Seniors gone wild - Day 12

Today we drove to Omaha. It actually took us a long time because of the detours we had to take, due to flooding. Tonight was a free hotel night through hotels.com :-) So we chose a nice little studio condo! It was awesome. Relaxing and quiet. Did some laundry, had dinner around the corner at Olive Garden. 

Along the way, we stopped at the Corn Palace. Who knew??

We also stopped at a rest stop that was part of the Lewis and Clark Trail. 

 If you click on the picture, I want you to read the part that says, "What's for supper?" Does that sound crazy to you??? I think I can eat a lot but dang!!!

Then we went to the Falls that made Sioux. Super pretty. It's an awesome park in the middle of the city. If I lived around there, I would go there frequently! 

Seniors gone wild - Day 11

This is Deadwood, South Dakota. Deadwood has a pretty interesting history. It's burned to the ground twice and wiped out by a flood. Naturally, not much of Deadwood is original. The saloon where Wild Bill was shot is still under the saloon that took it's place and for 10 bucks you can go down and see it. We passed. None the less, Deadwood is really pretty. 

Nestled in a little canyon surrounded by mountains. We arrived fairly early in the day so we missed a lot of people :-)

 

At this shop, we bought a buffalo skull. We've talked about getting one for a long time. Now, every time we look up at it, we'll think of our 2 week adventure and our 30th anniversary.

After Deadwood, we headed for Wind Cave National Park. Along the way though, we got side tracked by the Crazy Horse Memorial

Some day it's going to look like this;

It's a really beautiful complex. Lots of information, displays, artifacts, etc. But after watching the mini movie about the memorial, you come to realize it's really about the $$. In 70 years they've only gotten the face done. Yeah, they'll never finish it. And why should they? I still really enjoyed it though, for what it is.

We never made to Wind Cave. We got lost. ADVENTURE! 

Did you know there was a place called Wall Drug, in South Dakota? We saw a few signs;

 

 

  

 

It has a fun history but mostly now it's just an enclosed strip center. 

Seniors gone wild - Day 10

TODAY!

Today we left Yellowstone and headed for Devils Tower. It was a pretty long drive and most of it looked like this;

It's a ways off the beaten path, but then you see it...IT'S SO AWESOME!

It was the biggest surprise of trip. That's my fella standing down there at the bottom. It's so hard to describe, how amazing it is. Even standing there, looking up at it, it's hard to believe it's real. It just doesn't look like it belongs there. Very cool. No wonder aliens chose it!

There's a trail that goes all the way around it. Of course we had to go! It was a little over a mile and a 1/2, very hilly. (no ticks) 

There were several of these signs;

Because it's a sacred site, there are a lot of prayer cloths tied to tree branches, all around it.

This was the end of the day for us, so we got a hotel in the nearest little town...called Hullett. Remember the name...Hullet, Wyoming. Population, 383. Don't go there. You might be trapped forever...like a Twilight Zone episode or Stephen King short story. It's like some broken little town that wants to be cool, only...well...it isn't! We stayed at a fairly new Best Western. Seems safe, right? When you walked into the lobby you're greeted with this, 
(It is cowboy country after all)

not my photo

We asked the almost friendly gal at the front desk, where was a good place to eat. There were only a couple options. We went with The Ponderosa because it's "great"

not my photo

It was a classic diner kind of place; two tables in the middle, 3 booths on each side, lots of cowboy decor.

not my photo

Anyway, the highschool age waitress was completely stressed out because there were 6 tables with customers! When her mom showed up to help, it got even weirder! After we got our food, magically, we became completely invisible! Totally not seen. It was the most bizarre dinning experience we've ever had!

I said a little prayer when we went to bed that night that we would wake up, in the same condition we went to sleep in! 

ADVENTURE!

Seniors gone wild - Day 9

Yellowstone was about an hour and a 1/2 from our Inn. There is an "upper loop" which is closer to Montana and a "lower loop" which is what we were going to drive. It was about a 12 hour day, since we didn't venture out yesterday. We saw amazing, awesome, beautiful, unique and wondrous things! 

Next time I'm in a plane and we're passing through the clouds, I'm going to think,

I've been this high, on the ground! A

These pools didn't look real. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Hahahaha, a Beehive Geyser :-)

Everywhere you looked, out towards the horizon, you could see little puffs of steam. 

Even just driving down the roads! It was a little weird, being on top of a 

SUPER volcano!

(this is not my photo)

This is Old Faithful. Our expectations were apparently too high. Don't get me wrong,

it was pretty cool...but a little underwhelming.

The next 4 are from the Grand Prismatic Pool. Unfortunately, because it was still surprisingly 

chilly, there was so much steam you couldn't see it very well.

There are boardwalks for all the humans to stay on but every once in 

awhile, you saw hoof prints on the ground.

We took a lot of pictures on this part of our drive/walk/hike.

This is the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

Incredibly beautiful.

This is Lake Yellowstone. The the largest freshwater lake above 7,000 feet in North America. It's a 136 square miles!

So much of the park looks like this though...

We saw a moose, lots of antelope, an elk, mule deer, prairie dogs, tons of bison and 

this BABY BISON!! But no bears. 

...and these are the Grand Tetons

It was a remarkable and unforgettable day!