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Friday 04 September 2015

This will be a short edition today!

Our flight from Reykjavik to London was due to leave at 0740. They called the flight and a long queue formed but they didn't start boarding. Then they announced it was the final call and still we didn't board. There was no announcement to tell us about delays. I do wish airlines would keep passengers informed better. The same thing happened in Minneapolis last night.

We e decided that we would travel Icelandair again, but would check the price difference with full service airlines. It is a bit of a pain buying food to take on the aircraft, particularly when space is limited. Reykjavik airport in undergoing a major upgrade too. It really needs it if the airline is to cash in on cheap flights and stopovers. Currently, it doesn't have many ramps, this means the aircraft parking on a stand and passengers having to travel by coach to and from the aircraft and also having to negotiate the steps up to the aircraft too.

We were about 15 minutes late off the gate and took off about 1600. Once airborne we quickly climbed through cloud so there were no views of Iceland. The flight was about two and a half hours long, but we ended up in a holding pattern over Heathrow.

It was busy at immigration and it took a while for our bags to appear, but all four made it. Our meet and greet driver was with us within 15 minutes and we headed out of Heathrow to a hotel in Wembley to relax.

That's it, holiday ended and another blog comes to a close. Thanks for coming along for the ride by reading the blog!

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Leaving Minneapolis

Thursday 3rd September 2015

Only one thing on the plan today, catch a flight out of Minneapolis!

After a relatively slow start, we had breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast room at the Comfort Inn is co-located with the swimming pool and makes it feel a bit like a terrace. The TV was on loudly in the corner, which to me doesn't make for a relaxing meal.

After breakfast, we headed to the Twin Cities Premium Outlet Center in Eagan about 5 miles away. It was to be our final retail therapy in the USA. We managed to find some clothes to buy that we 'needed'! We also stopped for a snack lunch. We already knew we needed an extra bag, so having left the Outlet Center, we drove to a nearby Walmart and bought a bag. That was the only thing we bought!

Back at the hotel, we did our final packing, changed into travelling clothes, loaded the car and checked out of the hotel. As it was only two-o-clock, we had a couple of hours to kill, so we sat in the air conditioned lobby of the hotel and read. The weather, which had started out misty and humid had turned into another beautiful hot day.

At around three forty-five, we drove the 5 minutes to the airport, topping up the fuel tank en route. The rental car company (National), were happy with the car and we were quickly on our way into the airport. It wasn't too long a walk, but we were rather laden down with bags! American airports seem to charge for baggage trolleys too!

Having dropped our bags off, we went through security quite quickly and settled down to wait for our flight. We were in Terminal two at Minneapolis St Paul (MSP) airport, the smaller of the two terminals, so there aren't many food outlets or shops here. We did have a snack and bought a few snacks for the flight as we don't think we will get fed. The flight is due to leave at 1930 and arrive in Iceland at 0630, both times are local. I think it is six hour flight by my calculations.

The incoming aircraft arrived at 1810, and now we are waiting fir it to be cleaned, refuelled, re-provisioned and then we are due to board at 1850.

We've been airborne for 5 hours and we have about 35 minutes to go. There is some signs of daylight on the horizon now too. The temperature in the cabin has been way too warm, so warm in fact that the lady sitting between Lynn and I got up about an hour ago to head to the toilet and promptly fainted. Lynn managed to catch her head before she hit the floor. The crew rushed out and administered oxygen, gave her water and cool towels which sorted her out. We thought the crew might turn the temperature down, but they haven't. Usually, on night flights people are wrapped in blankets, shorts and t-shirts would be more appropriate tonight.

0630 and we are at Reykjavik again, we've gone full circle!

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Wisconsin - briefly!

