We got back to the motorhome a bit after 12:30, and we were both asleep before 1:00 am. The problem was we had a bus trip Thursday morning to Banff at 8:00 am! After 5 hours sleep, we got up, drank our coffee, groggily took showers, and generally got ready for the day. I was still feeling quite poorly, and my Achilles’ tendon was killing me! I took all my meds, and tried to bluff my way through, but I wasn’t very successful. We will have to come back when we are on our own.
First impressions of Banff is that it is really, really crowded in the middle of July! We did a classic bus tour with “stop at major tourist place, snap a few pictures, get back on the bus, and go to the next picture spot” type of trip. Not my normal style, but Banff was truly amazingly gorgeous.
We started with another fabulous buffet lunch at the Gondola ride. They were having issues with their credit card reader, so I am really glad we picked up some Canadian cash to buy post cards. Based on the lines and distances involved plus my issue with heights, we didn’t do the gondola ride itself.
Our next stop was Lake Louise. What more can be said about this incredible place?
The lake is fed by the glacier in the middleThey rent canoes for $145/hr!I have no idea what the Voyageur canoes rented for!Better picture of the glacier
Then it was on to Lake Moraine.
Not much of a glacier anymore.Logs jammed the lake outletBanff beautySee the people above the rock pile?
The bus then dropped us off downtown Banff. I was feeling even worse by now, and my foot was killing me. I just found a shady spot and just sat for the 3 hours we had in town. Banff is just a huge, upscale tourist town. It reminded me of Aspen more than anything else. Lots and lots of people, tshirt shops, upscale tourist clothing shops, and lots of candy shops. One of the classic Banff foods is a Beavertail – a piece of fry bread drizzled with some chocolate. I love fry bread, but the line was almost a block long! Kevin did buy some chocolate truffles that were fabulous and a sack of frozen peas for me to use as an ice pack! Finally we were on our way back to the campground, and we got home around 7:30.
The next day we traveled to Rocky Mountain House. More on that later.
Our tour had 2 days of tickets to the Calgary Stampede. We started on Tuesday morning with a bus ride downtown for breakfast in Rope Square. It is a tradition that “Traveler”pancakes be served during Stampede. A Traveler is a pancake that has bacon and syrup added as it cooks. It is then served in a simple napkin that serves the role of plate, cutlery, and finger cleaner! It was fun.
Gorgeous flower pots were hanging all around the square.Red flowers show while the old time wagons, all original from many years ago, lined up for a display.We had character company too.They even had music! How can a band perform at 8:30 am?
After breakfast our bus picked us up to visit the Calgary Tower. My height phobia just wasn’t going for that, so we just met the rest of the crowd after they went up. I did get an interesting picture of the contrast in Calgary architecture! This is a old bank building juxtaposed with a very modern apartment/office building. And yes, the new building really does look that angled! As the floors go up, the width of the building decreases and the window angles change.
Old and new
We got to the Stampede in time for lunch before the rodeo, but it was miserably hot.We also had to walk well over a mile to get to the Grandstand, and my Achilles’ tendon and my scoliosis were both having a fit by the time we made it. To call the Stampede “just a fancy rodeo” does it a HUGE injustice. It is more like a major state fair with all kinds of vendors and a big Midway. They have all kinds of other activities too like Indigenous dancers and a pow wow, dog agility type displays, etc. However I was far too miserable, sore, and HOT to enjoy any of it. Our seats were good ones, close to the center and not high, but we were in full sun on a 90+ day. I gave up and found a shady spot to stay in. Sadly, even though the rodeo performers were top of their game, I am just not that fond of rodeo! I did like the entry though.
Always love bands!
We got home, and I took some meds. I gradually began to feel a bit better, but Kevin had to work to convince me to go back on Wednesday. We did by-pass the main rodeo itself, but we took in the dinner, chuck wagon races, pony relays, and the evening Extravaganza and fireworks.
