Yellowstone

Having rested up after an amazing amount of driving the previous few days, it was back on the road again, destination Cody, WY. While there are plenty of attractions right around Custer, like Sylvan Lake, Wind Cave, and Jewel Cave, time was going to be a factor as we definitely wanted to stop at Devils Tower along the way. Most of the routes we took were two-lane rural routes which were practically deserted, but full of spectacular scenery. On the way, we stopped at Jewel Cave National Park, but guided tours (a necessity) were not scheduled to start for a few hours from when we arrived. We looked around the bookstore and marveled at the interactive map of the cave system below us. I think this would be a worthwhile stop someday, along with Wind Cave. Back on the road, we were to Devils Tower in about two hours.

Northern Wyoming has some incredible terrain, and while driving through some sizable foothills, Devils Tower makes a statement. Like Mt Rushmore and the Badlands, I had seen photos but we never terribly impressed. What a difference seeing these things in person makes. From a distance, it really is not much too look at, but certainly recognizable. Getting closer, you can see the amazing patterns in the rock that photos just cannot seem to do justice. We checked out the visitors center and decided to go for a walk closer to the mountain. They have a very nice path a little over a mile that circles the mountain, giving some amazing views of both the mountain and the valley below. We observed a group of climbers making an ascent (that would have to be incredible to see the top, about the size of a football field) and a small group of deer grazing. When we got back to the parking lot, we pulled the car around so we could sit and eat some lunch with a view. Near the base of the mountain is a small field called prairie dog town. I recommend stopping for a bit to observe and hear the high pitched squeaks from the hundreds and hundreds of prairie dogs that call this home. All in all, Devils Tower was a very fun stop along the way to Yellowstone.

Jen took over driving at this point, and I think the fresh air and lunch tired me out. I woke up somewhere between Gillette and Buffalo as we were rounding a bend to see the Big Horn Mountains looming in the distance. Our itinerary had us taking US-16 (the Cloud Peak Skyway) which cuts through the Big Horn Mountains and offers beautiful scenery. One interesting thing did happen, around 9,000ft, the Kia threw a Check Engine light. Not panicking, I checked the owners manual which indicated an emissions sensor and to get it checked eventually. I figured either an oxygen sensor or a fuel pressure sensor. We stopped at a pullout, threw a couple of snowballs at each other, checked for venting from the engine, and proceeded on despite the sensor light. Once out of the mountains, there is beautiful canyon the road winds through on the way to Worland. We stopped and took lots of pictures and enjoyed the solitude it offered with no buildings or power lines or other cars for that matter. We eventually arrived at Worland were we stopped for fuel and some cold beverages. Amazingly, the emissions sensor light decided we were at a low enough elevation and went out (but it would return the next day). One more interesting vehicle note, around the time the emissions light came on, the Kia started to get amazing fuel efficiency, more then I've ever had with that car. I normally get around 30 MPG but was mysteriously getting more along the lines of 38 MPG....I'll take it.

The rest of the drive to Cody was through some of the most deserted land I have ever seen. It is amazing as there is nothing as far as the eye can see. It was very weird, yet oddly comforting. Cody is an interesting town, obviously built around tourism and not much more. Small mountain towns kinda creep m out in a way...probably seen one too many horror films. We had dinner at the historic Irma Hotel, serving a fine piece of steak, as any Wyoming restaurant should! The last highlight of the evening came as I was going to brush my teeth that evening. I went to remove the cap from my tooth brush and discovered a bee lodged in between the plastic and the bristles (the cap is clear, so I could see him in there). After much debate we managed to get the cap off the brush which was then discarded into the parking lot with bee in tow. We did find the cap the next morning sans bee. We guessed he must have hitched a ride a Devils Tower...

The one good thing (and only one) about having an east facing hotel room is that you will be up with the crack of dawn. Oh sure, hotels have some of the most opaque curtains known to man (lead lined I think...good for blocking radiation) but there will always be cracks around the edges or down the middle where the two halves meet (the light rays bend and meet at the focal point...don't ask, Physics Lab joke). So despite a very long drive from the day before, I find it very heard to sleep with the room naturally illuminated. No matter though, we had a big drive ahead of us again, but with the promise of fun with scheduled stops at the Badlands, Wall Drug, and Mt. Rushmore. We took advantage of the hotels complimentary continental breakfast (sweet buttermilk pancakes, they had biscuits and gravy...I love the midwest) and hit the road early with a good start to the day.

There was very little left to drive in Minnesota, and no sooner did we hit South Dakota when we started seeing billboards for both Wall Drug and the Corn Palace. I do recall seeing blurbs about the Corn Palace on Roadside America, and what good would a road trip be without experiencing some of the prime oddities of the west. The clincher was that there happened to be a Cabela's at the same exit. Yours truly, the decorated Eagle Scout, forgot to pack a rain coat in his fervor to hit the road the day before. I figure that would be a good location to acquire the necessary outerwear as rain/snow was in the forecast for several of the days we would be in Yellowstone. The Corn Palace was intriguing. A visitor center and convention hall that also doubles as a basketball court for the local high school. I was more surprised by how many of my friends and co-workers have both been to and admitted being at the Corn Palace. It really is a delightful roadside oddity. We spent a little time perusing the gift shop (corn related memorabilia acquired) and also found a great deal on a rain coat/wind breaker at Cabela's before hitting the road again.

