Cody, Wyoming - Wild West Capital of the World

Well, we made it to Cody, Wyoming after a great visit to Yellowstone. As we drove out toward Cody, which has been described as the prettiest drive in the world, the landscape radically changed from the forested and lush Yellowstone, to a drier and rocky, but very pretty landscape.

Cody is quite a big city, bigger than we thought, with Wal-Mart and everything. But they really catered to the  tourists and there were a lot of tourists!

We took in the Rodeo Monday night, which they have every night of the summer. It was great and the kids really enjoyed it. Aaron even got to ride Hollywood the bull.

We took it easy the next morning, and went downtown for some brunch, visited a gift shop that had a huge miniature display of the history of the west, and then went to the Buffalo Bill/Cody Museums. They were beautifully done museums with all kinds of displays, guns, and information. We could have spent a couple of days there.

We walked around downtown and visited some of the shops and then we hung out at the Irma Hotel, Buffalo Bill's hotel he opened. Outside of the hotel, every evening in the summer they have a corny shootout production/play with props and costumes and everything. It was kind of neat to enjoy that.

We left Cody today, and got a chance to see some wild horses way out in the distance east of Cody.

We will miss Wyoming. What a huge and beautiful place. Aaron says that he wants to live here. I'm not so sure about the winters, but right now it's not bad!  There are a lot of signs on the interstate, where they would close down the interstate due to snow and it tells you to return to the previous city. Literally barricade bars like at railroad crossings. Yikes!

On to the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. We just have to cruise through part of Montana, North Dakota and most of the way across Minnesota. Right.

P.S.

Rolled through the west half of North Dakota today. Apparently they have badlands just like their cousins South Dakota. Different looking though, a lot greener and smaller.

Thoughts on Yellowstone

Well, we could only get to see a small percentage of what there is to see in Yellowstone. The place is huge. Miles long and wide. It's amazing to see how the landscape can change so dramatically when driving through the park. First you're in a high mountain range, then you come out on a huge plain with a river. Then there is thick lodgepole pine forest. It's an amazing place, and we all enjoyed it so much.

While we didn't get to see any bears, moose or wolves we did get to see:

Lots of elk
Herds of buffalo
bald eagles
white pelicans (!) - they live around Yellowstone Lake
a coyote
mule deer
osprey nesting in the grand canyon
ravens - everywhere

I joked to Michele that I have "gawker's neck." The past time in Yellowstone is wildlife watching. When someone spots something, they pull over, then more people. Then you have cars jammed everywhere. People out pointing and aiming cameras and binoculars at something. It's like paparazzi for wildlife. We actually started one of these gawking episodes when we spotted the bald eagle on its nest.

We were also surprised at all the people in the park. There were at times lines of people going into the park and cars were backed up for considerable ways.

Thank goodness the first people to explore these areas had the sense of mind to help protect this area and keep it in good faith for the future of our country.

More Yellowstone

Well, Saturday in Yellowstone was a bit chilly, not above 50 degrees. A lot different than the Badlands! At one point in the afternoon it even dropped into the 30's when a rain storm blew through. But we braved the temps and sought out some sights.

Some weird things we found at Yellowstone in the geyser areas:

Lots of people waiting for Old Faithful. Probably the most people we saw in the park were in this area:

Old Faithful:

The kids at Old Faithful:

Yellowstone Lake surrounded by snow capped mountains.

Aaron fishing for Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout in Madison River. Didn't catch anything, but he had fun.

Becky and Claire feeding the boys at Mammoth Springs while we walked around

Mammoth Hot Springs: Boiling mineral infused water. Very strange and beautiful.

Bald Eagle on a nest near the west entrance

Claire's new favorite rodent after the prairie dog, the Uinta Ground Squirrel!

The "Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone" Awesome!

Claire and I with the lower falls in background.

The lower falls. Niagara has nothing on this place. Imagine this 300 foot falls at the top of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone pictured above. Amazing!

Traffic jams in Yellowstone are a bit different than elsewhere. These buffalo just did whatever they wanted to do. Including walking right across the road in front of cars. Fred, Aaron and I were coming back from fishing Sunday evening and we came around a curve and found a huge bull walking right down the road in our lane. We went around him and he didn't so much as budge from his plodding walk.

