Wild West Wyoming Road Trip

Clayton enjoying the garden at Lions Park in Cheyenne

 We kicked of September with a road trip....a rather long road trip...to Wyoming! Dennis's work had him in Casper for nearly three weeks and since we knew ahead that he was going to be there, we decided to make a trip to see him and do a little sight seeing, too.
 Nana & Poppy (my dad and stepmom) were up for the trip and we left out to pick up Nana in Colorado and we got to have lunch with some cousins in Monument, Colorado on the way. Then off the Wyoming. I was a little worried about the little one traveling so far, but he did great! We made lots of stops and I packed a picnic box which we found to be indispensable! We had a picnic lunch nearly every single day!

Fort Caspar Museum

 We spent a couple days in Casper with Dennis (hoping that he'd get to go to Yellowstone with us but that didn't work out). While in Casper, we visited the Fort Caspar Museum, drove to Independence Rock (a 27 acre granite rock in the middle of nowhere...it was pretty cool!), and looked around town.
  Then we headed to Cody to be closer to Yellowstone. On the way, we stopped at the Wyoming Dinosaur Museum in Thermopolis which was awesome! We went to Yellowstone two days in a row and probably could have easily spent a week there, it was so beautiful! The weather was great and we saw all kinds of animals. Nana and I helped Cooper do his activities and list to get his Junior Ranger patch, too! (:
   We spent one more night in Casper so we could see Dennis before coming home. We stopped in Cheyenne at Lions Park, which was a really neat place...a great garden and a children's garden that was amazing!

Cooper taking Nana for a ride on the stage coach...his first hat from our trip was this Union soldier hat

Nana, Poppy, me and the boys at Independence Rock outside Casper

My little ranger...another hat...he loves hats

At Old Faithful Geyser

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone...this was my favorite spot of all!

We saw lots and lots of buffalo!

Official Junior Ranger

Can you see the elk just hanging out at Fort Yellowstone??

The Post Office at Fort Yellowstone...I just loved the bear statues

Southwest Oklahoma Road Trip with the Boys

  Dennis had to work two weeks in Lawton and didn't get to come home the weekend, so the boys and I made a road trip there to visit. It turned out that an area of Oklahoma that I'd only passed through a time or two was actually pretty amazing! We stayed at the camper with Dennis (who was very happy to see us) and went to the Chisolm Trail Heritage Museum in Duncan, had a picnic lunch with Dennis near his job in Lawton, then made a scenic drive through the Wichita Mts. Wildlife Refuge and to the visitor center there. We hated to come home so soon, but it;s time to get ready for Clayton's first birthday party!

Chisolm Trail Heritage Center in Duncan, Ok- "End of the Trail" marker for the "trail" in the concrete...way cool

View in the Wildlife Refuge

Longhorn cattle, buffalo, and prairie dogs were all spotted on our drive

Visitors Center at Wichita Mts. Wildlife Refuge

A cool wall sculpture/ mural in the visitor center

Road Trippin'

Hubby and I were blessed to be able to take a road trip weekend, just the two of us. We just drove, made no plans, except sleeping in...you know, the kind of stuff you dream about after you have children, but rarely get to do. So, we left home Friday morning and ended up in Arkansas. Now, I know that doesn't sound too exciting, but really it was. We took Talimena Scenic Byway all the way to Mena, Arkansas where we found a cute little place with cabins (Mena Mountain Top Cabin Motel) and dined at The Fish Net Restaurant, which was fantastic! Oh, and by the way, Mena is in a dry county, no beer. Closest beer was actually in Oklahoma...go figure. Saturday morning, we took a little jaunt to Hot Springs, Arkansas and checked out the Hot Springs National Park, which was totally cool. It was so wonderful to take a road trip with my man!

Scenic Talimena Drive- Even in winter it is beautiful!

Our cute little cabin in Mena, AR

Sunset over the Ouchita Mountains from our cabin porch

Some of the trees were already blooming in Hot Springs- this is outside the Natl. Park Admin Building

Hot springs fountain in part of the promenade part of the park

Hot Springs National Park Visitors Center- in the old Fordyce Bath House that you can tour

Checking out the bath house...sweat box, anyone??

The details in the bath house (built early 1900's) are amazing! This is one of the ceilings.

The actual spring flowing that feeds this bath house

Ranger Rains

One of the old tubs that were used in the bath houses....I want one for my house! It would hold a ton of hot water!

Happy Independence Day!

Pops! in Arcadia is a really cool place to stop on Route 66- We took the long way home




We took a long weekend for the fourth and hauled our fifth wheel camper to OKC to visit our friends there (Happy Birthday, Morgan!). We had so much fun and I think David and Grace really like playing with Cooper in the camper and at their house. They all had a blast together and all three were totally off schedule for the entire weekend, but they had so much fun. Needless to say, Cooper was ready for bed tonight! Here are a few pics I took with my camera, I'll probably have more to post later.