Cross Country Trip Day 17 - Gillette to Keystone

Day 17 - Gillette to Keystone

Thanks to yesterday’s pressing on, today’s drive was cut to around 200 miles.  Despite the low number of miles we travelled in comparison to some of the past days we had driven, we had enough activities planned to make the day relatively full.

The first stop on the itinerary was Devil’s Tower, about 60 miles from Gillette.  Based on what we’d previously observed throughout the trip, the drive and the scenery on the way wasn’t anything more exciting or impressive that what we’d already seen, in fact, to both of us it was not much more than rolling farmland.  However, to Alex, this stretch of road was by far the most exciting of the trip.  After we exited the interstate and travelled down the long two-lane road through the farmland, Alex would exclaim “COWS!” or “Hey mom, look over there, more cows” at a volume one would expect to hear at the sighting of Elvis or a UFO.  Each sighting of another cow herd came with another exclamation from Alex which startled everyone in the car.  After about 15 minutes of sightings (and equivalent number of pleadings to reduce the volume of his sightings to a more reasonable level), Alex declared his intent to be the official wildlife spotter for the car.  What was interesting about his interest this particular day is that for all the wildlife we say in Jasper, Banff, and Yellowstone National Parks, Alex would hardly lift his head at the sighting of a bear, moose, elk, or sheep…but for the cows, it appeared as if he were experiencing his highlight of the trip.

As we made it to Devil’s Tower (and past the dozens of cow herds on the way), we took a brief walk up to the face and the requisite dozen or so pictures.   There’s probably not another way to describe everything but saying it’s “unique.”  We were all fascinated that this structure used to lie at the base of a volcano millions of years ago.  However, with many more hours on the road left in front of us, we cut the trip a little short and didn’t do the Tower walk as we heard some of our other fellow Coasties had done in their travels through the park.

The family poses for a picture with Devil's Tower in the background

A closer look at Devil's Tower from the base.

After Devil’s Tower, we passed through a series of two-lane roads and small towns in western Wyoming into South Dakota.  On our way to Rushmore is the town of Custer, which lies the site of the Crazy Horse monument.  A 70+ year old mountainside rock carving in progress, Crazy Horse is the gargantuan centerpiece of a future center for Native American Education center.  All that has been completed now is the head, and it looks like it will be several more generations before the carving in complete.  Nonetheless, stopping by the site was interesting, which included the 30 or so minute movie describing the history of the carving and the family behind it all.  Like Devils’ Tower, our stay at Crazy Horse was somewhat abbreviated because of the next stop on our Griswold family tour…Mount Rushmore.

At about 2:30, we rolled into the Rushmore parking lot.  Mount Rushmore had been number one on both Ash & Alex’s wishlist as far as places to visit on our trip.  As soon as we made it to the visitor center, both signed up to complete the Junior Ranger booklets so they could earn their Junior Ranger badges.  It was very cool to see both of them committed to answering all the questions and racing around the park to uncover all the clues.  We ended up taking the Presidential Trail tour, which gave a great history of all four presidents on the mountain.  Ash & Alex were also excited to learn that Thomas Jefferson lived in Charlottesville, and that he still had his home there.  We promised them that we’d visit Monticello after we finished our trip! 

Greg & the kids posing in front of Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore from a little closer.

After the trip, we took a brief trip in the Gift Shop only to see the last surviving person who was involved in the carving of the mountain signing books for tourists.  Although we didn’t get a copy, it was cool to see a piece of history in front of our very eyes. 

We left Mount Rushmore to visit the Alpine Slides about 2-3 miles away.  We both rode once while the kids each rode the slides twice…somewhat akin to a bobsled/luge ride, only on a concrete track.  After the Alpine Slides, we headed over to the ___ restaurant, where we all dined on some delicious prime rib.  Again, this trip was based on a recommendation by the Clarke’s, which, coincidentally, we also recommend.

