code-installed-at-new-southeast-wyoming-welcome-center/

"The sculpture was commissioned through the Wyoming Art in Public Buildings Program. It will be dedicated as part of the new facility later this summer."

Interestingly, the article - albeit a brief one - doesn't bother to give the meaning of the sculpture's name. What is "Wind Code?"

The website WYO Lifestyle (http://www.wyolifestyle.com/blog/?p=2306)provides the explanation:

WIND CODE was created in this manner to accompany the new Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center. Inspirational sources for this artwork include the architecture and purposes of the Welcome Center itself, the ever-present snow fencing along the highways, and especially the space and natural environment comprising the State of Wyoming. WIND CODE was designed to work with and react to the environment and the elements. The sculpture will continually evolve and change. Its patina will age, the wind will flow through the slats, the sun will cast ever-changing patterns and the ice and snow will cover and melt in surprising ways.

Here's a panorama I took with my Samsung Galaxy SIII:

Panorama of The Wind by Stan Dolega (Click to see full size)

The Wind, with a sign in the foreground

I've left Comments on. Which photo do you prefer?

Photo Composition: The Greeting and the Gift

It's not easy to take photos of the sculpture grouping, The Greeting and the Gift.

The two sculptures, one of an American Indian and the other of a Mountain Man, are placed 20 yards or more apart, on either side of a bridge spanning I-25N.

Because it's on a bridge, it's hard to get a panoramic shot of the sculptures - especially if it's a grey day!

I took these photos with my Galaxy SIII smartphone, on a cloud-covered day. I'll have to revisit on a sunnier day and try again.

But for now...

The Greeting and the Gift: click on photo to see full size.

The Robe-clad Native American holding a ceremonial buffalo horn filled with sweet water

Look at the Mountain Man's arm, follow it down, the Indian is the dark spot in the center!

Photo Composition: Welcome to Wyoming Signs

Here are three photos I took of the Welcome to Wyoming sign on the border of Colorado and Wyoming via US-85.

The first photo shows the Welcome to Wyoming sign with the Sand Creek Massacre Trail sign centered underneath it.

The second shows the Welcome to Wyoming sign with the Sand Creek Massacre Trail sign to the left.

(Of course both those photos would be better if you could actually read the text of the Sand Creek Massacre Trail sign, but my Galaxy IIIS wasn't up to the task.  I'll go back eventually with my Cybershot and see if I can't do better with it.)

And finally - and the one I use as a backdrop to this blog - there's the Welcome to Wyoming sign angled so that the wind farm on the opposite side of the road can be seen.  Thanks to Wyoming's ever present wind, there are a lot of wind farms here.

Welcome to Wyoming sign

Welcome to Wyoming sign

Welcome to Wyoming and the Wind Farm across the highway

I've left the Comments section enabled. Which photo do you like best?

Welcome to Wyoming - Forever West

Every highway on the border of Wyoming with another state will have a Welcome to Wyoming sign, some in better repair than others, and most of them will have a cutout so that drivers can stop to take photos of themselves next to the sign.

Six states border Wyoming, and so there are at least six Welcome to Wyoming signs to take photos of, if you're the type of traveler who likes to collect those types of shots!

The states are Colorado to the south, Utah to the south and southeast, Idaho to the west, Montana to the northwest and north, South Dakota to the northeast, and Nebraska to the southeast.

US-85 runs north/south through Wyoming and Colorado. On the border between these two states, the Welcome to Wyoming sign is on the right hand side of US-85, just as you pass the exit for the Den and Borderline on the Colorado side of the border.

Sand Creek Massacre Trail sign framed beneath the Welcome to Wyoming sign

The Welcome to Wyoming sign features a bucking horse and rider silhouetted against the Rocky Mountains. That bucking horse and rider has been Wyoming's logo since 1918, and has appeared on the Wyoming license plate since 1936. It has also long served as a logo for various Wyoming school sports teams..

Bucking horse and rider
But who are that horse and rider? Depending on the source, the horse is either Steamboat or Deadman. Or a horse named Red Wing. The rider? It's either "Stub" Farlow on Deadman, or Clayton Danks on Steamboat, or Chester Colton on Red Wing. Or it's a composite of all three!

"Forever West"
Wyoming's Division of Travel and Tourism office has used several slogans over the years. The "Forever West" slogan has been in use since 2009.

Sand Creek Massacre Heritage Trail
 And what's that brown sign in the center? It's the Sand Creek Massacre Heritage Trail.

There are a few signs on Greeley Highway, starting with this one once you enter Wyoming, and with a couple more in Cheyenne.

The Sand Creek Massacre took place near Fort Lyon, Colorado on 29 November, 1864. US Army Colonel Chivington and 700 cavalry troops attacked a peaceful group of Native Americans consisting of Cheyenne and Arapaho. About 130 of these were killed - more than 100 of them women and children, and their bodies defiled.

The survivors straggled from Colorado into Wyoming, eventually arriving at the Wind River Reservation.

In 2000, this tragedy was commemorated when the massacre site was made into a National Historic Site and placed under the supervision of the National Park Service. The route that the survivors took to get to the Wind River Reservation was sign-posted with the brown "historic point" signs. (http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/trails-center-hosts-sand-creek-massacre-exhibit/article_4fe52b86-031c-11df-97d0-001cc4c002e0.html)

After this massacre many Native American warriors from the various tribes banded together to fight against the white man, which eventually culminated in essentially their last hurrah twelve years later, the Battle of Little Big Horn in which General George Custer was killed, on 25-26 June, 1876.

