Day 12—the day of the fewest pictures ever!

I feel like this might be an appropriate time to mention that I have already filled one 2 gig memory card on the camera (Abbie’s camera—as she continually points out—mine is toast and needs replacing!) and am working on another. So the day that I took only 6 pictures is noteworthy indeed!

We arrived in the town of Thermopolis in the late morning. As I mentioned in my last post, the town is famous for it’s hot springs and even has a “Hot Springs State Park” in the center of town. The park was our first destination. The sunshine, warm temps, and beautiful green grass just beckoned for an outdoor picnic and rest on a blanket. So we decided to do just that!There were two rather antiquated “water parks” in the park (and I use that term very loosely—each had a water slide and some pools) that used the warm mineral springs water; however, the girls didn’t seem all that excited about them—not to mention the smell of the indoor slides and pools was quite strong (a sulfer like smell). So we opted instead for a free 20 minute soak in the pools of the State Bath House—a much more modern/well-maintained facility. Apparently the Indians used to own this land and when they signed it over in a treaty, one of the stipulations was that there would always be a free access to the mineral springs—so the State Bath House was born.

We chose to use the outdoor pool (mostly because the smell outside is not so strong!) and it was WARM! They limit you to a 20 minute soak—and I think this is really because of the temperatures, not because they are trying to get people in and out. In fact, I don’t know that any of us lasted our full 20 minutes. It was very relaxing! After showers, we headed out to our campground and arrived in the early afternoon. We spent the rest of the day just lying around, reading, watching movies and playing games (and doing laundry—thanks Grandma!). It was a nice treat to be able to hang out at our campsite and actually be outdoors. The weather here was lovely!

Tomorrow we will be on our way to the Black Hills area of South Dakota. We’ll be staying in Custer State Park and have visits planned to Mount Rushmore, Wind Cave and the Needles Highway.

And I can just about guarantee that there will be more than 6 pictures!