Our next stop was the Badlands National Park. We opted to take the scenic drive which ends up in Wall, SD. Having only seen a limited number of pictures (perhaps a few viewmaster reels in my youth) of this park previously, I was not aware of the scope and variety of formations. We walked a trail and checked out the visitors center, along with almost every scenic viewpoint available. I would have liked more time to spend in the park, and I could easily see going back there in the future to spend a day or two in the area (there is a minuteman missile silo run by the national park service just north of there).

The Badlands scenic byway dumps you out very close to Wall, SD, home of Wall Drug. If the dozens of billboards along I-90 in South Dakota didn't get your attention, the numerous welcome signs near Wall should do it. The setting is a western town meets three ring circus. Of course we had to stop and get pictures and our obligatory authentic Stetson hats. With time running out in the day, we had even less time to spend in Wall then we had at the Badlands. We still had about 100 miles to go to get to our hotel, along with a stop a Mt. Rushmore.

I never had a burning desire to go to Mt. Rushmore, presidential history is not a strong interest of mine. All the pictures I had seen made it seem much smaller then it actually is. Winding our way through twisting and turning roads around Keystone (a bit "touristy" of a town for me) we made our way to the main visitors center. We arrived after most of the museum portions had closed for the day, but we were still able to get to the main viewing pavilion. I must say that I was impressed with scale and magnitude of the carvings. Something like that can never truly translate from photographs. We sat and enjoyed the cool evening air while taking turns with the binoculars and taking silly pictures. After a quick perusal of the gift shop (mini Mt. Rushmore puchased, now sitting on my monitor in my office), it was back on the road and a short drive to Custer for the night.

We wanted to take in a few other attractions that day, but time would just not allow for it. We stopped at the Crazy Horse Memorial which was closing for the night (perhaps another year), and decided to skip Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park also. We found our hotel and a small pub/restaurant before calling it an evening after 500 miles behind us. The next day would find us in Wyoming with a much anticipated stop at Devils Tower before winding up in Cody for the evening.

Saturday, May 17th, a great day to start a multi thousand-mile road trip. It was Jen and my 11th wedding anniversary, and the start of a trip we have been planning for months. We carefully planned our clothing and electronics (at least for Yellowstone, I neglected to see how hot it would be on the actual trip there), we secured a bunny sitter (Thanks Carl!), and updated the Garmin vehicle icon to the Black Pearl among other important preparations. After a marathon packing session the previous evening and part of Saturday morning, we bid the bunnies goodbye and hit the road around 10:00 am.

Our route to the park took us out I-90, through Wisconsin, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Unfortunately, this also included Chicago and Rockford Illinois. I have made this junket many times before, and I can never seem to find a good time to drive through Chicago. If it's not the ridiculous amount of traffic, it's Illinois' unrealistic road construction goals exasperating said traffic (really, 25 miles of single-lane traffic near Rockford with approximately one mile of actual active road work? I call lazy...move the darn barrels when you need to work on that section). I really do give credit to anyone that has to commute in Chicago on a regular basis, I personally could not do that myself, at least not without eventually serving some mandatory federal prison sentence. After missing one toll gate due to heavy traffic (thanks to the state of Illinois for a convenient website to pay missed tolls...I know I probably could have ignored missing an 80 cent toll, but best to be accountable...and somewhat funny using a credit card online to pay 80 cents) we finally greeted Wisconsin and the promise of cheese curds with open arms (queue Journey).

You see, I-90 comes very close to Tomah and the home of Humbird Cheese. While you can obtain cheese curds at almost any exit in Wisconsin (and complimentary with AAA roadside assistance), the squeaky freshest are always at Humbird. While I'm not sure if this is a factual statement, this stop in Tomah is almost mandatory for Jen and I (certainly a tradition, we used to stop there on our trips to Minneapolis/St. Paul, and it's been a while). With snacks and the all-important strawberry-rhubarb jam obtained and the car refueled, we made like Lee Nails and pressed on to our destination for the evening: Jackson, MN.

But there is so much more before that, well, not really actually. Southern Minnesota is somewhat dull, at least after the Mississippi river valley which is very stunning this time of year. I was very surprised to see the number of wind turbines both active and under construction though. It makes me smile to see them gracefully spinning in the distance, and nice to see an investment in alternative energy. With the sun setting, we wrapped up our eleven hour and seven hundred mile leg of day one by arriving at the AmericInn in Jackson. The laugh of the evening came from the receptionist. We stated we had reservations for the evening (although given the five other vehicles in the parking lot, reservations where probably not needed) to which she smiled and said "I've been waiting all day to hear you pronounce that last name". Oh, we did have a few more smiles that evening (keep your minds out of the gutter). We found a small Ma/Pa restaurant very close to the hotel and written on the pane glass windows were various specialties. The one that stuck with us and remained our interjection throughout the trip was "Sweet Buttermilk Pancakes" (used in context: Sweet Buttermilk Pancakes, that's a lot of cheese...). The other smile was watching llamas at a farm across the street. Llamas make me smile....

Tomorrow: South Dakota and the Corn Palace...oh and some place called the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore...