Wild wild west, a real cliffhanger! Trip report

[Songbird76]

July 23rd...

This was the day I had been looking forward too! I hadn't seen my bestie in about 9 years and we were both traveling into Casper for a couple of days to spend some time together. She had also never met my children, so I was really excited to introduce them to their "auntie".

We drove from Lander as soon as we were all awake and going, stopping at a rest area, and then again at Independence Rock.



Do other states learn about Independence Rock in school? We did, but since it's a pretty significant thing in Wyoming history, it makes sense that we learned about it. I'm pretty sure that it was also a spot in the computer game called Oregon Trail that we were all obsessed with when I was in about 4th grade. Anyone else play that? Where you had to make up your family and buy supplies to travel by covered wagon out west, and avoid things like diseases and snake bites and had to trade for things you needed? Well, Independence Rock was one of several places where pioneers would carve their names into the big rock as a sort of register of people who traveled the Oregon trail.

Once we were done looking at the names, we started to hike back out. This handsome fella was chilling in the grass right by the path. We didn't want to disturb him, so we stopped, but there was someone with a dog who either wasn't familiar with wildlife warnings or really didn't care. They walked up the path and the poor thing stood up, ready to bolt. We felt so bad after we had specifically not taken that trail so we wouldn't disturb him.



We went ahead and just left. We didn't want to spend too much time there. Bestie might already be in Casper waiting for us!!

 

[Songbird76]

July 23rd continued...

We were going straight to Fort Caspar. Just a funny tidbit, the town of Casper is supposedly named after a military officer named Caspar Collins, but when the town was registered, they spelled it incorrectly. So the town is called Casper, but the fort that was built there is Fort Caspar, also named for the same man.

We picked the perfect day to visit Fort Caspar! There was no entrance fee that day because they were having some sort of fair there. I had looked up opening hours and everything, but had not seen that this was going on this day, so it was a really pleasant surprise.

Bestie pulled in and we got all the introductions in and hugs and then went into the park. Along with all the standard fort buildings they have there (lodging, mess hall, a carriage house, a prison, etc..) they also had some tents set up, and some wagons. There were people in period clothing who were talking about the history of the fort, and of that period in general. They had some games and crafts from that era that you could try your hand at. Then there was a separate bit off to the side with some craft vendors, but not necessarily from the 19th century. There was a lemonade stand, some jewelry vendors, etc.

 

[Songbird76]

July 23rd continued...



After the Fort, we went to grab some lunch at Village in, because we wanted pie. Unfortunately, there was some issue with supply and they were out of a LOT of their pie selection. I don't remember what I ate....the only thing I remember was that they didn't have the pie I wanted, and when we got up to leave, I stuck to the seat so badly that it ripped my skin.
Then we went to the mall because my husband wanted to go to some computer store to look at a mouse for the computer he was building, and I needed to go to target to take back a jumpsuit I had bought that didn't fit right, and then we wanted to go to Bath and Body Works. We were so shocked when we got to the mall that there were VERY few stores at all. It was kind of sad....when I was a teen, we all loved going to that mall on Speech and debate trips and it was always full with neat stores and a great food court and lots of shoppers. Now it was dead, the food court only had one or 2 eateries, and there were no unique stores to check out.

This car in the parking lot had an ouchie!


Then we went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner.



It was really nice because E and bestie's daughter are close to the same age....her daughter is a year younger than E, but they got along really well and were friends immediately. We had checked into our motel at some point, I don't remember when, but here's a fun story. So when I was planning this trip, my husband was being kind of a jerk about everything and didn't seem willing to help at all. He kept asking me if I had this or that booked yet, because it was coming up, but he wouldn't do any of it himself. I had booked all the hotels with free cancellation, just in case. Then a couple of weeks before we left, suddenly he wants to check all the hotel reservations to make sure he can't get better deals.Casper was the one place I had splurged a bit because Casper is one of the 2 largest "cities" in Wyoming, and as such, there are some seedy parts of town. I didn't want to end up in an unsafe or unclean hotel, so I splurged and booked a nicer hotel that had a nice pool, etc. Bestie hadn't booked anything because she wasn't sure when she'd be with us and when she wouldn't, so we were just playing it by ear. Hubby looks at the hotels and was not happy with the cost of the hotel here when he could book the Motel 6 for half the price. I told him yes, it's cheaper, but Motel 6 doesn't have a good reputation, and the pictures don't look promising. I told him there was a difference between the rustic places we had stayed in in podunk towns and what you would get in a bigger town for that same price range. He insisted on cancelling the one I booked and going for the cheaper option. I told him I didn't want to stay in a craphole. He said, and I quote "Well I didn't book us in a crap hole, now did I?".