One thing I will say about Adventure Caravans is they get some outstanding buffets! We at at the grandstand, and this time the bus driver parked close instead of at the other side of the grounds! I would not have gone otherwise. It definitely was worth it, even in some pain. Note some of the pictures are taken in the evening, and the only way I could do it was to take a picture of the display screen.
Of course there was a bandChuck wagons lined upAnd we’re off. They have to circle the barrels then go around the track.Close race!Down the stretch. There are riders involved too.
Between heats they had other activities while they reset the track.
Some fabulous dancers were there including this hoop dancer.
Finally it was time for the evening show. They bring in the entire set behind a huge tracked Case tractor. The wings with the screen expand. There are other screens on the far sides too.
The stage from where were
After an opening ceremony (I am learning the words to “O Canada!”), a couple of country western groups played. Then they transitioned to a large number of dancers, some as young as 8-9.
Lots of dancers
There were drones taking pictures and they were projected on the big screens. I particularly like this backlit skyline showing a lot of the Stampede grounds lit up.
Drones caught this picture of the Stampede grounds and the Calgary skylineGorgeous moonrise too
Prior to full darkness they had some other acts. I particularly like the rope tricks.
Rope tricks with fireYes, he really was on the ground with the burning rope above him
And then there were more dance groups trying to steal our attention but totally losing it to the fireworks! They were truly as spectacular as you can ever imagine. They went on and on.
Fireworks snapshotScreenshot of things my camera couldn’t catch
When everything was over, it was 11:30 and I was dead on my feet. The bus picked us up and brought us back to the campground around 12:30.
Before I leave the Stampede, a few summary notes about Calgary. It is a very urban city with thousands of apartments and offices in massive towers everywhere you look. I always judge how urban a community is by the size of the parking spots at a store, and the ones in Calgary would have trouble with big SUVs let alone pickups! Traffic isn’t too bad (for a big city), and there are buses and light rail all over the place. It is an incredibly diverse place too. Bike and pedestrian trails all over, and a lovely river front is maintained nicely. If it wasn’t for the awful winter weather, I could be convinced to live there.
I actually have decent campground WiFi for a bit, so I thought I would summarize our experiences with Canada’s random COVID testing process. I will update this post as we learn more, because it is an evolving saga!
Canada reserves the right to randomly choose border crossing folk for a PCR COVID test. If you are selected you are supposed to take the test within 24 hours of crossing the border. It makes great sense to me. We crossed the border Saturday, and nothing was said about it. Normal, right? Wrong!
On Tuesday, four entire days after we entered Canada, I got an email telling me someone in my party had been selected for the entry test. It didn’t even tell us whether it was Kevin or me. Sigh. And since the process is really much more oriented to air travelers of Canadians returning home, the instructions were pretty meaningless for RVers like us. It took two long phone calls to figure out what we were supposed to do. We needed to provide an address for a kit to be sent via Canada Post, planned for 5-7 days in the future. We are here in Calgary until Friday, then we spend 3 nights at Rocky Mountain House, so I gave them the RMH address. It confused the poor man on the phone so much because it is a very, very, very rural address! (Has anyone else ever seen an “house” number of of 400,009? I added the comma for readability. Yup, that is part of the street address of our campground.)
So I think I have everything settled, though it is still iffy whether we get the test in time. And, of course, the night after RMH is boondocking with no address. Then today (Wednesday) I get a call from Canadian Public Health, automated, informing us (finally) that Kevin was the lucky random testee. Also part of the call was “Did you take the test with it 24 hours?” No. “Why not?” Luckily, “No one told me,” was the second alternative given. The call ended with Kevin being told to call the lab which we did yesterday. Sigh. Oh the trials of international travel in COVID times. Oh, and we have at least 3, maybe 4, people in our tour group of around 40 that have COVID right now!
I normally wouldn’t post back to back like this, but we are spending the next 2 days at the Calgary Stampedes, and I think that post might be overloaded!
