We decided to get an early start today. Apparently all campers wake up before 6. So we had to wait for the showers, but were able to leave by 7 anyway. We started by going to Sturgis, SD. Had to see what all the hub-bub was about there. Bikers don't have the same schedule as campers. Nothing was open that early in the morning. So we got our picture of the Harley Davidson store in town. Then it was off to Deadwood. This is where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane came in the summer of 1876 during the gold rush in the Black Hills. They are buried there, too. Everything you would imagine in a wild west town can be found here- casinos, saloons, and the town cemetary. From Deadwood, it was off to the Geographic Center of the United States. It's in a little town called Belle Fourche in South Dakota. Well, we put in "Geographic Center of the US" in our GPS. It sent us to a far out of the way middle of nowhere field. Turns out that we could've saved about an hour if we stopped in the Belle Fourche information center where all the flags were. We even said to each other as we passed it the first time, "That's probably the monument." I think we should listen to ourselves next time.
After all of that, we crossed over from South Dakota into Wyoming and were off to Devil's Tower National Monument. The first town we got to was Aladdin. Population: 15. We passed through Sundance, Wyoming, made famous by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Devil's Tower was the first national monument. It is pretty neat to see this huge rock formation sticking up in the middle of nowhere. We were driving along and all of a sudden, it pops up out along the horizon. Since you can see it from the highway, you think that you are close to it, but it takes another hour to actually get there. We took an hour hike around the base of it, and saw some climbers up the middle of the rock's face.
We didn't want to take too much more time up, since it was another four hours to Yellowstone, and we had reservations for tonight. We continued along I-90 and passed some more small towns. One of them was Emblem, WY, complete with it's own post office. It has a population of 10. Two houses. No lies. On our way, we passed through Bighorn National Forest. We went up and down the windy roads, and we got our first glimpse of July snow. It was amazing! The views were even better than the ones yesterday at Custer State Park. The next big city we got to was Cody, WY, named after Buffalo Bill Cody, who was supposedly buried in town, so they would name it after him. We were too early for the rodeo and didn't need anything from Walmart, so we decided to keep driving.We drove through the Shoshone National Forest, along the Shoshone River, passed the Buffalo Bill Reservoir and Dam.
Finally, around 9:00 we reached Yellowstone's East Entrance. It was still another 27miles to our campsite. A plus for arriving late was that we were able to see the sunset over Yellowstone Lake. I don't know if I have ever seen anything as cool as that! As we were checking in, the Park Ranger was going through all of the specifics, including bear protocol- how you can't have any food, cosmetics, water, etc outside. Made me really want to stay there... When we finally got to our site, we put up our tent. After all our practice, this is probably the best we've done! And with that, it is definitely time for bed!
States Visited: Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, South Dakota, Wyoming, Wisconsin (10/50)
Provinces Visited: Ontario (1/10)
License Plates Seen: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming (48/50)
Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan (7/10)
Showing posts with label South Dakota. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Dakota. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Day Ten: As the sign said, "Happy Birthday America! You're Old!"
It's pretty neat being able to spend the 4th of July here at Mount Rushmore, or at least in the shadow of it. We spent the day in the Keystone/Custer area of South Dakota. We were planning to go on a "Mt. Rushmore Black Hills Gold" jewelry making tour, but it was closed for the holiday, so we went to the Crazy Horse mountain instead. We decided to forgo the $20 entry fee and see it from the road. With Dawn's big camera lens, we had no problem seeing everything. I remember back in like 5th grade being introduced to the mountain in a Time for Kids or Weekly Reader or something like that. Well, it looks exactly the same as it did back then. We were with about 35-40 other cars in the information center. We couldn't figure out why some people had set out lawn chairs facing the mountain. Apparently they were doing some blasting at 11:00. Well, 11 came and went. At about 11:20 a huge boom went off and a cloud of smoke. That was the extent of their blasting. Just one. Within 5 minutes, the entire park was cleared out- the ones who paid and the cheapskates like us. (Let's just say that after today's blasting, it still looks the same!)
