Winding Down

We're in the middle of Kansas, having watched South Dakota and Nebraska go by in one field of corn after another. We'll be home tomorrow...ready to unpack and get used to being back home and not in one room together.

It's been a great vacation and we have a few things still planned. I have more photos to post and some reflections to add.

Thank you for following along on our trip...

Putting the Bad in Badlands

Just about the last thing we did in South Dakota was visit Badlands National Park. The geology is cool...we just love the striated bands.



They had a fossil walk and most of the fossils were from the Ogliocene Epoch. So, they were early mammals--some predecessors of common species like horses and pigs and dogs...and some weird little aunts and uncles on the family tree that died out. I realized that dinosaurs soak up all the attention (well, they were huge and fairly fascinating) and I don't know much about these species.
I think I'd like to change all that.

Wall Drug

Paul and I have a scale for touristy things. It's the Pigeon Forge Scale. Have you ever been to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee? It's the 10 out of 10...the ultimate in kitschy schlocky wall-to-wall tourist crap. There's just miles and miles of "must-see" hokey for-profit "museums" and hillbilly-themed stores and putt-putt and laser tag. And if you're trying to go to the Great Smoky Mountains, you used to have to drive through it and it would take forever! (Luckily they built a bypass).
Anyway, in general, we always rate things on the Pigeon Forge Scale and try to stay at a 3 or lower. There are times when you have to get a little bit above that, and we did do that in a couple of places. Keyhole, SD, which is the closest town to Mt. Rushmore is probably a 5 or 6 (but it's small, so it doesn't approach the existential 10).

Wall Drug and Wall, SD are an 8, although they're significantly smaller and you can get out of the danger zone relatively quickly. I went as a kid, and it was definitely much less crowded this trip than it was then. Getting a parking place right in front was easy-peasy...and there was no line in the cafe. The food was fairly bland and forgettable. But a little bit of kitsch is alright...and fun....you just can't OD on it.

Famous Faces

Well, maybe not these faces...how about these instead?

There's not much else that needs to be said. It's cool. Everyone should go at least once.

South Dakota's version of the Needles

Another long and twisting road...but super fun, especially if you're a boy who wants to climb. This is the Needles Highway in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Mom had to look away sometimes when they were rock scrambling.

Devil's Tower

We took another detour to go to Devil's Tower in Northeast Wyoming. It's pretty iconic, thanks to Close Encounters of the 3rd kind. Everyone really enjoyed getting the opportunity to see the formation.

Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracks

Yesterday, on our way across Wyoming, we took the opportunity to stop at the Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite. I don't know why this isn't in more guide books, I only found out about it by accident. Anyway, it's a collection of more than 1,100 dinosaur tracks.

They are preserved in rock, and at first you can't see them at all! But then, you figure out what you're looking at and for, and you see them everywhere.

The footsteps are in patterns. This one section of rock is so plentiful with tracks that they call it the ballroom, because it looks like the dinosaurs were dancing across the mud when the tracks were formed. In the photos of the kids above, they are moving from track to track.

Also at the site, you can fossil hunt. Any vertebrates have to be left behind, but you can pick up invertebrates (as long as you don't sell them). Graham and I found a number of fossilized clams and oysters and collected a small baggie of specimens to bring home.

Our Cabin

Graham's aerie and Patrick's cave.

More Yellowstone Photos

Here are some more photos from our Yellowstone trip. The boys really enjoyed the geothermal features, and you can't really go to Yellowstone without seeing Old Faithful, can you?

I love visiting Yellowstone, but I don't think I'd ever choose to go back in July. There were just so many people.

Luckily, by getting off some of the main drags and getting on some trails, we managed to find peaceful places without hordes of people.

Yellowstone

The first day, we drove through part of Yellowstone on our way to our cabin. You forget how huge Yellowstone is! With nearly 2.2 million acres, it's just an enormous park. Even with three days, we didn't see everything.

Of course, that was partially us taking our time and trying to really enjoy those things we were seeing, rather than rushing to try and see everything. The highlight of Graham's day, though, was getting to see and photograph a bear.

In his words: "I like a Yellowstone traffic jam, because it means there's a really good animal up ahead."

Beartooth Highway

This lovely scenic Highway runs from Red Lodge, Montana to the northeast entrance to Yellowstone, with stops up and over the beartooth mountains, and a few dips into Wyoming. It's really pretty amazing, living up to its billing as one of the most scenic drives in America. Up there, you really do feel like you're on top of the world.

Glacier fed lakes, snowfields in July, Alpine environment above the timberline, incredible vistas and a lot of twisty windy roads. You really do end up feeling like you're on top of the world. Graham continued his interest in photography, wanting to stop at almost every overlook so he could snap another pic.

And, in case you're wondering...the snowball fight ended like you might think, with Graham taking a face full of ice from his brother. Isn't that the way?

South Dakota

We drove over 400 miles yesterday, across a wide and varied Wyoming. Lots of it was scenic (and therefore slower). We got into Custer, SD late last night and laundry was a more pressing issue than downloading photos (we were completely out of clothes). Today we're seeing Mount Rushmore and some other Black Hills sites, then onto the Badlands.