We got into our campground, Calgary West, just after 11:00, and it was a riot trying to get all these big rigs parked in a old, cramped, unlevel campground. It was definitely not designed for 40+’ long RVs with slides on both sides. However it is the only campground in the city limits. After (almost) everyone was parked, we collected for a car pool to the Alberta Heritage Center. I was only lukewarm, and I was, again, thrilled with the venue.
There is a semi-modern section when you arrive, and we started looking at cars from the early 1900s through the 1920s in their automobile exhibit. There were dozens of fancy roadsters.
But I was amazed at the number of fully restored and operational work vehicles.
Oil delivery truckA basic delivery vanAnother oil truckThey even let people get in some of the trucks
I found it interesting that they use period trucks to deliver workers and goods when guests are in the facility.
Note the period clothing too
After we left the automobile area, we visited the main area of the 1910s or so. Lots and lots of buildings plus lots of docents and guest workers in period costume. This is only a small number of the buildings in this section.
The Wainright Hotel was THE place to beThe bank had a second floor access to be used to shoot robbers!An impressive town hallThe local Mountie talked to us a whileWe got a coupon for a free ice cream cone as part of our admission.
We only spent time in one other era, the Settlement. This represented the period of fur trading by the Hudson Bay Company.
There was a clerk at the Hudson Bay officesAnd there had to be a church of courseThe sauna was an unexpected additionShows the tradition from early settlement to more modern times
The facility covers dozens of acres. There is an old-time amusement park, a farm, and so many other beautiful things. We both said we wanted to come back on another trip, but hopefully on a cooler day.
The next two days we will be at the Calgary Stampede. Long days so I don’t expect time to post. We are on another long day the third day sightseeing some of the classic Banff National Park locations on a bus tour. Not the way I would have gone if we did it on our own (we would probably have spent 3 days!), but it will be a sampler. At least I can sleep on the bus on the way back!
Data on my cell phone is restricted to 0.5GB a day, so I will have to be cautious with how many pictures I post. I took a lot more than I put here!
We left Great Falls headed to Sweetgrass/Coutts to cross the border early on Saturday morning. The drive was uneventful, and we arrived at 10:45. There was a long line of 10+ vehicles and only one border agent processing us. Finally another lane opened, and after a few brief questions by a very nice border agent (“Do you have guns, cannabis, mace?”) we were on our way in 30 minutes. There is a huge truck parking/rest area immediately after the border where we had lunch. Then we headed to our first stop, Cardston, AB. We took Hwy 502 for most of the drive, and souther Alberta is GORGEOUS! There are gently rolling hills covered with knee high prairie grass interspersed with yellow canola and purple alfalfa fields all against a back drop of snow covered craggy mountains.
Hwy 501 from north of Coutts
We got into our campground, Lee Creek, and went to pick up Canadian currency and groceries at the closest grocery store. You can’t take fruits of vegetables into Canada from the US, so we stocked up. Then we went to the Remington Carriage Museum which was amazing. They have the largest collection of horse drawn carriages in the world with about 350 in the current collection. We got a nice carriage ride around the grounds as part of our tour, but, sadly, my pictures of the horses and carriage didn’t work out.
The man who started the collection was a local rancher who obviously had time on his hands. He started with a single horse drawn sleigh for a Christmas parade and fully restored it. After that he was hooked. He willed 50 carriages, all restored by him, to the province of Alberta who agreed to build a museum and bring in other carriages stored in other museums. Here is a sampling of the museum.
this was an inexpensive csrriage, $20. It came in a box as pictured on the left.
A quality doctor’s csrriage.
And then there were the really fancy ones!
Carriages were literally stacked to the ceiling. There are rows and rows of storage like this.
The legendary Conestoga wagons were also represented.
As were heavy wagons for hauling.
And I added this one for my daughter in law who works for John Deere. It is a McCormick broadcast seeder next to a school bus. I didn’t see any John Deere rigs.