When we pulled up to the hotel, there were police out front, there were a couple of drunk guys in front of the check-in lobby, and when we drove around to the back where our room was, there was a drug deal going down (or it really LOOKED like that) and there was an ambulance tending to someone on the upper floor on the balcony. There were a couple of people sitting in the courtyard blasting music and drinking beer outside our room. We took everything inside, where it reaked of cigarette smoke even though there were signs everywhere saying there was no smoking. There were burn holes in the blankets and it was the WORST room we had stayed in. In short, it was a crap hole. The kids didn't even want to stay there. Bestie was going to make a reservation and I told her before we had even seen it that I thought it was going to be a real stinker of a place and told her to book somewhere else. She went with the comfort Inn which was really close, but much nicer and had a pool. So we went and hung out at the pool with them for the evening and I assured her she made the right choice. I was nice though...I said not a word to my husband about our accommodations. I wanted him to really feel it himself. I KNEW it wasn't going to be nice, but he wouldn't listen, and I kind of felt like he needed the lesson and my saying "I told you so" was probably less effective than just experiencing it for himself. If I said "I told you so", he'd dig in his heels and insist it wasn't that bad. I'm actually surprised I didn't take any pictures...I should have. The sad part is that because that was the ONE hotel HE booked, I couldn't do a review for it, and I'm sure he didn't. It was a long night of little sleep, with a lot of noise from the people partying outside, very uncomfortable and tiny beds, and just a feeling of being unsafe in general.

 

[Songbird76]

July 24th

Bestie had to get back home for something....I think maybe a doctor's appointment for her daughter's physical so she could be a cheerleader? Anyway, they were leaving early in the morning. I don't remember what we did that morning, but I think we probably had breakfast together before we left? I do know that we went through the carwash finally. It had been really easy to spot our rental after sliding off the side of the mountain because the car was filthy. Just look for the dark blue car covered in mud!

Breakfast, I think?


Then the carwash:



And then we were off! Today we were headed to my hometown with a stop at Ayers Natural Bridge outside of Douglas.

 

[Songbird76]

July 24th continued...

More of Ayers Natural Bridge. There's a little picnic area, and I think there was camping, too, but we weren't doing that. We were just stretching our legs and getting some fresh air.




We stopped in Douglas to grab some lunch at Arby's and then headed on to Gillette. So I guess it wasn't really my home town. While there IS a hotel there now, it was beyond our budget, plus there's a lot more in Gillette to see and do, and a lot of different restaurants and such, where my hometown's offerings are slim and not as good. So we opted to stay in Gillette and we made the 40 mile drive to Wright on a different day. This day, we got checked into our hotel and then I went next door to the laundramat (Yes, literally next door!) and did several loads. The manager there seemed quite interested in us, as did a gentelman from Mexico who we offered a seat to because there was limited seating and we had plenty of space at our table to share. No sense in him standing there the whole time when there was plenty of room. So we (E and I) made some friends while we did laundry.

I have NO idea what we did for dinner that night. I know we went to McDonalds for A, as we did whenever there WAS a McDonalds, but what the rest of us ate, I couldn't tell you. I know we wanted to go to KFC, but the dining room was closed, so I don't think we did. And we were doing Perkins with a family friend one night, and Humphrey's with another friend another night, so I'm sure we didn't do those. Who knows....must not have been noteworthy, because I have no pictures.

