Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Saratoga, Wyoming - Road Trip

As I look out of my office window, the wetlands are still brown looking and the day is dreary with some snow and rain.  The trees are still barren and no leaf in sight.  I am so ready for summer.

Even though everything looks so gloomy, my trip to Saratoga, Wyoming came to mind.  In October, some friends traveled to Denver from Houston and we decided to take a road trip to Wyoming. That was such a fun trip.

Leaving Loveland, Colorado, we headed to Saratoga.  Our first stop was going to be in Laramie, Wyoming. Laramie is the home of "University of Wyoming".  It is the third largest city with a population of 32,711.  In 2011, Laramie was named as one of the best cities in which to retire because of its scenic location, low taxes and the university.  I wonder if the magazine stated that Laramie receives 64 inches of snow a year and how windy this area can be? 

As we left Laramie, we headed west towards the Snowy Range Pass and Medicine Bow National Forest.  We were in awe of the beauty of the changing color of the leaves.  With the blue sky and the steady breeze of the wind, the golden leaves danced before our eyes.

About two hours later, we arrived in Saratoga, Wyoming.  Saratoga is known for it's healing waters/hot springs.  Prior to the 1800s, the land around was frequented by the Indians, who soaked in the healing waters.  This area was known as Warm Springs, but in 1884, the town was renamed with the hopes of creating a smaller version of the New York spa town, Saratoga Springs.

This cute town has a population of 1,640.  The North Platte flows through Saratoga.  People come from all over to fish, hunt and to soak in the mineral baths.  The town's motto is "where the trout leap in Main Street".  In the winter, the town receives an average of 54 inches of snow.

Saratoga is a nice town with several choices of restaurants.  Everybody helps each other in this town.  Even during the 2020 pandemic, this town thrived.

We enjoyed two nights in Saratoga.  The men enjoyed a day of fly fishing and my friend and I toured the town and the small shops and enjoyed watching the deer as they walked through town.  The evenings were spent drinking wine and soaking in the hot springs.

On Sunday morning, as we were packing up a winter storm blew in with snow.  Everybody was excited to see the first snow for fall.  We headed back the way that we had traveled on Friday, not knowing that the winter storm had already came across the Snowy Range Pass.  The pass was treacherous with several inches of snow and slick spots.  We came across two Moose and a mob of deer.  After about three hours, we finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It felt good to be back in Loveland, where the temperature was 68 and the wind was howling.  Another fun get away weekend!

Saratoga, Wyoming - October 2020


1 comment:

CWMartin said...

Except for the snow- which interests Misty far more than myself- that was a fun and interesting read. Somehow, in our area, the only thing I bet would leap on Main Street is trash and carp.