Town hiking

I think hiking around a city is more strenuous and tiring than hiking around a glacier. Lisa and I have both been exhausted by the end of the day here. I suppose, we are spending more time walking here than we did in the National Parks. There is so much to see, and even though this is a friendly, accessible city, there is a lot of ground to cover. We've availed ourselves of the public transportation to get from (and to) our hotel to downtown. Pikes Place Market is fun and the original Starbucks is there. (We didn't get any coffee there, the line was too long). We got lunch at the Falafel King! (the KING!). It was yummy.

Yesterday, after the Duck Tour (we are still tourists, you know!) we took the ferry to Bainbridge Island across the bay, and we both enjoyed the 35 minute sit down on the boat yesterday. Today we hit the underground tour everyone kept telling us about. You actually go under the sidewalks and walk around the city streets from 130 years ago. The tour guide was good, she had a lot of Seattle trivia, and you know how I like my trivia! (Some people on this cross-country tour feel the need to refer to me as "Cliffy" sometimes, but I don't know why.)

Live from Seattle

I'm blogging live from the Seattle Central Library. This is quite a structure. The building is really a work of art, all steel and glass, books and computers. There are 11 floors of knowledge and learning here. We've been walking around this fair city, and under this city, for a few days now and I think we get a good sense of Seattle. Except the weather. Everyone keeps remarking about this "amazing stretch" of weather - it's been sunny and warm for the three days we've been here. I kind of feel like we are missing something without the rain. I'm not complaining, though! We're going through lots of sunscreen.

More pictures from Seattle

The View

This is the view from our hotel in Seattle.

Sleeping In Seattle

We crossed the Columbia River (?) into Seattle on Tuesday afternoon and missed the exit for our hotel. Thanks to Garmin, we successfully navigated through the busy, crowded streets, something we are not used to after a few weeks of Iowa, South Dakota, Montana, and Idaho. I think there are about 8 million miles of roads and only about 2,000 people total in those states. We found the Mediterranean Inn and pulled right into the open space on the road! What luck! Then we checked in, but the parking garage has a height restriction of 6’6”. With our roof box, the RAV is about 6’9”. Bad luck. But the first 6 spaces of the garage are at 7 feet and there is one left! Great luck, we can fit in the garage!

There is a Starbucks right in the lobby of the hotel (what luck! – of course this is Seattle) and they are having a Frappucino happy hour (what luck!) with free samples of cake, too (what luck!). Since we are the only two people in the place who seem interested in the free stuff, they pull out the hula hoops (what luck!) I am drafted into a hula hoop competition with one of the Starbuckians (she seems vaguely embarrassed because we are heading out to the street). I tell them that I am a 5^th level blackbelt hula hooper. I crush her with my hip swinging and trick hooping and win the grand prize – two free half pound bags of Starbucks coffee! (what luck!). The poor Starbuckian is left weeping in the street and is immediately fired from her job. I convince them to hire her back, as it was unfair and I am a 5^th level blackbelt hula hooper. They hire her back (what luck!).

So far, Seattle is a great and fair city.

5 Things I'm not missing

TIM:

1. Television
2. Metro Red Line
3. Yard work
4. Beltway traffic
5. Daily showering

LISA:

1. Blow drying my hair
2. Television
3. The flooding in my basement
4. Ironing
5. The infernal neighborhood weed-wackers and the screaming savage children who live behind our house
   

Wandering to the Sun

Our second day of hiking led us to the St. Mary Falls and the Virginia Falls, east of Logan Pass. We took an early (-er) start this morning and made it to the trail head by about 11:30. Ha ha. If you've ever been to this part of the world, along this Going To The Sun Road, you know you can't do anything quickly - and you don't need to! The scenery is stunning. The weather this time of year is gorgeous. The tourists are at a minimum, so the road is pretty clear. And I couldn't even tell you what day it was. I haven't worn a watch since taking one off a month ago. Yikes, we've now been gone from our home for a month! Life is good. Sorry about all the rain back east, y'all, the temperature out here is lows 60's at night (0r cooler, depending on elevation) and upper 80's in the daytime (which lasts until about 10 pm, sundown.)

