Our last day on the road took us through small parts of the Bighorn National Forest, the Gooseberry Badlands and a picnic lunch in Yellowstone National Park. It was a beautiful drive home!
Loaf Mountain Overlook on the Cloud Peak Skyway shows off the Cloud Peak Wilderness.
*Clicking on a photo will give you a closer look!
Tensleep Canyon offers unspoiled beauty while rock climbing, caving, hiking, or mountain biking, and our pursuit…the scenic drive.
Leigh Creek Vee has a broad ledge about 200 feet below the rim of the canyon and about 1,000 feet above the canyon floor with a stone monument topped with a cross. The monument was constructed in 1889 in the memory of a British Member of Parliament (member for South Warwickshire), the Honorable Gilbert H. C. Leigh, after whom the creek is named. In 1884, Leigh, a house guest of Moreton Frewen, lost his life hunting big horn sheep.
Sam Stringer, the courageous former Confederate teamster, had the mail contract for delivery of the mail from Buffalo to Powder River, Sussex, and Ten Sleep. In about 1892, he nearly lost his life delivering mail, but his powerful determination got the job done!
If you are at all interested in the taming of the west, then I encourage you to click on Sam Stringer’s name and read his story. He was a soldier, a teamster (including using his wagon to carry the dead from Fetterman’s Massacre), worked on railroad building, as well as a mail carrier.
Our scenic drive home brought us to the Gooseberry Badlands right after driving through the Bighorn National Park. So fun to see the landscape change so quickly!
There is a trail to hike here, but we opted out. Perhaps someday, we will pass by again and take the time to hike the trail.
I have shared about road trips to Yellowstone National Park here, and here. It is one of our favorite parks to visit!
Today, however, since we were headed home, we only stopped for lunch at the Chittenden Memorial Bridge. It was first constructed in 1903 as a Melan arch bridge by park engineer Captain Hiram M. Chittenden of the US Army Corps of Engineers and spans the Yellowstone River.
In 1961, after a lot of public protest, the National Park Service tore down the original bridge and replaced it with a more modern, wider structure suitable for the type of vehicle traffic the park was experiencing. In an opening ceremony in 1963, the new bridge was christened the Chittenden Memorial Bridge.
Among his other achievements, Chittenden was a successful and prolific historical author. The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in Seattle are named in his honor.
This large raven kept us company the entire time that we ate our picnic lunch.
Our road trip took us 6,738 miles from Washington State to North Carolina. We explored much, learned much, and had so much fun! Wherever you are, if you cannot afford international travel, or maybe that isn’t even a dream of yours, I know that you can find much to see and do in the area where you live!
Since this is my journal, I keep my posts under the tabs in the heading above so that I can find them again. If you ever want to revisit them, you can find them there, too.
See the world around you!
LC's Cottage 
Thanks for bringing us along on your amazing travels.
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Thanks for coming, Bert! 🙂
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“Our road trip took us 6,738 miles from Washington State to North Carolina.”
We, too, enjoy such road trips, but like you say, this one was ‘monumental’ (get the pun?) I’m wondering how much of this was planned and how much ended up being spontaneous?
I love this very ‘Laura’ outlook: “…offers unspoiled beauty while rock climbing, caving, hiking, or mountain biking, and our pursuit…the scenic drive.”
No wonder that Raven stopped by to say hi!
😉
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Funny pun Laura! Hard to say how much was planned and how much wasn’t. Certainly we had a bucket list, but we also intentionally stayed off the main freeway so that we could be flexible and see more. That is probably why we were running out of time towards the end. Ha, ha! And, hey, there is a lot to be said for the scenic drive! That huge raven was very polite. 🙂
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Thrilled you & hubby got to do this! Now you’re all settled back in your home ready for the holidays (and maybe some quilting). What could be better?
🙂
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I will tell you what is better…driving to the coast to be with the son and his fam for Thanksgiving! That’s what! 🙂
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Yesss! It’s our turn this year, so we’ll have a full house with kids/spouses from all over the country!
hugs
The Laura’s scored big this year, eh?!
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That really was an epic trip! Thanks for sharing all the history and beauty you came across!
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Thank you Diann! I enjoyed sharing, and I really enjoy that that quite a few folks followed along. 🙂
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Amazing trip through the USA!!! I enjoyed reading all the places and info you shared, Laura. Poor Gilbert! Yellowstone is my fav national park, too!
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It was an amazing trip, Nancy! Thank you for following along! At least Gilbert was doing what he loved! 🙂
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I hate for the adventure to end. Thank you for taking me along on this epic vacation, I had so much fun!
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I hate for it to end, too, but I am looking forward to more trips in my future! I hope you are, too, Sharon! 🙂
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I am finally going to enjoy your road trip Laura! No lessons this week, so I will spend a morning enjoying your beautiful photographs!
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Take your time, Kathy! I don’t like trips that I have to hurry and not stop ‘and smell the roses’. 🙂
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I love following along with your road trips – giving me more ideas for future holidays. Thank you for sharing your lovely photos.
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Thank you, Connie, for all of your encouragement! 🙂
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