Sunday, July 11, 2004
July 11, 2004
We have had some very full days on this trip. There sure is a lot to see in this country.
On Friday, we drove from Greybull, Wyoming to Gillette, Wyoming. The drive took us over the Big Horn Mountains, a range of the Rockies. We picked the safer, less scenic route rather than the more ambitious route given that we were driving a 30 foot RV. We were treated to some of the most sensational scenery we have seen on this trip - so it is hard to imagine what the other route might have had! We stopped at a small lake for a failed paddleboat attempt (I don’t think paddleboats are rated for two adults and one teenager). Then we took a great hike up to a fire lookout from where we had a 360 view of all the surroundings. It was hard to imagine people living up there, looking for fires all day. We stayed at a decent campground, and made friends with a Francophone Swiss family - we treated the three children to their first s’mores. They had been traveling for six months, being home schooled on the way.
Yesterday, we traveled from Gillette to Mt. Rushmore. The first stop was at an open pit coal mine. We happened to be at the overlook at the same time as a coal worker showing a friend the site, so he gave us a bit of a overview as to what was going on. It seems that the whole of Wyoming is a coal bed, and then can dig forever to keep getting the stuff out. I found my concept of coal mine workers a bit dated, since these were driving around in air conditioned, high tech earth moving vehicles, and our coal worker even told us that he used XM satellite radio.
Then on to Devil’s Tower which was quite a sight to behold. It’s an over 1200 foot natural rock mountain shaped like a high, flat-top plateau, located in a lovely, rolling hills area. While we were somewhat interested in the geological explanations of its formation, we found ourselves far more interested in the tower as a climbing destination. There were about 30 climbers on the Tower that day, and you would literally have to look through binoculars in order to see them. Many were on the “easy” side, this being defined by the fact that there were a lot of cracks and fissures to stick your hands and feet into. Fewer were on the “hard” side, which was quite smooth. It made you shudder to peer through the binoculars at these people who seemed to be like little flies barely attached to a great, big mountain.
Next to Deadwood, South Dakota, which was in the center of the Black Hills gold country. The Black Hills really do look black from a distance, by the way, because of the very dark bark on the trees, and the very dark green leaves. At Deadwood we finally saw a shootout (which we had wanted to see in Cody, but didn’t), and strolled through the town. It is quite refurbished and bustling, and it was easy to figure out why. Gambling is legal here. Every single storefront - whether ice cream parlor, restaurant, jewelry shop, or tavern - had multiple slot machines in the entrance. It was surreal.
This is where we had a near-Starbucks encounter. I saw a Starbucks sign on the sidewalk, and got very excited. However, once entering the building … and going past the slot machines … we found out that it really was a bar that served Starbucks coffee, and not the real thing (we’re looking for beans in addition to a cup of coffee). Alas, we’ll have to keep looking.
Then we visited Lead (pronounced Leed), South Dakota, home of the Homestake Mining Company where the fortune of the Hearst family was made. There we saw a massive open pit mine that had been mined until just a few years ago. It is here that miners actually went 8000 feet below the surface to get the gold. We also went to the local mining museum which was very well done.
Then finally to our KOA camp near Mt. Rushmore. This KOA is not a camp, it is a city. It has miniature golf, two water slides, two pools, horseback riding, a restaurant, a playground, a volleyball court, fishing ponds, movies, and over 600 camping sites (yet, surprisingly, no WiFi). In fact, I was told that it is the second largest city in South Dakota in the summer. Based on the sea of Rvs around us, and the legions of children buzzing about, I think this may be true.
We rented a car here in order to be able to better navigate the roads around Mt. Rushmore. The Toyota Corolla I had reserved seemed to have disappeared, so we ended up with a 1980’s white Buick with maroon plush seats with fake wood-burl trim. Looks like 1950’s to me.
After a hurried dinner, we went to the Mt. Rushmore evening lighting ceremony. It was a spectacular way to get introduced to the sculpture, to see it lit up at night. The ceremony was corny but moving as after the video they had everybody stand to sing the National Anthem, with all the veterans from the audience on stage.
