July 16, 2004
We left home at 7am and headed to Rapid City. It is always fun to just drive. I was tired so slept for the first few hours while Jay drove.Things went smoothly and we were making good time. We were traveling west on I90 when a car about a half mile in front of us lost his back windshield. It went straight up into the air and came down right in front of us on the road. I was driving at the time and tried to swerve but there was a vehicle next to me so had to run over the debris. Luckily the glass was safety glass so didn't hurt th tires. Shook me up good though.
We stopped at Wall Drug shortly after that. It is a total tourist trap with all kinds of horrible souvenier shops that sell chintzy stuff. I visited there a long time ago and thought it was a hoot but this time, I was rather bored with the whole thing. We actually didn't stay too long.
Wall Drug. Wall, SD Then we took a drive out into the Badlands. Hard to describe that sight. Breathtaking. Beautiful, awe inspiring!!
South Dakota Badlands South Dakota Badlands Got into Rapid City at about 5pm, checked into the motel, checked our email. (gotta do the important things) After that we went to get something to eat, found a movie theater and saw I Robot. Fun way to spend a couple of hours. See the movie!! Will Smith is great and lots of action and imagination. Ending a little obscure but something to think about.
July 17 It was a very busy day today. We got up about 7 thinking that we would get going before the heat and the crowds took over. Had a nice continental breakfast at the motel lobby. Gotta give them credit for making us feel at home.
We left for Mount Rushmore shortly after 8 and it was a quick 20 mile drive up to the monument. I was pleased and amazed at how much it has changed since I was there last. The first thing you see when you walk in is the line of sight between you and the monument is filled with flags from all 50 states. Obviously a lot of thought went into it. We wandered around for a little while before we left and headed to the Crazy Horse Memorial.
Mt Rushmore It has been a lot of years since I have been there and I was pleased to see that the face of Crazy Horse is done but little else. The visitors center is huge and there was a film that we watched. Apparently the Lakota contacted the artist to do this monument. It was interesting to me as I listened to the Native Americans on the film who were saying how sacred the Black Hills are to them, that they were be in favor of blasting tons and tons of rock from one of their sacred mountains. Just a floating thought that floated out of my brain.
Crazy Horse Monument After we left Crazy Horse we took a drive down into Custer State Park and down the Needles Hwy. Certainly the Needles Hwy was awe inspiring to a flatlander like me. I enjoyed it. I wish I could share all the pictures that we took.
6000 Feet High Needles of the Black Hills Gail rock climbing....sort of! Then we took the wildlife route thru the Park and at the very end of the trek finally saw the buffalo herd. What a huge herd they have there and I am not even sure it was the whole herd. Bull, cows and babies all just wandering around and crossing in front of us on several occasions....of course who is going to argue with them.
Buffalo Herd-Custer State Park We also saw prairie dogs, pronghorned antelope, mountain sheep,deer and burros. Those are less awe inspiring then the bison but certainly interesting to observe. I watched as a young child ran and and stampeded a whole flock of the sheep while his parents stood by smiling proudly. I was annoyed to say the least.
Sheep in Custer State Park Burros in Custer State Park We took a trip up to Deadwood but I will have to say that I was very disappointed with what we saw. It was a tourist town and nothing there that wasn't gambling or souvenier hunting. Plus they had some kind of a rock festival on Main Street and it was impossible to walk down the street. Coupled with near 100 degree temperature, I was happy to be out of Deadwood.
Jay was enthralled with Deadwood for the Boothill cemetary. It is set on the top of a hill surrounding the town and Wild Bill Hickock is buried there along with Calamity Jane. So we had to go and find the graves and he had to take pictures of them. I promised him I would put one of the pictures here.
Wild Bill Hickock's Grave All in all the last couple of days have been fun. Tomorrow we head to Devils Tower and west.
July 18 We got up early this morning. I wanted to sleep in but woke at 6 and wasn't able to get back to sleep. I really hate it when that happens. But it was going to be a hot day so we decided to go and have some breakfast and head out.
We got about 15 miles out of town and I thought I had left my papers with the reservation numbers in the motel room so we pulled off on an exit to go back but then Jay remembered that he had put something in his suitcase. We opened everything up and there were my reservation numbers. Geez where was my head...but I did remember the camera and the computer..so guess that is something.