We almost hate getting in the car because the weather is so nice, but when we do, we seem to end up in a beautiful spot for a picnic lunch, or a scenic drive around glacial lakes. We haven't seen as much wildlife as we expected, but Lisa did spot a couple of wolves in a mountain medow, we rode by a herd of elk, saw some bighorn sheep, nearly collided with a deer (he veered off at the last moment, adrenaline rush for us), almost stepped on a snake, and watched an eagle grab some roadkill for a snack, and gazed at osprey soar over the canyons. Nice way to spend the weekend, eh? (it was the weekend, right?).

Jammer Bus

The Timberwolf Resort has coffee (for a dollar, Grizzly Blend) so we had a nice cuppa joe and talked to the "camp hosts." Camp Hosts are people who come out for a while and camp and help out around the resort. These two, I forget their names already, are from Massachusetts! The husband is a Jammer Bus driver, those big Red Buses I mentioned before. I love the old buses, and asked him about them. He offered me a job on the spot, so I guess they need drivers. Tempting, tempting, but the job requires careful driving and reflective narrative on a very steep and narrow cliff road. I can do one or the other, but not both at the same time. Just ask my co-pilot.

Jammer Bus from Glacier:

How you doin'?

Best part of tonight

Waking up at who knows when, going out into the black of night and looking up at the thousands and thousands of stars you never get to see living so close to a city.

Best part of the day today

Lisa: Sitting in a kayak at 5:30pm with our feet stuck in the glacial water listening to the quiet.

Tim: Eating a huckleberry ice cream cone the size of a small child’s head.

Hidden Lake

Hidden Lake remains hidden to us because the two mile trail, although open, was covered in snow. It was 4:00 by now, and we were getting a little tired, but wanted to see another gem recommended by Rosie the Ranger (who looks an awful lot like my Auntie Mary Ellen). We watched as the buff Montanans came off the trail, bare chested and carrying their skis and snowboards. Huh? Yes, people were climbing the foot hills of some mountain and skiing and snowboarding down. (Jim, if you ever come out here, bring your board, dude!). We walked in a bit to see if the trail cleared, but it didn’t. We could see people about a mile ahead of us slipping and sliding, trying to get to Hidden Lake. We decided since we still had at least an hour drive back to our camp, and the hike was likely to take two hours, we’d pass on this one. Instead, we toured the visitor center, learned about marmot life and grizzly eating habits, and that there were 4,000 inches of snow in the parking lot just two weeks ago.

Onward!

A few more miles up the Going to the Sun Road, around hairpin turns, avoiding the big Red Buses, dodging falling rocks, crumbling walls, and roadside waterfalls, we made it to Logan Pass. The scenery around this part of the world is simply amazing. This must be one of the most beautiful places on earth. Around each corner, we were both oohing and aahing, pointing, and calling out for a stop to get the camera. Lisa has become a master at the moving snapshot. I need to stop the car, get out, frame the scene, check the camera setting, zoom in, zoom out, zoom in a little, and click.

Side effects of being in Montana…

We bought and consumed most of a bag of beef jerky (Peppered!) today, ate a giant huckleberry ice cream cone, and I rode home from a brief kayaking trip without my pants on because they were wet from the boat. I held them out the car window for part of the trip to dry them off. Classy!!

Shout out to Darlene!

Hey Darl—today I used both the toilet paper-to-go and the freeze dried apple cobbler, in that order. Darl (our housesitter/Tim’s other wife) gave us a great care package with many camping essentials. I found myself trapped today without toilet paper in a stall, and rather than have the Seinfeld inspired “do you have a square to spare” conversation with a neighbor I remembered that I had a travel pack of TP in my bag! Tonight, after yet another dinner of kabobs, cous cous and asparagus we cooked up the cobbler. Tim’s mother Beverly definitely makes a better cobbler, but after a long day of hiking and sightseeing, it really hit the spot.

Pure entertainment

Watching Mr. the Tim struggle for a half hour to get a campfire going. He gets beyond exasperated because he is, in fact, an Eagle Scout and feels that he should have special campfire lighting powers. I’m typing this while watching him and I’m happy to report that he has gotten the fire going.

CAMPFIRE UPDATE: Sunday night, no paper, no lighter fuel, one match.

