Trip to the Rock

I wanted to go see my Grandma Shirley before we left for Florida but I wasn't sure if it was going to be possible. We had one car shipped to Florida ahead of time so we were now a one van family, the big van, and I couldn't take that away from the family for a weekend while I went galavanting off in Wyoming! (The one and only time you will see a trip to Rock Springs Wyoming referred to as galavanting!)

I was in luck though, the stars aligned. My mom came into town (she's now in New Mexico, another story) to go to a quilting thing, in Wyoming, and I totally asked her if I could ride her coattails, almost literally! (Car tails?)  So mom, Duncan and I piled in for a short little road trip.

It. Was. Awesome.

No really.

When we came down when Duncan was very little we went to a caboose kind of monument(?) to this coal mining town, (but it's a real caboose...) and Duncan climbed all over it so I knew I would be able to take him there again and that he would think at least that part was fun.

Duncan was great for the ride, super great. After we got there mom set off for a dinner and Duncan and I went to the train. He loved it, he was in heaven. In fact, we left, got dinner, and came back so we could eat on the train. this kid and trains. It was so cute.

We stayed up late chit chatting with my Aunt Nancy, Uncle Pat and my cousin Syd. Duncan got progressively more obnoxious (his sure sign he's tired) until he passed out on the foot stool. Really. I had to carry his super heavy 8 year old body to bed! Ooomf!

We got up, ate a little and left, time to surprise Grandma! I called first and told her we were on our way and she said to come right in. What a great long visit we had. She told me some wonderful stories, I wish I had more time for stories. le sigh.

Duncan kept himself busy playing and was generally quite well-behaved actually, 8 is a magical age. I thought we might be able to stop back by after lunch but at that point I wasn't sure what the plan was and if we were leaving soon. I told her we might be back, even if only to say bye, and we left.

We stopped by the caboose again and hung out for a while. We got to see three trains go by! One engineer even honked for us! (Seriously so cute.) We went to the cemetery, past the first house I remember, and I bored Duncan to death with stories about where I went to school and were people lived. Fun for me, not fun for him. (But seriously, I had to sit by a caboose for hours at this point... he OWED me.)

We went back to see Grandma Shirley to say another goodbye, visit for a minute and then we were off to go back home.

With one stop first.

My mom told me about a bridge in Green River where you go over the train yard. She INSISTS that I had been there before. Now she's the one telling stories because I don't remember anything about this huge bridge. (But to be fair, trains weren't really my thing until about 8 years ago.) Mom wanted to make sure we took Duncan there so he could see all the trains.

Cue another magical moment.

There were train tracks everywhere! And a train stations! And rail road workers! Mechanics! Trains! Engines! Amazing things! The workers were shifting the engines around and they would honk before the started rolling them and it was loud.

Then, sadly, we left. Duncan with two new awesome train books from Uncle Pat in hand and some awesome pictures and memories. If you ask Duncan what he thinks about Rock Springs, Wy - he will tell you he loves it and wants to live there. Now that's what I call a successful trip!

So this was my Wyoming childhood in a nutshell.
Side note: This tunnel went under train tracks and you could hear a train coming when it was forever away.


This darling boy, standing on a train watching a train go by.

Heaven on earth.

I love this grave stone of my great grandma and grandpa because you could see it from the road.
Not only that, but I thought he name was Nona until I saw Pauline on the stone and it made me QUESTION EVERYTHING I HAVE EVER KNOWN.

Duncan took our picture, Way to go Duncan. 

He is cuter!

This engine's horn scared the pants off us.

Home, home on the range.

Duncan was tired and after a day of trains was horribly unimpressed by buffalo. He didn't even get out of the car. Tsk. There aren't any buffalo in Florida Duncan!