Buffalo, WY to Custer & Mt.Rushmore

Here is Sat. 7/10/10 and I haven't had internet capability since Buffalo, WY and I hope I can remember all that we've seen in those 4 days! Now, let me see...

Leaving our pleasant stay at the Indian Campground in Buffalo we got on I-90 and quickly made our way to Newcastle where we got off "the beaten path" and took US 16 SE to Newcastle driving through ranching and mining country. Went past a very large coal mining operation and a very long rain filled with cars of coal. And we also saw a few oil drilling rigs. We saw cowboys on horses rounding up some cattle including lots of little calves. We saw some small groups of antelope . At one point Hank made a gasp and when I asked what was the matter he pointed to the side of the road and a beautiful deer was right beside the road. From that point on we saw many deer beside the road-tried to get photos, but the car was moving too fast-fortunately the deer weren't! By mid-afternoon we were heading into high country once again past Jewel Cave Nat'l Monument and on into the town of Custer. At the campground the night before the attendant had recommended that if we were going to Mt. Rushmore area that we'd enjoy the Rafter J Bar Campground near Hill City, so we pressed on to find it and it was great-except their Internet was down-didn't know when it would be fixed! After getting settled in and set up we drove the 11 miles back into Custer to explore and to replenish the refrigerator which was becoming bare. Custer is very much a tourist town-T-shirts beyond description and every kind of western nick-knack imaginable-all of which we left in the shops. Bought some ground buffalo for burgers and some other necessities and it was back to the Tin Tent for the evening.

Photos at the top are of the painted buffalos on the streets of Custer and evidence of a large forest fire on the hills to the west of Custer.

Cody to Buffalo, WY

Awoke this morning to clouds, drizzle and a chilly wind. We had planned to spend an hour or so in the Buffalo Bill Historical Center-which is actually 5 museums in one, but once we got in we realized that we'd need a bit more time to see even a portion of it! We first went through the Buffalo Bill and American West exhibit-you could spend a whole day in there! Then we went into the Plains Indian Peoples exhibit-well done as well. Then Hank had to go into the Firearms museum-huge display of weaponry. There is even a Sturm-Ruger exhibit and a picture of Bill Ruger, Sr. Then we explored the Nature of Yellowstone-a wonderful place for children-and adults. By now it was after noon and we needed to get on the road if we were to go anywhere today. Our next "planned" attraction is Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse and we knew it was more mileage that we wanted to attempt in one day and as we had already spent the morning in the museum so the afternoon would be spent making our way to Buffalo, WY. Once out of Cody there were miles and miles of nothing but open rolling hills covered with sagebrush, a few horses here and there, a few buttes and mesas reminding us of western Texas. At one point a deer with a nice rack almost ran in front of the car, but changed its mind just before jumping into the road-he was so beautiful. We had to descend into the Tensleep Canyon-no idea how far we descended, but it was a long,long way then we had to climb out of that canyon and make our way up to Powder Pass at 9666" in elevation. Going into the canyon we were in sunshine, but as we rose up to the pass the clouds thickened and we experienced drizzle and the temp. dropped to 40 degrees at the top. Going down the other side it was incredibly foggy in places. Saw 5 or 6 more deer on the side of the road and fortunately none of them wanted to get to the other side of the road. We made our way down to Buffalo, WY which is at 4500' and found a campground where we are settled in for the evening. There is a heated pool and kids were having a great time, but with temperatures in the low 60's it wasn't very tempting to us. Tomorrow we will push on to Mt. Rushmore, but as it's only about 200 miles it will be another easy day distance wise!

Idaho-Yellowstone to Cody, WY

Waking up again to temperatures in the low 40's we knew tha it was time to leave for someplace warmer! And Hank says that the girls around here wear too many clothes. In order to get to

Cody, WY where our next reservation awaited us we had to go through Yellowstone one more time. Driving along the Madison River I searched for the trumpeter swan that I had seen on the

two previous days to no avail-guess it was too chilly. But just a bit farther along the road we saw 5 elk grazing not far from the road. Shortly thereafter we saw many Canadian Geese and the most exciting of all, we saw a bald eagle in a tree across the river and too far to get a photo, but we knew that we had seen that majestic creature! Because we had been caught in the traffic tie up in a large construction area on the Norris loop the day before, we decided to take the route past Old Faithful and the southern loop to the East Entrance of the Park and our route to Cody. We drove past all the geo-thermal features that we'd seen two days ago, but Old Faithful was too much to drive past. By the time we got into the parking lot an eruption was just finishing up, but at least we were able to stretch our legs a bit. We then traveled up through Craig's Pass-8200' in elevation then down to Yellowstone Lake (man is that HUGE?) and on to the Fishing Bridge (which one cannot fish from any longer) and then headed for the East Entrance. That required us to travel up to the Sylvan Pass more than 9000' in elevation. There was snow all along the road once we got nearly to the top. I've included a photo of the snow on 7/6! On the way down the other side we came upon a motorcycle accident and that beautiful touring bike was bashed up against a stone retaining wall-all beat up. There were Park Rangers dealing with the accident and we just kept driving. I've also attached a photo of Hank leaving the Park!

