Badlands and Bully Pulpit Golf Course of North Dakota

Oil Derricks

We drove north from the Black Hills of South Dakota to the Badlands of North Dakota. The 'badlands' are so named from the American Indian's name of 'land bad' due to lack of water, extreme summer temperatures and the rugged terrain. To get here, we had the most picturesque drive past fields of wheat, corn and what looked like potatoes. Small, medium and large buttes were scattered along our route. Oil derricks dotted many fields. 

Farmer mowing wild prairie grasses

Farmers were making the most of the wild prairie grasses that grew beside the road - they mowed them and rolled the grasses into bales - just like hay. They will use these to mix with the more nutritious hay during the long winters experienced in the Dakotas. 

We passed a lot of antelopes, mainly bucks, and two lots were in groups of 3. In this photo there are only 2 bucks, but the third one was a bit further back. 

When we stopped to get fuel, Murray called me to take a photo of this 1929 A-Model Ford. He said Joe Bill might be interested.

We stopped for morning tea in a small town, and the only place open for coffee and pancakes at 10am was the town saloon! The service was very good, and a coffee and a pancake each cost us $4 for both of us. Happy with that! However, I got a bit of a shock when I went to the Ladies. Thank goodness there was a lock on the door! Reminds me of our experience with Mike and Cindy when they took us to Mamou in Louisiana to enjoy some Cajun culture! Same deal there.

Entering Medora

Yesterday, around 12.45pm we arrived in Medora, North Dakota just as a thunderstorm hit. We had thunder, lightning, rain and some tiny hail. By the time we had checked into our campground and backed into our site, the water was so deep by our front steps, then we couldn't even get out to hook up to power and water. Thankfully our RV had a door on the driver's side (an optional extra in many RV's), and there were no puddles of water on that side. The same storm moved north east and hit right where our friends were camping at Lake Audubon. The storm caused a tornado a bit south of them - they got a lot of rain, and lost their satellite reception for a while, but it soon passed. Ready for us to arrive there tomorrow!

Today we drove the RV out the to the Bully Pulpit Golf Course, listed as one of America's 100 Greatist Public Golf Courses. A golf course architect says that of thousands of potential golf courses he has seen, this one is probably one of the best courses without an ocean view. Murray played 9 holes while I took photos, chatted to other visitors and took a walk - some of it uphill. Yes Clairie, I'll add it to my activity list! I have put several photos here, but no photo can capture the beauty of this place. 

Tonight we caught a shuttle to a Cowboy Cookout. It was very similar to the one we did with Jenny and Peter in Jackson, Wyoming, only instead of the back-in-time wagon ride we just took a shuttle. However this cookout had the spectacular view of the Badlands as a bonus. Unfortunately it was overcast when we got up to the site, so the colours of the hills are very muted. Then while we were eating dinner, a thunderstorm passed over. Luckily for those staying on for the Medora Musical (we had seen it on a previous visit) the sun came out in time for the show to start at 8pm. 

Cowboy Cookout time

Take a look at these steaks...

View from the cookout site

Final RV destination for Jenny and Peter: South Dakota

We crossed the border from Wyoming into South Dakota, and within a few miles we came to the city of Spearfish. We had heard a few people say that the Spearfish Canyon was a great drive to do, so we took a detour there to get a feel for the Black Hills of South Dakota. The area is famous for the gold rush that began in 1874, and the distinctive Black Hills gold jewellery can only be produced in the Black Hills; although these days the gold can be sourced from anywhere in the world. My friends Jan and Dick Brubaker presented me with a beautiful pair of Black Hills gold earrings for my 50th birthday, while we were sipping on red wine and sitting on a balcony overlooking an olive grove in Tuscany. Lovely memories. 

The Spearfish Canyon drive was very picturesque, and it passed through the town of Lead where the most productive gold mine in the Western Hemisphere was located until it closed in 2002. We then came to the historically wild and lawless city of Deadwood with its population of about 1200 people. We had plans on visiting gunslingers Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane's graves, but there were so many tourists in town, we drove through the centre of town and up a few streets, then kept driving right out of town! The crowds of people put us off. Kevin Costner used to own a restaurant and casino in town, but I am not sure if he still does.

