Gros Ventre Road

It was such a nice day yesterday we wanted to get out and do something before starting work at 3 PM. There was an area that was an extension of the eastern road we had previously taken to the Mormon Row barns and the National Forest that we thought would be interesting. It is very close to the small town of Kelly, WY, and is the home of the Gros Ventre River Ranch. That is French, and is pronounced "gro-vont".

We started out at around 10 AM and didn't get too far into the area near Kelly when we were stopped while this group of buffalo crossed the street:

The turnoff on the Gros Ventre Ranch road was just a short distance past the town of Kelly and is a long road- approximately 12 miles - that winds through this beautiful valley:

It was another short distance before we arrived at the location of the Ranch. We saw this cowboy practicing his roping techniques and at first we thought he was a cowboy from the Rodeo in town just practicing. We found out later that he was probably one of the roping instructors at the ranch:

Another activity that is included with a stay at this ranch is horseback riding, and we saw some guests riding along the road:

We also came across more of the pretty thistle plants that we had spotted last week:

We had turned around (after only a couple miles) to head back out toward home since we were running short on gas and we wanted to allow enough time to stop at the store before heading for work. There was a cabin that either was never completed or was allowed to deteriorate that we spotted on the way out:

We don't know the history of this place but it had this "drop-dead" view from its location:

While on the way home, we decided to stop at this burger place we had heard about that was close to home. It is called MacPhails Burgers, and it was a good chance for us to give it a try. It is a nice place, just off the main road:

and we had this view while sitting outside waiting for our meal:

The meal was very good although somewhat pricey.

We thought that we would go back to this area today and take the road further into the wilderness to see what else is there that might be interesting to see. We also need to call the Ford dealer in Afton to make sure our truck will be ready for tomorrow. Squeeze in some Olympics viewing and it should be a nice 2 days off this week...