On a lookout point by Yellowstone Lake. In the south, very faintly can be seen the Teton Mountains to the south of Yellowstone Park.

Leaving Yellowstone Park Monday afternoon.

Yellowstone National Park

We've been busy and out late, so here's the scoop on Yellowstone, which we just left today.

What an amazing place it was, the mountains, the rivers, the animals and the radically different weather!

First off though, we left Buffalo, Wyoming Friday morning and headed toward Montana. We stopped at the National Monument at the Battle of Little Big Horn, where General George Custer and his men died. Very pretty place on top of barren hills overlooking the distance.

Then we moved on to Billings for lunch, Olive Garden! Civilization! Food never tasted so good.

We then decided to take the way into Yellowstone through the northeast entrance past Red Lodge, Montana. This path is called the Beartooth Pass, and it was a doozy. What a great trip, but I'm thankful that Michele drove. It took us over 2 hours to get from Red Lodge to Yellowstone, and it was probably only 40 miles. We ascended to over 10,000 feet, through multiple switchbacks and had amazing views. This is probably the craziest road ever made. The temperature dropped dramatically, and there was snow on the ground at the top. Just to point out that all these roads into Yellowstone, except for one, are closed until May due to weather.

So we made it to Yellowstone's east side, and then had to drive over 2 hours just to get through it and to West Yellowstone. It was an amazing drive, with snow capped mountains in the distance, valleys with rivers and herds of buffalo, elk here and there, geysers spewing steam and all kinds of different ecological environments. We made it to West Yellowstone, and our house we were staying with Fred and Becky, a bit later than we thought, but it was a great drive.

We had a fun time with Fred, Becky, Sam and Alex. The boys had fun playing with Claire and Aaron, and they were troopers getting strapped onto people's backs and hauled around for hikes through mineral springs, hills and geysers.

Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore and so much more.....

Well, Thursday was a big day!

We left Wall, South Dakota as early as we could and headed over to the Black Hills area of South Dakota.
From Wall, the landscape was pretty bare and rolling hills. But as we neared the Black Hills, all of the sudden, pretty significant hills/mountains and pine trees covering them. Very interesting how the landscapes can change so dramatically as you drive through states.

Mt. Rushmore National Memorial is located in the Black Hills National Forest area. It was a very cool place, especially as you saw the heads appear on the mountain as you drive into the area. Pretty magnificent project that commemorates our country. Lots of people were there, and we enjoyed our stop. A little hike and lots of pictures later, we were ready to move on. You can only stare at the stone heads of 4 dead white guys for so long. :)

We decided we wanted to drive through Custer State Forest and see some wildlife, and then maybe check out the Crazy Horse Monument/Mountain. But apparently a wrong turn out of Mt. Rushmore, and we were at Crazy Horse pretty quick. Okay. We'll do that first.

Definitely a different experience. This is a private venture by the sculptor (who is deceased) and his family, with alot of private help, not government funded at all. They have a long ways to go before they are done. But their intention is to have this as a center of learning and reverence for the Native American. This will be the biggest sculptor in the world. It's hard to get a sense of it, but I believe they said that Mt. Rushmore would easily fit into Crazy Horse's head. Huge!

The top picture is what it will look like. The bottom is what it does look like. They've only been working on it for 60 years or so. Give em a brake!

Okay, so now onto the Wildlife Loop drive through Custer State Park. Lot's of winding roads through pretty good sized mountains covered in pine trees. But toward the southern end of the park, it opens up into rolling green hills and not too many trees. What did we find? Well, more blasted prairie dogs, some Pronghorn, and a big herd of buffalo! We actually had to drive right through a herd and they were right outside the windows. The kids loved it! These are wild animals, although they seemed pretty used to people.

After that, we drove up toward the interstate and were able to pass through Deadwood. Which is a pretty good sized, tourist stop now. Then we were on our way to Wyoming!

Empty roads, rolling barren hills, with some cattle here and there. There was actually one spot along the interstate where a sign said, "No Services Next 67 Miles." Meaning: no towns, no gas, no food. Pretty desolate area.