Downtown Deadwood

During the rally, this street of Sturgis is closed to all traffic except bikes

From Deadwood we drove about 16 miles (26 km) east to Sturgis, home of the largest annual motorbike event in the world. The rally is held in the first full week of August every year, and one year it attracted 60,000 visitors to the town. Last year I believe it was 400,000. We were told the hotels get up to $500 a night for a room during the rally. The street is closed off and the rally takes over the town. We had lunch in a large hotel there - it was impressive inside with a huge 'Australia' room (as well as a 'New Zealand' and 'Alaska' room upstairs).

Small purchases

We had enough of touring for one day, so we checked into our campground in Rapid City, and Jenny and Peter had a room in the same Canyon Lake Resort where our campground was. A very pretty resort location. The next morning Jenny was waiting near the lake for us to pick her and Peter up, and she looked up and saw a deer several feet away from her motel room door. She was thrilled with her morning visitor. We had a day of sightseeing planned, but hadn't taken into account that we would pass a Christmas Shop on the way. Murray got the message loud and clear that we needed to check it out, and as luck would have it, it turned out to be one of the nicest Christmas shops I have been into - and believe me, I have been into a lot of them. We browsed there for some time, and were very restrained with our purchases. I'm sure Murray and Peter were impressed that we didn't spend more money in there! 

You can just make out the profile of the head in the centre of the photo

About 35 miles (56 km) south of Rapid City is the rock sculpture of Crazy Horse. Murray and I had visited the site previously in 2003. The finished product will end up a mountain sculpture of an Indian warrior astride a horse and pointing in front of him. The sculpture was started in 1948 and is still not finished…unlike Mt Rushmore, 17 miles (27 km) away, which was completed in 1941 and attracts over 2 million visitors a year. We enjoyed our drive in the Black Hills as we made our way back to see Mt Rushmore. We had a glorious day for our drive. 

After our visit to the noted Mt Rushmore, we called in to Bear Park USA. You pay an entry fee, are advised to keep your windows up in the bear area, and then you drive around to see the animals roaming in their respective areas, separated by cattle grids. It is the main summer holiday here, so there were lots of visitors. The traffic crept slowly around the park, held up as people stopped to take photos of the animals, especially the bears. 

Bighorn Sheep

Bears watch as we drive past

At the end of the drive is a large parking area. Visitors to the park can get out of the cars and walk past numerous animal enclosures where you can see skunks, bobcats, badgers, raccoons and some bear cubs. There is also a basic cafe where you can get a cold drink and some snacks - handy stop.

Bear cubs frolic in the grass

As we left Bear Park USA there was a cart loaded with flowers. This was the last photo taken of Jen and I together on this trip, as her and Peter flew to New York the next day. It seemed that every town we passed through had beautiful spring flowers decorating the streets. In one very pretty town (Hill City), most of the shops on the main street had a basket blooming with the same flowers as the next shop, and the next... We asked the cafe owner if the council provided and cared for the flowers. She said a woman on the council ordered all the flower pots from Rapid City, delivered them to each of the stores, and then it was up to each store to water them. Woe betide a store owner who had bedraggled flowers! The pots flowered profusely from April to September. 

And so ends Jenny and Peter's US RV travels with us. After 12 days with them onboard, it seems very quiet now with just the two of us. They are now making the most of a week visiting New York. 

En Route: Wyoming to South Dakota

Cody, Wyoming was our first stop after Yellowstone, and we took the opportunity to check out the Buffalo Bill Museum. If you have the chance, drop in and check it out. So much history and information under the one roof, and so wonderfully laid out. We had a drink in Irma's Hotel, the historic hotel that Buffalo Bill bought for his daughter Irma, and we also discovered Granny's Diner, which we ended up visiting twice. 

Heading into the Bighorn Mountains

Hummingbird

After Cody we made our way through the Bighorn Mountains (part of the Rocky Mountain Range) on tortuous switchback roads. We called into a scenic outlook and Murray got this great photo of a hummingbird. They are only tiny - about the size of your little finger (this photo is greatly magnified), and their wings move so fast when they are flying that it is hard to capture them in a photo. '

Jen at out lunch stop

We pulled off beside a stream for lunch, and the blue wildflowers were so pretty. Along many parts of the route, the blue and yellow wildflowers dotted the landscape and made it very picturesque. 

Jackson, Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park

Downtown Jackson Wyoming

After Salt Lake City our next port of call was the delightful town of Jackson, Wyoming, nestled at the base of the majestic Grand Teton mountains in the Jackson Valley - the valley is commonly known as 'Jackson Hole'. The town has a population of just under 10,000, but as it is only 1.5 hours south of Yellowstone National Park (NP), in summer holidays tourists swell the numbers. The town is also very popular in winter for the skiing season. I daresay accommodation is booked out during July and August, and the restaurants and other businesses do a roaring trade. The place was humming when we checked in for our day/night there. I know our campground was fully booked.

