Driving Home

I left the morning after Ana's wedding for home.  We were on a tight schedule for a lot of reasons--I had work, Leo had work, and Elena and Isabel had to be in Lincoln, Nebraska on Monday morning early for Especially For Youth.  So Leo drove the girls in his rental car to Lincoln, while I drove the boys and our Expedition and trailer.  I decided since the boys and I had two days to get home that we'd take our time.  So here we are stopped at Hell's Half Acre.  

Umm, yeah, we did crawl under the fence to get better pictures.  🤷‍♀️

And then we stopped to see the Guernsey Ruts that show where the Oregon Trail wagons carved into Deep Rut Hill.   It was really cool.  I love the Oregon Trail and well, all western expansion things.  Maybe I just spent too many hours playing Oregon Trail as a kid and reading Louis L'Amour.  

It was a fun little jaunt though.

The sandstone is pretty soft, that's why it did this, but still so cool.  I love thinking about how my ancestors (some of them) travelled through there. 

Prickly pear?

Pretty sego lily. 

Then we stopped at Register Cliffs.  Another site I remember from the Oregon Trail game. 😂

Seriously, worth spending an hour at.  I love history.

And then we stopped at Fort Laramie.  It was a fur trading post known as Fort William and then became an Oregon Trail stop and eventually was bought by the US government and became a military fort.  

It was practically empty when we were there and we just wandered around going where ever we wanted.  I love the trusting nature of the West.  

I swear it looks like some English abby ruins in the background, but no, it's the military hospital ruins.

I really like the military forts I've visited (this one, Fort Abraham Lincoln in ND, and Fort Casper).  They've been well done with a lot of details that make them feel like that you're back then.   Like the potatoes on the table. 

Of course I needed a dress picture.

Oldest building still standing in Wyoming.  Which isn't very old at all! 😂😂😂

And again, just my fascination with all old west stuff. 

It was so pretty, it was early enough in the year that everything was still green.

Just wanted the picture of their clothing. 

Sebastian's in solitary confinement in the military prison.

Wow, harsh.

Beautiful!

😍

Then in the middle of nowhere Nebraska I had to stop for this photo.  I love the plains.  But not Southern Kansas plains, too many trees.  😂

And then we tried to stop at Scott's Bluff but we were driving by just as they closed.  But they had a cool wagon replica.  I liked it.

And then we drove by Chimney Rock.  Funnily enough, we hadn't been near Leo since Casper, but we called them after this and stayed on the phone for an hour or more and then Isabel found us a hotel room to stop at in Ogallala. Ogallala always makes me think of Lonesome Dove.  Leo and the girls kept driving till Lincoln, where Leo dropped them off at the University of Nebraska for FSY, and then he dropped off the rental car at the airport and flew out for work.  

We didn't quite fit so I made Efraim a bed. It was past midnight at this point and he was dying.