As we neared our nightly stop in Buffalo, Wyoming, in the distance although they looked like clouds on the horizon at first, gigantic snow studded mountains gradually appeared as we drove closer and closer. These are the Big Horn Mountains.

On our way to West Yellowstone to stay with the Johnston's next!

Wednesday...a day late!

Well, I guess we were kind of busy and tired yesterday, because we didn't blog. So here is what we did:

We were staying in Wall, South Dakota. In the morning we got out early to beat the heat and sun (it was going to be near 90 degrees) to see the sights of the Badlands. We took the loop tour through the Badlands National Park, stopping at numerous overlooks, hiking a few trails and checking out some interpretive areas. Very cool formations and great views in some areas! A lot of fossils are found at the park, mostly by the public, but we didn't find any.

Didn't see much in the way of wildlife. But we did see these Big Horn Sheep!

On our way out, the kids had to stop again at the Ranch Store to see the Prairie Dogs and we also stopped in to see the nuclear missile silo. This is the only one left in South Dakota, the others were imploded. The missile is still there, but it is not obviously armed. A Park Ranger told me that a Russian satellite goes over the site every 58 minutes to take a picture and verify that the missile is still decommissioned.

In the afternoon we relaxed some, and the kids swam in the outdoor pool....that was actually their favorite part of the day. We also went to downtown Wall to shop some more. The town is one of those weird tourist stops that feels so lonely....a few hotels, restaurants and stores plopped down in the middle of nowhere. People in, people out. But one thing about Wall Drug, is that they have signs in every state, nearly 3000! Plus they had pictures up of servicemen and women around the world with signs showing how far away they were from Wall Drug. Pretty cool.

Tuesday - So many things, so little time....

Well, Tuesday night finds us in Wall, South Dakota. Pretty much a tourist town - a bunch of motels/hotels, campgrounds, tourist stores and a few restaurants. Home of Wall Drug, an everything kind of store that advertised for about 200 plus miles across I-90 as we traveled through South Dakota. A nice place and we're going to be here for 2 nights, visiting the Bad Lands area.

In fact, billboards were one of the things we saw most of today. Hundreds of them, pretty much for the same few places.

We started out in Minnesota, and we were glad to leave Albert Lea behind. A mediocre experience at best. The rest of Minnesota we traveled, pretty much felt like Ohio, lots of farms, it was very green, and very pretty. Before leaving Minnesota, we traveled off the interstate to visit Blue Mounds State Park, named so for its stone outcroppings on this beautiful high bluff overlooking miles of relatively flat countryside. The stones were a beautiful blue/grey color. We walked up to some prairie on top of the bluff and what a sight, and so peaceful. It was a very religious feeling place, so quiet. It was in fact, Michele and Matt's favorite place of the day.

Oh, and who knew they had prickly pear cactus in Minnesota?!

Then we crossed into South Dakota, and the landscape after awhile began to change. More rolling hills, but not hills covered by farms and houses and trees. But rolling hills covered by green grass and fields, countless herds of cattle and an occasional house/farm here and there. And very few trees. We began to see even greater distances in the horizon and the landscape had a stark loneliness and beauty to it.

Then, all of the sudden, we were at the Badlands! These mounds of barren rock and dirt just began to appear out of the rolling hills and they are kind of hard to picture, until you think of them as giant sandcastles sticking out of the South Dakota prairie. Everywhere as far as you can see.

First, though, we headed to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. South Dakota housed 150 nuclear missiles below it's prairie for decades, now all decommissioned.

Then we stopped at the Ranch Store, which had a real prairie dog town to see and feed. Claire loved them, and wanted to take one home with us. But we decided we had Aaron, so we had enough rodents in our life.

Then into the Badlands National Park to check out the visitors center and gift shop. Wednesday we are really going to get into the Badlands and do some hiking and a driving tour. Today we weren't ready to make that jump after all the driving and jet lag (we're now 2 hours behind you all).

We headed to Wall and checked in, toured Wall Drug and our now safely tucked away in our beds.