Buttes

stemc33

Not Butts, but Buttes. My wife loves to go rockhounding, so we headed South taking a few spurs off the 80mph highway to look for rocks. Ended up in Chris Ledoux's hometown of Kacee, Wy. It's a little less than an hours drive if you stay on the 80mph road. Took us a bit to get there picking up rocks along the way. Anyway, took a few pics and thought I'd share them with you. Would of took more but it was a little hazy today.

johnmitchell

Great pics..Did you take the dogs, was kinda hoping for a few shots of them. Looks beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

Legume

You know, if you keep posting pics like these, Wyoming is going to get crowded.  You need to mix some winter pics in.

theyolksonyou

Every time you post pics, I'm that much closer to planning a trip out west. 

mgd_egg

Absolutely beautiful.  

Jeepster47

Wow it really was hazy, I can hardly see the buttes for the pollution.  You're as bad as the Southern folks posting that it's cold in the winter 'cuz it's down to 70 degrees.

Oh yea, I do enjoy your pics ... keep them coming.

stemc33

Thanks everyone. 
@johnmitchell, we did take the dogs. No pics of the dogs this go round. 

@Legume, I really can't understand why more people don't move here. It baffles me with all the people that visit that some just don't leave. Unfortunately, we will probably be losing more people due to the oil boom slowing down. When the oil slows it's a trickle effect down to all businesses. Hopefully with the low gas prices, tourism will be in full swing. Retirees looking to get out of the rat race should be looking for good deals, especially if the oil production stays stagnant.

@theyolksonyou, the gas prices are perfect for a road trip. Come on out.

@Jeepster47, some of the areas overlooking a few of the ranches with great scenery were hazy. I get it though, I can remember low visibility on a clear day in SoCal and getting released early from school due to smog alerts. As kid, instead of hoping for a snow day, we'd always get excited for early release for smog alerts. I think they've cleaned up the air since then though.  

  

Zmokin

theyolksonyou said:

Every time you post pics, I'm that much closer to planning a trip out west. 

Ya know, it's no where near as pretty in person as it is in pictures.  Despite all of the media hype, the West really sucks.  

grege345

Wyoming is my second favorite state. I can see me living there some day. 

NPHuskerFL

Reminds me of Scottsbluff. 

stemc33

grege345 said:

Wyoming is my second favorite state. I can see me living there some day. 

Gotta ask...what's your #1?

grege345

Drunken state

Doc_Eggerton

I was born in Tucson, I know what a butte is LOL.

TylerA

I love the desert in the spring.  Nice pics, looks like you had a great time!!

SGH

Simply breath taking brother stem.

Zmokin

stemc33 said:

Is that a Wyoming golf course?   

stemc33

@Zmokin, why ya hatin' on the West? Did you bucked off a horse or something? Here's a couple pics from this morning. Perfect storm left the snow in the mountains and just rain in the foothills. The first is from my ride home from work and the second is from my porch. 

Legume

I hate you in the best possible way.

Hotch

@stemc33 We have family in Gillette WY. From the back (East side) of their 2,400 acres, you can see the Devils Tower. I would move up there in at the drop of a hat if I could. Beautiful country and less people. What's wrong with that!

Great pics, thanks.

stemc33

Legume said:

I hate you in the best possible way.

Whatcha mean? You live in one of the best city's in the U.S. I will say that when I lived in Texas, I realized quickly that Texans are proud of their state. The proudest people of any state I've been to. Part of that comes from brain washing the kids early in school. When my son would come home from Kindergarten, he'd sing the stars are bright deep in the heart Texas over and over. 

johnkitchens

Beautiful pics. I would move there in an instant if my wife would. 

TylerA

My favorite Butte is in Montana.  Home of the best pork chop sandwich on earth.

Legume

stemc33 said:

Legume said:

I hate you in the best possible way.

Texans are proud of their state. The proudest people of any state I've been to. Part of that comes from brain washing the kids early in school.

So true, so true.  As Lyle Lovett points out every time I listen to his song 'That's Right', I'm not really from Texas.

