Where the West Begins

Greetings from Wyoming....a state we drove all the way across today!  I love the West....it's a part of the country where we literally fit.  We like to say when we go out East (or to Europe), it's a "7/8ths World" where we're forever about 1/8th too big for everything, be it chairs, hallways, doors, bathroom stalls, cars, etc!  It's crowded and everything is small!  But out here....it's practically a 1 & 1/8th world....everything's not only big enough, it's very big-- they don't refer to big skies for nothing!

We began our trip slowly, by stopping overnight in Omaha.  It's such a fun city--easy to get around and just enough stuff to happily keep you occupied.  After our dinner at Blue (our daughter's favorite Sushi restaurant there--Mr. Pockett's had never been, so I insisted...) we walked over to what is this ginormous bronze sculpture display honoring the westward trail. It's actually very cool--we had never seen the covered wagons and pioneers part; up to now, we'd only seen the buffalo & geese outside the Doubletree (where we usually stay; but alas, not this time).   (You should take a look if you're ever down there: geese & buffalo go through walls!)

I'd love to wax on about the meaning of the West to Americans and our inner frontier mentality and how it affects the American mindset, blah blah blah....but I was having too much fun:

Some might say things devolved a bit:

Really, I did make it to Cheyenne the next day!  (more to come.....)