We’d heard that Mount Rushmore was also worth seeing at night, so after dinner, we headed back to the mountain to see what it was all about.  As the sun started to fade away over the horizon, the Park put on an evening lighting show which included a brief movie and some patriotic music. It was all very well put together, and gave everyone chllls to hear the audience come together signing the Star Spangled Banner.  At the conclusion of the song, they called all members of the Armed Forces to come to the front of the stage where the audience gave their appreciation.  We were all especially proud when Greg announced his name and service as one of the only 2 Coast Guard members (and only active duty one) present of the 125+ armed forces members who came forward.

After the lighting ceremony, we headed back to the hotel.  Ash & Alex declared Mount Rushmore as their favorite monument ever with Alex stating that he could spend the rest of his life there, that it was that awesome.  Hopefully we’ll ride this momentum for a little while, because tomorrow holds about 400 miles of the straight and LONG roads of South Dakota.


Tomorrow: De Smet


Wildlife sightings: none

Cross Country Trip Day 16 - Cooke City to Gillette

Day 16 - Cooke City to Gillette

Everyone had a great night’s sleep after the long day in Yellowstone yesterday.  After a home cooked French Toast breakfast at the Bed & Breakfast we were staying, we packed up and headed for the door.  However, our departure was briefly delayed since the lodge we stayed in also served as the home to about 25 horses.  Everyone took some moments to say hello to the horses before the mosquitoes became a little too unbearable and forced us into the bug-free sanctuary inside our car.

The first stop of the day was the Beartooth Highway, an 80 or so mile stretch of road that zigged and zagged through the mountains of northern Wyoming/southern Montana that has been described as one of the most scenic drives throughout America.  We covered about 10 miles from Cooke City before we realized that we might not have enough gas in the tank to make it to the next city, Red Lodge, Montana.  Although our gas gauge said we had 95 miles left, knowing that we’d be going up and down through mountains, we knew that our mileage would suffer and we weren’t very excited about the prospect of hiking the last 5-10 miles of the journey.  After backtracking the 10 miles we had already covered to fill up the tank, we set out again to take the pass relieved that we could enjoy the trip instead of comparing the “miles to go” versus the “miles left in the tank” every 10 seconds.

The Beartooth Parkway was incredibly scenic, as advertised.  We didn’t quite expect the amount we were climbing, as we rose in altitude about 4,000 feet in the first 30 minutes of the drive. The scenery was beyond picturesque, and we definitely agreed that it was among the most scenic drives we had ever been.  The one challenge that we didn’t quite expect was the significant altitude and the effect it was having on a few of the passengers.  The highway reached 10,947 feet (over two miles), and the air was noticeably thinner than what we were used to. The stop at the “Top of the World” store was cut short since Aimee was getting a little lightheaded.  We also decided that the store was incorrectly named, as the road continued to ascend at least another 1000 feet after we had passed it.  However, despite the challenges with altitude, it was a very fun trip, with views from the tops of mountains that stretched for hundreds of miles, not to mention the hairpin turns with the noticeable lack of guardrails.

Top of the World Store on the Beartooth Parkway

All four of us enjoying the day at 10,947 feet.

GPS's overlay of the hairpin turns and switchbacks of the Beartooth Parkway

The trip back down the mountain was just as quick as the trip up, as when we pulled into Red Lodge, we noticed that the elevation was under 6,000 feet.  After a brief stop for pizza and a very short stop at the Red Lodge Ales Brewery, we were back on the road again.

The mid-point of the drive today was the National Park at Little Big Horn, notably, the site of Lt. Gen. Custer’s Last Stand.  The mercury was hitting 98 degrees, as we pulled into the Visitor Center at about 2 in the afternoon…and spending a great deal of time at a predominately outdoor activity didn’t generate a lot of excitement within the car.  Greg did bring Ashleigh up the hill at the site of the “Last Stand” and take pictures of the obelisk that commemorated the defeat of Custer and the rest of the 7^th Calvary.  However, after about 5 minutes, the heat took its toll and they both retreated down to the cooler climes of the visitor center.  After a few more minutes, it was back into the car for the final stretch.

Approximate location of where Gen. Custer met his fate at Little Big Horn.  (He's buried at West Point)

Tombstones mark locations where members of the US Army 7th Cavalry fell at the hands of  the natives.

