Road Trip Day 16

Home again!  It was an incredible vacation in every way.  Many photos to sort through and lots to catch up on.  Again, thanks for riding along with us.  Stay tuned for more adventures. :-)

Road Trip Day 15

More driving!  But one night closer to home.

Road Trip Day 14

600+ miles on the road, not much else to say.  Pizza delivery for dinner. Getting ready for more driving tomorrow.

Road Trip Day 13

Today was our last day of being tourists. The next few days will be all driving as we head home.

First stop was Devils Tower, Wyoming. Didn't spend a great deal of time there but it was interesting. Then we drove through Wyoming into South Dakota. A nice drive with some fall color here and there.

Next up was Deadwood, the town of 10% history, 90% casinos and tourist traps. We did have lunch at Diamond Lil's, which is obviously but unknown to us, owned by Kevin Costner. Costumes and photos from many of his movies.

Since we were close, we made a drive through Sturgis, then headed to Mount Rushmore. What a great way to end the day – very impressive!

The hotel clerks suggested a local restaurant, Firehouse Brewing, for dinner. It was another good local place, which was one of our goals of this trip. Rapid City has a nice downtown, lots of open stores and restaurants and many people out and about.

What a wonderful trip this has been. We've covered a lot of ground but at a manageable pace. Thanks for following along!

A few pics from the day:

Devils Tower

Deadwood

Current site of an empty store

Sturgis

Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore

Road Trip Day 12

Time to say good bye to Yellowstone and start heading back east. After a hot breakfast at the Mammoth dining room, we were on our way. There was only one elk in the area this morning, quite different than the herd that was camped out last night.

We headed to Tower-Roosevelt, then to the northeast entrance to leave the park. In the Lamar Valley, we ran into our only bison road jam of the trip. There were 50+ moving from one side of the road to the other. A ranger was following behind them. They probably went ¼ mile or so before finding a spot they liked on the other side of the road.

Exiting the park, we took the Beartooth Highway. Amazing scenery! It did make me very thankful for guard rails and wide turnouts. Elevation is 10,000+ feet so it was a lot of climbing then a lot of going down. Saw some lingering snow on a few mountain tops. Glad we drove it.

Our only other stop for the day was at Little Bighorn Battlefield. We spent about and hour and a half there doing the driving tour and some walking. I didn't know that there is also a national cemetery there.

Heading back down into Wyoming, we found our way to our planned stop for the evening...only to discover that our reservation was missing in action. “I didn't write down your phone number so I couldn't call to tell you that you didn't have a room.” Oh well, nothing to do but head back to Gillette and find a room. Which we did. And got a good night's sleep.

A few pics from the day:

Yellowstone sunrise

On the move

Safely on the other side

Red Lodge, Montana

Fall color

Beartooth Highway

Beartooth Highway

Road Trip Day 11

Our last full day in Yellowstone and we covered a lot of territory. After a quick breakfast at the grill, we drove towards Tower-Roosevelt. We stopped at Undine Falls then a bit farther up the road, we took an unpaved side road, Blacktail Plateau Drive, which was one of the original roads into the park. It turned out to be a good choice because about midway through, we found a car stopped in the road. They had spotted a black bear up on the side of the hill. We watched for a while with only 3 other cars backed up behind us. No way could you do that on the main roads! Also saw a couple of deer cross in front of us – much like we see at home.

We did a drive-by of the Petrified Tree then headed on to Canyon. After a stop for road construction, we went to see Tower Fall, (no “s”, the only waterfall in the park without one). Love the waterfalls! Drove past Mt. Washburn through Dunraven Pass, lots of beautiful (and steep) scenic views.

Since we hadn't made many stops, we decided to head down into Hayden Valley. The bison were out in full force! We also saw a coyote at a convenient location to pull off the road and watch. It was a good wildlife day for sure.

After a quick stop at the Mud Volcano area, it was time for lunch and we found a beautiful picnic area beside the Yellowstone River. If we had more time, it would have been an ideal spot to just sit and watch the river for a while.

At this point, it was time to turn back to Mammoth. Once there, we decided to ride out to the northern entrance to see the Roosevelt Arch. “For the benefit and enjoyment of the people” - words from the Act of Congress that set aside Yellowstone as a protected place. Heading back into the park, we stopped to watch sheep (one taking a stroll in the road) in the edge of the river.

For our last evening in Yellowstone, we had dinner at the hotel dining room then watched the elk for a while. A good ending to a great few days.

Yellowstone is an amazing place. You can drive through a geyser basin, then a pine forest, then you're on the side of a mountain, then a sagebrush plain. The rivers, the animals, the history, it surrounds you at all times. And we only scratched the surface. Hopefully, we will return!

A few pics from the day:

Bison in Hayden Valley

Coyote in Hayden Valley

Roosevelt Arch

Pardon me, coming through

Yellowstone River picnic

Undine Falls

Black Bear



Road Trip Day 10

Time to say goodbye to Old Faithful Inn and head towards Mammoth Hot Springs for the next two nights. It was such a treat to stay there.

First stop of the day was Midway Geyser Basin for more geysers. The “star” feature there, Grand Prismatic Spring, was so steamy that it was hard to see, but it was a nice walk around the basin.

Heading on, we took a look at Gibbon Falls, then we stopped at Norris Geyser Basin and walked the Porcelain Basin loop. Easy to see how it was named as the entire area is a milky white color. Lots of steam vents and bubbling pools. Next trip, we'll try the Back Basin loop.

Along the way, we saw several bison, one of which was sitting about 20 yards from the side of the road.

We made a couple more stops, at Obsidian Cliff, then at Sheepeater Cliffs for a picnic lunch. Once we got closer to Mammoth, we drove through the Upper Terrace drive, then checked in to our cabin. After all the driving from the past few days, it was nice to sit on the porch and relax for a while. A couple of rows over was a large elk bull relaxing on the grass. He would later move to another group of cabins and make himself at home there. The housekeeper said he'd been bugling all day but no one would respond to him. Later in the evening, we saw a dozen or more elk on the hills behind the cabins.

A few pics from the day:

Midway Geyser Basin

Gibbon Falls

Roadside Bison

Colloidal Pool, Norris Geyser Basin

Angel Terrace

Approaching Mammoth Hot Springs

Elk on the hill