The beach at Hudson, Wisconsin on the St Croix River

 

View from Pier 5 Restaurant, Hudson, Wisconsin

 

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Hobby Lobby and Lunch in Wisconsin

Wednesday 2nd September 2015

The hotel room proved be quiet and comfortable although the armchair had a large rip in it and part of the sink plug mechanism was lying on the floor! I reported both to the front desk and hope both issues will be sorted by the time we get back. Today is apparently International Craft Shopping Day. It must be as we are scheduled to visit Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Jo-Anne's and Walmart. I could be spending some time in coffee shops today I can see!

We had a late start today as we weren't in any hurry, well I wasn't anyway! We left the hotel at around ten having asked for our room to be sorted out. We rejoined the I-494 East and headed for Minneapolis's twin city of St Paul's. They are almost joined at the hip and only separated by the Mississippi River. It was a busy urban freeway with lots of exits and lots of traffic. At the end of the I-494, we joined the I-94 East for a couple of miles before turning off for Hobby Lobby. This is heaven for Lynn!

I left her here and drove around to find a route to the nearby Michaels, another craft shop. I then returned to Hobby Lobby after half an hour as requested to find that a further 45 minutes was needed! I found Caribou Coffee across the parking lot and enjoyed a drink and the free wifi for a while.

When I returned to Hobby Lobby, Lynn had finished stripping the store of their goods and the credit card got rather nervous! Lynn had bought some nice material and several craft items, apparently at bargain prices compared to UK. The best news was that it had been such a good experience that the visits to both Michaels and Jo-Anne's had been cancelled!

As it was lunchtime, we set of to find a nice lunch spot. It's difficult sometimes to find somewhere peaceful in a huge city and back on the I-94, we 'accidentally' crossed the St Croix River into the State of Wisconsin. We turned off straight away, but couldn't help going into the town of Hudson. As if you haven't guessed knowing my enjoyment at visiting new States, this was a new State to us and the 10th visited on this trip.

We found a nice riverside restaurant, Pier 5 Riverside Dining, and sat on the terrace. Lynn had Caesar Salad, I had Chicken and Wild Rice Soup and half a Smoked Turkey sandwich. It was half a sandwich, not half a turkey just to clarify things. It was a very pleasant lunch. I hadn't imagined we would manage to visit Wisconsin - much!

Back in Minnesota, we headed for another branch of Walmart where I dropped Lynn. I continued on to a branch of a shop called Cabelas. This is an outdoor shop. In this one store it is possible to buy anything from a large speedboat, through a garden tractor complete with JCB-type bucket digger, to anything an angler could ever want or need. It's also a hunters shop, so almost any kind of rifle or crossbow along with shelves of ammunition as on sale here. At least half the huge store is taken up with camouflage clothing and equipment. They also sell hiking kit including trainers and sandals. I managed to replace my Merrills sandals for $65 and got a new leather belt for $25 dollars. I asked for Military Discount and got 5% off too.

By now, Lynn had progressed from Walmart to Hancock's Material Shop. I drove there and went to rescue her from fabric heaven. Oddly, she didn't seem to want to be rescued.

Back on the I-94, we headed west to junction of the I-494 and turned back south towards our hotel. We had one last treat in store today, a laundrette! We found one by looking on the iPad it was W 90th St. While the laundry was washing, I filled the car with fuel, it cost $33 for over 14 U.S. Gallons of unleaded petrol. By my calculations, that is 55 litres of petrol for £22.00, by my reckoning that's 40p per litre! Now, I'm sitting watching the clothes go round in the tumbler drier as I type.

Back at the hotel, we emptied the car of all our purchases and relaxed for a while before venturing to the Outback restaurant attached to the hotel. Outback is a chain restaurant with an Australian theme, the food is good and the beer cold as you'd expect. We both had a full rack of back ribs as it is our final night in the USA. Thoroughly stuffed, or should it be replete, we came back to the room to do a bit of packing and see if we needed another bag from Walmart!

So, in the past 26 days, we've visited two countries (Iceland, USA), 10 States (Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin) and 5 National Parks (Cascades, Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Badlands), plus a National Monument (Mt Rushmore). We've stayed in 12 Hotels and driven 3689 miles.

