The southern section of Yellowstone Park was beautiful, and we caught sight of the Grand Teton Mountains, with snow caps, in the distance when we stopped to see a waterfalls and its wide, meandering river.

We hit the first of the road construction just outside of Yellowstone. We'd been warned with signs about "loose gravel." There was no loose gravel...just dirt. For miles. And only one lane for traffic, lots of heavy equipment and highway construction workers. The delays put us back about three hours on our travels back through central Wyoming and out into northwest Colorado on our way to Craig, Colorado.

Wyoming continues to amaze me with its variety of majestic scenery and lack of people. We crossed the Great Divide four times coming down from Yellowstone.

If you visit there, look out for poorly-marked sudden demands to stop going 75 mph so you can hit bumps in the road at 45 mph. Otherwise your teeth may rattle and your vehicle just may bottom out. It could also cost you $120 fine...or more.

We enjoyed a stop in the southwest corner of the Wind River Indian Reservation and a trading post with neat tee-shirts, flintnapped arrowheads, buffalo tallow lotions, jewelry, posters, blankets, etc.

We enjoyed Muddy Gap. It's on the map, but it's small. Mostly, it's a gas station.

Craig, Colorado, is a town of about 8,000 residents. It's nestled into a plain with mountains surrounding it. They have a new high school. A new junior high opens this fall. They have two swimming pools, a nice community park, great garage sales, deer eating crabapples in people's yards, and an amazing view from nearly anyhwere in town.

Our thanks to the McDiffett family for being terrific hosts to us in Craig!

There was much driving on Saturday, which seems to be a good day to get through Denver if your plan is to get through without stopping.

We enjoyed wide vistas, clear lakes, snow-topped mountain peaks, rocky slopes, greenest-of-green ski trails down mountain slopes (waiting for winter snows), buttes, pine trees, good highways, and window-gawking.

One highlight of the day, and of our entire trip, was seeing the eagles' nest at Silverthorne, Colorado.

The eagles chose to build on a power pole. The power company chose to remove the lines from the pole to make the spot safer for nesting and eaglets. We distinctly saw two parents and at least three eaglets.

The nest is very near the highway and a bike trail, making it easy to pull over, park, and walk closer to observe these huge birds.

Back in Kansas, we stopped for the night at Oakley, about 1.5 miles south of I-70, about 70 miles into the state from the west.

I had been in Oakley before, in Gove County to visit the spectacular Momument Rocks, farther south yet from Oakley.

But neither of us had seen the fairly-new monument to Buffalo Bill Cody in Oakley. It is huge, action-packed, and impressive.

Less impressive (to me) was the story proclaimed in an attractive roadside display that Cody, by his own accounting, killed well over 8,000 bison in the Oakley area in eight months in 1865, while working for the railroad.

Slaughtering bison was the white man's way of getting rid of native tribes in the area who depended on hunting bison for food and supplies. Cody saw to it that the era of Native control of the land ended.

Of course, he went on to become internationally famous as a showman. Thus, Cody, Wyoming, and many of the entertaining places we visited on this trip.

Kansas is the Plains. It may seem boring after a visit to the wilds of Wyoming.

But the Flint Hills are home.

The sky is still dramatic. The land rolls. And July, 2009, is cool and wet...so the grass is green and has more cattle grazing than any place we saw in Wyoming.

We bring back our spoils, our photos and our memories of a marvelous vacation.

Be sure to see friend Patti's special photos from this trip!