We are back into our Bucket List series today and going to be rounding out the final two Wyoming Regions this week! Previously we hit upon the National Parks region, Salt to Stone region, and Rockies to Teton region. This region takes up most of the northern portion of the state.
Banner
Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site: Outpost of the U.S. Army located along the Bozeman Trail.
Wagon Box Fight: Location of an engagement during Red Cloud’s War.
Cody
Buffalo Bill Center of the West: Complex of five museums that focus on the American West and the life of Buffalo Bill Cody.
Devils Tower
Devils Tower National Monument: This is one we have visited and loved hiking around the unique geological structure!
Lovell
Medicine Wheel National Historic Landmark: The Medicine Wheel is a large stone structure made of limestone.
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area: Explore the landscape of the canyon area, which also has access from Montana.
Five Springs Falls Recreation Site: This vertical cliff habitat is home to a 100 ft waterfall.
Powell
Heart Mountain WWII Interpretive Center: Location of a Japanese Internment Camp.
Ranchester
Conner Battlefield State Historic Site: Site of the Battle of Tongue River between the Army and Arapahoe Tribe.
Sheridan
Trail End State Historic Site: Historic mansion that once was home to the Wyoming governor, John B. Kendrick.
All attractions found in the 2020 Wyoming Travel Guide.
This past year has been crazy! Especially crazy for someone who had a hobby of writing a travel blog, because quite frankly, we haven’t really been able to travel much at all this year!
I tried to keep up just with writing bucket list posts (and I do plan to get back in that habit), but it got tiring writing about all the places I wanted to go, and couldn’t! But my fee is up for my blog, so now seemed as good of time as any to hop back to it and put that fee to work! Ha!
So I will be headed back into finishing my Wyoming Bucket Lists this week, but did want to intersperse in a few things we got around to doing this summer and fall!
The camp I grew up attending as a kid, and where my family still has a cottage time share, was unable to have their normal youth camp programming this year. This meant their outdoor “villages” were going to be left unused. But then they got creative! They let family units rent out these villages for “glamping.” If you are unfamiliar with that term, glamping is a lot like camping, but with several nice amenity perks involved. For us during our week at camp, it meant a nicer shelter than a tent, meals provided in their dining hall, access to their many activities, and the shower house!
Our stay took place in their Treehouse Village. Here’s a photo!
We absolutely loved out time out in nature! We actually stayed in the smaller unit on the right. We slept in the upper portion which had a set of bunks, of which we actually moved mattresses to the floor as they were a little creaky anytime one of us rolled over! The lower portion also had another bunk set, but that’s where we kept our clothing and all our gear. The shower house was just a quick walk away which was handy as we always showered in the morning and evening. We did have quite a hike into main camp for meals, but check out this food! It was so worth it! And it was in their brand new community center they just built as an update from the old dining hall!
Main camp was also where most of our activities were. Since we went in July, we spent time at the beach almost every day. Our routine usually went something like this: Wake up, shower, grab breakfast, disc golf, go back and change into swim gear and grab our beach chairs and supplies, read by the beach, maybe kayak or play shuffleboard, have lunch, spend time at the beach, read, go back and change, disc golf, have dinner, disc golf, go to devotions, head back to the village, shower, hang out, sleep. It was a pretty cush life for the week!
It was so hot the week we were there that we didn’t often feel like enjoying a camp fire at our treehouse, but towards the end of our stay we did enjoy a few. We had nearly perfect weather all week long (minus one scary night of severe storms in our treehouse), so overall we can’t complain!
2020 may have taken a lot of travel opportunities from us this year, but it also opened the door to one amazing once-in-a-lifetime glamping trip that we will forever cherish! Thanks so much to Camp Luther for making this a possibility and bringing some joy to our summer!
Sorry all! I took a slight break from this last week, and will be again next week (we are finally getting away to the Northwoods of Wisconsin next week!) Today we move into the Salt to Stone region of Wyoming!
Evanston
Piedmont Charcoal Kilns Historic Site: Neat site featuring the old kilns of the charcoal industry.
Fort Bridger
Fort Bridger State Historic Site: Began as a fur trading post and was a place for many to stock up along the wagon trails.
Granger
Granger Stage Station Historic Site: Site dedicated to this spot along the Pony Express.
Jackson
National Museum of Wildlife Art: Fun museum that is dedicated to all wildlife art.
Kemmerer
Fossil Butte National Monument: Great place to do some hiking while learning about paleontology and geology.
La Barge
Names Hill State Historic Site: Site along the Oregon/California Trails where people would carve their names.
Pinedale
Museum of the Mountain Man: Museum dedicated to the mountain men who explore the area in the 19th century.
Point of Rocks
Point of Rocks Stage Station Historic Site: Meeting point of the Overland Trail and Union Pacific Railroad.
Rock Springs
White Mountain Petroglyphs: Hike along hundreds of petroglyphs carved into the mountain.
Killpecker Sand Dunes: Explore a beautiful dune area.
Superior
Superior Ghost Town: Visit this “living” ghost town.
Sweetwater
Flaming Gorge Recreation Area: Located on the border of Wyoming and Utah, this area has lots of adventure to offer.
All attractions found in the 2020 Wyoming Travel Guide.
Today we begin exploring a new state, Wyoming. Wyoming splits it’s tourism regions into five main regions, most of them covering a wide expanse of the state. Today’s is the one “smaller” region that simply encompasses the northwest corner of the state and is home to two national parks. Of course each park could probably included a bucket list of it’s own, but without going into huge detail for each on, this bucket list post remains quite short!
Grand Teton National Park: Located just south of Yellowstone, this park is known for its majestic mountain peaks and beautiful lake.
Yellowstone National Park: Yellowstone is a geological wonder. It’s filled with canyons, waterfalls, hot springs, mud pots and countless geysers. You can’t go wrong with a visit to this famous park.
All attractions found in the 2020 Wyoming Travel Guide.
Today we move into the final region of Idaho before moving into the state of Wyoming. This area includes the small part of Idaho that is included in Yellowstone National Park, so of course this is an area more popular for the tourists.
Ashton
Upper and Lower Mesa Falls: Two fun waterfalls to view in the area.
Idaho Falls
Museum of Idaho: This is a history and science museum that teaches about the environment and culture of Idaho.
Rexburg
Falls Creek Falls: Beautiful, secluded cascading falls.
Yellowstone Bear World: Drive-thru wildlife park that contains 8 species commonly found in the Yellowstone ecosystem.
All attractions found in the 2020 Idaho Adventure Guide.
Today we head further into the state of Idaho and explore the Central region.
Arco
Craters of the Moon National Monument: This area preserves three major lava fields.
Challis
Land of the Yankee Fork State Park: You can visit three different ghost parks located within this park.
Ketchum
Sawtooth Botanical Garden: Explore a high altitude botanical garden.
Salmon
Sacajawea Interpretive, Cultural, and Education Center: Beautiful area to hike and explore and visit the center to learn more about Sacajawea and her time on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Tendoy
Lemhi Pass: Location where Lewis and Clark crossed the continental divide. Located on the border of Montana and Idaho.
All attractions found in the 2020 Idaho Adventure Guide.
