Trip 1, Day 4: Casper, WY

Day 4 of the trip provided a respite from all the driving and an opportunity to see Casper, Wyoming. We visited the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center, a great interactive museum chronicling the journey of pioneers who crossed the plains following the Oregon, California, or Mormon trails and the Pony Express, all of which passed through Casper. The center sits on a hill overlooking the city of Casper, providing a beautiful view point. We also toured the Fort Caspar museum, which recreated part of the fort from the mid- to late 1800s and served as army post, stage coach stop and later a telegraph station. We then drove to Casper Mountain to Rotary Park to hike to the Garden Creek Falls. Be forewarned that the main trails are not well marked and it is easy to end up on a side trail! Instead of doing a simple quarter-mile hike to the falls, we ended up doing a hike that took us over

the top of the falls, with 13 degree grades, rocky areas, and a stream crossing that we did not expect! Needless to day, we felt ready for a pub or two at that point! We headed to historic downtown Casper to Frontier Brewing Company for some exceptional beers--the Frontier Bonnie & Clyde Barrel Aged DIPA (a truly special one-of-a-kind beer) and the Frontier Midnight Sky Dark Rye. Both delicious! We also checked out the Mountain Hops Brewhouse (Ninth Wonder NE IPA and the Perky Porter) and finished the evening at Oil City Beer Company (Hazy NE IPA and Jake Brake Porter).