It's certainly been an amazing trip!

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Over the Border

South Dakota/Iowa State line

Iowa/Minnesota State line

 

 

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Three States

Tuesday 01 September 2015

Our room in Sioux Falls was surprisingly quiet considering it was in the middle of the city, we could hear traffic noise and the distant hooting of a train, but nothing to disturb a good nights sleep. Our plan for the day, simply put, was to drive to Minnespolis.

There was no complimentary breakfast at the Holiday Inn, so after a slow start, we set out east on the route 42. We stopped within a couple of miles at a Denny's we just happened upon. We've been joking about having breakfast at Denny's for most of the trip, but because we've had so many complimentary breakfasts, haven't stopped at one. To be truthful we haven't seen many since Seattle.

They have a new 'healthy' menu and their signature breakfast offering of the 'Grand Slam' meal is quite well hidden. I found it. It consists of two very thin rashers of streaky bacon, two minuscule (smaller than chipolatas) sausages, two eggs (sunny-side up, over easy, scrambled or omelette) and two buttermilk pancakes. This apparently adds up to 840 calories, always assuming you don't smother your pancakes with maple syrup. Oh, and as much coffee as you can consume without leaking. I can confirm it was delicious and removed the need to find lunch later.

Lynn, on the other hand, decided that she should try the healthy option rather appropriately called, 'The a Invisible Woman Breakfast'. I almost wet myself when it arrived! The first plate had bacon, a hash brown and two eggs over easy. The second plate had two buttermilk pancakes covered in strawberries and bananas. It looked huge compared to my breakfast. I have the pictures to prove it, even Lynn was laughing!

Following this gastronomic orgy, we waddled out of Denny's and got in the car to head for Minnespolis. Our route, and I confess this was my suggestion, took us east on route 42 until it crossed into Iowa, another new state for us. After a quick stop for the now obligatory photo, we continued East on what had become the route 9. This took us through mainly dairy and cereal farms in rolling countryside through Larchwood to the small town of Rock Rapids. Here we turned north up route 75 towards Luverne. Nine miles later, we crossed into the State of Minnesota, our fourth new State of the trip. I usually reckon I've not visited a state unless I've had a beer there, but I'll have to make an exception for Iowa. Beer at 1030 whilst driving didn't seem appropriate.

Once at Luverne, we joined 'Old Faithful' the I-90 yet again. We had decided that we'd do Interstate the rest of the way as there wasn't much to see. We didn't even have a map of Minnesota (and still don't) so relied on going on the I-90 and the I-35 all the way. This cost us about 40 miles as we should have cut across country on the mainly 4-lane highway, the route 60. Take note should you ever pass this way!

The I-90 was pretty dull to be honest. We stopped briefly at Blue Earth ( really this a place name) for a comfort break before we met the I-35 at Albert Lea, another good place name. Here we turned North towards Minnespolis and left the I-90 for the last time. The remainder of the journey was uneventful. We did encounter several sets of raid work on both Interstates. Each involved long stretches of driving in one lane on the opposite carriageway. Due to the lack of cross-over points, these sections of road works were often 10 - 15 miles long. Even though this was a 'contra flow' with no barriers between traffic lanes, the speed limit is still 60mph for all traffic. It seems to work well too.

By 1630, we'd managed to find our hotel, the Comfort Inn, next the the I-494 and Minnespolis/St Paul's International airport. We are booked in for two nights. The hotel is comfortable, if a bit shabby, and we have a ground floor room. The hotel has an Outback restaurant attached to it. It also has a swimming pool and complimentary breakfast.

Having emptied the car into our room. We took a trip to the local Walmart. Does this have a familiar sound to it? Sadly for Lynn, there was no 'material' section, so it was a very quick visit. Having failed here, we decided to go the Mall of the Americas, a huge indoor mall, like Meadowhall, only far bigger. So much bigger, in fact, it had a full sized indoor theme park in the middle! There are at least three rollercoasters, a log flume and several other large, rather scary rides there.

