Trip West - Rapid City, SD to Cody, WY

Notes taken from my journal...
Saturday, August 31, 2019

I don’t think any of us slept as well last night as the night before.  Partly it was the room (a little hot and hard to regulate temperature) and partly it was just a big day.  But we had a good day today and enjoyed the drive through the Big Horns. That is such a pretty area. 

It was kind of crazy weather again today.  This morning when we left the hotel in Rapid City it was quite overcast and foggy.  Hard to see at times.  It would come and go... in fact the first photo was just a brief moment before it all fogged back up again.  But it finally burned off or we drove out of it.  However, we basically missed seeing the Black Hills today.  Then it got hot - up to 90 degrees after the Big Horns!!  Ridiculous!  It was about 68 in the Big horns - so nice.  And about 87 in Buffalo.  It is supposed to be 74 or so in Yellowstone!  I don’t know if it has ever been that warm when we have been there!  And predicted to be 87 next week in Powell.  So much for that wonderful, cooler, western weather I was hoping for.  :D  We are warmer than Kirksville!

we finally got our first sight of the mountains in the distance.  Ahhhhh... this particular view always touches our hearts.  :)  I probably drove Mama and Daddy nuts with all the times I pulled off to take a photo... but I didn’t pull off as many times as I wanted to!! :D  And they were quite polite about it.

First view of the Big Horn Mountains - approaching Buffalo, WY

You can see this full view at the very end of the following video.  This view always means we have made it!!!

We stopped for lunch in Buffalo.  We had hoped to eat at a place called the Sagewood Cafe.  Found it on trip advisor and it sounded perfect.  Vegetarian, non-burger stuff.  Yum!  We found it, parked, and walked to it only to see a sign that said closed Labor Day weekend.  Really???  Shoot!  So we walked across the street to the Busy Bee Cafe.  It was high priced ($37 for the three of us to have sandwiches) but it was good.  Mama actually said it was the best BLT she ever had.  My smoked ham sandwich was quite good, too.  The cole slaw was phenomenal - it was a vinaigrette coleslaw.  Need to try to replicate...

we have always liked Buffalo, WY

I took this photo for Marvin - sculpture of a border collie herding sheep.

Mural in Buffalo, WY

The Sagewood Cafe, where we PLANNED to eat.
Maybe next time...

Then it was time to hit the road to go over the Big Horns.  

What a beautiful drive!  I guess the last time I drove this one was in 2003 when we were pulling the campers.  Mama said to me pretty early on “You seem like you are enjoying this more now when you are NOT pulling a camper.”  :D  Yup!  I can look around and enjoy myself this time!!  Again, I stopped a lot but not nearly as often as I wanted.  And I missed the two best photo ops of the whole time but that is okay.  I carry the pictures in my mind.  

So beautiful!

snow fences going up that slope

They mean business with their snow fences!

The road loops around through all this beauty...

such interesting crevices and caves

lovely mountain stream

We got to Cody and got checked into our hotel.  It is a fine hotel but the room isn’t nearly as nice as the last two that were suites.  And Cody is sooooo busy!  Just in the time we have been coming Cody has gotten too busy.  I do prefer to camp here or maybe Airbnb.  That house we rented back in 1996 was fabulous! Hotels in Cody are just too much.  We decided to walk to Granny’s for supper.  Granny’s was good but clearly under different management.  They are smart, however, to have kept the name.  People (like us) remember that and come back.  And I think the menu is pretty close to what it always was.  But the people there were definitely new.  

Photos from the entire west trip can be found at this link...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/williscreekranch/albums/72157712247507883

Trip West - Sioux Falls to Rapid City

Notes from my journal - August 30, 2019

Today was a really great day.  I think we all needed that after yesterday.  Although, as Mama says, when you compare hail damage to a car to cancer or getting blown out of an underground tunnel, it really isn’t much.  I just hate it happened ‘on my watch’.  Anyway... enough about that.  

We got up and had breakfast at the hotel.  Nice.  Then we headed out.  We decided to drop by Corn Palace.  We parked in the 15 minute parking and it was just enough.  We enjoyed walking up and looking and taking some pictures but we didn’t go inside.  A nice lady who said she was traveling with her Grandma from Louisiana (I should have asked her where) offered to take our picture together.  I appreciated that.  

