Day 4 and we haven't made it to Yellowstone yet

Alright, I know it is hard for most of you to believe but we got sidetracked! We started off this morning with a great trip up the side of the Big Horn Mountains outside of Sheridan and as we were going up this incredibly steep hill we pulled off to take some pictures. There was a great young man who was taking pictures of someone who was hitting golf balls off the side of the cliff and asked Tate if he wanted to hit one. Well, of course he wanted to and he had an awesome Emmons swing if I do say so myself! We got talking and then met the rest of the family. He had family members who had just ridden their bikes up the side of the mountain. They said it had taken them about 1 hour and 10 minutes and I was completely in awe of their conditioning!!! It was a brother and sister, his name was Pat and he was a police officer from Wyoming and her name was Beth and she was a cardiac nurse from Nebraska. They were in shock, as they were riding up the hill they ran into their sister who was just vacationing and driving to Yellowstone. We were able to get a few "family reunion" on the side of the mountain shots for them and had a great visit. Pat and Beth, you guys ROCK, you are the epitome of health!

We continued West and ran into some beautiful moose who were jumping the fence. Got many more shots of them and sat and watched. I have taken many pictures of jumping horses, but this was my first with jumping moose! (and what are they pleural, mooses, mice, moose?) Hmm, thought to ponder for tomorrow!!!

We saw free range cattle with a cowboy and his dog moving them along the road and we also saw many fly fishermen. We stopped at a viewing point to see snow (like we have never seen snow before). There were 2 bikers from Wisconsin that we visited with there. They were on their way to Cody, Wyoming. A little encouragement from them was all it took for Tate to head up the mountain and fetch a large snowball to hit Mike with. We got some pictures of them on the mountain and they took some for us. They had been there before and told us we were close to the Medicine Wheel and where to find it. Mike had really wanted to see that, so meeting them was a blessing.

We stopped at the Medicine Wheel. It is a sacred and holy sight for 80+ Indian tribes. We parked and made our way up to the sight. It was about a 1 1/4 mile hike which doesn't sound like too much but at 10,000 feet we sure knew we did it. It was wonderful and very spiritual. It said that many Indians to this day prepare for about a year to make this pilgrimage. There were gifts and prayer flags tied everywhere up there, each individual and unique and makes you wonder what all the prayers associated with them are for. We left something tied there and said a special prayer for family and for my patients who battle cancer on a daily basis. It was a moving and beautiful experience and I am so glad we made the trip up the mountain.

We started down the hill towards the Big Horn river and WOW did the brakes get hot! Smokin' is not just a figure of speech if you know what I mean! We had to pull off at a overlook, shut off the car and let them cool so we fixed sandwiches on the side of the road and enjoyed the scenery. We met a really nice man from Oregon who was riding his motorcycle and told us we just had to see Big Horn Canyon. Well, being easily sidetracked, we were up for the challenge. He had told us he was raised in Wyoming and had never seen it until today when he was back just sight seeing. Off we went to the Canyon........incredible beauty! It looks very similar to the Grand Canyon with the river in the bottom. They also have a wild Mustang park there so we got to see first hand a beautiful black stallion, a mare and her yearling foal. They were stunning to behold! He was so large and watching his band looked so alert and muscular. We sat for a long time and watched them. We tried to find more in the park, but never saw any other bands. We found out from a ranger that this was the place that the PBS documentary on Cloud the wild Mustang was filmed. She pointed out the mountain that he lived on and said that it would take a very serious 4Wheeler to get us to the side of that mountain. It was interesting talking with her and very informative. The park also has an old homestead ranch on it with the rocking chairs still on the front porch. We were the only ones around and it says to sit and watch the beauty and that is exactly what we did. I can only imagine what kind of hard life those ranchers had.

Well, with all our sidetracks we only made it to Powell for the night. We got checked in to the Super 8 and settled in for the night. We are planning on Yellowstone tomorrow, but the beauty of this vacation is just that we have no plans and are trying to see it all. I feel that today we saw plenty and had the privilege of meeting some wonderful people. Another blessed day in the West.