 

[Songbird76]

July 25th

I doubt much of this will be of interest to anyone else...We went to Rockpile Museum, which is a museum about the history of the Gillette area. My grandfather was one of the first homesteaders there and at one time, one of his pistols, I think maybe a WWI pistol from when he was in the cavalry, was in that museum, but it wasn't there anymore. I think it was moved to the museum in Wright when that one opened, but we couldn't find it there, either. It's possible my brother went and claimed it back when my dad died...it was only on loan. Anyway, we went to Rockpile that morning I think, after breakfast. We had gone to a nearby restaurant for breakfast because last time we were there, (When my dad died) they had massive Cinnamon Rolls, and E and I wanted to share one, but they didn't have them anymore. It looked like maybe the lady who made them passed away. It was a little family-owned place that served Mexican food and some American standards, too. My husband got his breakfast burrito, so he was happy. Rockpile museum was interesting, but nothing out of the ordinary really...a little bit about the coal mining that the area is known for, and then an area at the back with some wagons and quilts and such that were donated by locals. There was also a pinball machine on free play that it was hard to tear A away from.

Then that evening we met up with a friend of mine. He was the D.A.R.E. officer when I was in elementary school. My class was the first class to do the D.A.R.E. program and we LOVED this officer. I still keep in contact with him all these years later. We went to Humphrey's bar and grill which is a favorite of ours whenever we're in town. And somehow I have no pictures. The only picture I have from the entire day is this:



I don't even know where this was! Maybe one of the kids will know.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I don't remember learning about Independence Rock in school, but I do remember playing the Oregon Trail game (a lot!). That is where I learned about Independence Rock and dysentery!

 

[Songbird76]

July 26th

This was the day we went to Wright and met up with a family friend. We went to the Museum in Wright, which is a small mining town. When I was growing up, the town consisted of about 1200 people, there was not a single stoplight in town, and there's a loop 2 miles long known locally as "the loop" that circles the housing section of town. The Loop is where the kids go "Cruising" at night when they have nothing better to do. And since there was nothing in Wright at that time for kids to do, that was the hangout. For movies, bowling, rollerskating, fast food, or shopping, you had to drive into Gillette. There IS now one stop light at the Junction just before entering Wright, there are TWO gas stations, where there was only one, there is a Subway sandwich shop, and there is a bowling alley, and a steakhouse attached to the new hotel. It's grown a lot since I grew up there. It's really just mostly people who worked at Black Thunder Mine, but didn't want to drive all the way to and from Gillette, so the town of Wright sprang up in between.

This is outside the museum. Given that the main industry in the area is coal mining, these trucks are part of the history of the town.



This one is of course quite old and they have much bigger ones now, but this is what they used to use to haul the coal from the pits to the cleaning facilities. Wyoming is known for low-sulfer (cleaner) coal, and Black Thunder is only one of the MANY mines in the area, and one of the largest producers in the world.

After going through the museum, our friend took us to the new City Hall. He used to be a town councilman before he retired. He also was an electrical engineer at one of the mines...I THINK black thunder, but I'm not positive. There are so many.

He sat down to play the piano in the lobby while we waited for our tourguide. I have NO idea why there's a piano in the lobby of city hall, but there is. This guy has a gorgeous voice, too, but he wasn't singing this day.


Then he took us out to the new agriculture grounds. They built a rodeo arena and everything! And to the new Rec Center. They've built a LOT in the last few years.

And then we had dinner at their house, and I have no pictures of that. I was just enjoying seeing friends and spending time with them and just didn't get out the camera.

That's really all we did that day.

July 27th

This was a rest day really. I went and visited my dad's grave and discovered that the headstone they put there from the military is only temporary, so there was no name or anything on dad's grave. I only found it by looking for my grandparents' graves.



His cross is there, but nothing else, so I'm working on getting a headstone. And that was pretty much all I did this day besides dinner with our friends at Perkins.

Oh I just remembered! Somewhere in there we also had lunch at Humphrey's with my cousins. I don't remember if it was this day, or if it was our first full day in Gillette. But we met up with 2 of my cousins and the husband of one of them. I know you are all just rivited to hear this exciting piece of information.