We left on Sunday for Fort MacLeod and Rivers Edge campground. Along the way we stopped at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police museum which is located in the historic Fort MacLeod. It was an optional stop for our caravan, but it was well worth the 2 hours we spent there. Not only was the museum interesting, presenting both the history of the Mounties and giving this newbie a good overview of the settlement of western Canada.
This is the current fort recreation. A number of the buildings still are of primarily original construction, but they have had newer pieces added for repairs.
And here is a diorama of the old fort.
They also have something they call “The Musical Ride” which was 7 riders doing cavalry drills of all types while music played in the background. It wasn’t as crazy as it sounds. While posted at what was then the edge of civilization in a harsh climate, the Mounties used advanced cavalry drills for competition and recreation. Setting the work to music just made it more fun. The riders are local youngsters from the ages of 13 to 20.
We got set up at our campground and went as a group to Heads-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, a UNESCO World Heritage Center. Another great place that totally exceeded my expectations. We had a local Indian docent who discussed the native tribes and their way of life, watched a very well produced movie about how an entire tribe would cooperate to drive the buffalo over the jump, and how they would then cooperatively butcher the animals, using every piece from head to tail. Almost nothing went to waste. I can hardly imagine the amount of work it took to completely process 100-300 buffalo within the 2-3 days with stone and bone tools, but they did it. This particular jump was used for nearly 6000 years, and the last kill was only in the mid 1800s meaning the lore was still in oral tradition. Oh, and the views were as open as any I have ever seen!
The top bluff was where the jump was made.
And those views!
We move again on Monday to Calgary and the Calgary Stampede.
We moved to Great Falls, MT. The campground has new owners who call it “Great Falls RV Park”, but all the signs still say “Dick’s RV Park”. It isn’t bad – lots of pull through with decent gravel sites and grass between sites. Plenty long enough even for the really big rigs.
This is the last of our Lewis and Clark trail sites on this trip. We had originally planned on doing the Yellowstone River section of their trip, but that all went by the wayside with the Yellowstone floods. We have pretty much done entire trail except for that, though it has been across a few separate years. This time we visited the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center just downstream from the Black Eagle Falls, one of the few parts of the falls still visible. Most of the multiple falls Lewis and Clark experienced are under the waters backed up by dams. It was a standard but very nice experience. We have seen similar exhibits in the other museums and centers along the way, so I didn’t take pictures. I think one of the best sections of exhibits was about Sacajawea and what it meant to be a native woman in her time.
Across the river was the remnants of a huge smelter. Only the mill channel and the foundations were left, but it was impressive.
Black Eagle Smelter ruins with mill race
The falls themselves were still impressive, though only a fraction of their original size. That is some hard rock!
Dam with mill channel at upper right
There we’re lots of little islands even with the water at a pretty high level. Gulls had take over most of them. I wish I had taken a video so you could hear them, but I only have this (very poor) iPhone picture. You will have to use very sharp eyes to tell the difference between the rocks and the gulls, but they really are there!
Can you see the gulls?
And then I got this adorable picture of Minnie and Luna cuddling again! This little bathroom rug is Minnie’s favorite spot, and Luna decided to check it out too. It was just after I had washed and dried it, so I think they liked the fluffiness of the rug.
Cuddling on the world’s best rug (according to Minnie at least)
We are also doing last minute preparations for the Canada crossing. We filled up the car with fuel, bought groceries, and did some (never-ending) laundry. The Adventure Caravans “Tailgunner” came by to go through a checklist for our motorhome. He checked tires, asked when we had last had full service, status of spares (fuel filters, water separation filter, serpentine belt, DEF), and we passed. It would actually be hard not to pass since they sent us the checklist in advance, but I guess some people do.
We had our first official meeting with our Adventure Caravan crew. There are 19 rigs traveling as guests plus a Wagonmaster (in overall charge, always heads out first, arrives at destination first) and a Tailgunner (last in the group, helps with any issues on the road). We are a diverse group – mostly couples from all over the US plus a couple from Belgium and Venezuela, a few singles, one family of 3, motorhomes of various types and sizes from 45’ to a Class B, fifth wheels, and travel trailers. All seem to be retired which makes sense with the time of year and the length of the trip, but ages range from just under 60 to 80+. I still have some concerns about how much “togetherness” we will be expected to have. I like my privacy too! I am definitely looking forward to the trip.
