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Published: October 23rd 2013
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On the road again! Sept. 4
ththrough Sept. 22.
We have been planning a road to South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming for several months. It's a well-known fact that you have to leave a country before seeing some of its finest sights. And we are no different.
The first destination is San Francisco, for the America's Cup and an opportunity to see Team New Zealand in action against Oracle. We're spending five nights with friends, Bob and Dale, in Orinda. Team NZ starts the series well and is 8-1 up, but we all know the final outcome: it's a win to Oracle..... Now, how did that happen? San Francisco is one of the world's beautiful cities and always a pleasure to visit. It's four days of seeing sights and dining with friends. A French Bistro at the edge of Chinatown promised much and delivered little. The steak tartare was bland and lacking oomph!!! However, excursions to the Ferry Building and the Yacht Club in Tiburon with old friends of Caroline were very good.
On Sept. 9
th we are on the road from Orinda to Salt Lake City, not a drive for the faint of heart, interrupted by a grinding
noise on the front brakes. We stop in Elko and find that one of the front rotors has a gouge in it. New rotors and pads in less than 45 minutes and the Explorer is on its way across the great salt lake. We finally arrive at the hotel around 9pm. A quick shower and the lights are off....
Sept 10
th is another long day on the road to Lead, just outside the old mining town of Deadwood, South Dakota. We arrive around 8.00pm and immediately go for burgers and fries at a local sports bar recommended by the Days Inn front desk person. Lots of food and cheap. Again, we fall into bed wasted from a long, hard day on the road. We're 3 nights in Lead and plan to explore the area as much as possible.
Deadwood is a tourist trap with very few original buildings from its gold rush origins. It's a gold mining town in the Black Hills of Dakota where Wild Bill Hickock was shot in the back. He had only been in the mining camp for about six weeks when he met his demise in a local saloon while playing poker. The
At Caroline's Cousin's Dude Ranch
The Grand Tetons in the Background. town is full of casinos and trades heavily on the “Deadwood” TV series, where names such as Al Swearangen, Calamity Jane, Charlie Utter and Seth Bullock become familiar names. The Black Hills were given to the Sioux Indians in 1868 as part of a treaty; however, gold was discovered in 1874, and this was the beginning of the end for the Sioux.
Mt Rushmore is a must for all visitors to this area and only 45 minuites from Deadwood. This is carving on a grand scale, four presidents' heads, at 18m each, took sculptor, Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and his son from 1927 to 1941 to complete. I'd never heard of this guy, but it's certainly the world's largest sculpture. Other works of his include the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.
On the way to Badlands we visit Sturgis, South Dakota home of the motorcycle rally. No motorbikes, but plenty of shops selling T-Shirts of the rally. 467,338 attended the largest motorcycle rally in the world in 2013. We were only a month late!
Finally, Badlands National Park, approximately 250,000 acres of inhospitable buttes, mesas, spires and grassland. The old hunting ground of the Oglala Lakota, and there
is even a herd of bison to remind us of a bygone era. During our Badlands Experience, we make a pilgrimage to “Wounded Knee”, the scene of a massacre of Oglala Lakota by the US 7th Cavalry in 1890. Wounded Knee came to prominence again in 1973 when Indian activists seized control of Wounded Knee and Alcatraz Island in a effort to make the US Government honor treaties from the 19
th and early 20
th centuries. The siege lasted 71 days and gained little. We meet a Lakota Sioux called Thunder Horse and spend some time learning a little about the Sioux Indians. Thunder Horse is manning a stand selling Indian beads and carvings. Of course, we purchase a few mementos!
Time to leave Deadwood and our next destination, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” Devils Tower. For those that remember the movie, Richard Dreyfuss crafts a mud Devil's Tower on the living room table as he is drawn towards the aliens at Devil's Tower. Well, there are no aliens......not there anyway....
On to Billings Montana, and more Indian History. At Little Big Horn we retrace the battle between George Custer and the Indians, and still feel that Custer
mishandled the campaign. Of course he thought the Indian encampment was made up of only approximately 800 warriors. However, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, the Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho had around 2500 warriors. When the smoke cleared there were 268 troopers dead, including Custer.
Billings offers other pleasures such as Roller Derby and this is an opportunity to experience one of America's iconic womens' sports. We turn up at the auditorium with about 500 other spectators to watch Billings take on another team of big-girls on skates and of course the home team wins.
16
th thru 19
th September
This road trip has been designed around a trip to Yellowstone, and we are staying with Bill Brock a friend from Homeexchange.com who has a wonderful house outside of Gardiner, Montana.. Gardiner is the northern entrance to Yellowstone. The park, complete with geo-thermal area is primarily in Wyoming, but extends into Montana and Idaho. Yellowstone has a super volcano within the park's boundaries and it last erupted around 640,000 years ago. The next one, who knows! Yellowstone is supposedly the first National Park in the world and was established in 1872. There are hundreds of species of animals and birds
within its borders. Bison, elk, bears, wolves and eagles thrive and we're lucky to see many of these. Then, there are geothermal features such as bubbling hot pools, mud pools and geysers (Old Faithful is just one of many geysers in the park). This is Rotorua on a large size. It's approximately 8900 sq kilometers of natural wonderland and we spend 3 days exploring the many roads, wooden walkways and cafes within the park's borders. Does a bear sh** in the woods, the answer is yes and we witnessed this! We would have the photo's to prove this but in her excitement to capture this event Caroline didn't focus!
We drive out of Yellowstone by the south entrance on the road to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The scenery is spectacular as we make our way to meet Caroline's cousin who has a Dude Ranch in the area. The Grand Tetons are majestic, we take a scenic drive to take photos and are lucky to see a couple of black bears climbing trees in search of berries for their winter hibernation. Our overnight accommodation is expensive and average, but all we need is a bed. The next day we browse some
of the expensive Jackson stores, before meeting Caroline's cousin. A lovely lunch at the ranch and we start our journey back to Mammoth. It's a two day drive through Idaho, Utah and Nevada. Towns, such as Paris (Idaho), Elko, and Battle Mountain will be forever etched in our brains.
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Heather Stone
non-member comment
Hey, I was wondering where you guys were, I\'ve missed seeing you around! As ever I love reading your blog, informative and fun, see you soon, Heather