Laramie to Estes Park

What a great day! After breakfast we headed over to the old Wyoming Territorial Prison, the only place Butch Cassidy was ever imprisoned. They had lots of stuff for the kids to do, like this old prision wagon... After our tour of the prison, we headed out of Laramie to Cheyenne. We strolled around the old historic downtown for a bit and then went to the state capitol building. I was amazed at how uncrowded the area was around the capitol. We literally parked right in front of the capitol walked across the sidewalk and up the front steps. I was shocked when we walked inside at how small it was. The governors office was right inside the front door to the right. Then, there were two staircases in the small rotunda area, one leading to the House and one to the Senate. Naturally, we chose the House side to go look at!! There are 60 members of the Wyoming House of Representatives and 30 Senators. Combined they are not as large at the Texas House of Representatives! The whole time we were there we only saw 2 other people, the docent and a state trooper. No busy, bustling capitol here!

I really like Wyoming, and was thinking it would be a great place to live. Then, I checked the blog and saw that Greg had explained that the big wooden structures on the side of the highway
are snow dams to protect the highways from blizzards. That's when it occured to me that we are visiting Wyoming in June, not January. Those snow dams are tall, I can't even begin to imagine what the winters must be like here. I'm a Texas girl, I don't do snow that's measured in feet!

After Cheyenne, we came on to Estes Park, Colorado. This is my first trip to Colorado and I'm already hooked. It's absolutely gourgeous! We are staying at the historic Stanley Hotel. I LOVE this place. It's old, it creaks and groans and the windows all open to let in the mountain air! The back porch is huge and you can just sit and stare at the Rockies all you want. And, the best part was that we met some friends here for dinner!! Thomas's best friend from school this year, Brennan, moved here just a few weeks ago. His parents, Tricia and Rocky, and Brennan's brother Dillon drove up and met us here at the hotel for dinner. We had a wonderful visit. The boys were so excited to see each other! They laughed and played. After we ate we sat outside and let the kids all play around the waterfall in the courtyard. They all had a great time! It was so nice to see them and you'll notice most of Thomas's top 5 tonight is about Brennan!

Tonight at 8 they had ghost stories downstairs. The Stanley is supposedly haunted. Scott took Thomas and Grace and I took Mandy upstairs where she fell asleep about 10 minutes after we got in the room! They ended up taking a tour of the hotel and they showed them various places were unexplained events have taken place! They even went to a tunnel that runs under the hotel. They were all excited when they came back to the room.

They told them on the tour that the best way to see a ghost is in a picture. So, Grace got the camera and took a bunch of pictures on the way back to the room. There's no ghost in this one, but it does look creepy!I must say that as I lay here in the dark, with everyone else asleep, with only the glow of the computer for light, I am a little wigged out! I'll update you tomorrow on any ghostly activity!

Thomas's Top Five:

1. "Seeing Brennan"

2. "Skipping rocks with Brennan."

3. "Playing in the waterfall with Brennan."
4. "Going to the ghost stories."

5. "Taking pictures and trying to see ghosts."

Grace's Top Five:

1. "Playing at the waterfall with Brennan and Dillion."

2. "Going to the tunnel.
3. "Going up to the 4th floor and looking for ghosts."

4. "Seeing the piano that sometimes plays by itself." Supposedly Mrs. Stanley haunts th emusic room and sometimes plays the piano.

5. "Taking a picture with the Colorado sign."

Tomorrow we check out of the Stanley and are moving to a cabin at the YMCA of the Rockies.


This is the view from the porch here at The Stanley...

Blessings,

Leslie