It's all normal to me now, but I used to get a good laugh about how proud Texas is of Texas.  You can go to Home Depot or Lowe's and find entire sections dedicated to lamps and fans and planters festooned with Texas stuff.  The concrete work on freeways is decorated with Texas stuff - stars and cows and the shape of the state and bluebonnets (which were always just lupin to me growing up in California).  Texas loves Texas in a way that people from other states don't understand and people in Texas don't realize is unique to Texas.  I can't imagine buying a lamp in Wyoming with the shape of Wyoming on it.

I love it here, but I miss the mountains.  Long, long time ago I spent a couple of weeks in Wyoming/Montana/Idaho on a family vacation.  Horses, fishing and hiking for a couple of weeks was the best.  I've always thought it would be great to live there someday, glad to see it's still not crowded.

Spydermunky

@stemc33 You're making me homesick...  I grew up in western South Dakota, right where the badlands and prairie converge, and my in-laws are from right down the road in Buffalo, WY.  I've spent the last 15 years trying to wiggle my way back home, but the career has kept me away thus far...

No better place to live, and I've lived a lot of places...

pgprescott

yeah, those are beautes  

Skiddymarker

Great pics....best way to work up a "solved by cooking something on the egg" appetite. 

McStew

I spent many summers working on my uncles ranch in Lagrange WY I have quite the collection of fossils / other rocks your pictures bring back some great memories 

Zmokin

stemc33 said:

@Zmokin, why ya hatin' on the West? Did you bucked off a horse or something? Here's a couple pics from this morning. Perfect storm left the snow in the mountains and just rain in the foothills. The first is from my ride home from work and the second is from my porch. 

I'm afraid you are misinterpreting me.  I'm west of Wyoming.  I love the beautiful outdoors we have.  My comment regarding media hype is about keeping more people from moving out west, we don't need more people.

Did you think I was serious when I said " it's no where near as pretty in person as it is in pictures"?  Anyone knows pictures never do justice to the likes of Yosemite Valley, or seeing Old Faithful up close and in person, or the Grand Tetons. 

My comment about the golf course, my second look at the picture and the grassland looked so uniform like it was a well groomed like a golf course.  I figure the rough & tumble crowd might use prairie dog holes for a golf course, but I'm just joking.  I've been backpacking in the Wind River Range and it was beautiful, even if the weather changed during the week and chased us out a day early.  Hiked all day in the rain trying to get as far as possible, turned to snow when we set up camp, finished hiking out the next day in 2 feet of new snow.  So, with an extra day for driving home, drove up to Jackson Hole for the night, then out through Yellowstone into Idaho, and back down through NV to go home.

But I will say, I prefer motorcycles to horses, Motorcycles do what I want them to do, after having a horse use a tree branch to dismount me, never again will i climb back on top of a 800 lb beast.

stemc33

@Zmokin,  yep...you got me. Sometimes I'm quick witted and sometimes it takes me a minute to catch on. Lol. 

I'm with you on the motorcycle thing. Even Though I live in cowboy country, not a fan of horses. Had the exact same thing happen to me the first time on a horse that was supposed to be the gentlest horse around.  

I grew up on the West Coast and was fortunate that the Army sent me to Wyoming to recruit towards the end of my career. Finished up my Army career in SoCal and moved back to Wyoming after retirement. Never have intentions to leave that's for sure. 

Mickey

Thinking of heading your way and going on to Yellowstone & Glacier but thought the weather would still be bad. From the looks of your outstanding pictures all looks to be fine now? Thoughts?

stemc33

Mickey said:

Thinking of heading your way and going on to Yellowstone & Glacier but thought the weather would still be bad. From the looks of your outstanding pictures all looks to be fine now? Thoughts?

You should be good. If you do hit any weather it should be brief. This is the best time of year to see animal life in YNP before the big tourism season hits. Depending on your route, if your going through Cody,  the Chief Joseph HWY to Cooke City, MT is well worth it. It will take you to the NE entrance of YNP. Also, Cody has a nightly rodeo starting June 1st thru the summer. Might not be of interest to you being from Texas though. I'm sure you have plenty of opportunities to see rodeos.