# The Western US



## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

These photos are from a road trip I took from Minneapolis to Denver in 2016. The South Dakota photos are in my thread Minneapolis and the Upper Midwest but my shots from farther west didn't seem appropriate for that thread. I am starting an open ended thread because I want to travel more in the west and have a place to post those shots, but right now all of my photos are going to be from Wyoming and Colorado. I have a ton of urban shots from Denver and also some from Cheyenne, Wyoming but I am going to post the photos chronologically which means they will start in Niobrara County in eastern Wyoming after I crossed the South Dakota/Wyoming state line. Niobrara County is one of the most remote and sparsely settled places in the lower 48 states of the US. It is about the size of Luxembourg and has a population of around 2,500 people, most of whom live in the town of Lusk (which I did not photograph).

Wyoming 01 by Andrew Smith, on Flickr

Wyoming 02 by Andrew Smith, on Flickr

Wyoming 03 by Andrew Smith, on Flickr

Wyoming 04 by Andrew Smith, on Flickr

This is Laramie Peak. It is the first of the Rocky Mountains that can be seen as you travel west in this part of the country.

Wyoming 07 by Andrew Smith, on Flickr


----------



## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

These photos are from Cheyenne, which is the largest "city" in Wyoming. Cheyenne isn't much of a city but it has a nice, if somewhat small, walkable low rise downtown - the sort of fabric American downtowns used to be comprised of before WWII. Most of my shots didn't turn out because of intense glare but this is what I got:

Cheyenne 01 by Andrew Smith, on Flickr

Cheyenne 03 by Andrew Smith, on Flickr

Cheyenne 04 by Andrew Smith, on Flickr

Cheyenne 05 by Andrew Smith, on Flickr

Cheyenne 06 by Andrew Smith, on Flickr


----------



## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

Great start! 

Such wide open and dramatic landscapes.


----------



## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Great, very nice photos, Andrew


----------



## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

openlyJane said:


> Such wide open and dramatic landscapes.


I had never experienced landscapes like these before. Because there are no trees, you can see from horizon to horizon - vast distances, but it is all empty grassland, buttes, mesas and rolling prairie. Almost no signs of human habitation besides the road and some barbed wire fences. It makes a person feel small, but I also found it very appealing in a way. It is a minimalist wilderness. 

It took me an hour and a half to drive from the South Dakota line to I-70 at Orin, Wyoming. In that time I only drove through two towns - Lusk (pop. 1,600) and Manville (pop. 93 which was mostly a ghost town). The rest of it all looked like the first four photos in the first post.


----------



## yansa (Jun 16, 2011)

Somnifor said:


> I had never experienced landscapes like these before. Because there are no trees, you can see from horizon to horizon - vast distances, but it is all empty grassland, buttes, mesas and rolling prairie. Almost no signs of human habitation besides the road and some barbed wire fences. It makes a person feel small, but I also found it very appealing in a way. It is a minimalist wilderness.
> 
> It took me an hour and a half to drive from the South Dakota line to I-70 at Orin, Wyoming. In that time I only drove through two towns - Lusk (pop. 1,600) and Manville (pop. 93 which was mostly a ghost town). The rest of it all looked like the first four photos in the first post.


Seeing those wide landscapes also makes me think of the tornados which
can be watched there from time to time. Watching such a weather phenomen
in a landscape that provides no shelter over long distances must be great
and very frightening at the same time...


----------



## diddyD (May 12, 2014)

Cool images.


----------



## Why-Why (Jul 20, 2016)

Great shots from the Empty Quarter! Looking forward to more.


----------



## Niemand (Sep 6, 2016)

Beautiful landscapes! Cheyenne looks cool


----------



## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

yansa said:


> Seeing those wide landscapes also makes me think of the tornados which
> can be watched there from time to time. Watching such a weather phenomen
> in a landscape that provides no shelter over long distances must be great
> and very frightening at the same time...


You would see if from such a long distance that you might have time to get out of the way. When I was in South Dakota I saw a thunder storm over Rapid City while I was near the Badlands 80 km away.



Why-Why said:


> Great shots from the Empty Quarter! Looking forward to more.


Those are actually all of my empty shots, the rest will be from the Denver area. I am thinking about driving out to Montana though to get some winter prairie shots.



Niemand said:


> Beautiful landscapes! Cheyenne looks cool


I was a bit surprised by Cheyenne. I had no notion of what it would be like. All I knew was that it was a small city in one of the most conservative states in the US. It had signs of having more of a cultural life than I expected. It's people seemed a bit rough around the edges and had a bit of a cowboy vibe but it also seemed like a place that was more individualist than conformist.


----------



## Why-Why (Jul 20, 2016)

Cheyenne certainly used to be rough around the edges. Forty-odd years ago someone in a pickup truck tried to run me over there because I had ... long hair!


----------



## sky-eye (Jan 2, 2003)

Very nice pictures!


----------



## Gratteciel (May 4, 2008)

Great new thread.
Beautiful landscapes!


----------



## General Electric (Sep 12, 2010)

Great new thread and nice begining ^^

:cheers:


----------



## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

After over a year of dormancy I'm going to take another shot at getting through the photos I took on my trip in 2016. The problem is that I took too many photos and the idea of getting through all of them just seems daunting. I'm going to try to post five good new photos every few days. These are all from Denver.

*Denver*

Denver 02 by Somnifor, on Flickr

Denver 04 by Somnifor, on Flickr

Denver 06 by Somnifor, on Flickr

Denver 07 by Somnifor, on Flickr

Denver 08 by Somnifor, on Flickr


----------



## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

A good selection, and a great start.


----------



## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Great, very nice updates; well done :cheers:


----------



## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Thanks for the comments. Some more shots from Denver:

Denver 10 by Somnifor, on Flickr

Denver 13 by Somnifor, on Flickr

Denver 15 by Somnifor, on Flickr

Denver 18 by Somnifor, on Flickr


----------



## skymantle (Jul 17, 2010)

Great shots, very 'real' and eclectic.


----------



## diddyD (May 12, 2014)

A very nice update to the collection.


----------

