Road Trip: Day #8

Yellowstone for the day
Destination: home
Miles: 524
Time: 8 hours 36 min

It was kind of chilly when we woke up. See that snow..it is June, right?

We decided to have a sit down breakfast at the Lake Hotel dining room. Afterwards we checked out Yellowstone Lake. We then packed up our car, checked out of the hotel and planned our day in Yellowstone.

We drove to West Thumb and then Old Faithful. Had to stop here of course!

Found a furry friend on the trail .

Went into the hotel to see 'when' Old Faithful was set to blow. And then waited in the viewing area along with everyone else. 9:55 am (+/- 10 minutes) was the set off time. Came off very close!

We had to check out Old Faithful Lodge. And the gift shop. Had at least three different people stop me and ask if we were from Wisconsin. They were and were quite friendly! (No one stops me when I wear my WSU shirt?) Then we headed to Madison and Norris, stopping to take pictures of wildlife. Sometimes the road was a little too narrow so I could not stop, but we did get a great picture of this bison. Then we stopped Mammoth Hot Springs before heading out the North Entrance.

We crossed into Montana, making food & fuel stops in Livingston and Missoula before crossing into Idaho and then to Spokane. Wow. What a fun trip.

HOME: 2636.0 miles on the car !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Road Trip: Day #7

Destination: Yellowstone
10 hours 45 minutes
618.99 miles

We woke up bright and early and left Kathy & Brian's place, headed for Yellowstone. This was our longest day driving on our entire road trip, with most of it in the state of Wyoming. We went through Cheyenne, took a break in Laramie and then tried to make our way to the Mormon Handcart Historic Site. I say try because when I went on the LDS website it listed an address in Alcova and in Lander, but they were well over an hour apart, so I really was not 100% certain which way we were to go. I tried both addresses in our GPS and it did not like it, so I tried the 'Places to Visit' option and found a 'Mormon Handcart' option. I plugged it into the GPS and off we went. By the way, that showed it was about 1/2 way between the two cities (Alcova / Lander) so now we were looking at a 3rd totally different choice. Well...the GPS happily told us that we had arrived at our destination, however, we were literally in the middle of no-wheres-ville. Sagebrush and wheat just blowing in the wind. Nothing. We determined we had given it a good try and since we had well over 10 hours driving on the agenda, we continued on. (Not much in the way of pioneer spirit?) Maybe 15 miles down the road I saw (but almost missed) a sign and a couple small buildings and that is when we found the "Willie Center 6th Crossing". Below is what I found on the internet "after the fact" which probably would have helped a lot!

"2006 - The LDS Church has established a small welcome center at Sixth Crossing, which is about an hour's drive from Martin's Cove. The center includes a staging ground for handcarts used by groups of visitors -- most of them Latter-day Saints -- who come to pull the carts on trails that lead to Rocky Ridge and Rock Creek as a remembrance of the faith and courage of emigrants."

I guess I did not realize that the Willie Handcart Company and the Martin Handcart Company were stranded 60 or so miles apart from each other. That's a long way when you are walking!! Hearing their names 'together' all these years, I just presumed. While there we spoke with the sister missionary who told me the reason that there are addresses listed in Alcova and Lander is they have to drive into town to get their mail as they don't deliver "out here". She was very helpful though and told us that we did need to stop in Lander for their "World Famous Choke Cherry Shake". So we did. And it was delicious.

After driving and driving through prairie land, it was a welcome site when we drove through the Grand Tetons on our way to the south entrance of Yellowstone. So breath taking!

We were amazed at how much snow was still on the ground as we made our way through Yellowstone towards our hotel at Lake Yellowstone. We actually did not stay in the main hotel (shown below) but in one of the cute cabins behind the hotel (Lake Hotel Cabins). Without realizing it, I liked that a whole lot better as we did not have to hear noisy neighbors in the hallways of the hotel. Instead we heard the coyotes howling and the crickets chirping. Plus it was our kind of camping - - soft bed, hot shower and easy walking to dinner!

The main hotel was completed in 1891 and restored in 1990. John did find a couple things he thought still needed fixing - always looking for a fixer-upper!