We didn't buy anything or go on any rides, but did watch the splash down part of the log flume for a while. Having exhausted this pastime, we plucked up courage and went for dinner at Bubba Gump's Shrimp House. We ate shrimps just because you should. Now we have to plan how to find several craft shops, the premium outlet centre and a Cabelas outdoor shop for tomorrow.

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Wall Drugstore

 

 

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Badlands

 

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Black Hills, Wall and the Badlands

Monday 31 August 2015

Another good nights sleep in Custer! Today, our plan included the Northern Black Hills, the town of Wall, the Badlands and a long drive to Sioux Falls.

After breakfast, no biscuits and gravy either, we loaded up the car and were on the road just after nine. Our route, initially, was the same as yesterday morning, North up the route 385. This time we continued on to Hill City, another gold mining town and then on the route 16 to Rapid City. The roads all wound around through the hills and forests of the Black Hills. Rapid City is quite a large place, population 55,000 and is the biggest town in western South Dakota.

From here, we joined our favourite Interstate, the I-90 heading east. This road is flanked by prairie most of the way to Wall, about 50 miles from Rapid City.

Wall would be a pretty non-descript town were it not for the fact it is the western end of the Badlands NP and the existence of Wall Drug Store. The drugstore has been open since 1934 and is still owned and run by the same family. It is has a huge eclectic collection of goods for sale, from tourist kitsch to expensive hand-tooled cowboy boots. It also has a selection of 'attractions' on offer, including a performing Dinosaur head, a giant Jackalope, shooting gallery, gold panning and a variety of restaurants and bars. It's even more famous for its advertising hoardings spread all over the USA. We saw some in Wyoming and Nebraska hundreds of miles away. I've previously seen them in Colorado.

The other thing you see on a road trip are the huge variety of home-grown roadside attractions. Reptile parks, gold panning, helicopter rides, Indian crafts, Dinosaur, car, tractor and military museums, all of which claim to be world famous, or the largest. It must be fun for kids!

Back on the road, we left Wall and headed down route 240, the Badlands Loop Rd. This takes you to the entrance to Badlands NP. With our annual pass in hand, we were waived straight through the ranger station.

This 34 mile long road goes through a jumbled mass of canyons, gulches, mountains and plains. It is totally inhospitable and mainly dry. It is rattlesnake country. Badlands is an appropriate name. At the same time, it is a dramatically beautiful and strangely attractive place. We stopped several times for photos as we drove along the road.

At the far end of the loop at Cactus Flat, we rejoined the I-90. From here, we knew we has a drive of 271 miles to Sioux Falls in eastern South Dakota. With that in mind, we accelerated to 75mph, engaged cruise control and sat back for the ride.

The Interstate passes through endless prairie and farm land. It's mainly beef cattle and cereal production. Some would find it very boring as much of it was flat too, but there was something to be said for the huge views to the horizon. There are few towns of note, but several try their best with enticements like, 'See Elvis Presley's motorbike', or 'The best Tractor Museum you'll ever see', 'Film props from Dancing with Wolves' and suchlike. We only stopped once for a comfort break!

Sioux Falls is a large city and our hotel, the Holiday Inn, is right in the heart of the downtown area. We are on the 7th floor with a view from our balcony down Philips Street. We walked into the middle of the restaurant district on Philips and ate at Minerva, a somewhat upmarket restaurant to us after several weeks in the back of beyond! The food and service was good and we escaped with a bill of just over $50 plus 20% tip of course.

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Presidents, Tunnels, Bison and Geese

Mt Rushmore Presidents

Avenue of Flags

Pigtail and tunnel

Bison

Geese

 

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Chiefs and Presidents

Sunday 30 August 2015

The bed must have been comfortable or we were both exhausted as we both slept through to 0730. Our plan for the day was to do a short drive through the north of the Black Hills.