I'm really sorry..I have no notes and no pictures. Like I said, this part of the trip is probably only interesting to me. Most kids I went to school with couldn't wait to get out of Campbell County because there's nothing exciting there. And a lot of them ended up working at one of the mines, which is sadly probably the most exciting thing our town has to offer. Look up "boring" in the Dictionary....there's probably a picture of my hometown there.

 

[Songbird76]

I don't remember learning about Independence Rock in school, but I do remember playing the Oregon Trail game (a lot!). That is where I learned about Independence Rock and dysentery!

Yeah, it makes sense that other states wouldn't have necessarily learned about Independence Rock. I think we only really learned about it in 4th grade when we did Wyoming History. But that's also when we were all playing Oregon Trail all the time. You could go to the library after school and play it on the computers there, but it was so popular that you had to sign up to reserve a computer and you could only play for 15 minutes or so. We loved that game, but I usually died of Cholera or scarlet fever. I'm not sure I ever made it to the end of the game. But there are several things in Wyoming from the Oregon trail. There are the wagon ruts, there are various places where people carved their names into rocks, and there are a bunch of forts. My family traveled to a lot of those places when I was a kid, so I've seen them many times. I wanted my kids to see at least some of it.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

I think my education on that time and part of the country was also mostly Oregon Trail-based.

I’m glad I don’t have to ford any rivers IRL because I was terrible at it during that game.

 

[JenniferS]

July 25th

I doubt much of this will be of interest to anyone else...We went to Rockpile Museum, which is a museum about the history of the Gillette area. My grandfather was one of the first homesteaders there and at one time, one of his pistols, I think maybe a WWI pistol from when he was in the cavalry, was in that museum, but it wasn't there anymore. I think it was moved to the museum in Wright when that one opened, but we couldn't find it there, either. It's possible my brother went and claimed it back when my dad died...it was only on loan. Anyway, we went to Rockpile that morning I think, after breakfast. We had gone to a nearby restaurant for breakfast because last time we were there, (When my dad died) they had massive Cinnamon Rolls, and E and I wanted to share one, but they didn't have them anymore. It looked like maybe the lady who made them passed away. It was a little family-owned place that served Mexican food and some American standards, too. My husband got his breakfast burrito, so he was happy. Rockpile museum was interesting, but nothing out of the ordinary really...a little bit about the coal mining that the area is known for, and then an area at the back with some wagons and quilts and such that were donated by locals. There was also a pinball machine on free play that it was hard to tear A away from.

Then that evening we met up with a friend of mine. He was the D.A.R.E. officer when I was in elementary school. My class was the first class to do the D.A.R.E. program and we LOVED this officer. I still keep in contact with him all these years later. We went to Humphrey's bar and grill which is a favorite of ours whenever we're in town. And somehow I have no pictures. The only picture I have from the entire day is this:

View attachment 699661

I don't even know where this was! Maybe one of the kids will know.

My guess is chicken parm.

 

[JenniferS]

July 23rd continued...

View attachment 699637View attachment 699638View attachment 699639View attachment 699640View attachment 699641

After the Fort, we went to grab some lunch at Village in, because we wanted pie. Unfortunately, there was some issue with supply and they were out of a LOT of their pie selection. I don't remember what I ate....the only thing I remember was that they didn't have the pie I wanted, and when we got up to leave, I stuck to the seat so badly that it ripped my skin.
Then we went to the mall because my husband wanted to go to some computer store to look at a mouse for the computer he was building, and I needed to go to target to take back a jumpsuit I had bought that didn't fit right, and then we wanted to go to Bath and Body Works. We were so shocked when we got to the mall that there were VERY few stores at all. It was kind of sad....when I was a teen, we all loved going to that mall on Speech and debate trips and it was always full with neat stores and a great food court and lots of shoppers. Now it was dead, the food court only had one or 2 eateries, and there were no unique stores to check out.

This car in the parking lot had an ouchie!
View attachment 699634

Then we went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner.