-- Donna
On Friday, we drove from Greybull, Wyoming to Gillette, Wyoming. The drive took us over the Big Horn Mountains, a range of the Rockies. We picked the safer, less scenic route rather than the more ambitious route given that we were driving a 30 foot RV. We were treated to some of the most sensational scenery we have seen on this trip - so it is hard to imagine what the other route might have had! We stopped at a small lake for a failed paddleboat attempt (I don’t think paddleboats are rated for two adults and one teenager). Then we took a great hike up to a fire lookout from where we had a 360 view of all the surroundings. It was hard to imagine people living up there, looking for fires all day. We stayed at a decent campground, and made friends with a Francophone Swiss family - we treated the three children to their first s’mores. They had been traveling for six months, being home schooled on the way.
Yesterday, we traveled from Gillette to Mt. Rushmore. The first stop was at an open pit coal mine. We happened to be at the overlook at the same time as a coal worker showing a friend the site, so he gave us a bit of a overview as to what was going on. It seems that the whole of Wyoming is a coal bed, and then can dig forever to keep getting the stuff out. I found my concept of coal mine workers a bit dated, since these were driving around in air conditioned, high tech earth moving vehicles, and our coal worker even told us that he used XM satellite radio.
Then on to Devil’s Tower which was quite a sight to behold. It’s an over 1200 foot natural rock mountain shaped like a high, flat-top plateau, located in a lovely, rolling hills area. While we were somewhat interested in the geological explanations of its formation, we found ourselves far more interested in the tower as a climbing destination. There were about 30 climbers on the Tower that day, and you would literally have to look through binoculars in order to see them. Many were on the “easy” side, this being defined by the fact that there were a lot of cracks and fissures to stick your hands and feet into. Fewer were on the “hard” side, which was quite smooth. It made you shudder to peer through the binoculars at these people who seemed to be like little flies barely attached to a great, big mountain.
Next to Deadwood, South Dakota, which was in the center of the Black Hills gold country. The Black Hills really do look black from a distance, by the way, because of the very dark bark on the trees, and the very dark green leaves. At Deadwood we finally saw a shootout (which we had wanted to see in Cody, but didn’t), and strolled through the town. It is quite refurbished and bustling, and it was easy to figure out why. Gambling is legal here. Every single storefront - whether ice cream parlor, restaurant, jewelry shop, or tavern - had multiple slot machines in the entrance. It was surreal.
This is where we had a near-Starbucks encounter. I saw a Starbucks sign on the sidewalk, and got very excited. However, once entering the building … and going past the slot machines … we found out that it really was a bar that served Starbucks coffee, and not the real thing (we’re looking for beans in addition to a cup of coffee). Alas, we’ll have to keep looking.
Then we visited Lead (pronounced Leed), South Dakota, home of the Homestake Mining Company where the fortune of the Hearst family was made. There we saw a massive open pit mine that had been mined until just a few years ago. It is here that miners actually went 8000 feet below the surface to get the gold. We also went to the local mining museum which was very well done.
Then finally to our KOA camp near Mt. Rushmore. This KOA is not a camp, it is a city. It has miniature golf, two water slides, two pools, horseback riding, a restaurant, a playground, a volleyball court, fishing ponds, movies, and over 600 camping sites (yet, surprisingly, no WiFi). In fact, I was told that it is the second largest city in South Dakota in the summer. Based on the sea of Rvs around us, and the legions of children buzzing about, I think this may be true.
We rented a car here in order to be able to better navigate the roads around Mt. Rushmore. The Toyota Corolla I had reserved seemed to have disappeared, so we ended up with a 1980’s white Buick with maroon plush seats with fake wood-burl trim. Looks like 1950’s to me.
After a hurried dinner, we went to the Mt. Rushmore evening lighting ceremony. It was a spectacular way to get introduced to the sculpture, to see it lit up at night. The ceremony was corny but moving as after the video they had everybody stand to sing the National Anthem, with all the veterans from the audience on stage.
-- Donna
# posted by Double D @ 7:54 AM 