Going To The Sun

The Going to the Sun Road is the main road through Glacier National Park. It is 52 miles long, goes up to about 6,500 feet to the Continental Divide at Logan Pass. We started at the western entrance, Apgar Lodge. Rosie the Ranger (who looks surprisingly like my Auntie Mary Ellen) directed us to Avalanche Lake, an easy hike up to a secluded lake away from the roads and drive by tourists. The climb up was easy and fun, Lisa and I both ready for some good hiking. We strapped on our water bottles, backpacks, hiking sticks, snacks, and boots then set out on the boardwalk path. A bit disappointing when the teenagers and elderly in high heels start passing you. About a quarter mile, though, and they were eating our dust because the wood trail ended and the rocks and mud were ours. The hike is about 2 miles up to a beautiful lake, with several glacial waterfalls and snow melts pouring off the mountain. Well worth the climb. And we had beef jerky and water at the top to celebrate!

Lisa scampered down the hillside, avoiding the lovely toilette de pit. I used Mother Nature’s Men’s Room on the way down. A couple of times. It is good to be a man!

Pit toilets

I don’t know if any of you recall the first time you used a porta-potty. Before I used one I remember thinking they must be the most vile, horrible, things to ever exist. Then I used one and…eh…not that bad. Today we did a great hike in Glacier to Avalanche Lake. You try to be good and drink a lot of water but then you realize that could be problematic. About ¾ of the way to the top of the hike I asked Tim if he thought there would be what we have taken to calling “pee huts” at the top. He didn’t think so. Imagine my happiness when we saw a sign for a “pit toilet”. I asked Tim what that meant and he said it was basically the same kind of vault toilet we’d been using all over the northwest. Yeah, except that it was straight out of the movie Trainspotting. I may need to have kidney surgery later, but I’m pretty sure I saved myself from other, more deadly, diseases by fleeing the pit toilet.

By the end of the summer

I’m pretty sure we’ll be sick of chicken kabobs and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Friday

We finally managed to get out of our own way (and the Winters!) and get out of Florence on Friday. We spent some time in the morning trying to find a hotel in Seattle that wasn’t super expensive and seemed to be in a safe and convenient area. We packed up the car, got gas, stopped for groceries and headed towards Glacier. Laurie had suggested that we stop in a town called Big Fork. Great suggestion Laurie! It was a cute little town with shops and restaurants. We walked around a bit to stretch our legs and landed at our campground at around 4:30. We stayed at the Timberwolf Resort, which sounds far more plush than it is. We opted for a rustic cabin, which is essentially a shed with no electricity. It stays light until 10:00 so we figured the electricity wasn’t crucial. There are bathrooms and showers for 50 cents about 20 yards away. We cooked a nice dinner on the grill (chicken kabobs, cous cous and asparagus) and sat outside at our picnic table reading…a nice, relaxing day…

Goodbye to Montana Winters (for now).

Pat, Laurie and the kids have been spectacular hosts and a lot of fun to spent time with. We usually only see them at weddings and funerals so it was great to get to know them in a lot more depth. Wyatt and Jack are sweeties.

Hey Wyatt and Jack -- sorry we didn't get to see you this morning before you left for camp. We're blowing some big kisses your way!! Tell your parents to take you to D.C.!!!

:-) Lisa and Tim

Mmmmm.... Ice Cream!

Wyatt attacks dessert like a grizzly bear. Not to worry, we all helped rescue him.

Pat Winters' Whitewater Adventure Tours

We did some more whitewater adventure with Pat. He guided us through some class -V rapids, avoided several waterswirls and cataracts, and expertly demonstrated some world class fly fishing on the mighty Bitterroot River.

We learned some valuable lessons on that trip:

• Pick your route and stay the course.
• Make a decision before you get to the sandbar.
• Put your back into it for more power.
• Sometimes simpler is better.
• A good steak is worth paying for.
  

Call Pat for your very own, personal, expertly guided whitewater float of the Bitterroot (or Blackfoot or Clark Fork) River. He'll even let you paddle while he fishes!

Floating on the Bitterroot

We spent a few hours on Thursday floating down the Bitterroot River with Tim's cousin Pat. It was highly relaxing and we were able to see some deer, a blue heron, many osprey and a whole lotta nature. I took pictures with a disposable camera so we don't have any photos yet from the trip. We're packing up our stuff this morning, heading to the grocery store and then driving to Glacier. Everyone has been telling us how gorgeous it is there, so we're excited to get moving again.

