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<\/a><\/p>\nUnfortunately, Jackson, Wyoming was not quite the city that I expected. \u00a0I knew it was a tourist town and I didn’t really think I’d run into Harrison Ford or Sandra Bullock (Well, maybe I considered it for a minute. \u00a0Just a second.). \u00a0It was mostly just a couple blocks of expensive stores and high-end realty offices. \u00a0Although the antler arch was cool.<\/p>\n We settled for some window shopping and ate at the Saddlerock Saloon at the Jackson Hole Playhouse.<\/a> Where the cowboys sing to you over your bison burger. \u00a0Because tacky is underrated and if we’re going to support anyone in Jackson, it should be the starving theatre performers.<\/p>\n We did get a chance to talk to our waiter about real life in Wyoming. He told us what a lot of locals told us about living out west. \u00a0That the summers were crazy with tourists and the winters were long and isolated. \u00a0Locals on either side of Glacier and Yellowstone told us that once the park roads closed with snow in the winter there was no way through to the other side except all the way around—-more than a day trip on snowy roads. \u00a0Our waiter told us that stores in Jackson were only open sporadically in winter because the skiers tended to stay at the resorts for whatever they needed and the homeowners flew into Jackson airport and took a private car straight to their vacation home. \u00a0Oh, Harrison. \u00a0How rude!<\/p>\n So Jackson wasn’t that exciting. \u00a0And we didn’t see any famous people. \u00a0And we didn’t even see any moose, despite all the moose warning signs along the road and the moose parephernalia in the stores. \u00a0So I settled for a delicious slice of Very Berry pie from the The Bunnery<\/a> and this picture. \u00a0Because it includes a moose and it screams, “Family Vacation: Aaaaagggh!”<\/p>\n From there the country opened up and all along I-80 we watched the terrain roll into the horizon, interrupted by scrubby hills and the buttes of the west.<\/p>\n Sections of I-80 were an old stagecoach route and we got out at Point of Rocks, a desolate and deserted town that consisted of a few trailers and a weary gas station, to read about the Almond Stage Station built in 1862.<\/p>\n Easy to see how the stagecoach feared bandits and Indians alike in this wild territory.<\/p>\n Not far ahead was a town that Middle and I had been eagerly anticipating. \u00a0Middle has a given name (of course) and although I stole it from a book character (of course) in All the Pretty Horses<\/a>, there is also a town in Wyoming that knows the correct spelling. \u00a0Unlike everyone that Middle has encountered in his life that wants to spell it like a sports manufacturer <\/a>(um, never!) or punk rockstar<\/a> (maybe, but so many tattoos!). \u00a0I think all this spelling confusion is a sign that Americans don’t read enough. \u00a0 Anyway, in celebration I drove Middle around town taking his picture with all the correctly spelled name signs.<\/p>\n I really wanted to get one of the street signs hanging around town for him, but there didn’t seem to be a way except vandalism.<\/p>\n Since the local cops were probably already alarmed by an out of state vehicle driving around taking pictures of their town center, banks, and public safety organizations, it didn’t seem worth it. \u00a0I wanted to explore the wild west without actually taking part in a shoot out. \u00a0But even if the town name is meaningless to you, they do have a great Frontier Prison<\/a> that operated from 1901 until 1981.<\/p>\n The prison and the grounds are pretty run down, giving you a pretty authentic idea of what it was like to serve time there. \u00a0We had an excellent tour guide who walked us through the prison, detailing stories of the inmates, escapes and shootouts, and the history of the structure. \u00a0They did carry out executions at the prison and both the gallows and the electric chair are still in evidence. \u00a0There was also a small museum with lots of old photos, homemade shanks, and other prison paraphernalia.<\/p>\n The whole family absolutely loved it. \u00a0Which says something about our family. \u00a0I don’t know what, but….something.<\/p>\n We blew through Vedauwoo<\/a>, settling for the view from the highway instead of getting in to rock climb. \u00a0Vedauwoo was different from most of the other jagged rock we’d seen during our travels. \u00a0Most of the edges there were rounded, making the features appear soft and gentle. \u00a0It was an easy stop off the highway and I plan to keep it on the list as a stop during next year’s return drive through the state on the way to Oregon and California.<\/p>\n And we only stopped in Laramie for a quick look at their Wyoming Territorial Prison<\/a>, famous for briefly housing Butch Cassidy. \u00a0The prison itself was much less interesting than the detailed exhibits on Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch. \u00a0There was a lot of info on the gang, how they got started, and their activities throughout the west. \u00a0Plus, this opportunity:<\/p>\n Once we hit Colorado I dragged the family through the Denver Botanical Gardens….<\/p>\n and in return the boys took me on a walkabout of Mile High Stadium. 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