We had quite a good breakfast, although 'biscuits and gravy' were on the menu again. I have to say that the combination of a scone (aka biscuit) and gravy (a white lumpy sauce) for breakfast doesn't do it for me. I can manage breakfast burritos, but biscuits and gravy is not for me!

After breakfast, we loaded our cool box with lots of cold water and headed out. Our road, the route 385, turned off in the middle of Custer and headed north. The road climbed steeply out of town and into rolling hills with pine trees and odd outcrops of rocks. Our first port of call was the Crazy Horse Memorial, this is an ongoing project to carve the head and outstretched arm of Crazy Horse, a famous Indian Chief. He was the tribal leader of the Oglala Lakota who led his tribe to victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn against Lt Gen George Custer. The Indians knew Litle Bighorn as 'Greasy Grass'.

The carving is immense, and we could easily see it from the main road. We did take a few distant photos, but neither of us really wanted to pay to get closer. The project is not government funded, so a whole tourist industry has grown up around the base of the rock. We just didn't want to go through that.

We continued on up route 385 until we found the route 244 turn-off to Keystone. The road winds around in the beautiful landscape of the Black Hills for a few miles before climbing sharply up a hill to the foot of Mount Rushmore. This is a National Monument so we had to pay $11 for a pass that permits us access until 31 December!

We found a parking space fairly close to the main entrance and walked in. The site was very busy, but well organised. The main approach led from the information centre up to Borglum Court where there is a shop, a restaurant and ice cream shop. We stopped for a few photos here before carrying on up the Avenue of Flags. The avenue has the flags of all 50 States and on pillars lining the route, the dates on which each State was admitted to the Union. Hawaii bing the most recent in 1959.

Beyond the Avenue is the Grand View Terrace. This allows visitors to take in the sight of the heads of four Presidents carved into the mountainside. It is an amazing sight. Danish-American sculptor, Gutzon Borglum spent 14 years carving, in a manner of speaking, the heads of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt into a mountain. When I say carved, I mean Gutzon and a team of 400 men used dynamite to roughly shape the rock and then hand finished it with chisels. The heads are each 60 feet high. They started in 1927 and finished in 1941. If you have time, look it up on the Internet.

We took quite a few photos and I walked the half mile trail up to the foot of the mountain. It was hot going with the temperature in the high 90s. We stayed for a couple of hours as we were also trying to spot the mountain sheep that apparently frequent the cliffs near the carvings.

From here, we drove steeply downhill to the town of Keystone, once a gold mining town. Nowerdays, it serves the tourist industry associated with Mt Rushmore and, quite frankly, is a bit tacky! We did find Teddy's Deli for a toasted sandwich, chips (potato crisps) and dill pickle spear. By now it had got to 98F, way too toasty!

We left Keystone and headed south down the route 18A back into Custer State Park. This section of road is known as Iron Mountain Road. The road boasts, 17 miles, 314 curves, 14 switchbacks, 3 pigtails, 3 tunnels, 4 Presidents and 2 splits. Most of this is self explanatory, but 'pigtails' are where the road makes a very sharp 270 degree turn, crossing over itself on a bridge. 4 Presidents are the views of Mt Rushmore and 'splits' are where the road splits and follows different routes for a short distance. The road is fun to drive and the views and scenery beautiful. One pigtail makes its turn and dives directly into a narrow tunnel which, as you drive through it, gives distant views of Mt Rushmore.

We continued the entire length of Iron Mountain Road and ended up at the Peter Norbeck Visitors Centre. The centre is named after the Govenor who thought up the idea of Custer State Park. On the meadow outside the centre, were a large herd of Bison/Buffalo. We popped in to ask about bird boxes we had seen on fence posts, they were for Mountain Bluebirds.

On the way back to Custer, we stopped briefly at Legion Lake where it is possible to rent canoes or pedaloes. We also drove round a Stockade Lake and saw a couple of Ospreys.

