Tourist season in full swing at Visitor Center

When going to the Green River Chamber of Commerce's Visitor Center, there are U.S. and world maps where guests can place a pin on the state or country they are from.

Nearly every state has at least one pin. The McMahan family put the very first pin on Ohio Friday morning. The family is originally from Ohio, but had been living in Utah for several years. They were traveling through Green River as they were moving back to Ohio.

They said they saw the visitor center and decided to stop to take photos of the beautiful views and rock formations. They wanted to make memories while on their road trip.

Karol Wright from Sandy, Utah, and her family wanted to go on a road trip for the Fourth of July weekend, but did not know where they wanted to visit, so they flipped a coin to decide where to go. The coin toss decided which direction they should travel. When the coin pointed them toward the east, she decided they should visit the Flaming Gorge.

"My kids have never been out there and I haven't been there since I was a kid so we thought it would be a fun trip," Wright said.

While at the Visitor Center, the Wright family looked at the displays and touched the different fossils, furs, antlers, rocks and stones on the touch display.

The Schuft family from Oroville, Calif., were headed to Rapid City, S.D., for a family vacation. The family liked the wolf display and decided to walk around to check out the other displays. The kids were sharing their knowledge of the state capitals with their parents while looking at the maps. The kids were figuring out which states they had traveled through so far to make it from California to Wyoming.

A woman from Auburn, Calif., was nearing the end of a road trip to some of the National Parks. She and her two travel partners were on their way to Saratoga where they would spend the Fourth of July weekend.

The National Park Service's 100th Anniversary is bringing a lot of people out to visit the parks.

"We're kind of a stop a long the way to Yellowstone, but we get a mix of people staying and traveling," Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Rebecca Eusek said.

The visitor, had a steady flow of tourists coming and going Friday morning, and several of them were seeking information on attractions in the area.

"A lot of people come to visit the Gorge," Eusek said. "The wild horse loop also brings people here."

The Sweetwater County Historical Museum also attracts visitors' attention during the summer months.

"Summer is our busiest season," Executive Director Brie Blasi said. "We get a lot of inquiries about John Wesley Powell, especially in summer when people are following his route and expedition."

A lot of the visitors of the museum are interested in Green River's railroad history as well.

"Green River was very important railroad town historically, so we get a lot of railroad enthusiasts," Blasi said.