Mid country

Sunday, 30 June 2013, to Scottsbluff

We flew into Denver, rented an incredibly expensive Alamo car, met Maggie and her kids for lunch at a stop off I-25, and drove to Gering, where Dorthey lives. Dorthey’s 90th birthday is coming up, so it’s an excuse to visit the midwest.

We stopped at Pine Bluff, Wyoming for tourist bumpf and a quick look at the archaeological site (a midden, which is a sophisticated term for a dump).

Looking for interesting things to photograph, as always, for example the fine detail in this milkweed seed puff.

In Gering (the German word for insignificant: it’s not accidental that there are a lot of German settlers in the history of this part of the country), we sat outdoors and enjoyed a cool evening and looked for small animals.

Monday, 1 July, Gering

Jacky and I were up early, went out for a bit of a walk. The photo shows how much nothing there is around here.

Just around the corner from Dorthey’s is a place with some distinctive junk sculpture in the yard.

We had a bit of breakfast, then headed out to the Bluff, as it’s known locally; that would be Scott’s Bluff. Hiram Scott died somewhere near here, although I don’t really know the story. Something about having been abandoned by his buddies, maybe injured or … ?

I claim the photo above is the classic view, but Jacky thinks it’s just the National Park brochure view, nothing to do with the real one. That rock actually is not Scott’s Bluff, just another one of several buttes in the area. The Oregon trail runs below the butte here.

We took the Saddle Rock trail to the top, so-called because the formation to the right can be interpreted as a saddle. Jacky thinks it looks more like a camel.

The rock is a layered structure of mudstone and ash from an eruption of the Yellowstone caldera in geologically recent history. Considering that we’re maybe a thousand km from Yellowstone, we hope it doesn’t do a repeat performance anytime soon.

Naturally, we keep an eye out for small animals, and find a few.

 

I especially like the way this little guy (above) is covered with pollen.

Back at Dorthey’s, we took it easy; the day clouded over and rained for a while, then the sun came out, and we got a double rainbow. Very unusual, at least where we come from.

Even more unusual, the rainbow actually came all the way down to the ground. Cool!

Everyone, including Maggie’s kids, was shooting off fireworks, so that was the evening’s entertainment. No pro show, but then it’s not yet the fourth.

Tags: Oregon trail, Scottsbluff