SATURDAY, August 16

No 6:00 wake up call as ordered ... Turns out they called room 110, and we'd moved to room 120.  Luckily I woke up on my own at 6:15.  They had a very nice hot breakfast, but I guess my face fell when she pointed out the scrambled eggs... with sausage.  What a nice surprise when she had the cook make me up some plain ones.  With yogurt and a blueberry muffin I filled up nicely.

We arrived at Wade and Cindy's on schedule, piled into their truck (without my chair) and drove to Bags, Wyoming where we toured Wade's dad Bob's museum (wow!) Once we finished there (and maybe saw 1% of his stuff!) we headed over to Bob and Rosa Lee's house in nearby Savery.  On the drive there we saw lots of pronghorn, and two of the Sandhill cranes in the field.  For the past several years the cranes have been visiting their garden and sharing the bird feeder with their smaller feathered friends, but this is the wrong time of day to expect to see them here.  Still, I could get lucky.

At the house we looked at some of their lifetime arrowhead collection, which is quite something. I absolutely loved a watercolor rendition Rosa Lee did of one beautiful turkey tail blade.  Also really enjoyed some of the really tiny exquisitely knapped points.  On a tour of the house I got to see more of her watercolors, which are most impressive.

Pretty house finches at the feeder - lots of orange. Rosa Lee says that they also have lapis lazuli 'covering the ground' at times.  Would love to see some of them since I have only seen them in pictures.  Did get to see a pretty yellow mama Evening Grosbeak cracking seeds and feeding them to two juveniles.

What a lunch: fried chicken, outrageous potato salad, freshly picked tomato slices, watermelon, etc. - and brownies for dessert!  After we finished stuffing our faces the guys went grubbing at the buffalo jump, and the three of us went to the local museum to see some quilts.  (Bob had built the wonderful rack from which they hang.) It was quite a museum, and all the more so since it's in a town with a population (according to the sign) of 25... and Rosa Lee says that may be a generous number!

I saw the 2-room schoolhouse Rosa Lee attended through 3rd grade - and which her mother and grandmother also attended!  (Starting in the 4th grade she got to move to the 'big' building, which now houses the museum.) The museum contained lots of exhibits that included possessions of various relatives; in the clothing area I got to see her great-grandmother's bustle.  And there was more of her artwork on display.  One of the buildings was a log cabin, built in the late 1800s, where one of her school friends had lived.  The inside of one room was lined with old newspapers, and although we searched hard, we couldn't find an intact piece with the date on it.  Once finished at the museum we headed to the Welcome Center in Bags, where more of Rosa Lee's beautiful watercolors hang.  

After dinner we toured the garden (LOTS of different beautiful flowers, most of which I didn't recognize) until the mosquitoes drove us inside.  Wade drove a back road home, and we saw zillions of jack rabbits streaking across the road, and some cottontails.  Antelope were up on the ridge silhouetted against the darkening sky.  

By the time we got home it was 9:30.  Long day, but we sure had fun.