Memorial marking burial ground for US Army members killed at Little Big Horn

Today was a day we didn’t have a pre-selected destination.  We knew that Mount Rushmore was tomorrow, so we decided to leave it open so we would just go as far as we could physically handle staying in the car before calling it quits.  We made a brief stop in Buffalo, Wyoming to check out the hotels.  But, with the kids completely engrossed in a Harry Potter movie, we decided to press onto Gillette…a somewhat larger town about an hour east.  We figured with the kids happy, shaving an hour off the trip tomorrow was a good decision.  With the Harry Potter movie ending about 5 minutes before we pulled into the hotel, it turned out to be a good decision.

The icing on the cake was the Fairfield Marriott we stayed had an amazing waterpark attached; two waterslides, lazy river, pool basketball, and a Jacuzzi.  Aimee went across the street to resupply our food while Greg encouraged Ash & Alex to expend all the energy they’d been saving in the car all day long.

Next stop: Keystone

Wildlife sightings:

None

Cross Country Trip Day 15 - Butte to Cooke City

Day 15 - Butte to Cooke City

Similar to yesterday, Greg started the day with a golf outing…a course in nearby Anaconda – Old Works Golf Course. Old Works is built on an old ore smelting plant, designated by the EPA as a “Superfund” site back in the 1980’s.  Building the golf course was part of an extensive project to clean the site up and make it suitable for human use.  Old Works is also known for its trademark black sand, which is actually the slag used back in the plant’s smelting days.  Like yesterday, he had arranged for the first tee-time as to not overly delay the driving.  This time, playing as a single with a cart, he finished in 2.5 hours, and made it back to the hotel by 11.  He also ended his golfing on the trip on a positive note, posting a 75 before throwing his clubs back in the roof rack for the rest of the trip.

Old Works Golf Course - former Superfund site, present day championship golf course.

Old Works showing off it's trademark black sand (slag) traps

The timing ended up being perfect, as Ash & Alex slept in a little bit due to the late day yesterday.  After breakfast and a short jaunt in the hotel pool, Greg came back to finish loading up the car and make our way to Yellowstone National Park.  It was only about an hour and a half before we arrived at the West Entrance, and thanks to the National Park Service’s military promotion, we were able to enter the park for free. 

We decided to head straight to Old Faithful, as that was the one absolute “must-do” item on our list.  However, on our way, we kept on passing bursting geysers along the road.  After reaching one spot with a relative large and concentrated amount of active geysers, we took a short detour to walk the boardwalk and observe all the various types of geysers that were spewing boiling water and steam into the air.  The walk lasted about 30 minutes, and surprising to us, had quite a variety of geysers to observe.  We probably could’ve stayed longer, but not knowing when Old Faithful was “scheduled” to burst, we didn’t want to be stuck in the park too late because we waited to long.

Don't need another reminder to stay on the path!

One of the neat sulfur pools on the boardwalk.

Greg, Ash & Alex in front of one of the (many) erupting geysers.

After we arrived at Old Faithful, we learned that we couldn’t have planned the trip better, because we arrived less than 10 minutes before it was predicted to erupt.  Joining the several hundreds of people gathered around the viewing area spread around the geyser, we sat and waited until it finally erupted.  It lasted quite a while, maybe 3-4 minutes, and took several dozen pictures.  We were far more impressed than the kids; Alex gave a “it was boring” review, while Ashleigh’s “it was okay, I guess” was slightly (but not by much) more positive.

Old Faithful putting on another performance.

Ash & Alex in the foreground watching, but ended up unimpressed!

WIth Old Faithful checked off the bucket list, we set off to Yellowstone Canyon, where after a short dinner, drove up to take pictures of both waterfalls and the Canyon itself.  It was very cool, and we stopped at no fewer than 5 viewing areas to get pictures of the canyon and falls from different vantage points.

Yellowstone Grand Canyon

Ash & Alex posing in front of the Lower Falls

Greg joins in with Ash & Alex for a picture.

Scores of trees killed in the great Yellowstone fire of 1988 are located throughout the park.

