Jackson Hole, WY to Denver, CO
Somewhere along Route 80 in Wyoming. Wyoming is big. And beautiful. And big.
It is Tuesday morning, January 2. Time to leave Jackson Hole and start the long trip homeward. Though I am ready to leave, I remind myself that this vacation is not yet over, as we have the road trip home to look forward to. And I AM looking forward to it! Not sure about Jack, but there is a lot of country left to see, we are taking a different route home, and spending more time doing it. Bring it on! Jack will just have to deal.
The first two hours are spent driving through the Bridger-Teton National Forest. It is beautiful! Tall, evergreen pines soar against the crisp blue sky with the frosty light blue/green Hoback River winding along the highway. There are lots of signs for various kinds of game crossing the road. I'd like to see some, just not splayed across the hood of my car. We don't see any. We pass through small Wyoming towns -- Pinedale, Boulder. I note an Oregon Trail marker, which reminds me of a good book, "The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey" by Rinker Buck, a newspaper man turned novelist who writes about his real-life journey crossing the Oregon Trail via covered wagon with his brother. It is funny, poignant and historical. A great read.
The landscape is flattening out, the distant mountains to the east are starting to fade. Oil rigs dot the plains. We cross the Continental Divide. Twice. Then we drive through Seminoe State Park. There is a large oil refinery in Sinclair. We pass the Fort Steele Historical Site by the North Platte River. More Pronghorn antelope. And wind turbines. Lots of them.
We are approaching Laramie, WY, home to the University of Wyoming, the Snowy Range Ski Area, the Laramie River, Medicine Bow National Forest. I am writing these down as we whiz by them. We note other small changes in the topography. Look, there is a Lincoln Monument here! I take a picture out the car window. The mountains are now swelling in the distance. PS, we have been driving for 8 hours and we are still in Wyoming. A train passes along the original train bed of the Union Pacific Railway. Historic. We pass through Cheyenne and head towards Denver, 98 miles away.
Within 14 miles, we are in Colorado. Mountains stand majestically on the horizon. Bison graze on the Pawnee National Grasslands to the east, and the Red Feather Lakes lie to the west. Pretty.
We are now going through Fort Collins, home to Colorado State University. Night is falling, and there is less and less to see. Finally we approach Denver. It is now night. Our home for the evening is the Four Seasons Denver. Jack gets fed and walked, then we order some food in the room, watch a movie and call it a night. I will have some time in the morning to walk around this particular neighborhood in Denver and will file a full report.
Jack enjoying the fireside hospitality at the Four Seasons, Denver, CO.