Walden
Once through the park, head north on Highway 125. Trees, sagebrush, and vast ranches—evidenced by split-rail fences and the occasional log building—provide the scenery until Walden, the self-proclaimed moose-viewing capital of Colorado. At the River Rock Café (www.waldenriverrock.com), patrons, some still wearing their spurs, tuck into hearty chicken-fried steaks and plates of fried Rocky Mountain oysters (bull testicles).

Saratoga
Signs for the Wyoming border appear less than 20 miles (32 kilometers) farther up the road, which becomes Highway 230. It's another 50 miles (80 kilometers) of sagebrush, tall cottonwood trees rustling in Wyoming's ever present wind, and pronghorn gazing over wire fences, to the Saratoga Resort and Spa (www.saratogainn.com). Outside, the low-slung building surrounds steaming thermal pools fed by natural hot springs. Inside, rawhide lampshades, leather-upholstered furniture, and barn wood walls decorate the lobby. On the North Platte River, which passes through the town of Saratoga, you can cast into 65 miles (105 kilometers) of blue-ribbon trout fishing, or just float the river alongside the fish.

Centennial
Backtrack 8 miles (13 kilometers) and follow 130 east, entering the Medicine Bow National Forest, named for the Native American tradition of carving bows out of mountain mahogany from these valleys. Stop at the observation point for a view of the craggy 12,013-foot (3,662-meter) Medicine Bow Peak. The few buildings of Centennial, population 100, huddle against the east side of the Snowy Range mountains. At the Trading Post Dinner House and Saloon (www.centennial-tradingpost.com), try the Centennial Steak, but be prepared to share the 21-pound, placemat-size slab of sirloin.

Laramie
With the blue, snow-tipped mountains receding behind and the High Plains stretching ahead, continue east on 130. At Laramie, turn left on Snowy Range Road, which passes the Wyoming Territorial Prison. Built in 1872, it's one of the few prisons of its kind still standing, the only one now a museum. Enormous mug shots accompany stories of prisoners, Butch Cassidy among them; he served his only prison time here. "You can't put history into perspective until you visit places like this," says superintendent Tom Lindmier. "It's the bad history. We need that as well as the good history." Laramie harbors the leafy campus of the state's lone four-year university, as well as an assortment of buzzing coffee shops and bars. The walls of its best-known watering hole, the Buckhorn (114 East Ivinson), display a collection of mounted heads (including a jackalope and a two-headed horse), as well as a decades-old bullet hole, the consequence of two patrons' romantic rivalry.