We have reached Wyoming…

Oh, my…

Up this morning early as we wanted to get to the U-Dig Fossil site early. We got complimentary breakfast at last night’s restaurant, which was actually really good – including great salsa for the scrambled eggs; on the road a little after 7, as Emmy (our GPS) said it would take 2 ½ hours to get to the fossils.

Really lovely drive through the basin area west of Fillmore. Very much farming and cattle country. Off on a dirt road for 20 miles – good grading, lots of water in the supposedly dry lakes and ponds shown on the map. For once, Emmy was wrong, as we arrived at the site about 10 minutes to 9 (their opening time). Didn’t have long to wait before a man in a truck drove up and unlocked the chain across the site and in we went. Parked the car and headed to the office, where we got to sign waivers indicating that we were responsible for our own safety and that we wouldn’t sue them in case of …whatever. Also picked up our rock hammers and buckets and started to explore. Robert did a really manful job of splitting the shale looking for fossils. I did some of that as well, but found that there were many small fossils embedded in the shale just waiting to be picked up! We signed up to dig; pound for two hours, and were ready to retire when our time was up. We got quite a collection of trilobites; really a wonderful morning! Ready for a rest (and lunch!) by the time we gathered up our finds, loaded them in the car and headed back to civilization.

Found a McDonald’s in Delta for lunch and washing up – digging was very dusty work! Then turned the car east and set Emmy to get us to Kemmerer, Wyoming, the fossil fish capital of the U.S. She took us a very interesting route, supposedly the shortest way – but it got us off the freeway in Provo (where they were having their Latin American festival), wound us through the BYU campus (fortunately the football team was out of town, as we went right past Lavelle Edwards Stadium), to and through Heber City (where they were having an air show) – seems like the last holiday weekend of the summer has something for everyone in Utah and Wyoming! Crossed from Utah into Wyoming and left the freeway about 30 miles in to drive to Kemmerer. A really lovely and lonely road – don’t think we passed a car the entire 40 miles! I have to admit that we were getting a little bit spooked, as we were .02 of a mile from our hotel, and not only could not see the hotel, but couldn’t see ANYTHING that might pass for a town! Finally, rounded a corner, and there was the hotel. Very nice and new Best Western. Lovely room on the second floor, with nice living room with couch and chair, as well as good-sized bedroom. As I have been resisting doing laundry, I finally broke down (seeing that the laundry was just down the hall…) and did a load. What can I say? I have issues, okay?! Got a dinner recommendation from the hotel manager to go to Bootlegger’s, the “best place in town.” Oh! Forgot to tell you – the only food available in town on Sunday is FAST – the Pizza Hut, oh, and the Subway…… Decided to try the Bootlegger, and, as recommended, made a reservation for tonight.

It wasn’t really hard to find town (just down the block and turn left) and the Bootlegger was on Main Street. Well, find it we did… Now, Robert does not want anyone to think that we are food snobs … even though we are. So…where do I begin? Small place lined in knotty pine; paper napkins, placemats and, as R pointed out, stamped stainless steel tableware. I wish I could have taken a picture of Robert’s face when he looked at the menu. The smallest steak was 16 oz. But I’m sure you could get it fried, as it seemed like they fried everything else! I got my glass of chardonnay in a champagne flute! R has been looking forward to trout but here, with trout streams in every direction for hundreds of miles, there was none to be had. The closest to trout was Norwegian salmon! So, instead, he got sautéed shrimp with soggy French fries, canned corn and salad. I got a plate of spaghetti with garlic bread, and also salad bar. The “bar” was debatable, as there was one lettuce, some beets, and that was about it – oh! Remember Baco’s? They were there, too! I picked the Ranch dressing as being the most likely to not make me sick … we’ll see…Back to the room in about 45 minutes; thank goodness for television!

Tomorrow we’re going to head out to see if we can find some fish fossils at another “u-dig” site, after which we will head to the Fossil Butte National Monument…after which we will go to Evanston, the closest “big” town where we might actually be able to get a dinner that isn’t “fast!”

More later!
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