We left the Black Hills on Monday, 27 June. We scored a great dry camping spot at De Smet Lake between Buffalo and Sheridan. We spent 3 nights there, sitting right next to the lake. It was a lovely change from all the commercial campgrounds we have been in. It was also the first time we have been without hookups on this entire trip! We did need some generator time for AC on two days, but it was pretty simple except that. Since we are finally in the mountains, we had to have mountain pictures!
See the snow capped mountains? Near Buffalo.Look carefully for more snowThe views were lovely even without snow
We saw at least 100 pronghorns, but this was the only picture I got. It isn’t very good, still being from a distance and cropped a lot, but at least it does show a pronghorn.
Probably a nice male all by himself
We left De Smet and went to the KOA at Hardin, MT. They had a tornado her not too long ago, and the campground still shows the effects. It wasn’t in great shape before, but the owners have been so busy recovering from the storm that a lot of routine maintenance has been deferred. Still not a bad place to stay the night. It was amazingly quiet.
We took a trip to the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area south of Hardin almost to Wyoming. The area is lovely with a large flat area for farming and a canyon where the Bighorn River runs. There is one big dam and a smaller dam, both to supply power. The smaller one also acts as silt control for the blue ribbon fishery on the Bighorn. The impounded river is more like a wide river set into a deep canyon. Next time we come through I want to rent a pontoon boat and drive it up the canyon. It would be a gorgeous trip.
The Bighorn damThe immediate downriver dam for power and silt controlPretty nice marina!
We are now in the Helena, MT KOA. The trip here was unusually busy, but then again it WAS the Friday before the Independence Day holiday! It seemed like all of Montana was on the move in RVs, cars, and SUVs. There was every type of outdoor gear imaginable – tents, OHVs, boats, etc. We stopped at the rest area in Bozeman, and traffic to get on I-90 was backed up almost a mile! I think people are so excited to get out they are going no matter how bad the fuel gets. As we went through Billings I finally got the motorhome washed. It was past dirty. And then we got 8 miles of gravel an hour later. Sigh. My pretty motorhome looks awful again. An hour past the gravel section our windshield got a big divot from a rock! We were 30 minutes from Helena, but too late for Safelite there. We ended up arranging to have it fixed in Great Falls next week.
As we pulled into the Helena campground, I got this adorable picture of both cats sleeping together. They aren’t usually cuddly with each other even though they are sisters, but this was so cute!
Luna is in Minnie’s favorite travel spot
Luna is normally on Kevin’s lap during travel while Minnie is almost always in this specific chair. She definitely prefers this specific quilt too. The picture is a bit misleading about their relative sizes. Minnie is actually significantly smaller than Luna.
Today we went on a scenic boat tour through Gates of the Mountains, named by Lewis and Clark as they came through on the Missouri. The area is part of the Missouri River dam system now, so the very narrow entrance is partially hidden by water these days. It was a fabulous trip, almost 2 hours long, with a great captain. He gave lots of information about the history, the geology, and the flora and fauna. Here is a picture dump.
A lot of the area around the marina is gently rollingBut then the bluffs startSee the eagle nest?This boat was built in the 1950s, but we went in the modern version with a roof.Gorgeous viewsMostly limestone cliffs with lots of caves and crevassesAn unusual eagle nest on a rock. It was stolen from an osprey a few years previously. See the babies?Do you see the tow boat?Imagine the water 20’ lower. This is the “gate” the explorers sawMix of Ponderosa pines and Douglas firSee the tiny window?
I actually took about 80 pictures, but that would have been a bit excessive!
We are finishing up the day with laundry and shopping, all the fascinating stuff of long term living. I admit (again) that I LOVE my stackable washer and dryer. They are smaller than home units, and the dryer takes a long time because it works on 110v. However I love not going to the laundromat and never knowing how hot the washer or dryer is.
