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Jackalope
Steph rides the mystical beast. Our car was due back in Dallas in 6 days and we had a lot of miles to cover as the outward part of the trip had taken us farther than we originally planned. When we woke in Dubois it was snowing again although it didn't last and the sun soon came out as we had a quick look around the small cowboy town. The most interesting thing to see was the Jackalope exhibit in the nearby gas station. The Jackalope is a very rare creature (kind of like the Haggis in Scotland) which is like a large rabbit with antlers and we were lucky enough to get the chance to see one in captivity (see the photo). We drove through the Wind River Indian reservation to Casper where we spent the night in a cabin on an RV park. It was very windy and we were glad we hadn't camped. Our journey then took us south down Interstate 25 following the line of the Rocky Mountains until we arrived in Denver Colorado late in the afternoon. Our hotel was on the edge of town so we headed to a nearby mall and went to see the new Indiana Jones film
Coors brewery
Yes, this is tasty, can I just try the Blue Moon again tho! and had some dinner there rather than attempt to find out how to get a bus downtown. The town of Golden is a suburb of Denver and also the home of Coors beer. We headed out for a free tour of the largest single site brewery in the world which ended with some free samples. Unfortunately for Richard, he was driving and so had to stick to the non-alcoholic samples. As for Steph, she tasted them all!
We had bought an annual pass to the US national parks at Yellowstone so decided to make use of it by stopping at the Capulen Volcano on the way back to Dallas. We found a small campsite near the foot of the volcano which had a nice cabin available and watched the sunset from the porch while downing a few beers. We weren't sure if the owners would have approved though, there were bibles in the shower blocks,in every toilet cubical, as well as the rooms. In the morning, we drove to the rim of the volcano and walked around the top and down into the crater. It was an almost perfect example of a cindercone and had since become home to an
Capulen Volcano
This is a nice rock too! interesting habitat of flora and fauna although we weren't to keen on the thousands of singe flies. The next leg of the journey took us to Amarillo where we arrived as the weather was turning stormy again so we spent the night in a motel and looked at our options for the next few days.
We decided to make a long drive to Fort Worth as there wasn't much else to see on the way and then we would be able to spend a day sightseeing and not driving. When we arrived we headed to the Historic Stockyards area where the cattle drives would come through on the way to Kansas. The area was centred around the the old cattle yards and rodeo and was full of tacky cowboy souvenir shops and saloons one of which even had it's own bull riding ring. The next day we went back to see the daily cattle drive where some cowboys (or people dressed up as cowboys) walk a small herd of longhorn cattle round the block. Afterwards we visited the Cowgirl museum which celebrated the women of the wild west and we were able to have a go on a bucking bronco
Tent caterpillars
Glad they have their own tent! (see videos). The last stop in Fort Worth was downtown and the Sid Richardson museum of western art which had an interesting collection of cowboy and indian themed paintings.
Although the car had allowed us to see a huge amount of America and get to some places we could never have got to on the buses, we were glad to be taking it back as we had covered 3500 miles and were a bit fed up of driving. We dropped it off at the airport and then went into Dallas and after checking in to our hotel, we walked to see the famous Dealey Plaza where the JFK assassination took place. There were plenty of "guides" in the area keen to share their conspiracy theories in exchange for a few dollars but we decided to get the facts from the 6th floor museum in the infamous Texas Schoolbook Depository. The exhibition gave a detailed account of JFK's presidency as well as the shooting and the aftermath of investigations and inquiries. As we were in the steak capital of the world we went to a nearby steakhouse and shared a delicious 20 oz steak with all the trimmings an excellent end
to our two week road trip.
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Robin
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Haggis and Jackalopes!!
So what' does a jackalope supper taste like then!! Looks like you'd need a few Irn Brus to get it down!! Don't forget to send Uncle a postcard!!