Happy Birthday Allison!

Hi Allison-
I know it's early, but we probably won't be near a computer on Saturday, so I just wanted to give you a happy birthday shout out. Enjoy your day!!
Lisa and Tim

Seattle information??

Hi-

If anyone has any tips on the Seattle area, please post them here. We plan to check out Walla Walla and Seattle but don't have any lodging plans yet, so if anyone knows of any reasonable options out there, let us know. Thanks!!

Glacier Advice?

Hey Cas and Maryann: if you're out there and have any tips on Glacier, send them our way. We booked a cabin at Timberwolf based on your advice. Also, Team Hopkins needs to visit Montana Ale Works in Bozeman--you'd love it there!

Still in Florence...

We ended up extending our stay in Florence for a couple of nights, so we're still here! We were only planning to stay for 2 nights, but that's turning into 4 nights. Tuesday afternoon we took a drive through the backcountry of Montana through a place called Elk Meadows and up to Lolo Pass, which separates Montana from Idaho. It was gorgeous. We were escorted by Pat, Laurie and the kids Wyatt and Jack. We had dinner at a cute place on the river called Lochsa Lodge. Wednesday we hung out in the morning at the house and then went into Missoula for lunch and to see the town. We had a nice relaxing dinner on the deck. Today (Thursday) we're headed out on the Bitterroot River to float on a raft with Pat. We're heading out tomorrow morning to Glacier and leaving the Winters family to get back to their regular lives. They've been great hosts.

Wildlife

We spotted some interesting wildlife on the Lolo Pass:

• Deer
• Elk
• Wyatt Winters
  
• Bald Eagle
• Marmots
• Jack Winters
  
• Chipmunk
• Wolf (tracks only, no wolf was seen)
• Mule Deer
• more deer
• Idahoans (Idahoers?)
• A few more deer
• Longhorn Steer
• Lewis & Clark
  
• oh yea, some more deer (There's a lot of deer out here, can you tell?)

Sweet home Montana

Pat and Laurie's beautiful home.

Florence, Montana

Wyatt having a cookie




The view from their deck


Jack!


The view from the deck at 10:00 p.m.!



The same view during the day

We arrived in Florence Montana on Monday around 6:30 p.m. Tim's cousin Pat Winters, his wife Laurie, their two boys Jack and Wyatt and their dog Roxanne live in a gorgeous log home our here. We cooked dinner and hung out on their deck until about 11:00, just catching up and relaxing. It's Tuesday afternoon now. The Winters have been gone all morning and Tim and I have just been relaxing. It was so luxurious to get up this morning and not have to pack anything. We both took long showers, caught up on some bill paying, did some research into Glacier and Seattle and have been basically just chilling on the deck. I feel like a new person. It is so incredibly quiet and beautiful here. From their deck you can see mountains all around, many still covered with snow. The only sound I can hear right now are a few birds in the distance. I think Montana is one of those places where people say "why the heck would anyone want to live in Montana??!?!?!" After being here for 24 hours I can completely understand.

Bozeman Montana

I am smitten with Bozeman, Montana, and I'm not one to use that word lightly! When we drove in Saturday evening I thought it looked like a nice town. It's a college town--the University of Southern Montana is here--and it has lots of funky coffee shops, restaurants, outdoor clothing shops, etc. Part of my smittenness might have to do with the fact that we spent a couple of very relaxing hours sitting in nice coffee shop surfing the web, having coffee and checking out the locals. Tim had taken the car for an oil change and that was the first hour we've spent completely separate since we started the trip I think. It was nice to have a little time to ourselves to recharge. After the coffee shop we found a small park and had a nice picnic lunch. It seemed like a town with a lot of life. There were kids playing in the park, people walking dogs, people picnicking and people just hanging out reading. We spent the next couple of hours wandering around the town before heading out to Florence.

