Fort Laramie, Wyoming

About one day's travel from Fort Laramie the Oregon trail climbs a sandstone hill. The route necked down here so the wagon wheels dug deep ruts. Joanie's standing in ruts here. The bridge she's standing on dates from the late 1800s. The army build it to provide a reliable way to access the Fort across the Platte River. Part of the Fort is in ruins, as is the Administration Building. Other parts, such as the new Guard House are, to my dismay, very much intact!

Guernsey Lake, Wyoming

We chose Guernsey Lake as our camp from which we day tripped to some of the historical sites in the area. Guernsey Lake was starting to fill when we arrived, so there were no boaters and no other campers in the campground we selected. Kinda spooky. The lake takes four days to fill, so by the time we left it was full and boaters were returning. Great timing for us, since we're not hauling a boat! Swimming was refreshing, if you didn't mind wading through some of the crud near the shore. Guernsey features some CCC features from the 1930s. We've included pictures of an awesome picnic shelter nicknamed "The Castle". Near by Hartville is home to Wyoming's Oldest Bar, which I found out isn't open on Wednesdays!

San Luis Valley - Orient Land Trust

Sunsets in the Valley have a special quality to them - this is looking west from the Sangre DeCristo side towards the San Juans from our camp at the hot springs. The hot springs are our favorite spot in the Valley and this time we were fortunate enough to spend two weeks here. We arrived when the moon was new and stayed through full.
The Orient Mine produced A LOT of Iron in the late 1800s. As I understand it, they mined from the bottom up. As they approached the surface the mine became less stable until the roof finally collapsed. Six men died here in 1893, though I'm not certain if that was the time of the major collapse or not. At any rate, the huge hole created by the collapse opened the mine to bats. Right now, there are about 250,000 male mexican free tail bats nesting there. When they exit at nightfall, it's spectacular.
Our camp at the hot springs on the western edge of the campground was a great spot to watch the sunset.
Joanie models the last in women's camoflauge (well, not really ...) at camp spot D - our home for two weeks in July.

Farmington - Casa La Luz

Joan and I were fortunate to spend some time around the fourth of July with good friends JJ and Lucy, including their two sons Clay and Coby at their place in Farmington. We enjoyed relaxing by their pool and boating at Navaho Reservoir. When our friends Doug and Rona came up for the Fourth, the ATF gals had their hands full ensuring the safe use of alchohol, tobabaco and fireworks.