We had dinner at the Lake Lodge hotel in a cafeteria style setting. It was surprisingly affordable and the food was great. We then checked out the gift shops and then settled in our cabin for the night.

Road Trip: Day #6

Today was a busy one! First we made sandwiches (using the Lion House rolls purchased yesterday) and packed a picnic lunch. We headed to Park Meadows Mall, "Colorado's Only Retail Resort" and largest enclosed shopping center in Colorado. There were stores we were familiar with, like Williams-Sonoma, but they were 3 times the size of ours. We spent most of our time checking out stores we didn't have in Spokane like Sundance, Microsoft, Lego and Crate & Barrel. I really had fun in that last store... and was glad we drove so I did not have to figure out how to carry them onto an airplane!
We then bought our RTD tickets and rode the light rail system into downtown Denver and the 16th Street Mall area. Our first stop was Jamba Juice, which was a great idea since it was a warm day and we were planning on walking. After getting our refreshments we headed up the street toward the Capitol Building.
They had a Quilt Show in the capitol building, so not only did we see beautiful quilts on display, but we got to view the marvelous architecture & marble. We spent quite a bit of time just taking it all in.
Isn't the pink/read marble pretty? And it goes so well with Audrey's shirt :)

We headed back downtown and kept coming across pianos in the middle of the street, painted different colors, with people playing or just plunking on them. Evidently they are part of Your Keys to the City project. "On May 25th, seventeen colorfully painted pianos were placed back out on the 16th Street Mall as part of Your Keys to the City, a public piano art program created by the Downtown Denver Partnership. Hand-painted by local artists, each piano has a “Spring” theme and each will be available for the public to play from 8 am to 10 pm seven days a week." I'd say that is pretty cool!!

About this time we found a water feature so that we could relax and cool off a little bit just from the breeze and the cool stone.

Then we headed to Cheesecake Factory where you ALWAYS save room for dessert!

We then checked out a couple of shops including a neat multi-level bookstore. We headed toward Union Station for another architectural opportunity, only to find it closed due to construction. It was still pretty neat to see & was worth looking in the windows.

Here's a picture of part of the gang checking out the rail map carved in the wall outside Union Square.

We made our way to the RTD station, purchased our tickets and rode the light rail back to our parked cars. Continued home, watched one of the Bourne movies, packed the car and called it a night. We need our rest to head back on the road tomorrow.

Road Trip: Day #5

We hung around the house in the morning, John working on the insulation downstairs, Audrey playing on the computer, I finished reading a book and Kathy finished sewing this Easter runner for me (cool!):

Brianna had a dentist appointment mid-morning, but afterwards Kathy treated us (the 4 girls) to Yogurtland. What a fun place! They have 16 or so different flavors of frozen yogurt you could choose from. The flavors can stand on their own (like chocolate cake batter) or you can mix and match (like adding a coconut and then a vanilla to your cup). Then you move to the topping area where there are many choices from fresh fruit to nuts or to crushed candy bars. Then they weigh your final concoction to get the price. We really enjoyed this, can you tell?

Before heading back we visited the Deseret Book store in Littleton, picked up some Lion House rolls & some books and then went home to get John, Cameron and James. We went to Panera Bread in Aurora for lunch. Audrey and I split a 1/2 sandwich and soup combo and John tried a different sandwich. All very good - wish there was one closer.

We then headed to Parker to go to The Wildlife Experience. Part of the museum is a pathway taking you through eight different regions / habitats like this one:
There was an exhibit dedicated to Megalodon, an enormous prehistoric shark that was on the earth 2 million years ago. There was another exhibit, "Sharkabet: A Sea of Sharks from A to Z", that had illustrated images of sharks for every letter of the alphabet. The artist Ray Troll has a book of the same name.
And finally, we grabbed some popcorn and headed to the big screen theatre to see "Dinosaurs Alive" narrated by Michael Douglas.