The drive from Yellowstone to Cody was very scenic along the Buffalo Bill Cody Byway-there's a photo from that at the top. As we approached Cody we came upon a huge hydro-electric dam-once was an engineering marvel, but has now been surpassed by higher dams. When we got into Cody we found that our KOA Kampground was out to the East of the town, but located it with little problem. Got settled then went back into town to explore and get our bearings. After getting some groceries, and purchasing a new camera (mine had finally died!) we checked out some of what Cody has to offer. Hank had been hankering (no pun intended) for a western steak and if Cody couldn't provide it no place could. We decided to have dinner in the Irma Hotel Restaurant built by Buffalo Bill Cody in 1902. Restaurant looked very busy, but we were soon seated! Service was good-food was excellent and so was the service. Lots of individuals in western dress-some obviously "wanna-Bee's" some locals. After dinner we had to walk off the huge meal and shops and souvenir vendors were active. There was a gunfight skit being played out in the street to the entertainment of many! Cody is famous as a rodeo town and one takes place every Mon. throughout the summer. However, it was very chilly and damp and the old folks decided we just wanted to go back to the Tin Tent and crash. Tomorrow before we leave Cody, we'll check out the Buffalo Bill Museum.

Independance Day in Yellowstone

Very chilly beginning to the holiday, but sunny and bright! Driving along the Madison River our swan was floating majestically along beside us. There were probably that same small herd of elk farther along where we had seen them the day before. Today we were going to do most of the northern and eastern sections of the Grand Loop. At Madison Jct. we turned north so we could view the Norris geyser basin. We spent more than an hour walking along the boardwalk seeing Steamboat Springs and many of the thermal features around that area-very impressive. One feature was about a 6 ft hole with bubbling and gurgling acid mud which looked like hot chocolate! At some of the features the odor of sulfur was very strong....Moving on we drove north to Mammoth Hot Springs-HUGE-beautiful formations and Hank was excited to learn that the process going on in this spring is how travertine tile is actually made. Had to explore the village of Mammoth, but it was incredibly crowded-did we expect otherwise? Finally found a parking place after much sputtering and annoyance from my intrepid driver and we walked around the village. There was a placid (acting at least) bison right in the middle of the village grazing away on the lush green grass across from the Country store. He didn't seem at all bothered by the crowds of gawkers! Moving on we drove across the top section of roadway in the Park-some breathtaking scenery-hills, valleys, canyons, hairpin turns along the narrow and winding road to Mt. Washburn. As we climbed to Dunraven Pass-8600+there was much snow still on the sides of the road-on the 4th of July! We stopped at one of the lookout spots nearly at the top of the pass and it was windy and chilly, but the scenery was awesome! Driving on we came to Canyon Village-crowded but not crazy like Mammoth-stopped for a cup of coffee. By this time we were getting a mite saturated with the whole experience and we did not take the time to walk to see the Canyon of Yellowstone-I bought a Yellowstone DVD which shows the falls in all their beauty. Being late in the day, we decided to head back toward Norris which would then take us back to Madison and eventually the Western entrance so we could crash in the tin tent. Along the way in the middle of a huge construction site some overanxious driver ran into a bridge abutment and tied up both north and south lanes of traffic for more than an hour! It was an opportunity to meet some of our fellow travelers as they walked by the line of cars to find out why the holdup. A wrecker finally arrived, dispatched the somewhat bent vehicle, and slowly -due to the hundreds of backed up vehicles we were able to make our way back to our " home on the road". A very different July 4th for us - but one we'll long remember.

Having problems including photos-you'll have to wait to see others in person!

Yellowstone & the Grand Tetons

Woke up Saturday, 7/3 to a very chilly camper-temperatures outside were in the mid-40's and we had not set the heat to come on. We should have remembered that we were at an elevation of 6500+ and that it would get cold-much colder than we'd expected! Eventually we were headed for the West entrance of Yellowstone. For those of you who aren't aware of this fact-if you are over 62 you can purchase a Senior Pass for $10.00-which will give us lifetime access to any National Park-there are advantages to getting old. We had purchased our Pass while at Carlsbad Caverns and when we got in line at the West Entrance we were waved right by-that we found to be quite nice. Our first sighting in the Park was of a Trumpeter Swan on the Madison River. A bit farther along cars were stopping to view the Elk grazing by the river. Heading toward Old Faithful, we stopped at most of the geo-thermal viewpoints-the mud pots, the fumaroles, the geysers, etc. Arriving at Old Faithful, it was lunchtime and we had taken sandwiches, etc. as these places gouge for food, and it is not very good. Just as we were finishing our non-picnic, we saw over a rise in the hill the end of Old Faithful's almost hourly erruption. So we headed out the boardwalk to view some of the other examples of the subterranean activity. Just as we got in front of it, the Bee Hive Geyser went off - a fairly un-
predictable geyser and we were just lucky to be there at the right time. After that Hank decided that we needed to view the next erruption of OF from the hillside observation spot- a 1/2 mile up the mountain-we got up there and had to wait for 15-20 min. for it to blow-was worth the walk and the wait!! After that we headed toward the South Entrance of the Park taking us over Craig's Pass-some 8200 in elevation-then down very quickly. Before us was the huge Yellowstone Lake-quite a site. Leaving that Park we headed down John D. Rockefella Parkway which took us down into the Grand Tetons-the mtns. to our west-most over 10,000 ft, high and still most of the peaks covered in snow! Jackson Lake also beautiful-saw elk and bison in various places along the road. Arriving in Jackson we decided it was time for a break and we explore the very touristy/ski village. Lots of fun places to explore...Time was getting on and we still had nearly 100 miles to get back home to our tin tent in Idaho! We left Jackson heading West and up and over Teton Pass-10k high-and I just love heights-NOT! Safely down the other side we drove back north and got to the tin tent just about sunset! It had been chilly most all day with temps not getting above the low 60's-. Photos will have to wait until tomorrow!

