Drove all night.
8 people family in minivan.
1007 miles so far, 4 more hours to go. Rapid City.
My wife got the yeoman's work this time from 5:35pm to 1:40am. Then I went 2 hours, then she 1 more as the beautiful daylight came up on the high plain of Wyoming. I've been going for the past 90 mins again but now all are awake and maybe we'll turn it over to the permitted kid, or grandma.

We're currently a very ugly crew!

I'm thinking of visiting our friend in Montana on the way back, give her our BI greetings.

Top o' the morning to ya's!

You could spend a week in the Black Hills and never see the same thing twice. One of my favorite places. Mount Rushmore, Crazyhorse Memorial, Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park, Jewell National monument, Badlands National park, The Mammoth digs, Devils Tower across the state line in Wyoming, Spearfish Canyon, and more.

wvitbear;842708643 said:

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You could spend a week in the Black Hills and never see the same thing twice. One of my favorite places. Mount Rushmore, Crazyhorse Memorial, Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park, Jewell National monument, Badlands National park, The Mammoth digs, Devils Tower across the state line in Wyoming, Spearfish Canyon, and more.

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You are the man!
Those are all the favorite places of my father in law for the past 50 years. He'd take his young family there regularly from RI, and so now we are hitting all those same places for my wife and our kids. And we will scatter his ashes at Rushmore, per his wishes ("somewhere in the black hills").
He dedicated his life to work for the developmentally disabled, and so is on my Mt Rushmore list of those who care.

PS: no golf clubs....

....not that there's anything wrong with that.

Have a wonderful trip Tom! Greetings from Guacalito de La Islas, Nicaragua. Absolutely stunning country for those who haven't been. I ran into an Old Blue in a market in Granada a few days ago. He with his Cal cap and me with my t-shirt. Go Bears!

NYCGOBEARS;842708649 said:

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Have a wonderful trip Tom! Greetings from Guacalito de La Islas, Nicaragua. Absolutely stunning country for those who haven't been. I ran into an Old Blue in a market in Granada a few days ago. He with his Cal cap and me with my t-shirt. Go Bears!

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The resort Mukul is incredible.

That is a lot of driving. You're missing the landscape of westward expansion. And what about Nebraska? You should be reading Wally Stegner.

NYCGOBEARS;842708650 said:

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The resort Mukul is incredible.

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Hot damn... Enjoy it!!!

Evidently, there's a Cal alum that owns a spectacular beachfront home here. I hope to meet him later. My best friend is the Sales Director of the project if any of you are interested, let me know. Guacalitodelaisla.com

Go to Minot, ND..lots of Beautiful things there like Bars, an Air Force Base, few banks and gas stations. Even a river. Best Truck stop ever!

joe yaks;842708669 said:

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That is a lot of driving. You're missing the landscape of westward expansion. And what about Nebraska? You should be reading Wally Stegner.

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I decided that westward expansion pretty much entirely passed Wyoming by. Amazing.
Tons of West Coast folks have ancestors who resided in SD before continuing on. (Both wife and I).
Utah has Brigham Young and "this is the place".
Cali, Oregon, Washington.... all destinations for 150 years. But Wyoming? There's nothing there. Saw more pronghorn than humans.

20 hrs 15 mins to hotel in rapid city. Holy cow, I'm gonna pass out now.

NYCGOBEARS;842708650 said:

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The resort Mukul is incredible.

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Greetings from Antioch, California and screw you and the catamaran you rode in on ;-)

Western WYO, north to south, Yellowstone, Tetons, Jackson Hole, Green River, Fort Bridger, the Wind River Range, the Big Horn Range, all on the route to Casper, WYO. Salt Lake City, the Wasatch, the Uinta Range, UT, and Brown's Hole on the Green in NoCO.

NewYorkCityBear;842708701 said:

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Greetings from Antioch, California and screw you and the catamaran you rode in on ;-)

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The catamaran was awesome!!

Western Wyoming is very good. Nice drives from Flaming gorge to the Tetons. Last year we had forrest fires in Idaho so the smoke was so thick you could barely see the Tetons and that was standing across one of the lakes. Took a boat ride across Jenny lake and hiked up to A nice waterfall. am planning to go back next early May.

Theodore National park in North Dakota is very nice too but stay down south part of the park as the North end of the park is where the oil drilling is.

Believe it or not, western Nebraska is kind of hilly. The highest point there is something like 5,000 feet.