BAR-T-5

For dinner and entertainment, we had booked a Covered Wagon Cookout hosted by BarT5 (bart5.com). The BarT5 company has a great history starting with a young boy who at age 12 was adopted by the Shoshone Indians and spent 2 years with them. A few years after he returned to his family, he ended up being the first person to drive a wagon over the Grand Teton mountains, and then began a business taking visitors to camp in the area. The business continues to this day. Our trip included a 20 minute wagon ride to Cache Creek Canyon in a National Forest just out of Jackson, during which time we were 'attacked' by Indians! Each wagon, led by 2 draft horses, pulled the driver plus about 20 people per wagon - there were five wagons the night we went. It was a warm, pleasant evening, although we had a few spits of rain while we were under cover enjoying the cowboy entertainment. The food was cooked in Dutch Ovens, and it was delicious. We were offered prime rib (roast beef), chicken, corn on the cob, baked beans and a bread roll, with the offer of seconds. Most people went back for seconds as it was so tender and tasty. After dinner we were entertained by a group of 4 guys who sang and played various musical instruments (including a fiddle). Another chap dressed like Davy Crockett, but acted as a real hillbilly - he had an entertaining and audience-interactive segment. My cheeks were sore from grinning. It was still light when we got home, but after our long day, we were all ready to hit the hay, ready for an early morning drive to Yellowstone the next day. 

Jenny in front of the Grand Tetons

Jenny Lake

We had a fine day for our drive to Yellowstone, via the Grand Teton NP. We called into Jenny Lake on our way up, and weren't disappointed with our diversion. It was as beautiful as our previous visit. We saw lots of bison on our way to Yellowstone. Once we arrived in Yellowstone, our first point of call was to visit the Old Faithful Geyser. It erupts every 90 mins, and we had seen it erupting from a distance as we approached, we knew we would have to wait another 90 minutes before the next display. The parking lot was packed - so many people. Thousands of visitors were there - it was a weekend, and it was teeming with people. All of the accommodation (hotels and campgrounds) were booked out, but thankfully we had made our bookings back in early November last year - even back then we were limited to only one night due to heavy bookings! As we had time to kill, we walked around until we found a restaurant with a spare table and had lunch. Our restaurant was in the historic Old Faithful Inn - we had stayed a night there with Benn back in 2003.

After witnessing the geothermic spectacle of the geyser, we made our way north and saw the other geothermal sulphur pools and bubbling mud baths. We drove up and down the length of the Hayden Valley, and saw numerous bison. We eventually decided to call it a day and head to our accommodation, but on the way we had noticed a small sign for a turn off to a scenic outlook, known as the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We took the turn and found a thunderous waterfall and cliffs carved by water and other geological activity over centuries. It was colourful and magnificent. It was our 4th visit to Yellowstone, but the first time we had seen this amazing sight. 

Waterfall at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

We met for dinner together that night, and enjoyed a light but tasty meal and some welcome drinks. 

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Bison in the morning fog

Off to bed early again, ready for yet another early start. We decided that we would drive to Hayden Valley where the bison usually are, and have our breakfast in the RV whilst watching the bison. As luck would have it, there was a heavy fog when we set out at 6.30am. However, when we found a small group of bison settled beside the road, we pulled up, and sat munching on our cereal. We also turned on the generator and boiled the kettle for a morning tea/coffee which we enjoyed as we watched the ghostly movements of the bison as they moved in the rolling fog. 

Jen watching the bison from the RV steps

Bison traffic jam - bison have the right of way!

We weren't far from the East exit of the park when we saw several deer - bucks and does, plus a lone bison right beside the road. It was a delightful farewell to the park. Sadly we never got to see any bears, elk or moose on this visit. Luckily we had seen a lot of elk during our trip to the Rockies a few days earlier, and we will see bears in South Dakota the day after tomorrow. 

This bison lumbered up to say goodbye

During our 2 days driving around Yellowstone, we had no internet signal. As soon as we arrived in Cody, Wyoming and realised that we had our internet signal back, we all grabbed our iPhones, iPads or laptops (all have Macs) and caught up with email, football scores, etc. We laughed at how addicted we all are...

