Does anyone want pancakes?

This post is primarily about pancakes but first a few words and photos from yesterday’s explorations. We drove up to Estes Park, Colorado hoping to get to Rocky Mountain National Park but there was no admission slots open. Since the Covid debacle has kind of taken a break everyone wants to get out and get some fresh air. So instead we took a ride to the top of a mountain and looked around. Although I took some photos it is somewhat disappointing because of all of the smoke from the wild fires out in California and Oregon.

On the way up the tram ride I spied an old Diamond T truck that looked really nice and I really wanted to take a closer look but it was not in an open spot that I could access. However once we got back down I happened to ask one of the workers if they knew anything about the old red truck. It turned out that it was his truck and he was more than happy to show it to me.

This morning we are in Cheyenne for one of three free pancake breakfasts that is hosted each year during Frontier Days. On each of these days The local boy scout troop and other civic groups feed over 4000 people each day. They use so much pancake batter it is mixed in a concrete truck! Yes, I said concrete truck. The local scout troop have this truck and it is used only for the pancake breakfasts. This takes a large number of help and trust me

they have it down to a science. You get in line and begin inching toward the serving area which on our morning only took about 35 minutes. Heck I have waited longer to get into Perkins on a Sunday morning! Once in line you were given a tray with utensils and napkin, along with a package of fresh blueberries. Next you went to the serving table where you got three pancakes next came the butter then syrup and finally coffee, milk or water. Finding a place to eat was not too difficult because there were benches all in front of a bandstand that had live music performing. I can only imagine what it takes to get up early in the morning and get set up to sing but this group did a great job.

It was something else to watch all that was going on in the prep area. People were mixing batter using full bags of pancake mix and adding water using a garden hose. While people were cooking pancakes on so many griddles. I believe that I counted over 50 griddles that were cooking 21 pancakes at a time on each griddle. The people would cook and when they were done they would just flip the pancakes over their head and a boy scout that was in position would catch them on a try and then take them to be served. Since we were there close to the end I am guessing that some of the cooks got a little careless. If you look at the left hand edge of the photo above you can see the pancake flying through the air and a young scout intently focused on catching it. Without a doubt this one one breakfast that we will remember for a long time.

After breakfast we wondered around the city of Gillette and took in some of the scenery. One thing you will see all over town are some really big cowboy boots. It is one of those community fund raisers that you have all seen somewhere using some kind of statue. There is also a pretty interesting Railroad Museum but I guess I didn’t take any pictures while touring it.

As I walked Edgar this morning I notice a strange root formation on one of the trees in the dog park and I thought it was cute so here it is.

Tomorrow we are out of here and going to someplace new. Stayed tuned for more stories!