After that, it was off to Custer State Park. We decided that our $15 was better spent here. And it was!! It is a huge park with all kinds of things to see. They had some AMAZING views all over the park. From really neat tree lines to cloud formations, to huge rocks and some of the windiest roads I have ever driven. We also saw all kinds of animals! Our parents told us to stop by so we could see the buffalo. I think the "Buffalo Burger and Brawt" cookout scared them all away. The park is home to over 1500 buffalo and we saw 1. Only 1. And we would probably have missed it if someone else hadn't stopped to look since it was all alone on the side of the road grazing. We did see a lot of burros (donkeys) in the middle of a road. They came right up to the cars and let people pet them. They were cute but their eyes looked glazed over like they were high. Maybe people should have followed the signs that said "Do not feed the animals. They may get sick from human food." Go figure. Then we saw some prairie dogs. Not like yesterday though. These were smarter ones. They kind of hid from people. They did pop up every once in a while, though. There were pronghorns, too. They are animals that look exactly like antelope but aren't. Didn't see any mountain lions, which is good since they are nocturnal! I guess we could spot them back at home since they have now made Fairfield County a "summer home." (I think they finally realized that there is not much to do here for fun so they headed east.) Or mountain goats. They climb the really steep rocks of the Needles Highway. I couldn't look out most of the time because I really didn't feel like going off the cliffs. Dawn got some great pictures of the Cathedral Spires and Needle Eye. We almost crashed into a big ol' truck from Texas that didn't want to move out of the way. Some crazy guys were rock climbing. You'd never catch me doing that from that high up. I had hard enough time doing the Wall at camp!
After all that time in the park, we decided to head back to the campground for our Fourth of July picnic. Oh boy. That was an interesting experience. At least the hot dogs were cooked through. If we get hungry later on, we still have some more... I knew I should have paid attention in Scout Skills. I could've made muffins or baked apples. Something slightly better than the hot dogs. Hopefully we will master our tiny little grill and be able to make some of that stuff later on! If our next attempt at hot dogs is anything like this one, we will have to end up asking our camping neighbor if we could borrow his propane grill and sit on the hammock that he has set up. Some of these campers are pretty intense! We've seen some with satellite dishes! Mt. Rushmore may not have fireworks this year, but there are some in Rapid City so we will watch those tonight (as long as the thunderstorms stay away.)
I think I'm still on Eastern time. It's only 6:45 here but it feels like 8:45. It's off to Deadwood, SD, and Devils' Tower and Yellowstone in Wyoming tomorrow! Hopefully we'll be able to update this, as long as no bears get us while we are camping! Better hide the extra hot dogs... breakfast anyone?
States Visited: Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, South Dakota, Wisconsin (9/50)
Provinces Visited: Ontario (1/10)
License Plates Seen: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming (48/50)
Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan (7/10)
After that, it was off to Custer State Park. We decided that our $15 was better spent here. And it was!! It is a huge park with all kinds of things to see. They had some AMAZING views all over the park. From really neat tree lines to cloud formations, to huge rocks and some of the windiest roads I have ever driven. We also saw all kinds of animals! Our parents told us to stop by so we could see the buffalo. I think the "Buffalo Burger and Brawt" cookout scared them all away. The park is home to over 1500 buffalo and we saw 1. Only 1. And we would probably have missed it if someone else hadn't stopped to look since it was all alone on the side of the road grazing. We did see a lot of burros (donkeys) in the middle of a road. They came right up to the cars and let people pet them. They were cute but their eyes looked glazed over like they were high. Maybe people should have followed the signs that said "Do not feed the animals. They may get sick from human food." Go figure. Then we saw some prairie dogs. Not like yesterday though. These were smarter ones. They kind of hid from people. They did pop up every once in a while, though. There were pronghorns, too. They are animals that look exactly like antelope but aren't. Didn't see any mountain lions, which is good since they are nocturnal! I guess we could spot them back at home since they have now made Fairfield County a "summer home." (I think they finally realized that there is not much to do here for fun so they headed east.) Or mountain goats. They climb the really steep rocks of the Needles Highway. I couldn't look out most of the time because I really didn't feel like going off the cliffs. Dawn got some great pictures of the Cathedral Spires and Needle Eye. We almost crashed into a big ol' truck from Texas that didn't want to move out of the way. Some crazy guys were rock climbing. You'd never catch me doing that from that high up. I had hard enough time doing the Wall at camp!
After all that time in the park, we decided to head back to the campground for our Fourth of July picnic. Oh boy. That was an interesting experience. At least the hot dogs were cooked through. If we get hungry later on, we still have some more... I knew I should have paid attention in Scout Skills. I could've made muffins or baked apples. Something slightly better than the hot dogs. Hopefully we will master our tiny little grill and be able to make some of that stuff later on! If our next attempt at hot dogs is anything like this one, we will have to end up asking our camping neighbor if we could borrow his propane grill and sit on the hammock that he has set up. Some of these campers are pretty intense! We've seen some with satellite dishes! Mt. Rushmore may not have fireworks this year, but there are some in Rapid City so we will watch those tonight (as long as the thunderstorms stay away.)
I think I'm still on Eastern time. It's only 6:45 here but it feels like 8:45. It's off to Deadwood, SD, and Devils' Tower and Yellowstone in Wyoming tomorrow! Hopefully we'll be able to update this, as long as no bears get us while we are camping! Better hide the extra hot dogs... breakfast anyone?
