Year 8 Day 8

Ok Friends. Colorado. Thank you Colorado. Mountains, trees. Its pretty easy to see where our hearts are happy.

Rocky Mountain National park greeted us with grey skies and rain spotted pavement. Its such a joyous feeling to pull up to the little brown log cabin flanked by trees with the silhouette of a ranger hat showing through the window. Its the symbol of the great outdoors about to wrap itself around you and take you away to a peaceful place.

More animals. Elk, marmots, a moose, and tiny pika's. The park was much emptier than Yellowstone with its own special beauty. We took a hike at 12,000 feet. I don't think I can describe the beauty that the high tundra has when its mixed amount granite rocks with small animals quickly running about in the few weeks where the weather is nice. Its captivating. I could spend each and every day out in places like this.

Tonight we are in Breckenridge at a nice hotel (for us its super nice). Valet parking and all. We took a hot tub soak in the cold rain and then walked to dinner in a nice drizzle. This is a very neat town. I imagine its very captivating in the winter. Its a nice end to our trip to be in a place that reminds us a bit of home and the mountains.

Tomorrow we go to Denver and then home. Year 8 is almost a wrap.

 

Year 8 Day 7

Nebraska. Its hard to tell the difference, but we did see a sign that said "Welcome to Nebraska". We crossed the border at the tiny town that seriously seemed like a ghost town. Just after the GPS whom we call Karen, said to turn right. Dirt road. Followed the train tracks, like right next to it. Train after train coming and going for coal. 21 miles later on a dirt road (but a nice one), we reached a sign that said "toadstool geological park". We took a mile walk learning about the river that once ran there 30 million years ago. There were giant pigs, rhino's and scary looking cats. Trees, water, forests. Something defiantly changed since 30 million years ago. Cool walk among fossils. 19 miles on the dirt road the other way and we emerged from middle of nowhere Nebraska.

Corn entered the scene more today. I was glad to see it. I was expecting it. It is Nebraska after all. We made a quick stop on the Oregon Trail at Scotts Bluff National Monument where the wagon trains passed between two large rock mountains. Off to Colorado via southeast Wyoming.

Clouds started to circle in, but none turned out to be menacing. Just a few small showers. Checked into the hotel and got a nice surprise of a 3 story indoor water slide.

Last state this trip. 2 days left. Rocky Mountains tomorrow. We are all very excited for mountains and trees.

Year 8 Day 6

Well, we've hit the day 6 slump a bit. North Dakota, South Dakota both have a lot of fields, cows and long long straight roads. What amazes me though is the size of the schools. Where in the world are the kids coming from for these huge brick schools?

We took the enchanted highway between Gladstone and Regent, ND today. A life long resident wanted to bring people back to his town of Regent since the interstate took them away. He had no art training and didn't know how to weld, but he built 7 gigantic metal sculptures along the highway to his town. Each has a pullout and picnic area. Once we got to Regent, his store was the only thing open in a very dilapidated town. He was inside changing a light bulb. Very cool guy.

Then, farms. Farms as far as the eye could see. Cows. Wheat. Hay. Sunflowers. Oil drillers. Fields. Straight roads. Cows.

Cross back over into South Dakota. Farms. Cows. Wheat. Hay. Sunflowers. Oil drillers. Fields. Straight Roads. Cows.

We took a vote and decided to skip the badlands between Interior and Wall, SD. Too long in the car today. So we went straight to the Wall Drug Store. It is advertised at least 100 miles in every direction. Apparently 2 million people visit each year. They may have all been there today. Its basically a strip mall full of stuff no one needs all shoved inside where it doesn't get snowed on. Neat. In one door, fight through people. Out the other door.

To our hotel nice and early. Dinner at Perkins. Relax time. Oh Nebraska, please have something other than fields, farms, cows etc etc.

Year 8 Day 5

Day 5. Delayed. Too many wild animals to look at last night. Two states covered, lots of driving.

Custer State Park in South Dakota. A quiet drive through grasslands and small forests with lots and lots of deer and antelope and even a wild burro with her baby. Yellowstone is beautiful, but I'm not sure I recommend going in the heart of summer with the crowds. This was a nice change. We drove along Iron Mountain Road which is supposed to be one of America's greatest highways. Several small rock tunnels, lots of twists and turns and views of Mt. Rushmore in the distance. Arriving at Mt. Rushmore we were all surprised at how close it actually is. We've all heard that you cant see anything unless you look into the binoculars, but that's totally wrong. Its really quite close. Really cool to finally see. Took a hike around the presidential trail and at vanilla ice cream that was the first ice cream recipe documented, created by Thomas Jefferson. Best ice cream ever! As the crowds were closing in, we headed out, North.

South Dakota is a bigger state than I thought. Drove all the way to North Dakota straight up. Fields, straight roads, not much else, groups of cows every now and then. We did pass the highest point in North Dakota, White Mountain at 3500 ish feet. Only mountain for miles. Neat.

Pulled into Medora, ND around 5:30. Checked into the Rough Riders Hotel where Teddy Roosevelt stayed for quite some time before he was president. He came to hunt buffalo. Later created a national park here in the badlands. Trapper Jack decided that we should drive through in the evening. There would be more wildlife. He was right. Cities of prairie dogs scurrying everywhere. Antelope, buffalo, white tail deer, a BADGER (first time ever seeing one), wild ponies. We watched two young buffalo chase each other around the hills for a good 20 minutes. They were adorable.

Had a great dinner at Teddy's restaurant and fell into bed. Today we go back down. Next stop, South Dakota again. More fields and cows for lots of hours.

Year 8 Day 3

Day 3. Wyoming is a BIG state when you are driving straight across from west to east. And that middle section. Flat, bare and full of antelope.

We had breakfast at the cutest eclectic coffee shop in Cody, WY. Lots of fun hippy items tucked into small spaces was a refreshing start to the day. Signs like, be happy, be honest and be silly scattered around. Good food too! Heading east through fields of dancing grass and rolling hills we headed to our first stop. There is always one that the family thinks I have lost my mind over. Its typically way out in the middle of nowhere and requires a long drive to get to. This one was no different. Somewhere between nowhere and nowhere we found a pullout with a sign. Gooseberry Badlands Geologic Park. I coaxed everyone from the car and we took off on a 1 mile loop that ran between ancient sandstone that has been carved by water over many many years. Really cool formations. But the best part was the BUNNIES. Seriously bunnies ran out of rocks at every step and they apparently never see humans because they sat within a couple feet of us as we walked by. Cute little things with puffy tails.

Back in the car and many small, small towns along the way, we arrived in Buffalo, WY, home of the worlds largest FREE outdoor pool. Yep, that's their claim to fame. I must say the pool was HUGE. Seemed the entire town was there for the day. Apparently people from Wyoming are able to swim comfortably in much cooler water than Californians. BURR. But swim (walk on our tiptoes to the middle) we did. We were supposed to eat at a restaurant opened in the 1880's that Teddy Roosevelt ate at, but apparently they don't serve lunch or smiles. So off we went.

A long long time later and hundreds of antelope, rocks and rolling hills we arrived in Custer, SD. FINALLY. South Dakota.