On the Road: Part Four

 The drive from Cody to Yellowstone wasn't long at all. And it was beautiful. 

Himself took hundreds and hundreds of photos. I didn't.

When we first got to Rapid City, we bought a super-cheap old-fashioned styrofoam cooler and some pre-made salads, fruit, and beverage. Most of the days we ate breakfast and dinner at the inns and lunch in the car or at a picnic table as we traveled, stopping a time or two to refresh the cooler's contents. All of the inns had ice available.

One day we had lunch with this audacious crow and didn't think twice about breaking the taboo against meal-sharing. The crow was very pleased with the snack mix we offered him.

Once we got to Yellowstone, we started seeing wildlife in abundance again. It wasn't the least bit unusual for the buffalo to be right along the edge of the road or even ambling down the center of the road. You can see by the car mirror how close this fellow came to us. 

We did not offer him any snack mix.

We spent two nights at Yellowstone's Lake Lodge, an immense building that was filled with old-world elegance. It reminded me of something out of The Great Gatsby era. Dinner reservations were a must. We arrived at 3:30 in the afternoon, to learn that check-in time was 4:30. So we settled into the spacious lobby and played with our phones and looked out the windows, and then at 4:30 were told that the room wasn't ready yet. I had mentioned in a previous post that our trip took place in what was apparently the week before "the season" began, and there were snags. At this place, the snag had to do with either insufficient maids or maids that didn't do an efficient job. The desk clerk kept going to check on rooms and reporting that it wouldn't be much longer. At 6:15 I drew his attention to the fact that our dinner reservation was in thirty minutes, that check-in time had been about two hours ago, and that we had been waiting for nearly three. He apologized yet again, this time offering to comp our dinner for us. The room turned out to be very, very nice and the dinner even nicer. Under the circumstances, we didn't see any need to skimp on what we ordered!

 Beautiful animals everywhere, again, often so close to the road that you felt as though you could just go get really well acquainted!

And another photo of the dangerous specimen who was my travel companion, this time checking out some wild flowers.

On The Road: Part Three

 After our two nights at Spearfish, it was time to get back on the road. This was going to be a long travel day; our destination was Cody, Wyoming, and a Holiday Inn rather than a historic inn.

With different scenery, too.

Unfortunately, this wasn't a fabric shop, but with such a terrific name, it warranted a photo.

Not as much wildlife this day, either.

On the Road: Part Two

After our three nights at Custer, it was time to get on the road again. There were other destinations! Not far away was Spearfish Canyon, and we took our time getting there. Our home was to be Spearfish Canyon Lodge, a beautiful, elegantly rustic place with a lovely lobby, immense fireplace, and spacious rooms. We found a stuffed buffalo toy waiting for us on our bed, available for purchase in the gift shop.

 Our room was on the second floor, not far from the hot tub which we enjoyed on our first evening. 

Spearfish is located about midway between Deadwood and Lead. We didn't have any particular interest in either town, but thought we should put in an appearance. Deadwood was full of casinos, but we did find a fine, old-fashioned saloon for dinner (I like fine, old-fashioned saloons). There was the requisite sawdust on the floor and an appropriately rough-looking clientele, but when we said we wanted dinner, we were sent upstairs to the "social club," where, unfortunately, the waitresses were wearing traditional garb rather than the corsets I'd anticipated. Atmosphere to the contrary, the walleye was delicious!

The next morning Joe got up early and went out to lie in a gulch to wait for animal sightings while I had the good sense to sleep in, enjoy the lobby area, and catch up on postcards.

Upon his return, we were off to Lead, home of a museum dedicated to the gold mining era. Our guide there, like every other guide we met on this trip, was knowledgable and personable and I enjoyed the mining museum much more than I had anticipated, despite some of the dangerous individuals in the area.