Wednesday, July 9
Wednesday started in the Black Hill Mountains and ended in the land of Buffalo Bill. We enjoyed sightseeing along the route and a favorite detour was visiting Devil's Tower. Devil's Tower, also known as Bear Lodge, is a large stone structure (volcanic neck) that rises 1,267 feet in the air (see pictures below). It was formed by intrusions of igneous rock and is considered sacred ground for many American Indians. The Native American author M. Scott Momaday mused, "There are things in nature that engender an awful quiet in the hear of man..." and Devil's Tower is one. Renee enjoyed some quiet reflection time while the kid in Jeff wanted to stay there all day and jump around the rocks but the critters in the car (who we should say have been excellent traveling companions so far) would have been none too happy with that.
Wyoming is an amazing sight to see. We were overwhelmed by the richness of the landscape from the rolling prairies to the soaring mountains. We saw many oil refiners, more cattle than we've ever seen and very, very long coal-carrying trains. Wyoming can also a bit scary at night when driving on a two lane road. We spent a couple hundred miles on the the interstate and near Buffalo, Wyoming got on Route 14 to heard towards Cody, WY where we stayed last night. The first part of Route 14 was gorgeous - in about 15 miles we climbed about 4,000 feet through the Big Horn Mountains. The truck didn't seem to like us for it but made it in the end. Hopefully it behaves similarly when we head to Yellowstone later today.
We also discovered we're not the first people to spend 90 seconds looking at a map of Yellowstone, see that Cody is the closest town to the East and say, "Oh, we'll just stay at Cody." It took pulling into about 6 motels (which is none too easy with the truck) to find a place that had room and would accept cats that was less than $200. In the spirit of Dave Lubbers when the Super 8 told me their price I told the kind man that I had to go check with my wife. I didn't check with my wife. I left.
Wednesday started in the Black Hill Mountains and ended in the land of Buffalo Bill. We enjoyed sightseeing along the route and a favorite detour was visiting Devil's Tower. Devil's Tower, also known as Bear Lodge, is a large stone structure (volcanic neck) that rises 1,267 feet in the air (see pictures below). It was formed by intrusions of igneous rock and is considered sacred ground for many American Indians. The Native American author M. Scott Momaday mused, "There are things in nature that engender an awful quiet in the hear of man..." and Devil's Tower is one. Renee enjoyed some quiet reflection time while the kid in Jeff wanted to stay there all day and jump around the rocks but the critters in the car (who we should say have been excellent traveling companions so far) would have been none too happy with that.
Wyoming is an amazing sight to see. We were overwhelmed by the richness of the landscape from the rolling prairies to the soaring mountains. We saw many oil refiners, more cattle than we've ever seen and very, very long coal-carrying trains. Wyoming can also a bit scary at night when driving on a two lane road. We spent a couple hundred miles on the the interstate and near Buffalo, Wyoming got on Route 14 to heard towards Cody, WY where we stayed last night. The first part of Route 14 was gorgeous - in about 15 miles we climbed about 4,000 feet through the Big Horn Mountains. The truck didn't seem to like us for it but made it in the end. Hopefully it behaves similarly when we head to Yellowstone later today.
We also discovered we're not the first people to spend 90 seconds looking at a map of Yellowstone, see that Cody is the closest town to the East and say, "Oh, we'll just stay at Cody." It took pulling into about 6 motels (which is none too easy with the truck) to find a place that had room and would accept cats that was less than $200. In the spirit of Dave Lubbers when the Super 8 told me their price I told the kind man that I had to go check with my wife. I didn't check with my wife. I left.
We also discovered that the truck has kind of turned into our child as we're finding ourselves taking an increasing number of pictures of it with scenery in the background. Maybe if the cats would sit still we'd take more pictures of them.
Jeff and his truck
Prairie Dog near Devil's Tower
Renee doing the pencil pose at Devil's Tower
Our baby (the speck on the left is Renee)
Renee: "I think I'm going to like Wyoming"
Lots and lots of cattle
Renee didn't want to stop here
1 comment:
Renee is the speck on the left --- by left do you mean right?
Also, the purple pen in me wants you to add a T at the end of hear .. of men.
These are fun to read :)
Post a Comment