Yellowstone Plus September 2022

Day 1, Friday - Travel to Rapid City, South Dakota

This was our 14th Gate 1 trip, our 1st in the US. Much easier for Gate 1 to handle the logistics than us. Early morning departure from ATL. American with layover in Charlotte. We were worried about all the cancelations, but everything went smoothly. We arrived noonish in Rapid City and were surprised there were only 5 gates in the airport.

 

Sculpture outside airport.

Then surprised again there were no Ubers available. Fortunately, the hotel had a shuttle. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Downtown, only a few minutes to Main Street. It wasn't long till we were on our way downtown. The hotel is right next to the Monument Convention Center and Memorial Park. We walked through the park to downtown. Rapid Creek runs through Memorial Park.

The path follows the creek for a long way. The park and greenway were built in response to the devastating flood of 50 years ago that killed over 270 people. There are a number of sculptures in the park, and for that matter, many in the downtown. 

There is a life-size statue of every president in the downtown except the last two. Zach chose to have a picture with President Reagan. 

Main Street Square is the center of the downtown. Very interesting. 

The Art Alley was a disappointment. 

The Prairie Edge Trading Company had lots of stuff, including buffalo hide for $1600. 

When we returned to the hotel, we had dinner in the restaurant. We ate our 1st ever bison burger. It was very good! 

Rapid City area is pretty flat. When we returned to our room on the 5th floor, we were able to view a thunderstorm that had an incredible amount of lightening. We have never seen so many continuous lightning strikes!

Day 2, Saturday - Badlands, Wall Drug Store and Journey Museum 

Today we rode to Badlands National Park. Along the way, we saw signs for Wall Drug Store every mile.

Reminded us of South of the Boarder in South Carolina. Apparently, Wall Drugs has signs all over the world since WW2.

This is what else we saw along the way.

The Badlands was amazing. We came in from the Ben Reiflel Visitor Center Entrance. We stopped at many places, including, White River Valley Overlook, Panorama Point. 

Can't get any flatter than that!

A bird nest above the restroom door! Every time someone went in, mother was fluttering around.

We saw massive Prairie Dog towns and Bighorn Sheep. 

Yellow Mounds and Pinnacles Point. 

After Badlands we stopped at world famous, Wall Drug Store. Very interesting history of how Wall Drugs was started and what it has grown into today! We had lunch there and Zach had another bison burger. It's a tourist place, but had lots of historical pictures, exhibits and fun things to do. 

After we returned to Rapid City, we went to the Journey Museum. It had really good exhibits on Geology, dinosaurs, Sioux Indians, and Pioneer Days. 

From there we walked through Memorial Park to their Berlin Wall monument and display. Not something we expected in Rapid City. It's because Ellsworth Air Force Base is close by, and it was involved in the Berlin Airlift. 

 Day 3, Sunday - Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore National Monument 

Sunrise in Rapid City.

Our day started with a drive to the Crazy Horse Memorial. It's a privately funded work in progress. The sculpture is multi-generational work of the Korczek Ziolkowski family. Over the years the Memorial has grown into an amazing historical complex.

"Death Song" Sculpture.

 There are many items from the sculpture, Sioux history and Ziolkowski family. 

From there we went to Mount Rushmore. The 4 Presidents depicted on the sculpture are Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Lincoln. That sculpture was completed in 14 years by a relatively small crew.

Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor, also did the Confederate Memorial on Stone Mountain. 

That afternoon, when we returned to Rapid City, we went to Firehouse Brewery, the oldest operating brewery in South Dakota. We tried a flight. 

Day 4, Drive toward Yellowstone with Devils Tower and Overnight in Sheridan with Rodeo 

Our drive today headed toward Yellowstone. Our 1st stop was at the Wyoming Visitor Center where with took some fun pictures; Cathy with a petrified tree and me on a horse with Devils Tower in the background. We thought that was as close as we would get to The Tower. 

Then our tour manager, Sabrina, surprised us with a visit there. It made Zach's day! He's wanted to go Devils Tower since seeing Close Encountered of the Third Kind in 1977! 

Along the road to Cody.

After a while, we passed by the Wyodak Coal Mine. It produces more coal than West Virginia. 

The longest coal train we've ever seen!

You can see the coal bed in the back of the picture.

Mid-afternoon we crossed over the Bighorn Mountains. Then down through the Shell Canyon along the Shell Creek through the town of, what else, Shell. 

Passed by a bunch of old airplanes. Know idea how they got in that field. 

We arrived in Cody, the town founded by Buffalo Bill Cody, around 6pm and had to be ready to go to the Rodeo by 7pm. It was our 1st rodeo! Fun night. This rodeo in Cody has been ongoing for 90 years. Zach got to sit on Mango the Bull. Got to see broncos, ropes, barrel riders and bull riders. 

