Cody, Wyoming

After seeing many sights yesterday and the day before, today was a driving day.  Pretty much all the way across Wyoming.  But I really packed in the activities yesterday.  Here's a brief rundown:

Badlands National Park
I purchased an annual pass when I arrived (This was a gift from my dear friend Liza.  Thank you so much!) because I knew that I would be going in and out of parks for the rest of my trip.  Feeling like I now own at least part of the world, I drove into something that looks straight out of a Hollywood special effects department.

 

There were lots of critters - rabbits, prairie dogs, Rocky Mountain sheep, mule deer - as well as incredible scenery.

I tried to get to Wall Drug before they closed, but arrived just as they were closing the door.  So I came back in the morning.  Basically, it's an interesting place in some ways but mostly just a giant tourist trap.  If you have little kids, they would certainly have fun there.  But I managed to get through there without buying anything.  Not even a t-shirt.  I then drove to Mt. Rushmore.

My reaction to my first view as I came around a corner was a little disappointing.  I guess I was expecting it to dominate the landscape.  Well, once I entered the park proper, I wasn't disappointed at all.  It is truly am impressive carving.  The park was crawling with people.  That surprised me a bit.  But it's a big enough facility that I never felt crowded.  At one point, I heard someone call my name.  Now I don't know anyone around here, or so I thought.  The day before at the Badlands, I met a young lady, Jessica, who had just graduated from Colorado State University, Ft. Collins in occupational therapy.  Since that is what my daughter wants to do, and since she is considering CSU, we struck up quite a conversation.  The name-calling person turned out to be Jessica.  What a surprise!

We had another nice chat, and off I went to see the "guys."  The scale of the effort required for this task in monumental.  There were lots of photos and tools from the days of construction.  Again, if you haven't been there, you should put it on your list of things to see.

Next, I drove about 20 miles to see the Crazy Horse Monument.  This is a work in progress, started by one man about 40 years ago.  The face of the Chief is nearly finished, and they are beginning to work on the horse head.  This will probably take another 40 years to complete I'm guessing.  If you go to Mt. Rushmore, you've got come here too.

Another short jaunt down Hwy 16 brought me to the Jewel Caves National Monument.  This is the second largest network of caves in the US.  I managed to get the last ticket for the last tour of the day.  We descended 230 feet below the surface (in an elevator - I'd never make that many stairs) to a very large room.  The ranger was talking about the history and exploration of the cave as three dirty figures emerged from a lower tunnel.  They were part of a crew who is mapping the cave.  Eerie.

The ranger ended the talk a bit early because one of the group decided to start chewing gum - a big no-no.  He had warned us that no food or gum was allowed, as well as no touching the walls.  The cave is extremely sensitive to these things.  Oh well, it was interesting anyway.

As if my day was not full enough all ready, I decided to head for the Devil's Tower just across the border in Wyoming.  Not really expecting to get into the park when I got there, I was pleasantly surprised that it was open 24 hours.  The sun was low in the sky to the west as I drove up to the upper parking lot.  This ancient volcano core just glowed in the evening sun.  In case you've seen the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," this is the mountain that was featured in it.  I kept trying to find the spot where Richard Dreyfus crawled out to look at the space craft.  Instead of alien spacecraft, I was treated to soaring eagles (at least that's what I think they were.)  There were 10 or 12 of them nesting on the face just below the top.  They would simply launch themselves off the rocks and soar in the rising air currents.  This is a sacred place to the Native American people of this area.  I can certainly understand why.  I just sat on my rock watching the light fade gently away.  What a peaceful way to end my day.

After all that, I found a motel with an pool and hot tub so I could soak a while.  As I said at the beginning of this post, today I drove.  Wyoming is quite an interesting state.  Beautiful forests and mountains on both sides, dry plains in the middle.  It made for a long day.  I didn't take many photos since there wasn't anything that really caught my eye.  But I suspect that I'll make up for that in the next few days as I go through Yellowstone.  It will be a few days before I'm able to post here again.  So have a great weekend!  I'm planning to have one as well.