The campground looks like Tiffin convention, and we are the small folks! There are numerous Bus and Phaeton models in the park. The folks who pulled in next to us are going on the same caravan we are, and they are headed to Great Falls on 5 July, just like us. I am betting some of the other rigs here are part of the caravan too. Guess we will find out on Tuesday.
Still in Spearfish, SD, and still at the same campsite. The resort originally said we would have to move on Friday morning, but someone else cancelled and we got to stay in this nice site. It is always nice to not have to pack everything up!
There is a nice quilt store in town, Heartfelt Quilting, where I bought the backing for the quilt I am working on. The lovely owner volunteered her shop for me to sandwich the quilt, so we went there on Friday. I got it all put together with Kevin’s help, and it is ready for quilting.
Kevin made reservations at a chick wagon dinner for Thursday evening. The name of the place is The Stables at Palmer Gulch which is actually at the KOA near Mt. Rushmore. They give you a choice of riding a horse to the site (a lovely meadow) or riding in a wagon. We chose the wagons!
There were 5 wagons each holding 20 people.These percheons were right behind us.A better view of the watonThis was our wagon after they tied up
The entertainment was enjoyable, but not very long. The food was standard chuckwagon far with steak cooked to order over a wood fire, Dutch oven potatoes, and fabulous beans. The Dutch oven fruit cobbler was a bust though! Soggy with no real crust. Still an fun evening.
The entertainment was a funny musician, a duo, and a cowboy poet
While we were getting our initial entertainment, the saddle horses that had brought some of the attendees down were released from their corral. They were quite excited to get back to their horse nuggets! They trotted and cantered away after rolling in the dust just outside the corral.
The riding horses after they were let outThey really liked rolling in the dust
As we packed up to leave, we met the riding horses and back up draft horses coming back to the meadow. This was their main pasture after their nuggets, and they seemed pretty happy about the entire thing. All of the wagon folks went back in the same wagons we came in, and the horse back riders went in their own wagon. However theirs was pulled by a John Deere tractor with a front loader attachment! It was late when we got back, and the bed felt awfully good. I still haven’t completely adjusted to the time change!
Today we took the Rimrock Scenic Byway. Another enjoyable ride! The problem was we had one tire leaking a bunch of air, so Kevin aired it up while I made an appointment at Discount Tire in Rapid City, the nearest location. We just arranged the trip so we were in Rapid City right after lunch. The worrisome thing is they didn’t find anything wrong with the tire! They did put a new valve stem in, but the old one wasn’t obviously leaking. Hope it works because I really don’t want to buy new Jeep tires! Just one picture from today, but I think it illustrates the reason for the drive’s name.
This is us at Elkhorn RV Resort. It is expensive, but the sites are lovely, as you can see. Note the wonderful steps next to the motorhome. Kevin is determined I don’t fall down the motorhome steps again! I should have taken the picture at a different angle so you could see the hills around us. Oops!
Blue skies too
You can’t stay in Spearfish and not drive the gorgeous scenic byway down Spearfish Canyon! We spent most of Wednesday in the car, but it was worth it.
Forested hills the entire wayCraggy rocks are underneath the treesVery craggy!This waterfall was right by the road
The scenery doesn’t disappoint after the byway either.
Lake Sheridan on the way to Custer State Park
You go through the old mining town of Lead, SD the way we drove. The locals pronounce is “Leed,” and it has historic sites all over the place. The Homestake Mine was the deepest and biggest gold mine in North America. It was discovered during the Black Hills gold rush of 1876, and was in production until 2002. It now serves as an underground scientific laboratory, and it was where neutrinos were discovered.
Ruins of the famous Homestake Mine mill in Lead, SD
We eventually arrived at Custer State Park. Lots of rocks, hills, and trees, and absolutely lovely.