Sunday: Yellowstone and Bozeman

After a full day of sightseeing and hiking in Yellowstone we were debating between staying another night in the park or heading towards Montana. We opted for driving as far as Bozeman, Montana, so we'd be that much closer to Florence, Montana where we were headed the next day. The drive to Bozeman was gorgeous. Montana is real and it's spectacular. As we were driving into downtown Bozemand Tim yelled out "Montana Ale Works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" We decided to stop and ended up having dinner there. We thought it was a good sign when we walked in and the Sox game was on the TVs and Bruce was playing on the jukebox. We had a great dinner. Tim had the most delicious fish tacos ever. Tim does like to live life on the edge--who would have thought that a brew pub in Montana would have good fish tacos? We checked into the Bozeman KOA and ended up sitting in the hottub for a while chatting with three high school kids from Idaho who were in town for a hockey camp. Nice kids--they were cracking us up. Our stay at the KOA was a'OK.

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Sunday we hiked around, into, and on top of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The Yellowstone River runs through this geological chasm with two waterfalls. The pictures you most likely see of this park are of the Lower Falls here. Outstanding. The trails lead you right to the brink of the falls, where you can look right over the edge.

HOT!!!!

We wandered through the stinky (i.e. sulfur smelling) geyser fields at Yellowstone. This one thermal pool was 165 degrees, which was about 130 degrees warmer than it was the night before at our refugee camp.

Saturday Night

We’re here in what’s called a cabin in the Canyon area of the park. It’s not so much a cabin as a tiny motel, but it feels like perfection. We cooked dinner tonight like we were fugitives on the lam. We grilled up chicken kabos, asparagus and my corn/tomato/feta salad. We may be roughin’ it, but we’re not slummin’. It’s very quiet here and dark and we’re happy to have a mattress to sleep on.

UPDATE: Here are some pictures of the fugitive kitchen:

In the Park Saturday

Sleep deprivation aside, it is absolutely gorgeous in the park. Today we saw a herd of bison, waterfalls, geysers, deer, and more beautiful scenery than your eyes can take in. We went to the geyser area where Old Faithful sits and ended up seeing Old Faithful and another geyser called the Beehive erupt within 5 minutes of each other. Here’s a snippet of video from the Beehive (turn your computer screen on its side for best viewing):

Saturday

Our original plan had been to stay at the refugee camp for two nights. We thought we had heard the family from hell say they needed to be packed up by 10:00, so we thought they were only staying Friday night. We figured that it couldn’t possibly be worse on Saturday (other than the bone-chilling cold) so we were planning to stay a second night. We were looking forward to not packing and unpacking the sleeping bags, tent etc. We were heading out of the refugee camp in the morning but hadn’t seen the other family packing up theirs tents and chairs. I became concerned because there was no way I was staying there again if they were there—I have my limits! On the way out of the refugee camp we stopped at the reservation office and checked to see if they were staying another night. They were. The nice reservation lady said she would either move us to another site or refund our second night’s fee. We opted to flee. We got a reservation in a cabin in the Canyon Lodge area of Yellowstone so we packed up the tent and headed out.

FOR SALE

Coleman 8 x 10 foot tent
2 Thermarest sleeping pads
2 sleeping bags
Portable grill
Coleman rechargeable lantern
Thule roofbox

WANTED:
Timeshare in Key West with hottub.

Friday night at the campground

We arrived at the Bridge Bay campground at about 7:00 and checked in. As we drove in to the campground we thought “hhhmmmm…this is a lot bigger than we thought. And why are there no trees?” (Lisa’s first reaction was, “Wow, I hate this already.” Always the optimist!) We kind of realized at that point that this could suck, but what are you going to do at 7:00 p.m. on a Friday night but make the best of it. One of the problems with our lack of internet access on the road is that it’s much harder to be spontaneous. You just have to show up places and hope for the best. Imagine our dismay when our campsite was next to two families with a total of 7 kids and 4 adults and 3 tents. We’re kind of at that point when all we want is 30 minutes of peace and quiet. In the words of George H.W.: not gonna happen. Actually, I think that's Dana Carvey imitating GHWB, but you get the idea. It wasn’t so bad at first because we still had to set up our tent and cook dinner. We turned on the iPod and cranked it up while we cooked and ate. Another issue was that the temperature kept dropping. We finally had to go to bed around 10:00 because we were frickin freezing. The temperature ended up dropping to 31 degrees. Finally around 11:00, Tim (Mr. Conflict Avoidance) became so irritated that he shoved his head out of the tent and said “could you people keep your voices down……..please!”. Sadly, his plea had limited effect. In the end, it took earplugs, a fleece sleeping bag over our heads, a regular sleeping bad and pillow over my head (plus 2 sleeping pills, who’s kidding who) to get me (Lisa) to sleep. Also, the hypothermia may have played a small role. Oh, then the campers from hell got up at 4:40 a.m. and started talking at full volume. On the way out of campground I asked Tim if it made me a bad person if I wanted to go dump a gallon of water on their sleeping bags while they were away. Tim said only if it made him a bad person if he had been thinking about urinating on their tents.

