Doing Time

After 2 days enjoying the great outdoors, it was time to head inside.  We headed over to the Wyoming Territorial Prison.  The facility was used from the 1870s to 1903 and held such notable prisoners as Butch Cassidy. 

When we were in New Zealand we visited a prison that was used continuously from 1855-1991 with literally no upgrades, they just doubled the number of prisoners per cell so it really just had downgrades.  I guess in some sense there were the good old days when you had 12 square feet each in your cell.

Much of this facility has been restored to better than new condition.  After it closed for convicts it was used to hold barnyard animals and apparently they made a mess.  The prison has a self guided tour option which we took.  We enjoyed visiting the warden’s house, the cell blocks, the broom factory and the yard.  They had some other historical exhibits we perused as well.

Our next stop was back to the University of Wyoming to see the geology museum.  It’s not big place but has some cool Dino bones.  Even better it was free.   Sort of wild to imagine the terror you might experience if you ever ran into one of these guys. The smaller dude was just dug up in 1991 so he is sort of fresh.

We had had enough of inside so we headed towards Cheyenne. First stop was the Lincoln Memorial.  Not the one in DC, this is a big Lincoln bust a local man decided to create to commemorate the Lincoln Highway. It now resides at a rest stop off I-80.  It is a bit odd, you see his head but not well because of the angle, and it’s not clear where the body is.  It is a popular stop though and since it was right on the way, you sort of have to stop and stare.

We did not ponder this too long as we were off to Vedauwoo. This is an interesting rock formation near Cheyenne.  It is very popular with climbers and can be pretty dangerous.  We drove around to various positions and enjoyed the views.  

There is also a nice path through the center which we hiked.  My days of high risk rock climbing are well behind me.

Hiked is a strong word, it is flat and mostly paved.   After the rocks we were off to Cheyenne to check on the plane.  All was well so we got some rest in preparation for our morning flight.   Did I mention the state has lots of really nice flowers?