June 30th and July 3rd, 2022
We were staying in Lingle, Wyoming, and we were surrounded by national parks. We visited them on two of the days we were there. The Fort Laramie National Historic Site was practically down the street, so that was an easy one. We went on a warm day with beautiful, sunny skies. That was good, because we did a lot of wandering around to different buildings. It was a really cool site, and definitely worth the trip. I feel like we got a really good look at how things were at a military post in the 1800s.
We spent some time on the reservoirs in the area before we headed a bit to the east to Nebraska to visit a couple national parks there. We had no idea what to expect at the Agate Fossil Beds, but we really enjoyed the drive to get there. It's a bit in the middle of nowhere, and the drive through the wide, green expanses under huge, blue skies was a big hit with both of us.
The day was pretty hot, so we spent most of our time there indoors. You would think a place that remote would have a very basic visitor center, but this one was really nice. The family that lived in that area surrounded by fossils was friendly with the Dakota Sioux people who were also in the area, specifically with Red Cloud. The two sides exchanged many gifts over their lives, and those gifts are displayed there.
We also checked out a lot of the fossils and information in the visitor center and watched a pretty awesome movie. There were Paleocastors (ancient beavers) that made spiral burrows into the ground that had people stumped for a long time, and we both found that fascinating.
Scottsbluff, Nebraska, is just south of the Agate Fossil Beds. We headed there next, not expecting much (again). We were completely wrong -- the Scotts Bluff National Monument was awesome! The road to the park goes up to the top of the big bluff that overlooks the town, and the visitor center was fantastic. We watched another good movie there.
The road is winding and goes through a few tunnels on the way to the very top. We were watching clouds roll in as we drove up to the end of the line. We parked and hiked even farther up along a hiking trail, and we were rewarded with a huge view of the land below us and the weather getting closer. Too cool!
It started to sprinkle rain when we were at the end of the hiking trail, so we headed back to the car. By the time we got back it was pouring rain, and we were soaked and laughing. It was a huge storm, but we made it down to town just fine.
We went to a restaurant in Scottsbluff, and it turned out the power was out in most of the town due to the storm. We tried to find another decent place to eat, but it didn't work out, so we headed for home. That turned out to be a very lucky break, because we ended up at Wyoming's oldest bar, the Miners and Stockmen's Steakhouse in Hartville. We had the patio to ourselves, in a little mining town that reminded us of small, mountain towns in Colorado.
The food was amazing, and it was a fun, romantic dinner. We were treated with a spectacular sunset before we headed back to Lingle. Who knew there was so much to see and do around Lingle? We didn't have enough time there, so we'll need to plan a return trip.