It took us about an hour to get to Devil's Tower. I have to say I was blown away again by this natural structure. It is 867 feet high and was formed by a volcano ions ago. The Native Americans have a legend about a giant bear chasing 7 girls and he clawed away the ground trying to get to them thus the unique look of the tower.
Devils Tower, Wyoming Devils Tower Devils Tower We took the hike around the base of the tower. No matter where you are and look up...it looks different. There was a few climbers this morning also and we had to watch them for a while. I understand the draw of those climbers. I would have loved to have seen what is on the flat looking top of that tower. We took our time climbing around it and when we got done it was 10:30 and already 93 degrees.
The temperature when we reached Sheridan at 3pm was over 100. We got here so early decided to take in a movie. So we saw King Arthur and drove thru this quaint little town.
There is a problem with the phone lines in this motel but so far am able to get online and get this updated.
We got our first taste of the Rockies just outside of Sheridan. Even from a distance they overwhelm the skyline.
Rocky Mountains, our first glimpse Tomorrow we are going to the Little Big Horn battlefield and then on to Butte, Montana!!
July 19 We got up early this morning, got some breakfast and hit the road. I have to say here what a wonderfully friendly town Sheridan is. They all went out of thier way to make us feel welcome. From the desk clerks at the motel, to the counter people at the theater and the gas station clerks. We were quite impressed with all of them.
As we were getting gas this morning in Sheridan, a man walked out of the convenience store and walked over to a truck, got in and left. Truthfully it looked like Kiefer Sutherland. I am not sure if it was but there was a rodeo in Sheridan all weekend and I suppose that it was possible. Ah well…I will never know for sure.
We headed north towards Billings. About 50 miles into Montana, we stopped at the Little Bighorn Battlefield. I’m glad that we stopped but have to admit that it isn’t the happiest place I have ever been to. We walked up the hill to the spot where Custer made his last stand. Across the battlefield you can see markers that mark the spots where soldiers fell. It was pretty grim to think about it. While I was standing up there I had the most overwhelming feeling of sadness or sorrow. I walked across the road to the Native American memorial and the feeling was even stronger over there. Just about made me cry thinking of all the lives lost/wasted because two cultures clashed so badly.
Little Bighorn Battlefield Little Bighorn Memorial Site of the last stand We spent a little while there and then headed out. The drive up to Billings was one where we skirted the mountains. We could see them in the distance all the way up and they remained the same size. Once we left Billings we headed right into the mountains. It was interstate driving all the way but we were right up in the mountains. The road twisted and turned, we were up and down. My poor little truck was just not sure what was going on. There was a lot of spots where I had to slow down to take the curves. The scenery was spectacular. We just didn’t get too many really good pictures. I wish we had gotten some better ones. We were going to stay in Butte but it seemed to early to stop so headed over to Missoula.
Rocky Mountains, Montana Rocky Mountain Range, Montana Clouds kissing the mountains The internet connection here is much better than it was in Sheridan and it has been a pleasure to go online today. Right now we are in the middle of a thunderstorm and I am running on batteries as I don’t want to blow my modem or fry my harddrive.
Tomorrow we are driving the rest of the way to Portland.
July 20 The day started off cloudy and wonderfully cool after the heat that we had been in earlier in SD and Wyoming. I went out to load the truck and noticed the clouds were all nestled in among the mountains. It was a sight a prairie dweller doesn't see often.
Rockies from Sheridan We started off across Montana toward Idaho. I was really tired this morning but stayed awake until we got into Idaho. I have never been to Idaho so didn't want to miss the 80 miles that it would take to cross it.
Rocky Mountains-Montana After we crossed into Washington, I took an hour nap. When I woke up, the mountains were gone and there was rolling prairie with another mountain range in the distance. After continuing to head west, I realized that we had missed our turn off due to me sleeping and the map not being very clear. We found another route and headed south to catch up with the route we should have taken. But we were treated to some spectacular scenery. We stopped at the Columbia River Gorge and took some pictures and climbed around on the rocks.
Columbia River Gorge Columbia River Gorge Taking our detour we went right thru the Yakima valley where the cherries, apples, apricots, peaches are grown. Then we wound our way on a 2 lane thru the Cascades. I was surprised that those mountains have no trees on them.