States Visited: Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, South Dakota, Wisconsin (9/50)
Provinces Visited: Ontario (1/10)
License Plates Seen: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming (48/50)
Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan (7/10)
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Day Nine: It's amazing what you can get people to do...
...when you have 330 miles of advertisement space and nothing in between the two largest cities in the state. We started off early today, since we figured it would be a long drive. After we hastily packed up our "campsite", we left Mitchell. Dawn drove the entire way today!! Robyn was having fun being the photographer for the drive. She filled up the entire memory card...so many pictures to look through tonight...
Since it was going to be such a long ride, we decided to stop at some small-town McDonald's for coffee- worst coffee ever. We did, however, cross the Missouri River. It was flooded, so we had to detour around it. Not as cool as crossing the Mississippi River. We also crossed into a new time zone, so it's only 5:15 here! Hours to go before bed!! We continued on for a hundred more miles, until the Badlands National Park. We were able to see enough of it from the road, so we didn't stop (probably should have though). But we did stop at the "Ranch Store" down the road to see the world's largest Prairie Dog. There were also real prairie dogs there. They were so cute! Two of them were fighting over a peanut.
Our next stop was to Wall, South Dakota. Most people would ask, "What in the world is there?" Our answer- not much. It is a tourist attraction. Their claim-to-fame is this supposed drug store, called (creatively) Wall Drug. They have billboard advertisements for their store even before you enter South Dakota. Supposedly, they also have many in other countries around the world. But all it is is a bunch of mom-and-pop run stores, with lots of souvenirs to waste your money on. Which we did.
Our last stop for the day was Mount Rushmore. They tell you to get off one exit, but it's still 25 miles away from that exit, with very winding roads. We got there, and it was pretty crowded, but big enough to see everything. We tried to get pictures of the "real" George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, but there were too many people in the way. I did get one with the two Teddy Roosevelts, though. We walked through the trails and saw the Sculptor's Studio. Apparently, the sculptor spent part of his life living in Stamford. Our plan is to go back tonight for the Fourth of July activities. Unfortunately, they won't have any fireworks this year. We also watched a Native American hoop dancer today. It was rather intense. She started dancing with only one hula hoop-like hoop, and then went up to like 40! She made all different formations with them, like butterflies and ladders, and even a basket that she could put over herself. We were truly impressed!
We went to our campsite and set it up for the few days we'll be here. We met two fellows who were amazed that we were from Connecticut. They were from Ohio, on the way to California, on their bikes, but one of them had their bike stolen in Chicago. So now the bikes they are using keep falling apart, so they decided to head back east. (Annie and Tyler, your adventure is much more impressive!) We went back to Mount Rushmore this evening. It was pretty cool to see the Presidents all lit up. There was a cover band singing all kinds of patriotic songs, but they weren't very good We were going to offer our 6 years of chorus talent, but we were too far away from the stage. We came back to the campsite and the town had fireworks, so even though the park didn't have them, we were able to see some tonight! (And we saw the elusive "Alaska" license plate, parked right next to us! No jackalope yet, though.)
However, this trip has made me realize that, although very boring, I will never say that there is nothing to do in Monroe, because there are many towns that are so much worse.
(We will update the pictures as soon as Robyn goes through the 1000+ that she took today.)
States Visited: Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, South Dakota, Wisconsin (9/50)
Provinces Visited: Ontario (1/10)
License Plates Seen: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming (47/50)
Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan (7/10)
Since it was going to be such a long ride, we decided to stop at some small-town McDonald's for coffee- worst coffee ever. We did, however, cross the Missouri River. It was flooded, so we had to detour around it. Not as cool as crossing the Mississippi River. We also crossed into a new time zone, so it's only 5:15 here! Hours to go before bed!! We continued on for a hundred more miles, until the Badlands National Park. We were able to see enough of it from the road, so we didn't stop (probably should have though). But we did stop at the "Ranch Store" down the road to see the world's largest Prairie Dog. There were also real prairie dogs there. They were so cute! Two of them were fighting over a peanut.
Our next stop was to Wall, South Dakota. Most people would ask, "What in the world is there?" Our answer- not much. It is a tourist attraction. Their claim-to-fame is this supposed drug store, called (creatively) Wall Drug. They have billboard advertisements for their store even before you enter South Dakota. Supposedly, they also have many in other countries around the world. But all it is is a bunch of mom-and-pop run stores, with lots of souvenirs to waste your money on. Which we did.
Our last stop for the day was Mount Rushmore. They tell you to get off one exit, but it's still 25 miles away from that exit, with very winding roads. We got there, and it was pretty crowded, but big enough to see everything. We tried to get pictures of the "real" George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, but there were too many people in the way. I did get one with the two Teddy Roosevelts, though. We walked through the trails and saw the Sculptor's Studio. Apparently, the sculptor spent part of his life living in Stamford. Our plan is to go back tonight for the Fourth of July activities. Unfortunately, they won't have any fireworks this year. We also watched a Native American hoop dancer today. It was rather intense. She started dancing with only one hula hoop-like hoop, and then went up to like 40! She made all different formations with them, like butterflies and ladders, and even a basket that she could put over herself. We were truly impressed!
