Thermopolis...warmer weather and dinosaurs!

 

We are very cautious about traveling in bad weather.  We check the weather faithfully before we set out for our next destination.  As we began to travel south we were looking to avoid freezing temperatures (not sure how that would affect our pipes in our rig) and snow.  The weather forecast for Thermopolis (doesn't that sound like a warm place?) was much warmer than Cody.  The elevation was 1,000 feet lower than Cody, rain was predicted but no freezing temperatures and therefore; no snow.  While driving we had light sprinkles and it wasn't until we reached our 13th camping stop in Thermopolis (9/26 - 9/28)  that it began to rain in earnest. 

We hunkered down in our trailer accessing the internet with our heater running, very cozy.  About 10 p.m. the rain stopped and all was quiet.

We climbed into bed around 11:00 and just as we were falling asleep we started hearing animal footsteps on our roof right over our bed.  For the first time, we were parked under lush green trees.  We thought, trees meant animals up in those trees, like raccoons or squirrels.  After about thirty minutes, we heard a loud crash on our roof.  We got up and turned on our outside light and looked out the window...SNOW was falling.  That explained the noises we heard - wet, heavy snow dropping off the trees onto our roof, not critters!  We waited until morning to see if there was any damage done.

 

 

 

We were lucky!  Only a slight dent in our roof.  Others in our campground were not so lucky, one RV had a heavy branch fall and sheer off one of their awnings.  By the next day the sun was out and most of the snow had melted.  Still much of the town still didn't have power until about 28 hours later.  It took our park about 12 hours to get power back.

 

 

 

Thermopolis is known for mainly two things...hot springs (hence the name) and the Dinosaur Center.  This area is filled with dinosaur bones and other types of fossils.  There are ongoing digs with uncovered fossils brought back to the Dinosaur Center for cleaning.  We visited this large warehouse and were quite impressed with their exhibits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next Stop: #14 - Springville (Provo), Utah