Cross-country Moving to North Carolina 2021

Started today with Custer State Park. More amazing rocks--mostly granite this time, with quite a lot of mica in it, so very sparkly. First a hike around Lake Sylvan. Beautiful, and only a small amount of rock scrambling needed. Then drove the Needles Scenic Byway. So glad the "Cathedral Spires" were unsuitable for carving or they would have put the presidents' heads here instead of Mt. Rushmore!  Ended the afternoon with a horseback ride through some meadows and also a bit up into the Buckhorn mountains, through an aspen forest and past an old mica mine. Beautiful, and really nice to be on horseback. It's been a LONG time since we rode, so I hope we can move tomorrow.

Spent most of the day at Jewel Cave National Monument. It was an abbreviated tour (something to do with upgrading the elevators), but the cave is beautiful, and very different from Wind Cave. Much of it is still unexplored, and based on the air volume moving through the cave, it's possibly the longest in the world. Took a short guided walk that explained how the cave was discovered and a bit about the Jasper fire in 2000 that burned about 83,500 acres. Then a longer hike through some of the burn zone. It's recovering, but very slowly. It's now grassy prairie with lots of wildflowers, not forest. Dinner at a local brewery. Buffalo burger to go with a quite tasty Scottish-style ale.

Started with a nice hike at Horsethief Lake. Beautiful big rocks, but it was humid (though cool) so lots of trees, ferns, wildflowers and other plants. Also the rocks are granite rather than sandstone. We're not in the desert anymore! We've come east--it's now poison ivy instead of poison oak. Short stop at a small, but nice, railroad museum and then to Mount Rushmore. I don't like it, or the idea of it, but it's certainly impressive. Even after the explanations of how it was done, it still seems impossible!

Started out in relatively modern times--the last ice age, and 63 million years more recent then the dinosaurs. The Mammoth Site is an active archeological dig where they've already excavated more than ? Columbian mammoths and two wooly mammoths. They've preserved a lot of the fragile bones in place (they're mineralized, but not petrified), built a building over the entire site to protect it all and set up a walkway and guide so you can see what you're looking at. In addition to a lot of tusks, there are a couple almost complete skeletons! Then to Wind Cave National Monument, where we had time for a short hike with beautiful views of the prairie before our cave tour. Very interesting formations. It's a dry cave, so instead of stalactites and stalagmites, it was popcorn and boxwork. And more bison...

Started out with a local history museum and a visit to the Occidental Hotel. This beautifully restored hotel has had a number of famous guests from Butch Cassidy tio Teddy Roosevelt.  Next the Mountain Meadow Wool Mill. This small mill is helping restore sheep farming in the area, and does the white thing from raw fleece to beautiful yarn and some finished products such as a small range of sweaters, gloves, hats. You can your the factory. Since it's Saturday, we could see the machines, but there wasn't much happening. Next Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site. Interesting talk with the ranger, but cut out walk around the site short because it got extremely windy and started raining (and there isn't actually anything left to see as the fort was abandoned by the military because it cost too much and then completely destroyed by the Indians. And then: Devil's Tower National Monument. Fortunately the storms had passed by so we were actually able to walk around the rather st...

Started by visiting Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. It turns out that today is the anniversary of the battle, so there was a reenactment going on. That wasn't really close enough to watch, but we found the story very interesting, and are pleased to see a real effort to give Native Americans the opportunity to tell their side of things. For example, there are now markers for native graves, and a monument with quotes from the leaders of the different tribes that were involved. Then drove through the Big Horn Mountains. Spectacular drive and stop for Shell Falls. Then more dinosaurs. Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite is a site with a huge number of dinosaur tracks. The tracks were amazingly clear, and at this site you can walk among/on them (though they request rubber soles). I'm guessing they'll stop that soon. I hope so as it seems impossible to preserve then if lots of people are walking on them. For now, though, it is an interesting getting to walk where dinosaurs...

Started the day with a visit to Pictograph Cave State Park. It's a beautiful place, but the pictographs are really hard to see. Some are hidden by a layer of minerals on top, some are really faint, parts have eroded, etc. but still really interesting to see. The figures are quite different than we saw in the southwest. The photo is of a rockfall just last year! That part of the trail is closed. Next stop was the Western Heritage Center. It's a small museum, but we got to hear a talk about bats and later in the day for a guided walk around an interesting part of Billings. In between the bats and the walking tour, we visited another interesting small museum called the Yellowstone County Museum. Some fantastic beadwork and also an interesting exhibit about different kinds of sidesaddles (and how Montana women led the way in getting rid of them). Dinner at a cider mill. We don't know anything about cider, but the waitress asked what we liked for beer and wine, and brought us tw...