Salt Lake City to Island Park Idaho

On the road again heading north from Salt Lake via I-15 to Idaho Falls, ID where we stopped for a bit of grocery shopping and lunch in the camper. Fri. before a long holiday weekend brings out the worst in some drivers and we encountered many of them while trying to get out of the parking lot of a Wal Mart! Nearly 10 minutes went by with Hank getting more and more livid that there was not a courteous driver in the lot! Eventually we got on our road-US rte 20 which would take us NE to just outside Island Park, ID where we had reservations for three nights. Arrived there, checked in, set up, and immediately got frustrated because once more I had no Internet capability-even though I had paid $1.00 per day for each day we'd camped there! The folks in the office said we could bring our computer into the laundry and work there-RIGHT! Instead, we drove into the town of West Yellowstone, MT which is just a few hundred feet from Yellowstone National Park. W. Yellowstone is quite the tourist town-lots of fun places to explore. We walked past restaurants which seemed to specialize in Pizza and it smelled so good we just had to go in and have some! It was excellent pizza-and I didn't have to cook or clean up! Since we were going to have a long day on Sat. we crashed early.
As I'm playing catch up on 7/5 for what happened on 7/1 this becomes a bit of a challenge when I don't make notes. Apparently I didn't take photos that day, 'cause I can't find any!

In and around Salt Lake City

Thursday 6/30 dawned sunny, windy and hot-high 90's. Hank decided that it was time to have our trusty vehicle serviced and checked over and the staff at the KOA there were very helpful and suggested a reputable GMC dealer and arrangements were made quickly to take the car there (with good directions!) While he did that, I took care of a laundry for a week! Before I had finished, Hank was back-dealer had brought him back to the campground and we were told we would receive a phone call when it was ready. We still hadn't received the call in a couple of hours so we took the free shuttle (provided by LDS) to Temple Square. Our driver seemed to be very knowledgeable-gave us a great deal of info. on SL and Temple Square. Then we were met by two delightful young ladies (doing their 18 month mission duty) one from the South of France and one from Mexico. They gave us a tour of the Tabernacle, grounds, the North Visitor Ctr. and the South Visitor Ctr. all the while politely trying to convert us. All the while we were being toured I kept thinking "this is BIG business". They also showed us the Center devoted to families-didn't have time to see the museum or the genealogy building because Hank got the call that the car was ready and they'd send a courtesy car for us. The girls told us that the Morman Tabernacle Choir would be rehersing at 8PM that evening and the public is invited. So off we went to the GMC dealer to pick up the car. There was nothing wrong the car, but it did need an oil change and items checked over. Once that bill was settled we found our way back to the KOA got some dinner and headed back to Temple Square - this time on our own steam. The Utah capitol bldg. was right on our route so we drove there 1st and at least got a couple of photos. Then we headed to the LDS Conference Ctr. where we were told we could watch the orchestra reherse before the choir came in. Someone misunderstood and the public is not invited to the orchestra rehersal and we had an hour to kill. We wandered around Temple Sq. then wandered some of the surrounding streets. For a large bustling city, there was surprisingly little to do or see at 7PM. We finally found a souvenir shop where we killed a few minutes chatting with the proprietors who were helpful in giving us suggestions of how to use up more time before we could get in to hear the choir. We went into the Joseph Smith building and took the elevator to the top floor where there are observation windows on the east and west sides of the building-quite a view from there. Eventually it was time to head back to the Conf. Ctr. and there were already a great number of people waiting to get in. At last the doors opened and we were ushered into a huge performance hall which seats 21,000 people and it is constructed in such a manner that microphones aren't needed-except when they are recording. The orchestra was accompanying the choir in America the Beautiful as we sat down. Eventually, the conductor turned to the people in attendance and explained that they were preparing for their patriotic program which would be broadcast Sun. 7/4 . I had goose bumps just being in the presence of the Morman Tabernacle Choir, and even though it was a rehersal and the conductor kept stopping and starting, it was still quite wonderful! They sang 76 Trombones, I Pledge Allegiance, and God Bless America which made the tears fall! It was an incredible 1.5 hours and we were both so glad we'd gone in to listen. When we came out onto the street the sun had just set and the sky was gorgeous! Got a little misplaced on our way back to the KOA, but only a couple of streets out of our way. Now to see if we can share some photos of the day...