We may both end up in hell, but as long as those people aren’t there, at least it’ll be quiet.

The drive to Yellowstone

The drive out was beautiful. We took pictures, but really it’s not the same. If you’ve never been out here, you owe it to yourselves at some point to make the trek. We said so many times—“oooohh-look over there!” that we finally just had to shut ourselves up. There is construction going on at the East entrance. They’re widening the road, which if you see the road you think—Wow! That’s a production. The altitude was definitely starting to be a factor too. You don’t really think you’re going to be affected by it, but the next thing you (i.e. Lisa) know you can’t stay awake in the car.

Friday: The ride to Yellowstone

After our white-water rafting adventure (and a sidetrip to the Sierra Trading Post Outlet, and an hour or so of blogging from the parking lot of a Super 8 that was broiling in the sun, for you-our reading public) we high-tailed it to the Super Walmart. Disclaimer: we are vehemently opposed to Walmart on several different levels, but when you’re in Wyoming you go to the Walmart and you like it! And we don’t know at what point we all decided to call Walmart “the Walmart”, but we do. And we went and we found the low prices. We then headed out to Yellowstone National Park, the very first of our national parks.

Three Monday Thoughts

ONE: We're out of Yellowstone. More details are in the works. I left Lisa at a cute little coffee shop in Bozeman, MT - Rockford Coffee - and went to see the man about the "Maint Reqd" light on the dashboard. A quick oil change, tire rotation, and the RAV is running as good as new, if not as clean. There is thin layer of mud and dust (and bug guts) all over the machine, so I think a car wash is next on the list. It is nice to be in a town with actual services and stores and people.

TWO: Here is my horrorscope for today:

Being spur-of-the-moment can lead to some pretty exciting events, but you have to be willing to let the universe do the driving. Actually, once you take your hands off the wheel, you might enjoy yourself.

THREE: I'd like to do a quick shout out to my companion, co-pilot, navigator and best friend. Lisa has been an amazing traveling companion and has kept my spirits high, my direction clear, and my love strong. Thanks Lisa, I love you! You are the best!

Yellowstone

We're heading to Yellowstone Park for a few days. We'll be off the grid for those days, so we updated the pictures for y'all.

Note to Montana Winters: We're headed your way, see you Monday evening (I hope!)

The Pepster

For those of you who are concerned, our girl Pepper seems to be adjusting pretty well to her foster mother, Sharon. As of last Saturday Pepper had finally allowed Sharon to pat her. Sharon called me yesterday and I was a little concerned at first. When I asked how Pepper was doing Sharon whispered "she's sitting on my lap right now!". We think the catnip Sharon has been supplying to Pepper has helped with the adjustment. We call it kitty crack. Hey, whatever works!

Rainbow over the Big Horn Mountains

Yellowstone Bound!

We're headed to Yellowstone this afternoon. We realized yesterday afternoon that we were grossly underprepared for the vastness that is Yellowstone. We ended up picking up a guide book and chatting up the locals to find out their favorite spots in the park. Yellowstone is the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined, so you just pick a few spots and see what you can. We're camping Friday and Saturday nights at Bridge Bay and will move someplace north in the park for Sunday night. The temperatures are supposed to only get as high at 63, with lows of 31 degrees. We're headed to the grocery store and then to the park so we'll be out of contact for a couple of days. Have a great weekend everyone! L & T

Devil's Tower

Devil's Tower - Wyoming. The first National Monument. The geothermal activity in this area created this massive tower of stone, protruding out of the country like a giant tooth. This site was an audible, as it was not on our itinerary, but only about an hour off of the highway. It is alone out in the countryside, and it makes for some striking photo ops. Close Encounters of the Third Kind was filmed here. I'm gald we found it. The site is considered sacred by the Native Americans and there were several prayer cloths and prayer mounds around the mountain. Lisa and I said our own prayer as we circled it. There is a 1.3 mile trail that goes all the way around and up to it.

