On Friday I was coming home from some meetings in Lander and saw the signs on 287 for the historic sites of Atlantic City and South Pass City.  After "checking it out", I decided that the two sites would be an excellent daytrip for the weekend.

So on Sunday I packed sandwiches, watermelon and snacks, and Adam, Aislynn, her friends Maddy and Braelyn and I headed out for an afternoon adventure. 

Everything was exactly as it should be when one has the privilege of living in the wilds of Wyoming.  Big blue sky, western landscape, long stretches of open road and a sense that all is right in the world.

We stopped in Farson and got the biggest ice cream cones the girls had ever seen.  (Incidentally, July is National Ice Cream Month, something that I and my sweet tooth plan to honor every day of the month..) 

In South Pass City, we were greeted by a sign that read, "Population... about 5."  SPC is a "museum town", where the various buildings and homes have been preserved and restored to reflect life as it was in the late 1800s.  There are houses, saloons, a hotel, a school house, stables, outhouses, and even the old mine shaft.  You can walk into and through all the buildings, looking at period furnishings and decorations.

The girls were thrilled to see "life back in the day", and I was amazed at their attention spans as they went through building after building, making fun observations about what they saw and what daily life must have been like many generations ago.  When we entered one of the saloons, Braelyn, who is seven years old, stared intently at a portrait of George Washington on the wall.  After a minute she grabbed my arm and exclaimed, "Jennifer, I know that guy! He's on the dollar bill!"  Perfect.  

In the general store, the girls noted old-time labels that they still see on products in modern form today, such as Campbell's and Van Kamp's.  They were fascinated by the old-time press and the telephone from the early 1900s, and wondered "where the buttons were."  For my part, I bought a recipe book called, The Lost Art of Pie -Making, Made Easy. Can't wait to try it out.  (And as luck and good timing would have it, I just got a big bunch of fresh rhubarb from Doris Ramsperger! How perfect is that?!?!?!)

It was a really fun day with lots of laughter, learning and discovery.  And as if that wasn't enough, on the way home we came across lots of antelope and a group of horses along Hwy 28, including three colts nuzzling their mothers.

I was exhausted when we got home, and somewhat "kidded-out".  But as I lay in bed that night, I reflected on how glad I am that my daughter will grow up with these experiences in her childhood -- how they will shape her and add to her world knowledge and the person she becomes.

If you haven't been to South Pass City and Atlantic City or haven't been there in a long time, it's a daytrip worth taking in this gorgeous state we call home.

Thanks for taking time to read the blog and have a great week in the glorious West.