Visiting Thermopolis.

Today, we drove down to Thermopolis, Wyoming.  The city is known for the world's  largest hot spring.  Of course, there is a lot of competition for "World's Largest" but that is what they claim.

Our first stop was the Wyoming Dinosaur Museum and Dig Site.  The museum was great and had a lot of really great displays.  There are 30 mounted skeletons which includes a 35 foot tall T-Rex and a Supersaurus which is over 100 feet long.

First were the plants, fish, and small dinosaurs.

Then we moved on to the larger skeletons.

We were able to look at the work area to clean and prepare fossils. 

The dig site was great and our tour was by the head archaeologist for the site.  He was very informative and he answered all our questions.  The students were working on the dig and even using a laser tool to measure the exact location of new bones.

Time for lunch.  We found a local brewery.  What a surprise?

Most small breweries come up with some interesting names for the company and beers.  This one was the One Eyed Buffalo with beers like Hot Springs Hazy, Son of a Peach Blond, and Divorcinator Double IPA among others.  They also had some great sandwiches. Shawna had their Reuben and I had the Prime Rib Melt.

Time to visit the Hot Springs. The spring was used by Native Tribes for hundreds of years.  It was believed to have "Healing Waters".

The water from the spring flows at a rate of 2.1 million gallons per hour and is 127 degrees.  The water is packed with minerals. IT STINKS!  I am not kidding the gases bubbling up were Hydrogen Sulfide and Carbon Dioxide.  The entire area smells of rotten eggs.

The area is huge and has both raised walkways and a swinging bridge to view it from the other side of the river. The hot springs flows into the Bighorn River.