Mountain Man!

Cody, Wyoming--Thursday and Friday

We arrived in Cody Wyoming on Thursday afternoon. We like it here--it's outdoorsy and there's a cute downtown area. We wandered around town, grabbed some dinner and then headed back to another Kabin at a KOA. We ended up sitting in a McDonald's parking lot last night using the wireless internet there b/c the free wi-fi at the KOA was out of commission.

This morning (Friday) we went white-water rafting for a couple of hours with a guide (Tom) from Core Mountain Sports. We were a little concerned because it was only about 63 degrees out when we left, but it was great. The water is 45 degrees--very refreshing! They keep you pretty warm with jackets and pants. Tom was a great guide and his mother was actually on the trip too. She has lived in the area for 20+ years and was a great source of information.

Ride the Pony Tim!!!!!!!!!

At Wall Drug.

Thursday: The drive from Buffalo to Cody

Good golly Miss Molly it’s chilly! It’s 11:00 a.m. and we’re at 9666 feet and it is 48 degrees. There are still patches of snow on the ground. And yes, we’re in shorts and sandals. Yesterday it was 100 degrees. I’m pretty sure we can cross Wyoming off the “states we might want to live in” list. But it is completely gorgeous out here and luxuriously spacious and the air is fresh, so I can see why some people live here.

Wednesday: Black Hills, Deadwood, and Buffalo

We continued driving through the Black Hills and headed towards Deadwood, South Dakota, an old gambling town that was the gateway to the gold mining areas of the Black Hills. The town has been restored and has a bunch of historical memorabilia. It was fun to walk around there and we managed to find some excellent coffee at the Deadwood Coffee Saloon.
The pictures are from Deadwood, including one of Wild Bill Hickock, who was murdered in the town. We saw a reenactment during lunch at Saloon #10 (don't be jealous).

Something I never knew about Tim...

He has never had a bloody nose in his whole life.

Tuesday: Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse

After packing up Tuesday morning we headed down Route 16 to see Mount Rushmore. It was well done and we took a short hike to view it from different areas. We then headed to the Crazy Horse Monument, which is still being carved. Tim read somewhere that it won’t be finished for several generations. Since you can see the head from the road, and that’s the only part that’s done, we decided to forego the $20 admission fee and continue on our journey. We did a lot of driving through the Black Hills, which were gorgeous. We saw many deer on the side of the road. We took a little detour to Pactola Lake Recreation Area and decided that since it was already 4:00 we’d stay at a campground there. The tenting sites looked down on the reservoir—it was a very pretty location. There was a store with some provisions so we bought some broasted chicken (just like fried chicken, only better! according to the nice woman Nancy who ran the store) and headed to our site. We’re happy to report that our second night of camping was vastly better than our first. We went to bed around 9:30 and woke up at 7:30 the next morning!
Our campground.

Interesting side note to camping...

You do meet some interesting characters at the campgrounds. One guy reminded us of Randy Quaid, the uncle in the movie Vacation (a classic). He was travelling with 2 women, maybe a wife and sister, mother and somebody...it was hard to tell. The three of them were travelling in a car and sleeping in it. They may have been fugitives for all we know. He was very helpful when we were setting up the tent. The next morning we're chatting with him about the storm and he says that he ended up sleeping on the picnic table because he has a bad back that bothers him if he's in the car too long, which he was b/c he's driving it all day and then sleeping in it. Then he says "you guys do any rock hunting in Maryland". I just stared at him. He says "you know, agits?" I ended up having to say "I'm sorry, I have no idea what you mean by that." He actually meant rock hunting. He looks for petrified wood. I had never heard of that and thought that he either meant rockfish or that rock was some sort of nickname for an animal. He then tried to give us a piece and we had to keep gently turning him down.

Camping part deaux

We ended up getting about 3 hours of sleep, in fitful spurts. We were somewhat embarrassed about our pathetic first night of camping, b/c it seemed like all the other tenters around us managed to stay in their tents. I have no idea how though and was just not interested in toughing it out. We haven't been camping in about 9 years, so we wanted to break ourselves in gently. Needless to say we were up early on Tuesday morning, although it took us a ridiculous amount of time to get everything back into the car since we had literally shoved it all in the night before to avoid the storm.