By the way, a great hike in the Baqlck hills is Harney's peak which is the highest point east of the Rockies (about 7,400 feet). Is in Custer State Park which is a great park. I believe it has one of the biggest bison herds in the USA. And it borders Wind Cave National Park.

concordtom;842708689 said:

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I decided that westward expansion pretty much entirely passed Wyoming by. Amazing.
Tons of West Coast folks have ancestors who resided in SD before continuing on. (Both wife and I).
Utah has Brigham Young and "this is the place".
Cali, Oregon, Washington.... all destinations for 150 years. But Wyoming? There's nothing there. Saw more pronghorn than humans.

20 hrs 15 mins to hotel in rapid city. Holy cow, I'm gonna pass out now.

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Wyoming once won the Big Dance

wvitbear;842708734 said:

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Western Wyoming is very good. Nice drives from Flaming gorge to the Tetons. Last year we had forrest fires in Idaho so the smoke was so thick you could barely see the Tetons and that was standing across one of the lakes. Took a boat ride across Jenny lake and hiked up to A nice waterfall. am planning to go back next early May.

Theodore National park in North Dakota is very nice too but stay down south part of the park as the North end of the park is where the oil drilling is.

Believe it or not, western Nebraska is kind of hilly. The highest point there is something like 5,000 feet.

By the way, a great hike in the Baqlck hills is Harney's peak which is the highest point east of the Rockies (about 7,400 feet). Is in Custer State Park which is a great park. I believe it has one of the biggest bison herds in the USA. And it borders Wind Cave National Park.

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You know the 4 years I was in Minot, I don't think I ever went to the southern part of the state except once while driving thru South Dakota to head home to Cali. I usually either went east to Bismark, Fargo, Minnesota..or North into Canada (Regina and Winnipeg). Loved traveling thru Montana though..absolutely the most beautiful state when it's not freezing and snowing. In fact if you ever get a chance to take the train from Seattle thru Montana, it's totally worth it. But get a sleeper, it's a long trip. Yes, the Northwest tip of Wyoming is awesome, the rest of the state is where cows go to poop.

It was a beautiful drive from Rawlins WY to Casper as the morning light came upon us. Then onward to Black Hills.
I loved the morning air and wide open prairie.

I just meant that there is nothing there, but that that is bad.
Definitely always refreshing to see virgin land.

The drive from the Tetons thru southeastern Wyoming is nice. Down hi way 89 which will take you to Logan Utah. Past big bear Lake. Logan is a pretty town settled in a bowl. Utah State University is there.

After Grand Tetons, upon Yellowstone exit, we'll be heading west to Sunvalley, Idaho, not all the way south to Logan.

PS: gotta get the permitted kid behind the wheel so she can get her 50 hours in and be eligible to take the DMV test.
She did NONE on the way out, dammit!

Am going to the Tetons next May. and was thinking of going to the Bitterroot Mountains and Sun Valley. Friend of mine told me it is great as there are not many people visiting unlike the Tetons.

I highly recommend the "Buffalo Bill Center of the West" to anyone near Cody, WY (east of Yellowstone). The town of 10k gets 1M visitors per year, so I heard from a local. The museum (6 in 1, actually) is excellently done.

1. Plains Indians
2. Natural History -yellowstone and high plains eco-systems.
3. Buffalo Bill
4. Western Art, paintings and sculptures
5. Guns, largest collection (I hate guns, but was curious about technology 400 yrs ago)
6. Western Research library.

My favorite was the genuine buffalo hide tepee from 1850, one of only 2 in existence (Smithsonian). After the buffalo population crashed, they were made out of canvas.

The Cody museum is like a small Smithsonian. I liked walking down the mountain with all the fauna and the sounds. Not a gun guy but the gun collection is amazing.

Have you seen Yanni's Girlfriend doing the weather on TV?

oskidunker;842709998 said:

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Have you seen Yanni's Girlfriend doing the weather on TV?

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Fate had it that we got off 90 short of Montana and instead over 14 toward yellowstone. So, no.

I am looking up at the milky way by a rushing stream in Montana, but far from her.

If the tv gig doesn't work out for her, there's always work here.

When you got off 90 did you get off in buffalo or sheridan? I got off in buffalo but wondered about Sheridan as i could have gone thru the Big horn mountains.

I assume you are going thru Yellowstone. If so, are you going up to Montana thru the Northern route in Yellow Stone or are you going down thru the Tetons.