Later that evening Kathy took us over to Southlands, an open air mall, for some shopping. We stopped first at Chili's for some appetizers and then checked out a few shops including Yankee Candle and Barnes & Noble. Isn't this fireplace cool?
After we got back home we watched another Mt Rushmore movie, North by Northwest, while eating ice cream topped with Brianna's hot fudge sauce. Here's the recipe:

SAUCY HOT FUDGE

3/4 C. sugar
1/2 C. cocoa
2/3 C. evaporated milk
1/3 C. light corn syrup
1 t. vanilla

Combine sugar, cocoa, milk, and corn syrup in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until the mixture begins to boil. Keep it on a rolling boil for five minutes to thicken. If an extra thick consistency is desired, boil for a little longer. Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla. Serve over ice cream or chocolaty desserts.

Road Trip: Day #4

Destination: Aurora, CO
6 hours 30 min
409 miles

We had breakfast and checked out of the lodge and bid South Dakota farewell. We headed into Wyoming, going through Redbird, Lusk, Glendo, Wheatland, Chugwater, Cheyenne and then into Colorado as we passed through Fort Collins into the Denver / Aurora area. We got to Kathy's house:
She took us on a tour of the neighborhood and then fed us pizza & salad for dinner. We spent the evening relaxing (well, Kathy and the kids and I) while John and Brian started working on insulation in their unfinished basement. Which for John actually was relaxing after being either couped up in the car or in a store shopping. He would prefer feeling productive so he did enjoy helping out. Audrey bunked in Brianna's room while James very generously let John and I have his room for our stay. Thanks James! Cameron let James bunk with him and they also took their pets in Cameron's room so Aunt Sam did not have to worry : )

Road Trip: Day #3

After breakfast at the lodge we headed to Mt Rushmore. We took advantage of the good weather and walked the 1/2 mile Presidential Trail which included 400 stairs. We stopped at the Sculptor's Studio and then took in all the displays & short films at the visitors center. Some interesting facts: The sculpture was created by Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers and took 14 years (October 4, 1927 - October 31,1941) to build. Why did they choose these 4 Presidents? George Washington, as the 1st president, was the father of the new country and laid the foundation of American democracy. Thomas Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence and purchased the Louisiana Territory, doubling the size of our country. Theodore Roosevelt provided leadership when America experienced rapid economic growth as it entered the 20th Century. Abraham Lincoln held the nation together during its greatest trial, the Civil War.
"Did You Know? Mountain Goats are not native to the Black Hills? The population can be traced back to six goats, a gift to Custer State Park by Canada in 1924, that escaped from their pens and found their home among the Black Hills granite peaks. There are now approximately 200 mountain goats in the area." And look! We saw 3 of them!!

Next on our agenda was the Crazy Horse Memorial, about 17 miles south of Mt Rushmore. It is the world's largest mountain carving and is privately owned. The dedication blast was held in 1948 and below is how it looks today. And below is what will eventually be carved in the mountain. Millions of tons of rock have been removed and they are currently blocking out the 22-story-high horses head. Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski started the work and his wife & children are continuing it since his death in 1982. "The sculpture's final dimensions are planned to be 641 feet wide and 563 feet high. The head of Crazy Horse will be 87 feet high; by comparison, the heads of the four U.S. Presidents at Mount Rushmore are each 60 feet high."

Unfortunately, it started to rain quite heavily on our way to Crazy Horse Memorial, so we did not venture onto the muddy trails to walk closer to the sculpture, but took our views from the observation deck and the visitors center. Rather impressive none-the-less!
I had googled restaurants before we left on our trip and thought Dickey's Barbecue Pit sounded good. Found one in Rapid City, so we headed there to enjoy BBQ on Father's Day. After eating there Audrey decided we NEED one in Spokane! You go through the line to order your meat and your sides. We tried a little of everything (pulled pork, sausages, beef, beans, loaded mashed potatoes) and it was all good. When you go to pick up your silverware and napkins there is also a large pickle jar and of course, all the barbecue sauces to choose. And finally, after your meal you can get self-serve, soft-serve ice cream for dessert. I like it when we choose well for meals!
After lunch we got in the car and started our 75 mile one-way trip to Wall, South Dakota. What a quirky and fun tourist trap! For most of the 75 miles there were billboards advertising Wall Drug. And not just one or two.... I had Audrey take pictures as we were cruising down the freeway - below are just a few:
And then when we got there, wow. Wall Drug is billed as the world's largest drug store. I think it was 4 city blocks? They still fill prescriptions, but you can also find western clothing, jewelry, books, fudge, pottery, gifts, donuts, souvenirs, and taffy (just to name a few). Or you could go to church, eat at the restaurant, play arcade games or take a picture on the 6 foot jackalope. Interesting place!
We headed back the 75 miles to our hotel and waited until it was time to head back to Mt Rushmore to see the lighting ceremony. Though it had stopped raining about mid-day, it started pouring rain again while we were at Mt Rushmore. So we tried to huddle where we would not get too drenched, but finally gave up and stood in the gift shop. We were not able to hear all the program (which I would have liked to see) but when they finished the evening, the audience sang America the Beautiful and they piped that over the loud speakers. As we sang that song, in a beautiful free land and a beautiful setting, it was very moving.