View attachment 699635View attachment 699636

It was really nice because E and bestie's daughter are close to the same age....her daughter is a year younger than E, but they got along really well and were friends immediately. We had checked into our motel at some point, I don't remember when, but here's a fun story. So when I was planning this trip, my husband was being kind of a jerk about everything and didn't seem willing to help at all. He kept asking me if I had this or that booked yet, because it was coming up, but he wouldn't do any of it himself. I had booked all the hotels with free cancellation, just in case. Then a couple of weeks before we left, suddenly he wants to check all the hotel reservations to make sure he can't get better deals.Casper was the one place I had splurged a bit because Casper is one of the 2 largest "cities" in Wyoming, and as such, there are some seedy parts of town. I didn't want to end up in an unsafe or unclean hotel, so I splurged and booked a nicer hotel that had a nice pool, etc. Bestie hadn't booked anything because she wasn't sure when she'd be with us and when she wouldn't, so we were just playing it by ear. Hubby looks at the hotels and was not happy with the cost of the hotel here when he could book the Motel 6 for half the price. I told him yes, it's cheaper, but Motel 6 doesn't have a good reputation, and the pictures don't look promising. I told him there was a difference between the rustic places we had stayed in in podunk towns and what you would get in a bigger town for that same price range. He insisted on cancelling the one I booked and going for the cheaper option. I told him I didn't want to stay in a craphole. He said, and I quote "Well I didn't book us in a crap hole, now did I?".

When we pulled up to the hotel, there were police out front, there were a couple of drunk guys in front of the check-in lobby, and when we drove around to the back where our room was, there was a drug deal going down (or it really LOOKED like that) and there was an ambulance tending to someone on the upper floor on the balcony. There were a couple of people sitting in the courtyard blasting music and drinking beer outside our room. We took everything inside, where it reaked of cigarette smoke even though there were signs everywhere saying there was no smoking. There were burn holes in the blankets and it was the WORST room we had stayed in. In short, it was a crap hole. The kids didn't even want to stay there. Bestie was going to make a reservation and I told her before we had even seen it that I thought it was going to be a real stinker of a place and told her to book somewhere else. She went with the comfort Inn which was really close, but much nicer and had a pool. So we went and hung out at the pool with them for the evening and I assured her she made the right choice. I was nice though...I said not a word to my husband about our accommodations. I wanted him to really feel it himself. I KNEW it wasn't going to be nice, but he wouldn't listen, and I kind of felt like he needed the lesson and my saying "I told you so" was probably less effective than just experiencing it for himself. If I said "I told you so", he'd dig in his heels and insist it wasn't that bad. I'm actually surprised I didn't take any pictures...I should have. The sad part is that because that was the ONE hotel HE booked, I couldn't do a review for it, and I'm sure he didn't. It was a long night of little sleep, with a lot of noise from the people partying outside, very uncomfortable and tiny beds, and just a feeling of being unsafe in general.

You are a much bigger person than me. I would most assuredly have given Mike a huge “I told you so!” and advised him to stay out of my lane. (To be fair he has never second guessed any vacation reservations I’ve made. I do dining and hotel ressies; he picks the campgrounds and plots Baby Bo’s routes.)

 

[Songbird76]

You are a much bigger person than me. I would most assuredly have given Mike a huge “I told you so!” and advised him to stay out of my lane. (To be fair he has never second guessed any vacation reservations I’ve made. I do dining and hotel ressies; he picks the campgrounds and plots Baby Bo’s routes.)

