In honor of Independence Day, I thought I would do a photo essay of the great symbol of this country. We often pass by the US Flag in our daily travels without paying much attention or acknowledging its presence. So what follows are photos taken since I left home some 55 days ago.
Ozark AR Train Station and Rocky Mountain NP Museum
Beautiful downtown Grand Lake CO and Old Faithful Inn
Note: On the Old Faithful Inn, the US Flag is second from the left. Why not all the way to the left (or Flag Right) as custom dictates? Because that pole is shorter, and the US Flag must be on the tallest pole, so the tallest pole on the flag’s right, is the second one from the viewer’s left
Fort Yellowstone, Army Corps of Engineers Building in Yellowstone NP and Idaho Falls ID (about 500 flags in all)
The ‘119’ and a close-up of the 20 Star Flag flying over Golden Spike National Historic Site.
A note about this flag is that it is historically inaccurate. I am not sure why they are displaying it, but it should be a 37 star flag which was that would have been flying on May 10, 1869.
PS – I wrote to the National Park Service at Golden Spike, and here is the response I received.
Yes, you are correct in noting that it was a 20 star flag at the Last Spike site. We are trying to maintain the historic scene as it looked on May 10th in 1869. They flew a 20 star flag that day. No one remembered to bring a flag for the ceremony, which would have been a 37 star flag – Nebraska becoming the 37th state in 1867. The story goes they were able to hunt one down – one of the 21st Infantry soldiers had a 20 star flag in his knapsack – so it went up on the telegraph pole. This flag only flew one year in our country’s history, I believe it was 1818. Hope you enjoyed your visit.
Valerie G. Steffen
Lead Park Ranger
Golden Spike National Historic Site 
B-1 Bomber in front of Hill Air Force Museum, Tail section of C-140 and cockpit of F-16
The C-140 was used by Ladybird Johnson as her personal aircraft during Lyndon’s Presidency and the flag in the cockpit of the F-16 is to demonstrate how the pilots would take flags on missions with them for family and friends as commemoratives and then supply them with certificates of authenticity.
The tail section of an F-4 Phantom, Air Force/Ranger Memorial on Antelope Island and Camp Belongamik in Dubois WY
The Air Force/Ranger Memorial is for the soldiers who died during a training mission when their helicopter crashed into the Great Salt Lake. One survivor.