We returned to the hotel to cool down in the air conditioned room and swimming pool! It did rain briefly, but it has stayed very warm. For dinner, we went to the Frontier Inn. Initially, were the only clients, not usually a good sign, but one other couple came in shortly afterwards. We both had sirloin steak and it was juicy, tasty and tender and for £8 steak and chips can't be bad!

 

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South Dakota - The Black Hills

Leaving Nebraska and entering South Dakota

Buffalo Crossing

Iron Creek Tunnel

Cathedral Spires

Super Moon

 

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Another New State

Saturday 29 August 2015

The road trip rolls on! Today, we planned a shorter journey than yesterday's 407 miles with a hop from Nebraska into South Dakota, another new State for us.

Our hotel in Chadron didn't provide breakfast, so we had some fruit in the room and set off north up the route 385 towards the state line. After nine miles of rolling grasslands we reached the top of a rise, left Nebraska, and then stopped to take a photo of the 'welcome to South Dakota' sign.

Amazingly, once we entered South Dakota, our fairly minor road turned into a four lane highway. Not that there was any more traffic on it! The road ran almost straight for the 13 miles to Oelrichs a very small town, population 150. The town was named after the original landowner, although the Lakota Indians know it as 'Severed Horse Head'. They were just setting up for a rodeo on the edge of town, lots of horses and Cowboys to be seen.

The road continued, now a divided four lane highway, for another 25 miles to Hot Springs. The road ran through miles of pasture land before dropping down to the Cheyenne a River and Angostura Reservoir. Hot Springs was built around the hot springs the town is imaginatively named after. Now enclosed in a modern building, they once bought visitors from miles around. The town dates to the 1890s and has some very grand buildings, but it is faded glory, most people are just passing through en route to the Black Hills, just as we were.

Not long after leaving Hot Springs on route 385 we entered Wind Cave National Park. The cave was 'discovered' when roaring noises were heard underground and eventually a cave mouth was found which made a roaring sound. Now developed for tourists, it still hasn't been fully explored. We stopped at the visitor centre to find out more about the park above ground.

Not long after leaving the centre we came across a large herd of Buffalo. We'd seen odd males earlier, but this herd was a mix of male, female and young Buffalo. We had to wait whilst they crossed the road . We also stopped several times to try and take pictures of Prairie Dogs. Whilst doing that, we also saw Western Meadow Larks.

After a few miles we left the National Park and entered the Custer State Park. This park encompasses most of the the Black Hills area and has several scenic drives. We had to pay $15 for a 7 Day pass. We set off along a wildlife loop, 17 miles long. We saw a lot more Buffalo and some Burros, a sort of wild donkey, but it was nearly midday and the temperature was in the 90s, so we decided to come back later. We stopped again briefly for some lunch at another visitors centre before heading for the Needles Drive, another scenic byway.

This small road climbed up in the pine clad hills wriggling around large outcrops of rocks. At one stage, the road got very narrow as it passed through Iron Creek Tunnel. From here, the scenery got even more dramatic, with huge rock walls topped with rock spires, one viewpoint was called Cathedral Spires.

Then, when we thought it couldn't get narrower, it did. Eye of the Needle Tunnel is narrow and quite low and also squeezes between rock at the far end. At the far end is a small parking area. The main feature here is a rock formation called 'Eye of the Needle'. It was pretty impressive, but rather over run by tourists (like us!).

By now, we'd had enough of sightseeing so drove down to Custer, the main town in the area. Custer, named after the famous Lt Gen George Custer, lies at 5300ft above sea-level and has a permanent population of about 1900. During summer the population explodes as tourist arrive. It's a pleasant, slightly quirky, touristy town with a range of hotels, shops and restaurants. We checked in to the Best Western Buffalo Ridge Hotel. We got a pleasant motel-type room and the hotel has a nice pool and hot tub.

After moving into our room, we went to explore the pool and tub whilst it was quiet, it was really nice and we had it to ourselves.