I love the 2nd panel that is dedicated to the Code Talkers

an up close look - so very interesting to me... they waste no part of the corn.

I know the corn palace is kitschy but I do like it.  It is like the Rose Parade but in a building form.  :) 

a favorite sight...

Then we stopped for lunch at Al’s Oasis.  We got there right as a big tour bus was arriving and so I ran in to get a table.  We made it.  However, by the time I got to the salad bar (Mama and Daddy went first) I was in the midst of a huge crew of young men (sports team I am thinking?) and they were very hungry!  Ha!  :)  But they were all quite polite.  I realized later that a couple sitting near us must have been parents of one of the boys.  She had a shirt that said ‘Football Mom’ and she was sure smiling as they were walking in, then watched the bus when they all loaded up again.  I should have told her they seemed like nice boys.  

This has long been a favorite stop ever since 2003 when they were literally
an oasis for us in a tornadic storm while pulling a camper!  :) 

We thought of Rojina here... this was the first place she ever ate shrimp!  :)
(back in 2015)

After lunch we drove the scenic loop at the Badlands.  I am really glad we did this.  I hadn’t been to the Badlands since 2009.  Today was the prettiest I think I have ever seen them!  The weird weather (forecast sunny and clear turned into another day of rain and cloudy skies...) made the place look amazing.  It wasn’t just dreary and gray, which can look eerily beautiful... it was far more than that.  The way the light played with the landscape and the shadows formed... it was incredible!  I don’t really have words.  But I kept taking photos!  I can’t decide if my iPhone is as good as the Lumix or what.  In some ways it is, but I can’t tell about detail and definition.  (note, the iPhone is prettier but the Lumix has better detail and definition by far.)  I think the Lumix still wins on that one. (Yup)  I’ll need to use both to take those photos of Heart Mountain.  

We watched the film at the Badlands Visitor Center and bought a few books in the bookshop.  I love National Park Visitors Centers.  So much!  Glad we got there in perfect timing to see the film.  And I think I am going to decide that this is the perfect time to come west.  The weather is mainly good and the crowds aren’t as bad.  Plus the landscape is sort of soft looking.  That is quite right but I don’t know how else to say it.  Mama said it is because the harsh sun isn’t as bad.  That is probably right.  We usually come right around the summer solstice and the sun is as direct as it can be.  Something about this trip just looks softer and more beautiful.  Loving the fields of sunflowers but can’t get any photos of them as we pass by.  

We saw a crowd of folks by the road and then saw these pronghorn.  There were a bunch of them, too!  

Saw a buffalo from a long way away as we exited the park.  Will see more in Yellowstone, I know.  

We drove up to Wall Drug and had supper.  Because of the time change (mountain time now) it was a bit early but our bodies were on Central time so ready for supper.  We got a parking place right there by the building because a truck pulled out just as I was coming up.  So wonderful.  I know people are praying for us.  Thankful and appreciative and feel those prayers.  

We sat by people at Wall Drug that must have been from Hannibal.  I heard them talking to a young worker there (international, as many were).  And they mentioned Hannibal then later I heard them say something about Canton.  I was going to say something to them but then it moved on enough that it would have been stalkerish.  But I thought it was interesting that in that huge place two tables side by side would be filled by Missouri residents.  :) 

I do love all the artwork on the walls of the various dining rooms.

You can read about their art collection here...

Mama and I got donuts to go (I got maple, she got chocolate).  We asked if there was anything sugar free there and they said no.  That is so sad.  I don’t know why that isn’t more prevalent - especially in big tourist areas.  

Note about today's traveling... when we hit SD yesterday the speed limit went to 80!!  Yikes!  At first I was only comfortable going 77 (that is high enough, honestly!)  but I have to admit by today I had cruise set on 79.  Who knows about tomorrow.  :D  But really, it is too fast. And there are STILL cars (and motorcycles!) who pass me!   Ridiculous!

Here is a video with snippets from the Badlands...

Photos from the entire west trip can be found at this link...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/williscreekranch/albums/72157712247507883