Road Trip!!!!

Page 20

 

Our next stop was very unusual. Right outside of Laramie is a Giant statue of Abraham Lincoln's head. On I-80, it was commissioned by the state of Wyoming in 1959 to honor the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's birth, and placed here in 1969 when I-80 was completed. It marks the highest point of the old Lincoln Highway (now I-80).

 

It was gigantic! The bronze head is 12 1/2 feet high, with a 30-ft. tall granite pedestal. It said the head is intentionally oversized on tinier shoulders. We weren't quite sure why. It looked a little bit like a caricature.

 

Across from Lincoln is a memorial to Henry B. Joy. The first president of the Lincoln Highway Association.

 

It was so cold that a truck dropped some snow and IT HADN'T MELTED!

 

Farther down the highway towards Cheyenne and down a couple of dirt roads is the Ames Memorial Pyramid.

 

It's a 60-foot pyramid built by the Union Pacific Railroad Company as a tribute to Oakes and Oliver Ames. They were key figures in the construction of the first coast-to-coast railroad in North America.

 

We couldn't find anything that said why they decided to build a pyramid as a tribute but when the railroad passed by here (until 1901) it gave passengers something to see.

 

Their likenesses are carved in to each side of the pyramid.

 

It really was much bigger than we had imagined. It was so out of the way we couldn't imagine too many people coming to see the pyramid but, as we got ready to leave, another car was pulling up. They looked surprised to see us there too.

 

Right as we got back to the highway, we pulled over for this "Point of Interest." It's the "Tree in the Rock." The sign said the tree has fascinated travelers since the first train rolled past on the Union Pacific Railroad. They even think the railroad was moved slightly to make way for the tree. It said the locomotive firemen would give the tree a drink from their water buckets. When the train tracks were moved, the old train route became a wagon trail. When the highway was built, it passed right by the tree. Since then, the tree has been the subject of many photos and postcards. Trees of this kind can live for up to 2,00 years.

 

A pretty view from The Tree in the Rock.

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