Started out by visiting the last of the five museums at the Buffalo Bill Center, the natural history museum. It was beautifully done, using a ramp to simulate moving through the habitats at different altitudes. First stop after that was the Japanese camp where 14,000 were imprisoned during WWII. Although we knew the history of this shameful time already, It was an interesting presentation of some of the personal stories.  Next stop was Chief Plenty Coups State Park. Chief Plenty Coups was able to lead the Crow Nation to find a path that worked with the United States. As a result, the Crow people were able to stay on their native lands. The photo is of the log house that Chief Plenty Coups built himself and his wife when he decided to become a farmer. Inspired by George Washington, he decided to donate his house and land to the people.

Spent the day at the Buffalo Bill Center for the West. It's a group of five excellent museums. Only one is actually about Buffalo Bill, who turns out to be quite interesting. His thinking became quite progressive: he paid everyone doing the same job in his wild west show the same regardless of gender, race, etc., actively supported women's suffrage and more. The museum of the plains Indians was also excellent. Tons of amazing beadwork, for adorning horses as well as people. The one on guns didn't do so much for us... We got to sample beans and biscuits, chuckwagon style. In the picture, the pot you can see into is the beans. The dutch oven with charcoal on the lid has sourdough biscuits inside. Yum! In the evening, we went to the rodeo! It was interesting, but we felt really sorry for the broncos and the bulls. We think so the animals are used to it, because they all knew where the gates were too leave the arena. Maybe not much different than football except the animals don...

Spent most of the day at Yellowstone. More thermal features, but most impressive today were waterfalls and Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Then we stopped at Pahaska Teepee (Teepee men's lodge). This was a lodge built by Buffalo Bill Cody as a hunting lodge and place to host guests. Only bison today for wildlife, but there was one large herd with a bunch of babies including one suckling. Unfortunately, too far away for good pictures.

Started the day with an early drive "around the block"--62 miles that supposedly offered great wildlife viewing. We did see an osprey's nest complete with osprey, but either the other animals were sleeping in our out definition of early isn't early enough. It was beautiful, though. Rest of the day at Yellowstone looking at springs, geysers and wandering around thermal areas. The colors are interesting-- the orange is from a microbe mat that forms in the hot water. The blue has to do with the way the minerals in the water refract the light. Plus, we got a shower from Old Faithful. Too bad it was cold out-- the water was cool, but the air was quite cold! Only one bison today...

Started the day at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, a non-profit wildlife rescue organization that has animals that can't be returned to the world for various reasons. Grizzlies and wolves, obviously, but also some river otters, and raptors. It was well done (and served the purpose of getting us into Yellowstone later in the day (less crowded). Wonderful day in Yellowstone. Our favorite was the travertine terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs, but we also liked the Steamboat Geyser same the bubbling pools that get amazing colors. We didn't manage to get pictures but we saw two black bears (one with a couple cubs), several groups of bison (one with a baby, and one ambling down the middle of the road) and two Sandhill Cranes. Dinner was a smoked brisket sandwich. Smoked on the premises, and with their own bbq sauce. Apparently it's customary to eat onion and pickles on such a sandwich. It was really good, both the meat itself and with the opinion and pickle. Yum! ...

Started with a nice local history museum in Driggs. Mostly about pioneers and ranching, somehow it was nice to see some well-worn and obvious much-loved saddles. Also a list of how many lashes kids got for various misbehaviors as well as rules for the teachers. Of course, women lost their job if they married. (For those missing rock pictures, it's there--the water is flowing over volcanic tuff.) Then went to both Lower and Upper Mesa Falls. The lower falls were beautiful, but the upper falls truly spectacular. Dinner was delicious: elk ravioli in a wild mushroom sauce.

Spent the day at Grand Tetons National Park. No wildlife today except a very cute chipmunk and a garter snake, but we did get a nice hike with a beautiful waterfall and, of course, spectacular views of the mountains.

What an amazing day. Started with a hike in Darby Canyon, on the west side of the mountains. Beautiful: meadows, wildflowers, creeks, waterfalls (and a few rocks :) ). Then for a guided wildlife tour of Grand Tetons National Park. We got super lucky. Our house knew not only his animals but also his flowers and other plants. It was the animals, though, that were amazing and we were extremely lucky to see: bison, pronghorn antelope, beaver, a 25 year-old mama grizzly bear with her cubs, elk, and moose--basically all the big mammals that are present in the park now! And then there are the mountains...