I should have just told him I wasn't changing them, but I had mentioned that I booked only hotels with free cancellation, and when he went through the list, there were a couple where the price difference wasn't much and I had discounted a couple because I didn't like the way they looked. So he wanted me to change a couple others that I said no to. He was getting grouchy and he was really not happy that I had booked the expensive one in Casper. In his defense, you won't find seedy hotels like that in the Netherlands. Those small ones like we have just don't exist, so I think he maybe didn't get that there's a difference? In those small towns, they usually don't have the large chains of hotel like holiday inn or hilton, etc. They have small motels with just a few rooms and they are usually owned and operated by a family who lives there in the town. When you get to the bigger towns like Casper, you will have the big chain hotels, so then anything that's small can't really compete with those. They won't have the amenities or anything, which would be fine, but in general, because they don't have all the amenities, they also don't charge much. Because they can't charge as much, they cater to a rough crowd that can't afford the nicer places. Lots of drug deals and crime in those areas. I think he just didn't realize how bad it would be, and he saw the price of the one I had booked and was shocked that I booked that one. We lived though, so no harm done....it just wasn't our best night's sleep.

 

[JenniferS]

I should have just told him I wasn't changing them, but I had mentioned that I booked only hotels with free cancellation, and when he went through the list, there were a couple where the price difference wasn't much and I had discounted a couple because I didn't like the way they looked. So he wanted me to change a couple others that I said no to. He was getting grouchy and he was really not happy that I had booked the expensive one in Casper. In his defense, you won't find seedy hotels like that in the Netherlands. Those small ones like we have just don't exist, so I think he maybe didn't get that there's a difference? In those small towns, they usually don't have the large chains of hotel like holiday inn or hilton, etc. They have small motels with just a few rooms and they are usually owned and operated by a family who lives there in the town. When you get to the bigger towns like Casper, you will have the big chain hotels, so then anything that's small can't really compete with those. They won't have the amenities or anything, which would be fine, but in general, because they don't have all the amenities, they also don't charge much. Because they can't charge as much, they cater to a rough crowd that can't afford the nicer places. Lots of drug deals and crime in those areas. I think he just didn't realize how bad it would be, and he saw the price of the one I had booked and was shocked that I booked that one. We lived though, so no harm done....it just wasn't our best night's sleep.

We have a couple of seedy motels in my town. You can rent by the hour, by the night, by the week, or by the month. You do the math.

Not only would I not stay there for free, you couldn’t PAY me to stay there. Numerous out of town gangs have conducted human trafficking and numerous shootings in the rooms or on the premises. Bad juju.

 

[Songbird76]

July 28th

We traveled to South Dakota this day. On our last trip to South Dakota, we didn't have enough time to hit the Badlands. The Badlands are really neat, but it's a drive, and we just didn't have the time. So I wanted to go this trip. Since we were in Gillette, we just took the interstate. I forgot that the interstate doesn't take you close to Devils Tower....you can see it in the distance, but it's not close enough to get pictures. But we saw that last time, so no biggie. We did pass Wyodak Coal mine.



I'm going to be honest....I really don't remember what we did each day. I do remember driving up to Spearfish that day, and I have a friend who lives there. We lived next door to each other when I was 5 and my parents separated. We moved from our ranch in between Gillette and Wright into Gillette with a friend who had an extra bedroom. My mom, brother, and I lived in that bedroom for several months. I started kindergarten while we lived there, and there was a family next door to us with 3 little girls, the oldest of whom was a year younger than me. Our birthdays are only 10 days apart, and her youngest sister's birthday is in between our birthdays, so we celebrated our birthdays together that year. Our families became close and we celebrated holidays together all the way through our high school years. I was excited to see her.

Somewhere along the line, somewhere around Casper, we picked up a nail or something in a tire. We kept getting an alert that the tire pressure was low, so we kept having to look for places that had air stations to fill the tire back up. (THANK YOU, Walmart car service!!) We put air in just before we left Gillette, but on the way, it was already saying it was low. We needed to get it fixed NOW. So I called my friend and asked where to take the car in Spearfish, and then I called them to ask if they could fit us in. (Thank you, Queen City Tires and Alignment!!) With the tire fixed, we were back on the road. We stopped at Applebees for a quick lunch, hoping Melissa would be able to join us, but she had some appointments she couldn't move. We'd have to wait for a few days.

Having had the delay to fix the tire, we didn't feel like we had enough time to get to the badlands anymore that day.

