Thermopolis, Wyoming

Sounds like a fake place doesn't it?  It's actually real and we came here for a couple of reasons.  The first is that I didn't want to pull clear across Wyoming to get to Devil's Tower in one day and Thermopolis is about mid-way through the Middle of Nowhere.  It would have been a 10 hour day to get across the entire state and after Yellowstone, I knew we would need to take things a little slower.  The second reason I picked Thermopolis is that I motored up Mt. Washington in New Hampshire with a MINI Cooper friend back in 2009 that lives "kind of close by" here in Wyoming.  Yes, she lives in Wyoming and she motored to New Hampshire for a MINI Cooper event.  That's what crazy MINI peeps do.  Turns out we'll be meeting up with her tomorrow in Buffalo, WY for lunch.  She has a MINI Cooper named, "Dottie Bug" and it resembles a Lady Bug, dots and all!  I can't wait for the kids to see it in person.  The third reason: the Bighorn River and trout fishing.  I've had my gear stowed away for 5 weeks now and even though Yellowstone was tempting, 3 full days in Thermopolis gave me time to sort out where and how I would approach this river.  I was extremely fortunate to be camped next to an outstanding fly fishing/white water rafting outfit that goes by the name of Wind River Canyon Whitewater & Flyfishing.  I'm linking them since Mike was fantastic about setting me up with the right flies and a direction to go and explore the Bighorn.

The Olsen's (minus Daddy) soak in the Thermopolis Hot Springs

A beautiful Bighorn Brown Trout

Since Thermopolis has the Dinosaur Museum and the hot springs, the kids were able to see both while I sorted out the flyfishing thing.  And between laundry and games, here's what basically happened in Thermopolis:  Daddy biked Wind River Canyon down Rt. 20 (once with Aunt Maribeth & Laryssa and once solo) - a beautiful stretch of road where

the Bighorn is basically flanked by towering cliffs.  And Daddy flyfished the Bighorn for two days - and had the trout fishing experience of a life time.  The first day was basically 6 hours of finding trout water and then figuring out how to catch them while everyone else kicked around camp (Mommy did laundry AGAIN! - Thank you, Mommy).  I caught 4 trout that day - all of them had a difficult time fitting in the net - bigger trout than anything I can realistically catch on the East Coast.  I also had many other trout on that I lost, but when you have trout interested, you're in good shape.
The Brown Trout pictured above (both pictures) is truly the trout of my life - he's no less than 6 pounds and anyone who catches trout on the fly will tell you - that's what flyfisherman dream about!  The second day on the river Graeme came along as my official photographer and sherpa (he carried water and a chair) - I caught 7 trout.

This was after they visited the Dinosaur Museum which was fun, but most everyone napped while Graeme and I went off to the river.  On the Bighorn, Daddy caught two browns, four rainbows and I think a cutthroat trout - I'm getting an opinion on that from the photo I got of it.  It was a fantastic last day.  Graeme took his job as my "Official Sherpa and Photgrapher" very seriously  - I have the 400+ digital photos that he took from the bank of the Bighorn as proof!

Turns out that Graeme is also a little scared of cows - they were in a field near us and they are big.  There also was a lama and a few bighorn sheep. In this part of the Bighorn River, public access to the river is within 100' of the river so many farms with various animals back right up to the public access area and are separated by basically 2 wires stretched across the field.  In one place on our 30 minute hike to trout territory, the rancher constructed an A-frame ladder over his barbed wire fence.  I got a kick out of it my first day on the river and Graeme had the same reaction.

Daddy landing a Bighorn brown trout

But once he realized there was wire fence between us and them, he relaxed a little...  All in all, Thermopolis was a fantastic and heart-pounding experience for Daddy on the Bighorn and a relaxing, laid back couple of days for everyone else.  Minus the laundry for Mommy, of course, lol!

An awesome sign in Thermopolis

A bison in Hot Springs State Park

Thermopolis

Teepee formation in Thermopolis

Custom made shirts!  You want one, don't you?

While Graeme and I were away on the river, the girls decided to open their own fashion shop right here in the camper.  It's amazing how creative kids can get when they're stuck in camp while Daddy fishes for hours...

Fires started burning in Shoshone National forest the day before we left

A cat hopped right up in our storage compartment tonight -
must have smelled the grill and became real friendly...

Graeme & Annalise inspecting the "fossil" Graeme found
when he went fishing with Daddy