It Blowed Away!

My South Dakota home was blowed away!

MONDAY NIGHT: About 12:30, the traffic noise subsided but was replaced by the roaring winds and thunder. A storm blew through our patch of Rapid City, literally blowing the tent in on us. The poles would bend as the tent caught the wind like a sail. I got out and decided to try and stake the corners of the tent down. That didn't really work, and at 1:00 Lisa moved into the relative safety of the RAV. I followed shortly after her, tossing the cooler into the tent to weigh it down. About 2:00 AM I looked out at our site and the entire tent had collapsed. Because I didn't want it to completely disappear, I got out of the car and collected the sad shelter. ( I considered turning in my Eagle Scout award for my poor camping skills).

Lisa thought it would be funny to take a picture of the devastation. Me, not so much.

Hmmm?

What do you think "Maint Reqd" on the dashboard means?

UPDATE: It just means I am due for an oil change. I got one on May 27, so that seems about right. It came on right at 3000 miles. We're at 3,346.6 for the Trip so far.

Monday--let the camping begin!

Monday...
We stopped at a grocery store in Rapid City and loaded up on supplies for the second phase of our trip….camping! On the plus side, you can make whatever food you want. On the downside, the logistics of living out of the car get a little more complicated once you add in the camping. We stopped at a KOA Kampground at around 6:00. When Tim asked the guy for a shady site, he laughed as if we were trying to be funny. I think when most of us think of campgrounds we envision trees and some privacy. Not at the Rapid City KOA, which was kind of a big field with roads running through it. Once the sun went down it was fine, but up until that point we felt like we were putting up a tent and getting dinner ready on the surface of the sun. We cooked a nice dinner of chicken kabobs and hung out for a while before going to bed. We had been worried about being able to sleep in the tent, especially since the “Kampground” was located next to the highway, but we were both so exhausted that we fell right to sleep. Until…

Badlands...the song

In honor of our trip through the Badlands, where--yes--this song was played many times on our iPod...

Badlands...Bruce Springsteen...from Darkness on the Edge of Town

Lights out tonight
Trouble in the heartland
Got a head-on collision
Smashin' in my guts, man
I'm caught in a cross fire that I don't understand
But there's one thing I know for sure
Girl I don't give a damn
For the same old played out scenes
I don't give a damn
For just the in-betweens
Honey, I want the heart, I want the soul I want control right now

Talk about a dream
Try to make it real
You wake up in the night
With a fear so real
Spend your life waiting for a moment that just don't come
Well, don't waste your time waiting

Badlands, you gotta live it everyday
Let the broken hearts stand
As the price you've gotta pay
We'll keep pushin' till it's understood and these badlands start treating us good

Workin' in the fields till you get your back burned
Workin' 'neath the wheel till you get your facts learned
Baby I got my facts learned real good right now
You better get it straight darling
Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king
And a king ain't satisfied till he rules everything
I wanna go out tonight, I wanna find out what I got
Well I believe in the love that you gave me
I believe in the love that you gave me
I believe in the faith that could save me
I believe in the hope and I pray that some day
It may raise me above these

Badlands, you gotta live it everyday
Let the broken hearts stand
As the price you've gotta pay
We'll keep pushin' till it's understood and these badlands start treating us good


For the ones who had a notion,a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sinto be glad you're alive
I wanna find one face that ain't looking through me,
I wanna find one place,
I wanna spit in the face of these badlands

Badlands and Wall, South Dakota

I-90 is a straight shot across South Dakota, with pretty countryside, but not much variety.

Tim’s charming optimism slightly misjudged how long it might take to get from point A to point B. ("It looks so much closer on the map!")

We took a nice trip through the Badlands.

We had intended to hike, but frankly it was about 90 degrees in the shade and there are no trees in the entire area. We tend to avoid hiking on molten magma, so we marveled at the scenery and decided to continue on to Rapid City via Wall Drug. Wall Drug is another “if you build it they will come” tourist destination. We came, we saw, we got back in the RAV, which at this point is completely covered with dead bug gunk. Note to selves…must wash RAV. (Update--the RAV has been washed and is now only partially covered with petrified bug gunk. Some of that gunk is going to require an SOS pad and some elbow grease!)