Not much room to stray from the road.  It helps keep your attention up!

With less than an hour of sunlight to go, we started moving towards the NE entrance of the park, towards Cooke City where we had made a reservation at a bed&breakfast.  As we weaved through the very windy two-lane roads, we came across various types of wildlife, including deer, elk, black bears, and even a grizzly bear in the distance.  However, the highlight of the wildlife sightings came when we approached a herd of no fewer than 400 bison congregating within 100 yards of the road.  The first herd was just a preview of what was about to come, as we passed through at least 2 other herds with numbers in the hundreds, Several instances we had to stop due to bison walking on or across the road.  It was very interesting to listen to the bison “talking” (i.e. grunting) as we passed through, several of which were no more than 3-4 feet away from the car as we crawled through.

Bison's inappropriate use of the passing lane.

Coming across the first (of three) massive bison herds crowding the roadways.

Albeit very cool, getting stuck in the “bison jam,” as Alex called it, did us no favors as far as getting to the hotel at a reasonable time, as we finally arrived at the Skyline Guest Ranch at about 10:00 at night.  All of us were exhausted, especially considering how much we had packed into the day, A very memorable one at that!

Tomorrow: as far as we can go in Wyoming

Wildlife sightings:

Bison – too many to count (probably >700-800)

Black bear – 2 (sow & cub)

Grizzly bear – 1

Black wolf – 1

Fox - 1

Elk – 3

Deer – 2

Cross Country Trip Day 14 - Coeur d'Alene to Butte

Day 14 - Coeur d'Alene to Butte

Coeur d’Alene is home to one of the most famous resort golf courses in America, one Greg has been hoping to play for years.  With the Triple Play Amusement Park so accessible, it was a perfect setting for him to play golf and Aimee & the kids having something fun to do in the meantime.

Greg had arranged the first tee time of the day a few months prior, and lucky for him, the two people who were paired with him didn’t show up.  In the end, Greg could play a relatively quick round.  Coeur d’Alene is known for their famous floating green, an island hole built on a network of pontoons and positioned around the lake with a very complex system of pulleys.  Unfortunately, he shot a bogey one the hole, but felt some degree of accomplishment of not hitting a ball in the lake.

Famous floating green.

Greg shot a bogey.

The boat that takes you to the floating green.

Driving range into Lake Coeur d'Alene.

While Greg was playing, the rest of the family took advantage of some of the other Triple Play amusements.  They were able to ride the Go-Karts, Bumper Boats, and play another round of miniature golf in the two hours before Greg returned to the hotel.  After packing the room up, everyone put their bathing suit on for another round at the water park, where we rode the waterslides and played in the wave pool for about 2 hours before it was time to get on the road.  All things considered, it lived up to our expectations and we were very glad we included the Holiday Inn Express on our trip plan.

Once back on the road, we pushed our way through to Butte, Montana.  We made one small stop in Missoula to visit the Big Dipper Ice Cream store.  Greg had discovered that Food & Wine magazine included Big Dipper on their top 10 ice cream spots in the United States, and it was just about halfway on the day’s planned 240 mile drive.  As we sat in the patio area enjoying ice cream, we noticed a very unusual and bring rainbow over the mountains, somewhat of a triple rainbow, something none of us had ever remembered ever seeing.  After taking quite a few pictures to capture the moment, we returned to the car for the last leg of the trip to Butte.  We arrived late, as expected, having both started the trip at 2:30 in the afternoon and losing an hour due to the switch to the Mountain Time Zone. 

Yummy ICE CREAM!!

After a quick dinner at the hotel restaurant, we retired for the evening.  It was a long day and everyone was still feeling the effects from playing at the amusement park all morning.  With Greg set to play his second (and last) day of golf on the trip, everyone else was looking forwarding to sleeping in a little bit and getting some much needed rest.

Tomorrow: Cooke City

Wildlife sightings: none

Cross Country Trip Day 13 - Seattle to Coeur d'Alene

Day 13: Seattle to Coeur d’Alene

Back on the road again…if you’re wondering where Day 11 and 12 went.  Well, we were on vacation (a vacation within a vacation if you will), which means the blog was on vacation, too. 