A little later, just before six, we headed back to wildlife loop in the park. This proved to be an excellent time to visit. In the 17 mile drive we saw a huge herd of Buffalo, White-tailed Deer, Pronghorn Antelope, Mule Deer, Prairie Dogs, Prairie Falcons, Bluebirds, Western Meadow Larks, American Robins and to top it off a herd of around 60 Elk. One bull elk was herding his females and their young whilst two other mature Bulls were hanging around a few hundred metres away. We watched as the light faded and eventually left before it got dark.

On the way back to Custer, I realised that the moon was up and that it was full. I believe it is a 'super' moon, when it is full moon at the same time that the moon is at its closest point to earth. I took a few photos, I'm not sure how well they will turn out.

Back in Custer, we found the only restaurant open was Steakhouse 140. We managed to get ribs and fries before they closed up too!

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Cody to Chadron via Casper!

One of many Buffalo on the streets of Cody, this outside our hotel

Big Horn River Canyon, Wyoming

Nothing to see on I-25, Wyoming

Van Tassel, Wyoming. Population 15 elevation 4736ft

Entering Nebraska for the first time. Clearly the sign has been used as a target!

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Prairies, Sage-bush Wilderness and a New State

Friday 28 August 2015

Last night, our room became a laundry drying room. We washed our clothes in the hotel laundrette late yesterday evening and hung it to dry on a variety of hangers and rails in our room overnight. This morning, on the way to breakfast, we popped most of it into a tumble drier. We collected it all on the way back and now have fresh clothes again.

Our plan today was to leave Cody and head east towards South Dakota. We enjoyed our stay at The Best Western Cody, there really was nothing to fault at all. It was quiet friendly and comfortable.

We left not long after nine and first refuelled the car before heading back down route 120 and 20 to Thermopolis and Shoshone, the route we used on Wednesday but in reverse. I was expecting the road to be busier, but in the 80 odd miles to Thermopolis we overtook three motorhomes and briefly followed a car. The remainder of the journey was done at a steady 65mph. We stopped in the Big Horn River Canyon to take some photos. I previously blogged that this was the Wind River Canyon! It really is very spectacular. I also said that Meeteetse was a half a horse town. My apologies, as in daylight, it is clearly a three-quarter horse town.

Shoshone is clearly becoming a ghost town, many of its building empty and abandoned. Here, we rejoined the route 20 heading due east to Casper. Once out of Shoshone, I put the car in cruise at 65mph and never touched the brake or accelerator for nearly 85 miles. It was miles of Sage-bush wilderness which is apparently important to Pronghorn Antelope and Sage Grouse. We saw loads of Pronghorn, but no grouse. It is a very empty landscape. We passed several communities, Monetary, Hiland, Waltman, Powder River and Natrona, some were ghost communities and one or two that advertised a populalation of less than 10.

Casper is a large town with a population of over 55,000 people on the Missouri River. Apparently it is the site of the Mormon Ferry built by Brigham-Young. We really bypassed it on the way to the I-25. We set off on the Interstate, but I couldn't see what the speed limit was. We'd not travelled on the Interstate in Wyoming before. I thought it might be 75mph until a huge lorry hauling two trailers swooshed past us at over 80 mph! It was a bit unnerving. Eventually, we saw a speed limit sign and it was for 80mph for both cars and lorries.

We drove down the Interstate for 60 miles to Douglas where we turned off, again following route 20. This road took us through Lusk to Van Tassel the eastern edge of Wyoming. Once again, the communities were either minuscule or ghost towns. Lost Springs had a population of 2, Node 4 and Van Tassel 15. Orin, Shawnee, Keeline and Manville were one blink and you'd missed them!

We briefly stopped at Lusk for a drink and we briefly considered staying here, but after a look, decided to continue East. We stopped at Van Tassel to take a photo of the Nebraska State line as we left Wyoming. This is one of few USA States we've not visited, hence the photo.