Day 5, The Road to and Yellowstone National Park 

We left Cody and drove the road to the Yellowstone East Entrance. On the way we stopped at the Buffalo Bill National Park. He's responsible for the dam being built. Some nice pictures along the way.

Before entering the Park, we stopped at Pahaska, a lodge built by, who else, Buffalo Bill. 

Conestoga wagon.

Old time soda machine!

New friend.

The Lodge.

Our 1st bear!

Once in the Park's East Entrance, we went north and passed many miles of forest that had been destroyed in the 1988 fire and were still recovering. 

Next, we went around Yellowstone Lake and along Yellowstone River. Yellowstone was the 1st established national park in 1862 and is home to 2/3 of all geysers in the world. 

Our 1st stop was at the Mud Pots and Mud Volcano area. Lucky to have a bison right there. 

Dragon's Mouth Springs was right down the boardwalk.

Continuing on we went through Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone area, an area we were going to see more of the next day. 

At the bottom of the canyon, we came upon a heard of bison.

Stay in your car! Not!

Then we rode to Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces. We walked the boardwalk from top to bottom. Pretty amazing! The view from the top was not to be missed. Going down the boardwalk there was Cupid Springs, Mound Springs, Minerva Terrace 

and, finally, Liberty Cap.

From there we rode to Grant Village, where we stayed for 2 nights. Grant Village is 8000 ft elevation on Yellowstone Lake and very rustic. 

This is a snow pole in parking lot. 460 inches of snow a year!

Sunset on the Lake.

Day 6, Yellowstone National Park 

What a day of sights of natural beauty and wonder! On our walk to breakfast, there were a couple of elk near our building. 

The 1st of our many stops that day in the Park was the area around Grand Prismatic Basin. Amazing! The pictures and videos (which we cannot post on our blog) can say it a lot better than us. The Grand Prismatic Spring Prism of Light, the Turquoise Pool and so much more. And this was just the start to our day.

From there we went to Fountain Paint Pots and were immediately greeted by the Bobbie Socks Trees.

The 1st spring on the walk was where a man went into after a dog jumped in and both died. Not a good idea. The springs are boiling water! 

Then Silex Springs, 

the Paint Pots, 

the Rest Spouter, 

and finally, Clepsydra Geyser. 

After lunch we went to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. We went to the lower falls 1st. One of the most breath-taking sights we have ever seen. 

While there, we saw the biggest squirrel nests ever.

Then we went to the upper falls which were impressive in a different way. It had a really nice rainbow.

On our way to Old Faithful, we saw another bison herd.

 We saw Old Faithful Geyser erupt twice. That area has an incredible number of geysers, some of which the Park Service is able to predict with some accuracy. There is a reason they call it Old Faithful; both times it erupted were within 5 minutes of when predicted. 

1st Old Faithful eruption.

In between eruptions, we went to the impressive log cabin style, Old Faithful Inn.

In between eruptions we also went to see Castle Geyser. It didn't do much but is obvious why it is called Castle Geyser. 

Old Faithful 2nd eruption.

Day 7, Grand Teton National Park and Jackson

On the way out of Yellowstone this morning, we made a stop at the West Thumb Geyser Basin. This area is right next to the Yellowstone Lake. It seems that every pool, spring and geyser has a name. 

There was the Mimulus Pool, 

Collapsing Spring,

 Lakeshore Geyser, 

Big Cone, and many others. 

This area was closed because a few weeks ago someone decided to go for a swim and various body parts have been floating up.

Our 1st so in the Grand Tetons was Colter Bay. Unfortunately, Lake Jackson is disappearing due to lack of snow melt.

Next stop was Jackson Lake Lodge. Looks like a picture. Oh! It is.

 

Then we stopped at Jenny Lake. 

The last stop before Jackson was the Church of the Transfiguration. 

Jackson is a nice town nestled in the mountains. Population only about 10000. Over 400 inches of snow a year. It's a summer and winter play place. The town square has 4 huge elk antler arches. Not to worry, elk lose their antlers every year. Thousands of elk migrate here each winter; thus, all the antlers. 

Zach and Buffalo Bill. 

Million Dollar Cowboy Bar.

Saddle seats at the bar.

We watched a cheesy cowboy shootout on the square. 

Day 8, Drive to Salt Lake City 

Long drive to Salt Lake City, but lots of stops along the way. We drove under the largest Elk Antler Arch in the world in Afton, WY.

Surprise bus stop in Idaho for The Oregon/ California Trail Center. Zach has now been to 49 states! Montana only one left.

Then a scenic view of Bear Lake, the Caribbean of the Rockies. It's sits in Utah and Wyoming. 

When we arrived in Salt Lake City, we went to visit Temple Square, the World Headquarters of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints, the Mormons. Their temple (not pictured) is undergoing renovation and won't reopen for about 5 years. It originally took 40 years to complete. 

We fly home the next day and this trip flew by. Nine days and 1400 total miles!