Road Trip: Day #2

Destination: Keystone, South Dakota
345 miles
5 hours 32 minutes

Last night we watched National Treasure 2 in anticipation for the next destination of our road trip = Keystone, South Dakota (Mount Rushmore). After we woke up this morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and then checked out. John detoured us by the Boothill Cemetery just up the street from our hotel, which was a clue as to how our hotel got it's name.

"BOOTHILL CEMETERY-MONUMENT - Boothill Cemetery is a burial ground for two score residents of Coulson - a rough and ready forerunner of Billings - most of whom "cashed it in with their boots on." Buried here is Muggins Taylor, the scout who carried the news of Custer's Last Stand to the world. The last burial at Boothill was in 1882."

We headed out of Billings and decided to stop next at the Little Bighorn Battlefield. It was not a planned destination, but we decided that this road trip was definitely "the journey", not always the destination, so if any one of us wanted to stop - we did just that. While we were walking around the grounds looking at the gravestones and displays, John pointed out that "I" was included on the monument = "Noisy Walking" as my tennis shoes were incredibly squeaky whenever I walked and had been all through our trip. It was even annoying me!!
"This area memorializes the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry and the Sioux and Cheyenne in one of the Indian's last armed efforts to preserve their way of life. Here on June 25 and 26 of 1876, 263 soldiers, including Lt. Col. George A. Custer and attached personnel of the U.S. Army, died fighting several thousand Lakota, and Cheyenne warriors."

Amazingly enough they did not have a souvenir spoon at the actual memorial, but we knew they'd have trinkets at the tourist shop just down the road. We had a fun time browsing and trying on hats. We found a spoon and loaded up on beverages for the road.

We drove through Epsie and then had to stop for about 20 minutes for road construction. The road crew handed out candy as they came to each car to alert them of the delay. That was kind of nice. We got back on our way, then stopped for gas in Broadus and continued through Hammond, Alzada (MT) and to Belle Fourch (SD). There we ate at Hardee's for lunch. (Keeping to our restaurant rule, technically we don't have a Hardee's available in Spokane. Since they were bought out by Carl's Jr their menu duplicates Carl's Jr rather than what a Hardee's looked like in the 80's however). We continued through Spearfish, Sturgis (famous for the bike motorcycle rally) and to Rapid City, South Dakota.

We took another detour when we got to Rapid City as we started seeing billboards for Reptile Gardens and thought it would be something Audrey would enjoy. Well, we ALL enjoyed it! We watched the Bird Show, the Snake Show and the Alligator & Crocodile Show. Between shows we toured the dome that included rooms with tropical plants and a large collection of reptiles and birds. Even had an actual crocodile from the James Bond movie "Live and Let Die".
Keystone was just down the road about 30 minutes, but the terrain definitely changed in that short distance from prairie to the scenic Black Hills. The turn from the main highway down to Keystone was just beautiful. We had reservations at the K Bar S Lodge which was nestled in the mountains. Here is the few from our lodge:
Below is the view of downtown Keystone, a western town complete with gun slinging cowboys and a saloon. It was a fun and busy atmosphere that we enjoyed while we browsed the shops on one side of the street. We ended up eating in a period style restaurant, Ruby House, which was located next to the saloon. The salad and rolls were OK, so I was pleasantly surprised our main dishes were pretty tasty. After dinner we checked out the shops on the other side of the street and then headed back to the lodge.