Marion's Blog

Summer 2010 Road Trip - Day 4 -Buffalo Wyoming to the Black Hills of South Dakota

Coming down into Buffalo, Wyoming through the mountains the terrain looked like Switzerland with snow covered peaks and green meadows full of wild flowers. Everyone has been telling us how lucky we have been with the weather. Apparently they had a dry winter until May which was very wet and gray. Now everything is verdant and green with streams full of water. We have had lots of sun and blue sky.

After spending the night in Buffalo we drove to Devil's Tower National Monument. The remains of an old volcano core towers 1200 plus feet above the surrounding terrain. It was a beautiful warm day and we hiked the 1.3 mile trail around the tower.

 

We also stopped to take pictures of the prairie dog town off the road on the way out.

 

We have been stopping most days to fix a picnic lunch at some scenic spot. Our lunch stop on Wednesday was particularly nice.

 

Wednesday night we camped in a beautiful campground by a lake in the Black Hills. About midnight we were awakened by wind, lightening, thunder, and a torrential downpour. I really though the tent might be shredded and blow away but we held our ground and the tent kept us dry.

Teton National Park to Buffalo Wyoming

My husband Duke and I are on a four week road trip through the mid-western part of the U.S. We will be in Manchester Iowa for his High School reunion the first part of July. We spent our second night out camping in Grand Teton National park. On day 3, last Tuesday we drove from the Tetons to Buffalo, Wyoming.

We stayed at the Occidental Hotel which I found mentioned in Sunset magazine. We stayed in the Herbert Hoover room which is where former president Herberrt Hoover stayed for a while. Lots of other interesting people stayed there over the years too including Butch Cassidy.

We had a great dinner at their restaurant and really enjoyed the museum in Buffalo.

If you would like to see all of my pictures from the trip they are on Flickr here.

Summer RoadTrip - Day 2 Salt Lake City to the Tetons

Duke and I are on road trip back to his high school reunion in Iowa. We are making a point of stopping to see old friend and relatives along the way.  Before we left Salt lake we had breakfast with family that we went fishing with last year. It was fun. From Salt Lake we headed north east into Wyoming to Fossil Butte National Monument. They are renovating the visitor center and adding a time line along the railing around the center. It It really gave me a perspective on how old the earth is and how little of that time we have been here. The fossils inside were impressive too and we got to see a ranger working with a tiny drill and a microscope to expose a fossil fish.

 

From Fossil Butte we drove to the Tetons and camped for the night. When I was a kid my family used to spend a week in the summer camping in Grand Teton National Park. My Mother who grew up in the Canadian Rockies loved the Tetons. On one family trip my Dad climbed the Grand Teton. I think they are the most beautiful mountains in the world It was a great time to be there. The camp ground wasn't full and the weather was wonderful.

I am behind on updating this blog for our trip. My excuse is that we haven't had internet every day. If you would like to see all the pictures from the trip they are available on Flickr here.

Summer 2010 Road Trip day 1 - Reno to Salt Lake City

Today we started our summer toad trip. Summer road trips have become something of a tradition with Duke and me. This year we are headed to Iowa with lots of detours along the way to see friends, visit sites and find new back roads.

Day 1, yesterday we drove from Reno To Salt lake City. It is a long drive on interstate 80 (about 530 miles) We drove through Nevada's spectacular scenery for much of the trip. The last 150 miles or so are in Utah.

Just 4 miles from the Nevada Utah border on the Utah side we stopped at Bonneville Salt flats the site of Bonneville International Speedway. Right now the site is under water. Apparently that is why the flats are so ideal for setting land speed records. During the winter and spring the miles and miles of salt are washed flat by the water so that by August when all the water has evaporated the course is absolutely flat and dry. It was a cool site. You couldn't see the horizon. The shimmering water merged with the sky in the distance and the mountains and their reflections seemed to float. We stopped a the end of the road which was surrounded by water, had lunch, and took some pictures.

As we drove into downtown Salt Lake City for dinner it was pouring rain. By the time it had finished the sun was setting, the rain had stopped and it was perfect walking weather. We walked through the area that has the Mormon temple and all the headquarter buildings for the Church. The gardens were beautiful and the buildings were spectacular. It of course is totally different but it reminded me of the Vatican in that it is the center of a large world wide religion.

From Temple square we walked a few blocks up hill to the state capital. It has to be one of the biggest and most imposing state capitals I have ever visited. The view of the sunset and the city from the capital was stunning. We walked around the building and enjoyed the gardens and the rain washed view. It was a perfect end to a perfect day.

If you would like to see all my pictures from our summer 2010 road trip they I will be adding them to Flickr in a set which you can see by clicking here. Day one pictures are there now. Tonight our plan is to be in the Tetons camping.