Instead, we drove through Keystone. And maybe Deadwood? I don't remember. I DO remember that we ended up in Keystone and had a hard time finding a place to park. We found a lot and parked so we could walk through town, but ended up being really disappointed in the town. It used to have so much to offer, but almost everything was gone except the shops that sell a bunch of t-shirts or tacky gifts.




We only went into a couple of stores, and we got ice cream, then called it a day and drove through to Custer, where I had booked a hotel. We passed Mount Rushmore on the way, but didn't stop. We saw it last time, and my husband was kind of done and wanted to be at the hotel, so we just drove on.



I don't remember what we did for dinner...I don't think Custer had a McDonald's, so I'm sure we went looking for someplace that served Fries, but what we found, I don't know. I know I did laundry that night once we checked in to the hotel. I think this was pretty much it for this day. Most of it was spent in the car....the drive from Spearfish to Keystone was beautiful. I don't think we did much else.

 

[Songbird76]

We have a couple of seedy motels in my town. You can rent by the hour, by the night, by the week, or by the month. You do the math.

Not only would I not stay there for free, you couldn’t PAY me to stay there. Numerous out of town gangs have conducted human trafficking and numerous shootings in the rooms or on the premises. Bad juju.

I get that!! I don't think my husband was pleased with the accommodations, but since HE was the one who booked it, he couldn't say much about it. I honestly would have been happier if he would have just admitted it wasn't what he was expecting and offered to get a room where bestie was staying. Yes, we would have been out the money on that room, but I think it would have been worth it. I'm sure he was embarassed, because he had made such a big deal out of how he had not booked a craphole, only to find out I had been right. But I don't think he wanted to admit it.

I don't know how much human trafficking goes on in Wyoming, but I'm sure IF it happens there, Motel 6 is probably a good bet for where deals go down. Like I said, I'm pretty sure it was a drug deal we came up on when we drove around to our room, and there were police on the other side of the building, probably busting other drug deals. It was definitely not a place you wanted to leave anything in the car. It's not the WORST hotel I've stayed at in Wyoming....that was when I was in high school on a speech and debate trip and our budget was SOOOOOO small. Part of that place had been condemned and was taped off, the lock on our door was broken, my brother's room had several locks and what looked like bullet holes in the walls, the people who did the check-in were high, there was a wad of hair in one of the beds, and rather than change the sheets, the gal came over with a wet rag and just wiped it off onto one of the girls' legs. So gross. We took everything with us during the day while we were competing and when we came back, there was a sock in our room that had not been there before, and didn't belong to any of us. So we're sure they were renting the room out by the hour. That hotel was AWFUL. And that's why I thought that the Motel 6 was going to be less than nice. I didn't figure it would be as bad as the one back in high school, but I could tell by the picture that it was at best going to be very vary basic...not much better than sleeping in a tent.

 

[Songbird76]

July 29th

Last time we did South Dakota, we went to Wind cave, so now I wanted to do Jewel cave. Looking at the website, it warned that if you didn't get there first thing in the morning, OR buy tickets in advance, you would likely not get to do a tour. I reserved MONTHS in advance for the first tour of the day. Which meant we had to be up and going pretty early. I THINK we walked down the street to the Bakers Bakery and had breakfast there? We ate there 2 mornings, but I don't remember if this was one of them. They had the BEST pastries!!! SO good.

We got to Jewel Cave and had to wait a few minutes for them to open before we could check in. You are not allowed to bring anything into the cave with you, like a water bottle or anything. No bags or purses...you can bring a camera, but you have to hold it. Experience told me not to wear my sweatshirt, because while it IS chilly in the cave, you are moving and stay pretty warm. I hadn't visited this cave in YEARS, but I did remember not needing the sweatshirt.

 

[Songbird76]

July 29th continued...

More from Jewel Cave.



I'm being rather selective because I have SOOOOOO many pictures.

