Tag Archives: Thermopolis WY

Wyoming Dinousaur Museum & Hot Springs State Park (Wyoming Gardens RV Park, Thermopolis WY)

On Monday we left little “Coach” in the Coach and went to the other side of town to visit The Wyoming Dinosaur Center.

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We paid the museum entrance fee and signed up for the Dig-Site Tour.  Cost was $42 for the two of us and our 9yr-old grandson after a veterans discount.

We arrived just in time to go on the next Dig-Site Tour.  The wait time was only 10 minutes before we had to get on the little bus.  So we spent the 10 minutes browsing the museum…

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This is “Jimbo” the Supersaurus.

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We cut our museum tour short when they announced that the bus was boarding for the Dig-Site Tour.  We would finish checking out the museum once we got back.

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Our bus driver/tour guide took us on a 2 mile bumpy and dusty ride to the dig site.

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Then he have us a detailed briefing of the site in front of this placard under a small wooden shade structure with a picnic table.

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Then he escorted us into the Special Interest (SI) site located under this protective enclosure.

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He showed us the footprints and fossils that are at this site.  This is supposed to be one of the only places where footprints and bones are found together in one place.

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The red painted spots on the ground are dinosaur tracks.

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Typical protective cast used before transporting a fossil to the lab.

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The tour guide interacted with the kids in the group.  He gave dinosaur toys (temporarily) to Kaan and another little girl, to demonstrate the type of tracks found here at the site.

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Here he uses a cow bone to demonstrate how bones look before fossilization.

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View of other dig-sites in the area.

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It was an interesting and informative tour.  I recommend it if you’re in the area.

We all got back on the bus for the drive back to the museum.

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The nice tour guide gave Kaan his pick of some dinosaur bone fragments from a box as a souvenir.

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When we returned to the museum, we finished touring the displays:

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After our informative tour of the dinosaur museum, we headed over to the nearby Hot Springs State Park.

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We drove around a few of the loops in the park on the east side of town.

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We even saw a herd of buffalo, although, no pics this time.

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We stopped to examine a few holes in the ground.

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And we stopped at an old, dried-up mineral springs.

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One of the geysers.

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A chainsaw artist demonstrated his work in the Hot Springs Park area parking lot near the mineral bath house.

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We stopped at this Bath House for a free soak in the outside pool.  They have you sign in and limit your stay to 20 minutes.  It was pretty cool but a little smelly.  The best part is – that it was free.

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There are two other mineral springs next to the free Wyoming State Bath House; the Star Plunge and the TeePee Pools & Spa.  Click on the links to learn more and see prices.

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We walked around the park.

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This is the back-side view of the Bath House that we were in earlier.

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Then we walked along the long boardwalk to view the mineral springs and pools around the park:

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The Swinging Bridge.  And it really did swing.

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Here you can see many years of mineral springs flow into the river below.

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We walked back to the Silverado through the nice grassy park area…

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and stopped at the playground, of course…

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On our drive through the old part of town we noticed the “Needful Things” shop of Stephen King fame.

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And the town statue of a typical Wyoming cowboy.

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And that’s all for now folks… we’ll head on south towards Colorado Springs in order to get our grandson Kaan back to his mom and school which starts in another week or two.

Stay tuned…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Travel Day & Buffalo Bill Dam (Wyoming Gardens RV Park, Thermopolis WY)

We said goodbye to the Shoshone National Forest- Rex Hale Campground around noon and headed back towards Cody.

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We stopped at the Buffalo Bill Dam located 6 miles west of Cody.  The Dam has ample parking for big rigs alongside the highway.  Volunteers were standing by to shuttle visitors to the Dam Visitor Center in golf carts.  The tour is free but the golf cart drivers appreciate tips.

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According to wikipedia™: The 325 feet (99 m) high structure was built between 1905 and 1910.  At the time of its completion it was the tallest dam in the world.  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and named a National Civil Engineering Landmark in 1973.  Known at the time of its construction as Shoshone Dam, it was renamed in 1946 to honor William “Buffalo Bill” Cody.

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I read that these log jams are cleaned out on an annual basis.

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View from the top of the dam looking down on the old power plant.  A new power plant was built a little further downstream.

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Looking back towards the visitor center from the other side of the dam.

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Inside the visitors center, an informational video played every 15 minutes inside this mini-theater.

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After our tour of the Buffalo Bill Dam, we headed on into Cody through the Shoshone Canyon Tunnels.  Known as the longest tunnel in Wyoming.

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We then dumped our tanks at the Cody Municipal Public RV Dump Station we passed just before heading south on WY-120.  We traveled through the little town of Meeteetse and then into Thermopolis, the “Gateway to Yellowstone Country” and home of the world’s largest mineral springs.  A 130 mile travel day.

We checked our iPhone apps and other resources to locate a campground and the Rand McNally RVND 7720 turned us on to the Eagle RV Park that offered discounts for Good Sam (10%), Escapees (15%) & Military (15%) but when we pulled in, they didn’t have a site large enough for the Urban Escape Vehicle.

Our next choice was Wyoming Gardens RV Park which we passed on the way through town.  The sites didn’t look large enough initially but we pulled in and found a site we could fit into.  We paid $58.86 for two nights after a 10% veterans discount.  Only 30 Amp power but we’re right in the middle of town and our satellite dish cleared the trees.

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We put a couple steaks on the grill for dinner and I worked on the blog to get caught up after being off the grid for the last several days.  The campground wifi is excellent here.

Check back tomorrow for a recap of our Monday tour of the Wyoming Dinosaur Museum and our visit to the Hot Springs State Park here in Thermopolis.