The kids are watching TV, so happy to have one after so many days without.

Will post more pictures later on...Paul just downloaded them this morning while I was taking a luxurious hot shower.

Happy Birthday Allie!

This picture was taken earlier on the trip--we're way up above Santa Fe, at an overlook in Hyde Memorial State Park.

Thermopolis, Wyoming to Red Lodge, Montana

After the rafting trip, we were ready to hit the road and head to Montana. Our first stop was Legend Rock, a petroglyph spot near Meeteetse, Wyoming. You have to check out a key in the Hot Springs State Park as the site isn't manned. Luckily, you can drop the key off on site.

The Petroglyphs are in the Dinwoody style, meaning they're often fully pecked (completely filled in). No one can say for sure exactly how old the petroglyphs are. There were people in the Big Horn Basin 11,000 years ago. Best guess is that they were made over thousands of years. The boys are sort of petroglyph enthusiasts, so they were eager to visit this site where you ccan see more than 300 in one spot.

Graham is very into photography. He likes to take pictures of wildlife and natural formations. He has a great picture of a diamondback rattlesnake on his camera that I'll try to post sometime. Ruth, if you're reading this, we were thinking of you.

From there, we drove up through Cody and then up to Red Lodge Montana. We didn't stop in Cody, as we're coming back that way later on. Red Lodge is gorgeous! This picturesque town features a very cute downtown with lots of bars and restaurants. The boys will also tell you that there is a great store called the Montana Candy Emporium where you get a paper sack and walk around the bins and put one and two of whatever you want in the sack. You then weigh the sack and pay by the pound. Huckleberry candy will take the place of pie for today.

After dinner, we headed out to Wild Bill Lake for a walk around the lake and a little creek crawling and rock skipping. Living in rockless Houston as we do, the boys love every opportunity to boulder scramble and play around with rocks.


We were going to go on another short walk, but a rain shower got us. Of course, a little while later it's sunny and clear, but we had already settled into our motel.


As I type this it's 8:30 pm and as bright as day. Paul has gone off to Red Lodge Ales to fill up the growlers for when we're at the cabin. I tried their Glacier Ale at dinner and can highly recommend it.

Tomorrow we're going to drive the beartooth highway and head into Yellowstone. We'll be staying at a cabin just outside Yellowstone. I know we don't have cell service, but I'm not sure about Internet. My guess would be no, but if we can, I'll try to upload some more pictures. If not, I'll post again on Thursday.

Rafting

Looks calm and peaceful, right? Well....looks can be deceiving! This is the same stretch of river, but with us in it!

There is only one white water company allowed to take trips through the Indian Reservation that encompasses Wind River Canyon. As a result, there is not much activity on the river. When we set in, there were just two boats on the whole river. If you're looking at the pictures, Graham had the seat in the very front (in many of the photos you can just barely see his head or his red helmet). Laura is directly behind him. Paul is to her left; Patrick is to her right. Patrick and Paul were paddlers, which in the tumult of the rapids could be quite a workout.

There were two class 4 rapids and two 3 on the stretch of river we floated. Everyone got completely and totally soaked. Graham's teeth were chattering as the river was 61 degrees.


We all loved it, although Graham has requested not to be in the front of the boat again. He felt like he was just a water magnet and took most of the waves directly in the face. If he can sit anywhere else in the raft, he's all in! Patrick's ready to go tomorrow!


The river is the Big Horn. We looked and looked for bighorn sheep but never saw any.

Thermopolis, Wyoming

Thermopolis, Wyoming is sort of an odd little town. Its major attraction is Hot Springs State Park. In the park, there are two hotels (a Days Inn and a Best Western, where we stayed). The Hot Springs is one of the largest mineral hot springs in the world. In addition to providing the water for the state bath house and the two hotels on the property, there are two pool complexes, with multiple pools and waterslides and hot tubs. The photos above are all from the state park, with the boys on the bottom at the headwaters of the springs.

The reason we ended up in Thermopolis is so that the boys could take part in a kids' camp at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center. It turns out that Thermopolis was once a hot bed of activity, millions of years ago. There is an active dig site right outside of town, where lots of dinosaurs are being excavated. As part of the paleontology camp, the boys went out to two different dig sites, one for a sauropod and one that was a marine site. They could keep whatever they found (that was an invertebrate) at the marine site. They both came home with some fossilized clams and oysters, and parts of belemites. In the afternoon, they went to the lab and learned about cleaning and the instruments used, and how to make casts and molds of fossils.

Graham preferred the afternoon session; Patrick liked them both. If you ever find yourself in the area, the Wyoming Dinosaur Museum is absolutely outstanding. They have an archeopterix specimen, one of three complete ones in the world (one is currently at the HMNS). Their whole collection is outstanding. It's a small museum, but filled with amazing fossils and models.

As far as pie, the food in Thermopolis is not its highpoint. The cafes seemed to close up early. For pie, we are reduced to counting the pizza pi we ordered delivered to the hotel from Pizza Hut. But they swam and enjoyed the pool and recuperated after being out in the sun so it was time well spent.