We are still on our 17 day road trip but I have gotten very behind on posts after a week of being so remote, I had no cell coverage or internet. Before heading down to that spot, we had a short trip through Wyoming and of course, tried to see as much as possible in the short time we had.
The original plan was to go ahead and head south from The Black Hills, but a fellow camper pointed out that we were really close to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, so after a couple pictures at the Wyoming welcome center, we headed that way.
We got into the area with Devil’s Tower late in the day which did not make it worth the cost to drive up. I did not know much about it other then it’s a place to see in the U.S. From their website it says: “The Tower is an astounding geologic feature that protrudes out of the prairie surrounding the Black Hills. It is considered sacred by Northern Plains Indians and indigenous people. Hundreds of parallel cracks make it one of the finest crack climbing areas in North America.” The views were amazing and I got one the best “adventure” pictures of the T@G I have taken so far. It is now on the list of places to make it back to when I have more time.
We stayed one overnight stop at a small RV park outside Gillette, then it was on to our main stop in Wyoming, Curt Gowdy State Park. It is a beautiful park between Cheyenne and Laramie surrounding 3 reservoirs. Our site was at the Granite Reservoir. There was a beautiful view of the water but we did not get to do much in the park because storms starting coming in the evening we got there. The storms did make for some amazing pictures though.
We only had one day for adventures and had made some plans, but I did not take into account the fact that it would be a Sunday and a lot of things were closed. I did find that the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site was open in Laramie. It is exactly what it sounds like, a prison turned into a museum.
The prison was built in 1872 and was known as the symbol of law and order in the “wild west.” It was a small prison but held a lot of dangerous criminals, the most famous being Butch Cassidy.
It was a very small prison and all the facilities for the prisoner’s were housed in the main building including the kitchen, bathroom and laundry. The most interesting thing was that the guards actually lived in the main house too. They had a common room and bedroom on the second floor, which is also where they accessed the cages to keep an eye on the prisoners.
The back of the prison had a yard that could be accessed by prisoners and had guard towers in the wooden fence to watch for potential escapes. There were actually escapes from this prison and the stories are a very interesting part of the tour. In the back was the industries building for prisoners who had jobs. The main industry that they worked in was brooms.
Although it was a short adventure, I would recommend checking this out if you are in the Laramie area. There were actually a lot of thigs I wanted to do in Cheyenne, many pet friendly, but they will also be added to a future adventure.
Amy and Bella's Teardrop Adventures 