Catching up on the internet

Jenny and Peter: Denver, Rocky Mountains, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City and Jackson Hole

Regular readers of this blog may recall that my nursing friend Jenny and her husband Peter came over from Australia last year to travel with us in the RV for one week. They have returned again this year, and they will spend 12 days travelling with us. Each night after dinner we drop them to their hotel, and Murray and I hook up at a nearby RV park. The next morning we pick them up and drive to the next destination. 

They flew into Denver, Colorado and we kept them on the hop, driving straight up to the quaint little city of Golden, Colorado, located at the base of the Rocky Mountains. There was an impressive array of vintage cars and some amazing motor bikes. After lunch we drove up a steep road to check out Buffalo Bill's grave. His name seems to be in every Western town we visit. 

Later that day we drove them into Denver city, and tried to remember some of the snippets of information that the tour driver had told us on our bus tour with Bev and Ross the day before. 

The next day we headed NW to the Rocky Mountains, starting our day out with morning tea beside a bubbling stream in beautiful Estes Park. That fortified us for the steep climb up into the Rocky Mountains where the higher elevations were still covered in snow. Thankfully we had a rental car, and it made quick work of the steep climb.

We saw lots of animals, and got very excited when we saw several large stag elk close to the road. The elk in the top left corner of the animal collage was sitting right below a large patch of snow. While we were taking photos of him, the marmot, blue jay and the 13 striped ground squirrel came into the camera lens view finder. What a great stop for wildlife viewing!

After our exhilarating visit to up the Rockies, including touching the Continental Divide sign, we made our way downhill back to Estes Park. We celebrated with a specialty ice-cream - very decadent!

From Denver we made our way north to Cheyenne (capital and most populated city of Wyoming), and paid another visit to Terry Bison Ranch for the night. We took a bus tour of Cheyenne, recommended by Bev and Ross. Then we hightailed it over to Salt Lake City, Utah. We got a good view of the Great Salt Lake and the start of the salt flats (part of the location of the Bonneville Speedway) immortalised in the movie 'The World's Fastest Indian'. Back in Salt Lake City, the four of us listened to a recital in the Mormon Tabernacle, and Jenny and Peter did a bus tour of the city. We found a superb bakery in the mall, and voted it the best bakery that we had visited in the USA. 

After 2 days in Salt Lake City, we headed NE to Jackson, Wyoming. What a unique, picturesque and quaint upmarket town. The photo below shows the scenery as we approached the southern entrance to the town. The next blog will cover our short but memorable visit. 

Bev and Ross, Cheyenne and Denver

Bev and Ross are Aussie friends of ours, now living in San Antonio. They arranged to meet up with us in Cheyenne and have 2 days together there, before the 4 of us drove south to Denver to have another 2 days together. They have written up 2 comprehensive blog entries of our time in Cheyenne and Denver, so take a look at their blog. 

(http://rossandbev.blogspot.com/2014/07/cheyenne-wyoming-pt1.html)

During our first 2 days in Cheyenne, we stayed at the Terry Bison Ranch. They were in a cabin, and we were in an RV site just across from them. Their cabin looked out over a bison herd. Here we are sitting on their verandah with wine and cheese as we observed the bison. 

We went into Cheyenne (capital city of the state of Wyoming) and checked out the Convention Centre and a Western store. A very Western city, that's for sure! Cheyenne information is included in the accompanying photo collage.

There was a nice cafe at the ranch, and we had breakfast there one morning. It was glorious out in the sun, but it didn't take long before we had to move under the tree into the shade. 

On our way south to Denver, we called into Fort Collins. What a pretty little place. Lots of breweries in the area. We wandered around the centre of town until we decided on a delightful eating place, and were pleasantly surprised by the professional and very friendly waitress, and the high standard of food. All ingredients were locally sourced. Ross ordered a version of a ploughman's lunch, and it was superb. 

Looks like a psychedelic roof on our bus - Murray to the left. Bev and Ross to the right.

 In Denver we took a ride on a tourist bus, and heard interesting snippets about the city. So many green spaces (parks). Apparently, the locals' regular enjoyment of the numerous city parks has resulted in the population having the lowest obesity rate in the country, and also the healthiest women.

After the bus tour, we walked to a Bubba Gump restaurant, and enjoyed the menu options. As well as a tasty feast, Ross enjoyed his margarita, complete with Corona sampler! Bev and Ross flew back to San Antonio the same day that Jen and Pete flew in from Australia.