It was difficult to start the journey again after the nice three-day break from driving.  After re-packing the car, we set off eastward towards Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.  We decided to leave Daisy behind, as many of our activities on this leg of the trip were not dog-friendly, and with the country suffering through a pretty widespread heat wave, letting her stay in the car for even 15-20 minute stints wasn’t an option.  Grandma & Grandpa were happy to accept Daisy with their family for two weeks. And their poodle, Lacey seemed happy to have an extra playmate around the house.  Even though we knew we’d miss her, it was difficult to get on the road and say goodbye, even temporarily.

As we started the drive and worked our way through the city and up into the Cascades, we settled in for the next long phase of the trip, 3000 miles to Charlottesville. One thing we were note expecting was how quickly we arrived at the long expanses of farmland and high desert once we passed over the Cascades; we didn’t quite expect it to be so barren and empty for long stretches of road. Another thing we noticed was that after crossing through the mountains, the temperatures began to rapidly increase, as we passed the 90 degree threshold shortly into our drive. It wasn’t much of a big deal, as we had not planned any mid-drive excursions; we were pretty focused on getting to our destination as soon as possible. However, just to illustrate how barren it was, even as we approached Spokane, we would never know we were approaching a major city until we came within about 5 miles of the city limits.  

The reason for the focus on Coeur d’Alene was due to the recommendation from one of Aimee’s Juneau friends (thank you Lawlers) to visit the Triple Play Amusement Park.  The park was connected by a short walkway to the Holiday Inn Express where we were staying, we didn’t even have to walk outside to go there. With a waterpark, bowling alley, go karts, mini golf, etc. all connected to the hotel, it was the perfect setup for our family; lots of things to do without having to worry about driving anywhere. We checked in as soon as possible and quickly set out for a round of miniature golf.  After about 14-15 holes, Ash & Alex began to succumb to the heat (even after 6:00, it was still quite hot) and started to lose interest; with a little prodding, we all pressed on to finish.  After the golf, we retreated to the much cooler indoor area where we ate some pizza and plotted the rest of the evening: a round of bowling, then onto the waterslide park.  After about two hours of playing in the wave pool and riding their various slides, it was enough to call it a day.  Knowing that we were all coming back tomorrow (Greg only for a few hours after playing golf), the kids didn’t protest all that much, and went to sleep quickly.

Ash lining up her putt at the Triple Play Miniature Golf Course

Ash & Alex in front of the Wave Pool at the Triple Play Amusement Park

Arriving in Coeur d’Alene marked the passing of the 3,000 mile mark on the trip, we are now officially on the back-end of the move!…and now with the movement predominately in the eastern direction, we feel like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.  However, we still realize there’s a long way to go...and much more to see!

Tomorrow: Butte

Wildlife sightings:

None

Cross Country Trip Day 10 - Kelowna to Seattle

Day 10 - Kelowna to Seattle

Halfway home!

300 miles to Mercer Island!  We started the day with another Okanagan Valley winery, the Summerhill Pyramid Winery in South Kelowna.  Our timing wasn’t perfect, as we showed up right after a tour bus full of Japanese tourists who evidently had the same plan.  Apparently, the staff was able to identify that we didn’t exactly fit the ethnic mold of the other visitors and set aside a separate area for us to sample their various wines.  After another tasting, including some ice wines which we had never previously tasted, we settled on two more bottles to carry with us on our trip.  (Cliff Claven fact: Ice wines can only be grown in extreme northern climates; the grapes are plucked at temperatures of -7 thru -10 degrees (Celsius) and only one drop of juice is extracted from each grape.)  It was very sweet, and hopefully will take us quite a while to go through the small bottle we purchased.  So, any readers of this blog who stop by to visit us in Charlottesville within the first few weeks of our moving in, you are welcome to try a glass or two.

