Monday, August 31, 2015

From Buffalo to Bluegrass

After climbing Independence Rock Friday, we drove on to our destination for the night, Lander, Wyoming.  We had tasty dinner then needed to walk it off a bit. We just took off touring downtown at dusk.  We found this sculpture, which I really liked.  Wyoming is full of buffalo depictions but so many of them have buffalo in violent scenes. This one just seemed quite peaceful.  Maybe that is why I liked him so much.


Lander is not a large town.  I think it is quaint and adorable.  We found a lot of people out walking and enjoying the perfect evening.



The next morning we drove just a few miles out of town to The Sinks.  I hope you can read this very informative bit of information about The Sinks, where water disappears underground for a few hours.


I think it is really cool down there.  The river flows down and just disappears.


This photo was Mike's idea. He likes planning out interesting shots like that.


The area is loaded with boulders.  I'd like to see that place in the Spring when the snow is melting on the mountains. It comes flowing over all those boulders at times.


A quarter of a mile down the way there is the area where the water reappears, The Rise of the Sinks. It is marked "no fishing".  People buy food there to feed the fish, though.  A family with little kids was there throwing fish food over, resulting in a lot of swirling and splashing with all those fish competing.


Do you see that sandbar down there by the fish? Magpies hung out down there. Apparently they like the fish food also.


The weird thing in that canyon is that the North wall looks like this,


And the South wall looks like this.  Why, you ask? Because the North wall gets the most sunshine and so its snow melts and is gone too quickly to grow much.  The South side is more shady so keeps its moisture longer.  Interesting, huh? Really, I was standing in the same spot when I took that photo above, then turning to take this photo below.  It is sort of a bipolar canyon.


After we left the sinks area, we drove on up into the mountains. We saw lots of people riding bicycles up the mountain. Why? Why do people do that? It didn't look like fun to me.

Then, we saw this guy hiking... ON CRUTCHES!  Impressive!


We went higher yet and found a lake.  Do you see those mountains in the distance with the snow on them, above the timber line even? That, my friends, is the continental divide.  


This is my guy.  I enjoy adventuring with him.


We headed back down into Lander and wanted to grab a quick bite before heading back home. We spotted a little bakery/cafe and stopped in. What a lovely surprise we found there!  There was a sweet bluegrass group playing. They were wonderful! I found out, from their mother, that they are a group of 4 siblings from Texas.  They are called the 4 Proches. 


We both really enjoyed listening to them play. The youngest brother could really go on that banjo!



Here's a link to one of their YouTube videos.
I hope you also find them charming.

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