We went to our campsite and set it up for the few days we'll be here. We met two fellows who were amazed that we were from Connecticut. They were from Ohio, on the way to California, on their bikes, but one of them had their bike stolen in Chicago. So now the bikes they are using keep falling apart, so they decided to head back east. (Annie and Tyler, your adventure is much more impressive!) We went back to Mount Rushmore this evening. It was pretty cool to see the Presidents all lit up. There was a cover band singing all kinds of patriotic songs, but they weren't very good We were going to offer our 6 years of chorus talent, but we were too far away from the stage. We came back to the campsite and the town had fireworks, so even though the park didn't have them, we were able to see some tonight! (And we saw the elusive "Alaska" license plate, parked right next to us! No jackalope yet, though.)
However, this trip has made me realize that, although very boring, I will never say that there is nothing to do in Monroe, because there are many towns that are so much worse.
(We will update the pictures as soon as Robyn goes through the 1000+ that she took today.)
States Visited: Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, South Dakota, Wisconsin (9/50)
Provinces Visited: Ontario (1/10)
License Plates Seen: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming (47/50)
Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan (7/10)
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Day Eight: Hau Kola from South Dakota
Hau Kola means "Hello Friend" in the Lakota native language.
Tonight's post comes to you from the middle of South Dakota. And by middle, I mean exit 335 on a road with 410 exits. And the numbers go down. Anyway, we started today in St. Paul, excited to leave Minnesota. Only to come to realize that it was still like 4 hours to the end of the state. We were just excited to leave it- wouldn't visit again. We did see, however, the Jolly Green Giant and his sidekick Sprout on the side of the road, as well as St. Peter's very own Pearly Gates. Gotta love the random things you see on the side of the road. Then we decided it would be a good idea to go down through Iowa, since the GPS said the border was relatively close. Well, it was, but there was no "Welcome to Iowa" sign where we were. So that was a fail. But we did (sort of) see the one on the other side of the road when we were leaving, and going back into Minnesota. At about 2:00 we entered South Dakota. We made sure that we got the Welcome to picture. We continued on our way to Mitchell, South Dakota, home of the World's Only Corn Palace!! Let's just say that it is a hole in the wall town, but it was kind of cool. We got some fun pictures with Corn-elius, their mascot, and some pictures of corn murals. Unfortunately, the outside of the building wasn't too pretty, but that's because they spend the summer planning and updating the building for the fall festivals. From there, we headed to our campground for the night. Nothing too exciting. I guess today was a somewhat laid-back day. It is now evening and we are waiting for the sunset to get some pictures looking west. Hopefully they'll be better than last night's attempt at lightning pictures!
Tomorrow, it's off to the Black Hills, to see the Presidents!
States Visited: Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, South Dakota, Wisconsin (9/50)
Provinces Visited: Ontario (1/10)
License Plates Seen: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming (45/50)
Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan (7/10)
Tonight's post comes to you from the middle of South Dakota. And by middle, I mean exit 335 on a road with 410 exits. And the numbers go down. Anyway, we started today in St. Paul, excited to leave Minnesota. Only to come to realize that it was still like 4 hours to the end of the state. We were just excited to leave it- wouldn't visit again. We did see, however, the Jolly Green Giant and his sidekick Sprout on the side of the road, as well as St. Peter's very own Pearly Gates. Gotta love the random things you see on the side of the road. Then we decided it would be a good idea to go down through Iowa, since the GPS said the border was relatively close. Well, it was, but there was no "Welcome to Iowa" sign where we were. So that was a fail. But we did (sort of) see the one on the other side of the road when we were leaving, and going back into Minnesota. At about 2:00 we entered South Dakota. We made sure that we got the Welcome to picture. We continued on our way to Mitchell, South Dakota, home of the World's Only Corn Palace!! Let's just say that it is a hole in the wall town, but it was kind of cool. We got some fun pictures with Corn-elius, their mascot, and some pictures of corn murals. Unfortunately, the outside of the building wasn't too pretty, but that's because they spend the summer planning and updating the building for the fall festivals. From there, we headed to our campground for the night. Nothing too exciting. I guess today was a somewhat laid-back day. It is now evening and we are waiting for the sunset to get some pictures looking west. Hopefully they'll be better than last night's attempt at lightning pictures!
Tomorrow, it's off to the Black Hills, to see the Presidents!
States Visited: Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, South Dakota, Wisconsin (9/50)
Provinces Visited: Ontario (1/10)
License Plates Seen: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming (45/50)
Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan (7/10)
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