Welome sign to the Summerhill Pyramid Winery, Kelowna, British Columbia

Greg & Aimee on the Patio at the Summerhill Pyramid Winery

After Kelowna we got back on the road for the final stretch of road.  Three hours into the leg we crossed back into the U.S., a significant milestone for two people accustomed to communicating with the outside world so easily.  We turned our phones back on and they both started ringing with all the updates and messages we had missed for the previous 10 days.  Going without email, phones, and internet (except for a few nights in some hotel rooms) was more difficult than we had expected.

Welcome to the USA sign at the US/Canada border 

2700 miles into the trip, we pulled into Grandma & Grandpa Versaw’s driveway in Mercer Island, Washington.  Even though we had a mini-break at Banff, this felt more like a vacation, as we knew we had 3 nights of the comforts of home and sleeping in familiar spaces.  We had initially planned to go to Safeco Field to watch the Mariners play the Orioles, however those plan quickly fizzled, everyone was just happy to sit down and not worry about doing anything for at least a little while (this decision was almost second-guessed, however, when the Orioles pitcher carried a perfect game into the seventh inning.  Good thing that didn’t happen, as I’m not sure Greg would’ve forgiven anyone for a long time had he missed that.

Alex hanging out in a tree at Grandma & Grandpa Versaw's home in Mercer Island.

Ashleigh posing by the small pond at Grandma & Grandpa Versaw's

Tomorrow: staying in Seattle.

Wildlife sightings:

none

Cross Country Trip Day 9 - Canmore to Kelowna

Day 9 - Canmore to Kalowna

After wrapping up our short one-day layover in Canmore, it was time to get back on the road towards Seattle - enroute a 3-day mini-vacation with Grandma & Grandpa Versaw in Seattle. 

Starting out with the familiar journey towards the Banff entrance (free admission again, thank you Canada Day!), Banff decided to give us the grand finale of our wildlife sightings.  We came upon a long line of cars parked on the side of the highway, which can only mean on thing in these parts, amazing wildlife to see.  As we came upon a small field, we noticed a mama grizzly and he three cubs just hanging out munching on grass not more than 75 yards away.  The little family had attracted quite an audience.  Despite our intention of making good time on this 300+ mile day, we couldn’t pass up this opportunity and stopped for a good 30 minutes to take a few dozen pictures and just admire the view…a very cool start to another beautiful day, if I haven’t mentioned before, has been one perfect weather day after another. 

Grizzly sow with three cubs in a field at Banff National Park

Satisfied with our Banff experience, we returned to the car and weaved through the Rocky Mountains to Kelowna, a town Aimee discovered in the Okanagan Valley, the "Napa Valley of the North."  About 2/3 of the way there, we came across an unexpected site, apparently a massive amount of rain fell in the community of Mara Lake a week before we came and had completely flooded the area.  We saw many houses with their first levels completely underwater, and a area where dozens of cars had apparently washed away together to accumulate in a rocky field, all either flipped over or smashed in after being swept by the rising waters.

After arriving in Kelowna we decided to visit the Calona winery in the downtown area.  We did a brief tasting and settled on two bottles to bring with us for the rest of the trip.  As we make our way to the Virginian winery country, we thought it’d be neat to bring some Canadian wines with us to compare.

Small inlet off Lake Okanagan in lakeside town of Kelowna.

After their wines, Kelowna is also known for having a very impressive beach scene, we took a quick drive to the shores and walked along the boardwalk.  Although not as lively as we expected, it was still a very cool experience.  As it was starting to get late, and with the kids itching to spend some time in yet another hotel pool with a cool two-story waterside, we headed back to the hotel to wind down for the day.

Alex hanging out on the boardwalk off Lake Okanagan

After an hour or so of riding down the slide, the kids were done and ready to go to bed.  Unfortunately, even while being exhausted, the anticipation of being at Grandma and Grandpa Versaw’s tomorrow was a difficult adversary to face.  The excitement led to another night of tossing & turning, both kids unable to close their eyes, it took about an hour for both kids to finally submit to their fatigue.

Tomorrow: Seattle

Wildlife sightings:

4 Grizzly Bears (1 sow, 3 cubs)

5 big horn sheep (4 males, 1 female)