To read more about the Sand Creek Massacre and the establishment of the historic site, check out:
http://wyoshpo.state.wy.us/pdf/SandCreekBrochure.pdf
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/horrific-sand-creek-massacre-will-be-forgotten-no-more-180953403/?no-ist

Photo Composition: Three different views of the same building

As I stood in front of Borderline, the store on the border between Colorado and Wyoming that sells Colorado lottery tickets and scratch-offs, I took several photos.

I took one straight on, for purely information purposes:

Borderline - head on view

But then I took some photos from different angles, to see if the photos could be made to be more "exciting."

Borderline, complete building, and my car

This angle shows the complete Borderline building, with its drive-thru and a few picnic tables for those who wish to sit outside to enjoy the weather.

The car, a 1998 Toyota Camry, is my car. You'll be seeing that car in a lot more photos during the course of this blog!  It will be one of my "photographic conceits" - always getting a shot of that car in one of my photos.

Windfarm to the southwest of Borderline

I don't have a wide-angle lens on my camera. As a matter of fact, I didn't take these photos with my camera (a Cybershot DSC-HX300) but rather with my smartphone, a Galaxy IIIS. And of course that doesn't have a wide-angle lens...though I could have done a panorama shot.

In any event, working with what I had, I got the name of the business, Borderline, in the photo, and to the left, of course, a shot of one of the ubiquitous wind farms in the region.

I'm leaving the comments section open on this blog - which photo do you like best?

On the Border.... between Colorado and Wyoming

US Route 85 is a highway that runs north/south across the United States. It begins in El Paso, Texas and runs north from Texas through New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota and up into Saskatchewan, Canada.

When it enters Colorado its name is also Greeley Highway, because it runs through the town of Greeley. As it passes through the downtown streets of Cheyenne, Wyoming, the name changes to Warren Avenue going north, and Central Avenue going south. (Each of these avenues is one way.)

Since I live in a housing development just off Greeley Highway, the Colorado/Wyoming border I am most familiar with is this one, and I decided to visit it again today to write the inaugural posts for this blog, Windjamming Around Wyoming.

Businesses on the Border 

Greenfaith Ministry

Prior to August 24th 2014, Wyoming did not have its own lottery, so people in the Cheyenne region who wanted to play Power Ball or Mega Millions, or purchase scratch-off tickets, had to drive along US-85 to the Colorado/Wyoming border.

There were two businesses set up right on the border between the two states to take advantage of this traffic. The youngest one (just four years old) was set up alongside a residence, and closed when Wyoming's lottery, WyoLotto, made its debut.

I visited the site today (it's on the left-hand side of Greeley Highway as you head north) and found that it is now the home of Greenfaith Ministry, a sacramental herb church that uses cannabis (with its hallucinatory properties removed).

There are a few displays in an adjacent trailer:

Cannabis Museum

Magazine display in the Cannabis Museum

This location also offers a Disc Golf course, and according to the gentleman I talked to, it's the Disc Golf course that draws the most people. Within the building there is a private smoking room for adults only, and children are allowed in the other areas of the building.

The Den

Continue north on US-85 about 100 yards (if that much) and the next road you come to on your left is an exit for The Den, a "gentleman's club" that is open only in the evenings.

Continue on this road, past this establishment (about 50 yards or so) to:

Borderline

Borderline - play lottery here

The first lottery store, and a purpose built one, on this border, is about ten years old.

They're still in business, because although Wyoming has a lottery, they don't sell scratch-off tickets, and it is these that are keeping Borderline in business (at least at the time of this writing.)

Alcohol is served here, and pop can be found in vending machines.

Drink selection at Borderline

Leave Borderline and return to Greeley Highway to continue north, and within a few yards you will enter Wyoming, and pass a Welcome to Wyoming sign on your right.

That will be the subject of my next post.

___________________
Please note that I don't endorse the Greenfaith Ministry, the Den, or Borderline, nor do they endorse this blog.

Manifesto

A "windjammer" is a sailing ship. I've chosen the name for my blog covering my travels throughout Wyoming because with the state's non-stop wind, I've often thought of rigging a sail on top of my car and letting the wind blow blow me north along I-25!

Wyoming is a state rich in pioneer history and natural beauty.

As far as people are concerned, Wyoming is the "least populous," if Wikipedia is to be believed - with fewer people even than Alaska. In fact, according to Wikipedia even the state of Vermont has fewer people than Alaska!

Wyoming is the "second least densely populated" state in the Union - Alaska does have the distinction of being the "first least densely populated" state.

Welcome to Wyoming sign on I-80/Greeley Highway

Wyoming has about 586,000 people scattered throughout the state.

Cheyenne, it's capital, has about 60,000 people and is the largest city in the state. You can see it in the lower right hand corner of the map above!

Casper is the second largest with about 55,000 people.  It's northwest of of Cheyenne off of I-25 N.

Third largest is Laramie with 31,000 people. It's a little less northwest of Cheyenne, on I-80W.

Gillette comes next with 30,000 people (way up north), then Rock Springs (way west) with 23,000. Next is Sheridan (also way up north) with 17,000 inhabitants.

Green River and Evanston both have about 12,000 inhabitants.

 Riverton  (just above Lander) has about 10,000, and Jackson, Cody and Rawlins all have about 9,000 people.

Lander has about 7,000 people, and Torrington and Powell 6,000 people.

There are lots of small towns in Wyoming. Chugwater, home of the famous Chugwater Chili Cookoff, has about 400 people and is an hour north of Cheyenne on I-25 N.. Wheatland has 3,000 (just another 20 minutes or so on I-25N) and so on.

I'll be traveling through every single town and city in Wyoming, and will share my travel adventures here.