Hey Concord - sounds like you may have done this travel-around-the-country thing a bit. Let me point you here - www.mob-rule.com - something I've been doing for, well, 50+ years. My goal is to get into every county in the US (yup, county, not just state) before I pass on. And I'm over 99% there (Alaska presents logistical difficulties). The US is an absolutely beautiful place, and sadly most of use never get further than 50 miles or so from where we grew up. I've seen lots of rushing rivers, beautiful sunsets and sunrises, clear night sky, heard the insects waay too early in the morning.... Ate at a lot of odd, wonderful places and ran into lots of odd, wonderful people. So get the family out of the house and hit the road ...

and ps - I'll second the recommendation for Minot .......

Good idea. Never thought of that. i have been to all 50 states and every national park in the lower 48 states. Was thinking of my next endeavor but that seems to vast. Was thinking o9f going to every president's house but some presidents's houses are hard to define.

wvitbear;842710087 said:

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When you got off 90 did you get off in buffalo or sheridan? I got off in buffalo but wondered about Sheridan as i could have gone thru the Big horn mountains.

I assume you are going thru Yellowstone. If so, are you going up to Montana thru the Northern route in Yellow Stone or are you going down thru the Tetons.

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Crossing bighorn range not possible on 16 at Buffalo due to fire, so we continued to Sheridan and crossed on 14. Not sure what 16 would have been like but 14 was awesome!!

The climb up was great views of forest, valley below and sedimentary rock layers with sign telling the later name and age, from 200M to 500M years old. Was up top, a whole different Eco system at 9000 feet. We saw a moose and a beaver in his dam.

Down the western side in Shell Canyon also full of great views!!!

Then to Cody. Tent camped there, then West Yellowstone, then Gardiner MT, then Jackson - finally got to see the Tetons. 3 days in Yellowstone were great. Saw tons of animals and took 1500 photos. Now in Sun Valley ID, past Craters of the Moon lava field (trip pt), home soon.

Great trip for the family.

concordtom;842710749 said:

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Crossing bighorn range not possible on 16 at Buffalo due to fire, so we continued to Sheridan and crossed on 14. Not sure what 16 would have been like but 14 was awesome!!

The climb up was great views of forest, valley below and sedimentary rock layers with sign telling the later name and age, from 200M to 500M years old. Was up top, a whole different Eco system at 9000 feet. We saw a moose and a beaver in his dam.

Down the western side in Shell Canyon also full of great views!!!

Then to Cody. Tent camped there, then West Yellowstone, then Gardiner MT, then Jackson - finally got to see the Tetons. 3 days in Yellowstone were great. Saw tons of animals and took 1500 photos. Now in Sun Valley ID, past Craters of the Moon lava field (trip pt), home soon.

Great trip for the family.

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If you happen to go to the lodge at Sun Valley and see a jazz pianist named Brooks Hartell, say hello for me. He's one of my best friends. Have a great remainder of your trip!

Have been at Craters of the Moon but we then went south to Elko to see the Ruby Mountains and Lamoile Canyon.
Am going to the Tetons next May and plan to come back thru Sun Valley. The Bitterroot Mountains are suppose to be great.

We stayed in West Yellowstone two years ago. Are there still a lot of Chinese tourists. I can't count the bus loads we saw. Increased the park attendance from 4 million to 6 million.

The Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole Wyoming are spectacular.

wvitbear;842710758 said:

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Have been at Craters of the Moon but we then went south to Elko to see the Ruby Mountains and Lamoile Canyon.
Am going to the Tetons next May and plan to come back thru Sun Valley. The Bitterroot Mountains are suppose to be great.

We stayed in West Yellowstone two years ago. Are there still a lot of Chinese tourists. I can't count the bus loads we saw. Increased the park attendance from 4 million to 6 million.

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You may have heard about the guy who fell into one of the geysers/mudpot/fumerole at Norris recently? He went off the boardwalk to get closer. He died. It was so acidic his body was unrecoverable and so he's still in there.

Well, first day in the park, we were on a boardwalk listening to a ranger talk at Grant geyser area and someone nearby calls excitedly, "oh! Ranger, ranger!"
We all looked over and some Chinese tourist had gone off the walk and was 3 feet from the edge of a 50' deep attraction. He had collected a rock.
She ran over and admonished him with hand gestures and took the rock. He laughed it off with friends sheepishly and walked away.

This came 10 minutes after we saw a group of elk walking around the holes and boardwalk, and a calf fell into a mudhole. It was making crying sounds to get to mama, who waited at the edge. It struggled at first but then swam across and got out the other side. We thought it was going to die immediately but were relieved to see that didn't happen. A crowd of 40 was very anxious. It was nuts. I got a ton of action photos watching this sad course of events.
Ranger said infection could set in, however, if that pot was highly acidic.