Rocky crags similar to those of Mount Rushmore before carvingClassic Custer – trees and rocks
The most famous drive in Custer is the Neeldes Highway. It has six one lane, low narrow tunnels carved into the rock, restricting it to passenger vehicles only. You can get an idea in these two pictures.
There is a reason for the name “Needles Highway.”This is one of the bigger tunnelsViews for miles
We ate lunch at the historic State Game Lodge where Presidents Coolidge and Eisenhower spent time in the summers. They had a very nice buffet, but I had planned on one of their traditional bison burgers! The buffet was a quite acceptable alternative though. We came back through the craziness that is Keystone (just outside Mount Rushmore) and Deadwood. I try to stay away from both. I just can’t get excited about Rushmore. We have seen it, and the carvings are interesting, but I much prefer more natural sights. And Deadwood is just the definition of a tourist trap! Come to think of it, so is Keystone.
Oh, and I found a great little quilt store in Spearfish. I bought backing for my great niece’s baby quilt, and the lovely women said I could use their tables to sandwich it! Fabulous news, and I will do that on Friday.
We have to move sites tomorrow from this huge pull through site to a large back in due to their reservation mixup. I have discovered a car wash that has an oversized outside bay we are hoping to wash the motorhome in. The poor baby is absolutely filthy. So tomorrow we will move the Jeep to the new site, then take the MH for a wash. When we get back and set up, I will go sandwich my quilt.
It was just so bad in Chamberlain we decided to leave a day early. Not only was it hot, hot, hot, but an even worse wind was forecast for Tuesday. I was tired of driving a big box in heavy winds! We made reservations in Wall, SD at Sleepy Hollow RV Park. It fit the bill for a straightforward full hookup site, but no extras. However it was lovely and cool! The temperature never got above 85, a fabulous change. We actually had to turn the heat on this morning with the temps in the low 60s. Well, at least Kevin had to turn on the heat; I was doing just fine LOL!
Wall is just outside Badlands National Park, so of course we had to go for a drive. It is a lovely place, but I have never seen it so crowded! We decided we would just enjoy a drive through without stopping for much. We just wanted the basic experience, and we have been at the park probably a dozen times. It was quite relaxing. Of course I did have to get a couple of pictures of the badlands plus a flower picture.
Classic badlands photo with scary cloudsThe Yellow Mounds area is one of my favorite. No color correction – they really look like thisPrickly pear cactus flower
The scary clouds ended up a serious thunderstorm not long after we got back to the motorhome. Lightening was very visible, but we missed the worst of it. And the prickly pear was a surprise. There were hardly any flowers visible in the expansive, tall grasslands. These guys were tucked at the end of cut banks where the grass wouldn’t out compete them. The petals are like crepe paper – thin and textured.
While in Wall, one must go to Wall Drug – an absolute requirement. We bypass the tourist part and head to the restaurant for the best cake donuts I have ever had! It is a tradition with us. We also both got cups of their very weak 10 cent coffee.
Mine are the plain ones and Kevin’s are the caramel frosted ones.
We went for breakfast this morning a few minutes after 8:00, the normal time they opened. There was a sign that said they would be open today at 10:00, and this is why.
Two stream of water to tap down hot spots
This is across the street from Wall Drug, the Cactus Cafe and Lounge. A fire started around 9:00 pm, and this is what it looked like at 10:30 am. The one building is obviously a complete loss, but they saved the other buildings on the block, though the ones next door to this obviously will have significant damage. The fireman just adjusts the sprays occasionally, making sure no hot spots remain to flair up later.
We drove to Spearfish, SD, arriving at Elkhorn RV Resort just after 1:00. It took some delaying tactics to make it that late, mostly be Kevin stopping by the Cabela’s in Rapid City and just relaxing a while in their parking lot. This place is much fancier than we normally stay at, but the sites are relatively spacious and well kept. However they got our reservation confused, and we may have to move sites on Thursday. Somehow they wrote the dates down in July instead of June! We think we have things settled though, and we plan on enjoying the Black Hills, a lovely place.
