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My favorite thing (like most of yours) was going to visit the ruts. I had seen pictures of them many times before, but it was very cool to be there in person and actually see how deep they are. I'm glad that they are in a location where people can come and experience them. In my opinion, there is something extra special about going to locations and seeing the "real thing" versus something that is rebuilt, relocated, or reconstructed (even though the latter three have their place in helping us visualize what things might have been like).

I would like to have seen what the terrain was like 150 years ago that would concentrate so many wagons into such a narrow little spot. It seems like there is plenty of room now for wagons to travel many different ways, but it was mentioned that there were lots of marshy areas near the river (great for birds, bad for wagons), and I wonder if the river has varied its course since the 1840's. Anyway, it was fun to be there.

I was kind of surprised at Ft. Laramie. For as much history and lore as it has, it seemed rather. . . sparse. I didn't realize that anything there that would date back to the early Mormon Trail era is gone. I walked down to see where the old fort would have been, and that was nice. And yellow-shafted flickers, house wrens, and western wood pewees found me. Since Lewis and Clark were discussed today, I'm sure many of you know that Lewis and Clark each have a bird named after them - the Lewis's woodpecker and the Clark's nutcracker. Go to Google Images if you want to see what they look like.