Once in Nebraska, we stayed on route 20 and passed through Harrison before arriving at Fort Robinson. This, once busy US Army base, is now a historical monument looked after by the State. We stopped very briefly to use the loos! It is beautifully preserved and it is possible to stay in the barracks. Clearly a popular option as the check in area was really busy.

Crawford, the next town, was also on our list of places to stop, but it was so small and the motel didn't look fantastic. We might have stayed had there been anywhere to eat. As it was, we continued on to Chadron, a slightly larger town where we checked in to the Motel 6. We got a good room rate which became even better we we requested Military Discount.

We popped into the middle of the town, which dates to the 1880s and had dinner at a local bar/grill Wilds Grill, famous for its spicy pretzels! Lynn didn't like the pretzels! When we left, a local band had set up on a trailer in the street at the coffee bar next door and were belting out Led Zepplin tunes!

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Bubbling things and views

The Dragons Cave

 

Firehole River

Very hot mineral pool

Old Faithful not doing very much!

After the rain near Sylvan Pass

 

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Geysers and Bubbling Mud, it must be Yellowstone

Thursday 27 August 2015 - Lynn's birthday.

After our long day out yesterday, we had a bit of a lie in this morning. Our plan was to take a birthday tour around part of Yelowstone NP. We did not want as long a day as yesterday!

We left the hotel after eating breakfast at around 10. The first part of our journey was a repeat of yesterday's route into Yellowstone NP. What a contrast with yesterday. Today we had blue skies all the way into the park. We didn't hang around on the 50 mile trip to the park entrance! Once in the park we again started the climb up the Sylvan a Pass, but had to stop on a narrow part as a large Bull Buffalo was walking down the middle of the road!

Once we'd passed this obstruction, we continued on to Fishing Bridge. We passed a lot more Buffalo as we drove along. We also found a couple of Elk by the roadside.

At a Canyon Village, we stopped to have birthday lunch. Sandwiches and soda! Oh, I almost forgot the ice cream. As we left the village, there was a single long roll of thunder! Very dramatic!

From here, we cut across the park towards Madison Junction, sadly, apart from more Buffalo, we didn't find any wildlife. We did stop at the Mud Volcanos. These are a series of bubbling pools, some are more explosive than others, all smell very much of sulphur! At Madison, we took a short detour along Firehole Canyon. The river and falls were very pretty. Near the top is a large swimming hole, plenty of people were taking a dip.

The road then heads across Lower, Middle and Upper Geyser Basins. Incidentally, geyser is pronounced 'guy-zer' here. The most famous geyser in the Upper Basin is Old Faithful. We pulled in here, although we'd been before. It seems to be more commercial than last time. The large wooden lodge, built again by the railway companies, is the centre piece, but loads more buildings seem to have appeared. I had a walk around the thermal pools, Old Faithful didn't perform whilst we were there. It is a bit unpredictable, but it is reckoned to spout every 80-90 minutes.

At this stage, we decided we were sceneried out and we started the journey back to Cody. First we had to head for West Thumb and then turn back north to Fishing Bridge. Somewhere around there, it started raining. We did quite well as we stayed just on the edge of the rain clouds. We also did well because the traffic was almost non existent, so we were able to drive fairly swiftly.

Safely over the Sylvan Pass for the last time, we headed back to Cody arriving just after six. After freshening up at the hotel, we took a recommendation and went to a Chinese Buffet. As we were walking into the restaurant in the middle of town, a deer with two young strolled out in front of us and crossed the 4 lane Main Street to go and feed on the grass in the park! The food was good and reasonably priced.

The final birthday treat was a visit to Walmart to raid the bargain basement selection of dress-making material. A surprise treat awaited us at the hotel, a trip to the hotel laundrette!

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A Big Day Out!

Strange rocks in the Shoshone River canyon

 

An Elk

Dubois or 'Dew-boyz'

 

En route to Riverton

 

Posted with Blogsy