Exploring Rawlins and Saratoga Wyoming

Saturday, September 08, 2012

It’s was actually cold at 7am this morning in Rawlins WY at 44.  We turned on the electric fireplace before bed and it was a comfortable 63 in the RV.  We have not used the propane furnace yet , maybe tomorrow as it is to get colder!  The day gets better as the temperature raised to 77 and day with not a cloud to be seen.

We decided to get the truck washed mainly so we could see out of the windows again.  Since we only have the one day here, we also decided to explore the old town part of Rawlins and go to Saratoga to the free hot springs.  We got the truck washed and it looks great and we can see out of the windows.  We also found very cheap diesel fuel near the car wash at $3.89 per gallon.  The price for diesel fuel just a mile away on I80 is $4:13!  Now we headed off for the old down town of Rawlins WY.

Rawlins is an old RR town so the old part of town starts at the old Union Pacific RR depot.  The RR depot seems to be very busy.  It looks like there that is a train leaving or coming in every ½ hour.  We walked around the old town for about an hour, not a big old town.  We were surprised at few people there are in town on a Saturday.  However it is now past the high tourist season.  We then headed off to Saratoga WY.

Downtown Rawlins

Rawlins has a murals tour.  These are located all over the town.

Cool old gas pump.  The price is 44 cent per gallon! Sinclair has a huge refinery here.

Cool old building circa 1901.  Note the murals on the side.

Local bar

Another bar that has all of it's doors and windows covered so you can't see in, hmmmm.

Union Pacific rail yard

Another mural

Freight train leaving town going west

Another view of downtown Rawlins

Does anybody know or have used this or the item below?

It’s a 41 mile trip to Saratoga from Rawlins.  Saratoga is an isolated small western town surrounded by large ranches.  Saratoga is a real working western town.  It has a small hotel built in 1893, a hardware store and several tourist shops as well as a saddle shop.

The highlight of the visit to Saratoga was the hot springs.  The town is pretty small so it was easy to find the springs.  The hot spring is free and they have not too bad changing rooms with showers.  The water temperature ranges from 100 to 120 degrees.  Patty and I did the 100 degrees area.  There were people in the 109 degree area but we saw no one in the 120 area.  There were people sitting on the rocks that border the 120 degree area and were dipping their feet in and they still had skin on their feet J  The water smells of sulfur (rotten eggs smell).  Also the rocks were covered with green slimy algae.  This makes the steps and rocks very, very slippery.   One of the locals told us that the algae is just grass growing under water.

On our way to Saratoga

On our way to Saratoga.What are all these power lines servicing?

On our way to Saratoga

Downtown Saratoga WY

Hardware Store in Saratoga

Out front of the saddle store

Entrance to the hot springs

This is the hot side of the hot springs. It's 109 on the right and 120 on the left.

This is the cooler side of the hot springs at about 100 degrees; about the temp of a hot tub,

 After the dip in the hot springs we went to the old hotel and had a beer.  The hotel is on the national historic register.  The current owners have restored the hotel to what it was when it opened in 1893.  The bar has the double swinging doors at the entrance bar is original.  This is a place where you eat peanuts from the shell and throw the shells on the floor.

The old Hotel Wolf

The Bar in the Hotel Wolf

Entrance to the bar at the Hotel Wolf

Entrance to the Dining room much as it was in 1893

A picture of the way the original Hotel Wolf looked in 1893

We headed back to our RV at 5pm to have dinner.  We cooked chicken on the grille and had fresh asparagus to go with it.  I also bought, what I think is the last piece, a water fitting to adapt the water filter I bought in NJ to a water hose fitting.  So while cooking the chicken I worked on the water filter.  The finished product I believe is a success.  However, I still need to brace it so I can move the RV with the filter still attached.  I added a quick disconnect to the input side so I will no longer to need to thread the water hose to the RV after I get the filter braced.

A great day!  We decided that our next stop will be for 3 nights in Salt Lake City Utah.  The state fair is going on now and we plan to go for a day.

We leave for Salt Lake City Utah tomorrow morning.

Stay tuned!