Just before we hit the I84 toward Portland we spotted a snowy peak that without looking,knew it was Mt Hood!! Spectacular.
Mt Hood-Oregon Finding our motel in Portland was "interesting". Tomorrow we are going to take a drive down the coast on Rt 101.
July 21 It was kind of a relaxing start to the day. We were told to try and get out of the city quickly during rush hour would be an exercise in futility so we waited until after 9:30 to leave the motel.
We headed west toward the coast and picked up Rt 101 going south. Jay wanted to go all the way to Coos Bay because his grandfather had lived and worked there when he was a young man but it was 270 miles from Portland and the going was very slow. So we decided to drive down only about 100 miles.
I have been to California twice but I have never seen the Pacific Ocean. We finally got our first look as we rounded a curve on the road. Luckily there was a turn off. So I sat on the stone wall and watched it for a while. It was a thrill.
Gail walking in the Pacific Ocean We drove down the coast a little more and there was a town with a public beach. We stopped and went walking on the beach for a while. It was about 69 degrees and VERY windy. But I enjoyed it. I am not a beach person but it was such a thrill to walk the beach and put my feet in the Pacific!!
Pacific Ocean-Oregon Pacific Ocean-Oregon Pacific Ocean-Oregon Going back inland, we drove thru some quaint little towns and had lunch at a seafood place. We had some oysters for an appetizer. I had some huge shrimp. This will be the only picture of me that you will see on this site. But just look at the shrimp.
Gail meets Shrimp This evening we spent a pleasant evening with an old friend of Jay's. They took us to a local restuarant and then back to thier place for conversation. A pleasant way to end the day.
Tomorrow we are going over to Mt St Helens. We are hoping there will not be any eruptions.
July 22 It was a warm day today....ahh who am I kidding...it was blasted hot. The temperature in Portland hit 100 and suppose to go higher tomorrow. What ever happened to cool, rainy Portland. So we are getting out of town.
We left Portland about 10 and headed north to see Mt St Helens. It was a quick drive compared to what we have been doing. We got to the exit and then hit the winding curving roads again. Whew....it is amazing how many mountain roads we have driven. Ohh for some nice straight flat roads!!
Anyway we spotted Mt St Helens about half way up from Portland and once we got on the road it just kept getting bigger and bigger and we kept climbing and climbing until we were at about 4000Ft. You can view the mountain from a peak called Johnston Ridge.
Mt St Helens 40 miles away Mt St Helens, Washington You have a view directly into the crater. The mountain is mesmerizing. No matter what direction you look in, the mountain keeps pulling you back. You juswt can't help staring at it and the huge crater in the north side where the explosion blew it out. You can easily see the lava dome in the crater. It is oer 1000 ft high now.
Mt St Helens from Johnston Ridge We could see "steam" coming off the top of the mountain and asked about it. It is continuous rock slides that kicks up the ash in the crater.
Mt St Helens I was amazed by the wildflowers that are on all the hills. The picture doesn't do it justice but it is continuous color.
Wildflowers on the Mountain There were still areas where you can see the wood that was devastated by the explosion. The trees are slowly coming back and there are parts higher up where all you can see is the fallen wood.
Devastated wood on ridges miles away Ok, I have gone on and on about this. All I can say is that if you get a chance to vist the mountain up close, make sure you take advantage of it. The power of nature is wonderous and at times scary.
Tomorrow we are on our way to Seattle.
July 23 Today was a short day. We got up late and read, worked on the computer while we were waiting for the traffic to die down. Then we hit the road to go to Seattle.
I was absolutely amazed. It was bumper to bumper traffic all the way to Seattle. We were quite surprised. I never imagined that much traffic.
As we got north further we could see Mt Rainier so that was a thrill. After we got here, we went to see a movie!! We thought with all the heat, this would help but it wasn't very cool in the theater. It is obvious they don't usually deal with this much heat.
I am posting a couple of pictures that I haven't put on here yet. Hope you enjoy.
Jay in the badlands (by popular request) Our first sight of Mt Rainier Jay and Gail at Mt St Helens Tomorrow we will see some of Seattle.
Follow this link for the rest of our 2004 Vacation.