After Jewel Cave, we went to the badlands. I'm sure we ate somewhere, but I don't remember where, so my guess is we grabbed some McDonalds or something in Rapid City? I could be wrong. We also visited Wall Drug, but I know we didn't eat there. It's a tourist trap and everything there is overpriced because there's nothing else for MILES. There are tons of tourists who get stuck thinking they'll find something in the Badlands only to discover there IS nothing in the badlands, and the only thing remotely near is Wall. So people are starving and have no alternative. Having grown up in the area and making this trip several times, I knew going in that we needed to eat before we got on the road, so I'm sure we grabbed something at Rapid City, but I'm not sure what and there are no pictures.



I got halfway up this hill and was sliding and knew I'd never make it down if I climbed up, so I let the two of them go up and I took their picture, and I went back down and searched the parking lot for license plates we didn't have yet. I found Alaska, which we hadn't expected to get, so we were really excited!!

 

[Songbird76]

July 29th continued...

More Badlands and Wall. Some pictures from Wall are my husband's because he had some I didn't.

 

[Songbird76]

July 29th Continued...

A few more.



At some point on this day, we drove past Crazy Horse. I've never actually gone up to it because it doesn't seem worth it. You can see it just fine from the highway and it costs an arm and a leg to actually enter, so we've never done it. There also used to be nothing to see. They've done a lot of work on it since I was a kid and there's actually a face now. When I was growing up, all that was there was the outline of an arm and a hole where the arm is outstretched. That bit is hidden by the sign in this picture, but it's nothing spectacular. Still not worth the money.



We went to one of our favorite restaurants in the world for dinner. There's a TINY town called Hill City. It is basically one street and you just drive straight through. Years ago, when I was knee-high to a grasshopper, my family was relatively poor. My parents were divorced, and my mom had her own business cleaning people's houses. We couldn't afford much, so we went tent camping quite a bit to save money. We made several trips a year to the Black Hills to see Mount Rushmore, Keystone, the Badlands, Story Book Island, the Dinosaur park, etc. There was a little motel just outside of Hill City called the Circle S, and it sat along the creek there. There were only a handfull of rooms, and I don't remember exactly why we started staying there instead of camping, but we made friends with the owners and they would give us a discount on the room in exchange for mom working a few hours a day cleaning rooms and whatnot. When I was about 8, they told us there was a new restaurant just opened that week I think, in Hill City, called The Alpine. They served only one thing. Filet Mignon with a wedge Salad, toast, and a baked potato. I believe at the time, it was $4.99 for a 6 oz, and $6.99 for the 9 oz. In any case, it was a steal of a deal. Being young, I didn't know what Filet Mignon was, but the only thing I knew about Filet was in the McDonald's commercial where they recited the whole menu and one of the things was Filet O' Fish. So I thought it was Fish. I don't like fish. My mother really didn't like how picky I was and she was always trying to trick me into eating things by either not telling me what they were, or telling me it was something else. I didn't trust her when she told me it was steak. I refused to order a filet Mignon, because my mother's rule was if you order it, you have to eat it. You can't order something, then decide you don't like it and not finish it, because that's a waste. My mother was so angry with me, and embarassed by my refusal to order anything I wasn't sure what it was that she told me if I didn't order it right then, I was going to have to go hungry, because I wasn't allowed to order one once I saw that it was steak. So I went hungry that day. BUT, once I knew what it was, the NEXT time we went back, I ordered it, and we've been going back there ever since. The lady who owned it is from Stuttgart, Germany and her kids run it now, but she still works there once or twice a week. She always remembered us when we came in, though she thought we were from Nebraska. But we always had great meals there. It wasn't long before word got out about this amazing place that was inexpensive, and if you didn't get there right when she opened for the day, the wait would be at least 45 minutes. Over the years, she expanded on it....the back started off as an old fashioned ice cream shop, but she got rid of that to make room for more tables. She also expanded the lunch menu a little bit to include some German specialties, but dinner is still only filet mignon, and while the price has increased, it's still a steal of a deal for what you get. I couldn't wait to eat here again!!

Starting with the Wedge salad with house made ranch dressing and Pink Lemonade (Free refills!)


Then on to the main course


Then Dessert, which E and I shared. Turtle cheesecake and grasshopper pie (chocolate mint)


We were all stuffed!! But it was so worth it!!