USA, the Wild West

WYOMING

From South Dakota you will enter Wyoming at the Bighorn Mountains. A beautiful mountainrange with great views.
The heighest point.

And then suddenly there is a strange object. It feels like in a movie. (Close encounters of the third kind) It is devils tower. An old vulcano of which the only thing left is the cratermouth with hardened lava. The loose ground around it is eroded by wind and rain.

The indians didn't have the knowledge to explain the strange mountain and had another story. Once upon a time there was a group of children playing when a large bear arrived. The bear wanted to attack the children, but the ground rose and the bear could not reach them. He tried to but did not succeed. You can still see the clawmarks of that bear as he slided down the mountain .

Yellowstone NP

The absolute high of Wyoming is ofcourse Yellowstone National Park. The many geysers and hot springs, the wild animals, the beautiful nature, one can't stop being amazed.

The most famous geyser is Old Faithfull. It thanks its name to its regular intervals between eruptions. You can set your watch to it. At the geyser you will find signs with the times of expected eruptios.

If you are lucky you can encounter a moose.
Eland

During our vacation in 1995 we visited Yellowstone again. More pictures of Yellowstone in that story.

UTAH

In Utah are some very nice national parks one of them is Arches located near Moab. The red sandstone rocks are eroded to arches.

Not much further we find Cedar Breaks full of colorful rockformations.
It looks like Bryce Canyon, but is much smaller. (see our USA trip in 1991 )

fossielen voor het oprapen.

At the border of Utah and Colorado you can find the Dinosaur NP. In this area many fossilised dinos are dug up in the info-centre you can see how that is done. The centre is built over an excavation. A huge wall of skeletons is sheltered for rain and wind inside the building.

Outside the building is an interesting area were you can find some old indian rockart.

The capitol of Utah, Salt Lake City is situated at a large salt lake, just like the name suggests. This city is the headquarter of the mormons, a church with many followers in this area of the USA. They have some other values, some men are married to multiple women for instance.

All valuables of the church members go to the church, from all that money they built a large tempelcomplex at Templesquare. One can visit the temple and a private tour is given in your own language. These tours are given by volunteers coming from all over the world. The mormons also have large archieves and if you are looking for info on your ancestors you may find them at Family History Library.

The Great Salt Lake.

At some ponits realy a lake with salt water, at other points like the Bonnville Flats it is a dry area covered in salt. A great place to set speed records.
See our 1995 trip for a picture.