Long but interesting drive today to Driggs, Idaho (because it's relatively best Grand Teton National Park). The most interesting part was driving out through Flaming Gorge, this time paying attention to the rock formations which had handy signs telling you what they were and what kinds of fossils would be found in them. The rocks inn the picture are Morrison Formation, and about 145 million years old. The next part of the drive was through Wyoming high desert, mostly interesting because it's so vast. Then over the beautiful but very steep Teton pass and on to Driggs.

Back to rocks this time with dinosaur bones in them! Dinosaur National Monument is great despite the 100 degree temperature! Quarry Hall was the highlight--a huge wall of stone with the bones partially excavated so you could see how them in place. These are from the Jurassic period (149 million years ago). There were places you could see bones and other fossils on the trails, and also quite a few pictographs from the Fremont peoples. We also saw the cabin of Josie Bassett Morris. She was a remarkable woman who homesteaded when she was 40, built the cabin herself and lived there until she was 89. She was arrested and acquitted twice for cattle rustling!

Mostly a travel day, but we had time to drive through the spectacular Flaming Gorge area, and stop at the Red Canyon Visitor Center for a short walk and to admire the views of the Green River reservoir and, of course, the rocks. They carded us at dinner to make sure we're old enough to drink! Haven't had that happen in donkey's years. (Turns out they just check everyone's ID to maker it easier on the wait staff.)

No rocks today! Spent the day at the Wyoming Territorial Prison historic site, a restored prison from 1872. Butch Cassidy for to spend 18 months here. The site was interesting, but they also had a bunch of special activities going on today like a talk about raptors (with help from a golden eagle, a red tailed hawk and a great horned owl). The helpers had been rescued but we're injured such that they can't be released. The photo shows Henry pulling apart an owl regurgitation to figure out what the owl had been eating. In this case, the owl had been busy as there were bones from mice, voles, shrews and more. Locally crafted beer had gotten very popular here, with 5 breweries within a couple blocks of each other in the historic downtown area of Laramie. Fortunately this is a short walk to put motel. Henry's is stout: mine a Scottish style red ale. Mine isn't really any bigger. Yum! To go with it, we had a bison panini and a kale salad. More yum! ...

Said goodbye to Boulder and headed north to Cheyenne, where we visited the Wyoming State Museum and the newly restored state capitol building. We only managed to see one of the boots that are scattered sayings Cheyenne The Capitol is quite beautiful (fossils in the floor tiles that, of course, are local stone. Happened to meet to governor who insisted on showing us some of the interesting portraits in the building and talk a bit about Wyoming history. Quite a treat, and needless to say, totally unexpected. Maybe our bring there late on Friday afternoon meant he wasn't as busy as usual--there was hardly anyone in the building. Took timefor a hike at Vedauwoo before going on to Laramie for the night. More spectacular, big rocks! 

Today was mostly about dinosaur tracks and fossils. Dinosaur It's an area of Jurassic age fossils that was "discovered" on the 1870's. There were fossilized chunks of dinosaur bone and tracks showing adults and juveniles moving along what was a shoreline. Also rocks showing clearly that they had been underwater--fossilized ripples in the stone. Very helpful that they use charcoal to make it easier to see the footprints without damaging them. Then a quick visit to red rocks amphitheater (more beautiful, spectacular rocks), and a pleasant walk around Coot Lake.

Started the day with a nice hike at Eldorado Canyon-- more spectacular rocks! Home for a lunch and lazy afternoon. Perfect. Then dinner with some Scandi dancing friends. So nice to see a whole group of friends for the first time since Covid started more than a year ago (ok, a small group--total of 8 of us--but still huge).

Morning hike in Frisco, then a beautiful drive over the Continental Divide via Loveland Pass. I know I'm overusing the superlatives in this blog, but we really are seeing so many spectacular places!  Got to our friends Jim and Sandy with time for dinner and a nice neighborhood walk. Since the altitude is "only" 5,430 ft., no panting was required!

Multiple hikes/excursions today. Hike 1 was up to Rainbow Lake. Beautiful (of course). Excursion 2 was too see Isak Heartstone, a sculpture in Breckenridge. This is how trolls are in the Colorado mountains! Hike 2 was an overlook above Lake Dillon. Nap, then walk to town for dinner. Lynn and Flip surprised us be arranging a rickshaw ride home (electric bike). It's a brand new business started by a friend of theirs--and was a blast!

Started the day with a lovely hike up above Lake Dillon. The views with the surrounding mountains are just spectacular. The sad part is the number of trees killed by bark beetles and by fire--and not enough snow on the mountains. Interesting visit to the historical museum, which is really a collection of buildings from Frisco's pioneer and mining past (nothing other than passing mention of the Ute people who were displaced). The name of the town Frisco, differently comes from the name of the railroad: San Fr ancisco-St. Lou is Railroad Co .