Travel99a - This page last updated September 12, 1999
June 04, 1999 to June 10, 1999
Well, early in the spring of 1999 the bug to go west got under our skin and we hopped in the
rental van in early June right after school let out and headed thata way.
The first day took
us through central Kansas and up through Colby, stopping once to play in some wildflowers
along the road and then once again to heed the call of nature, bringing us in the evening
hour to North Platte, Nebraska. The next day we headed north through the aptly named Sand Hills
(though very green with grass), lunching at Pizza Hut in Valentine, Nebraska and thence a bit
further north and west to Badlands National Park. It had been almost 10 years since I had been
there with the Martins and it did not seem a bit different. We sped on to Rapid City, S.D. and
that night there was a tremendous thunderstorm and we raced into the local Target for umbrellas.
Mount Rushmore
In the morning we went to the Dinosaur Park on the high ridge on the south side of town and took
a lot of pictures. There was not enough time to stop at Bear Country or any of the other nearby
attactions because we were bent on getting to Mt. Rushmore. It's so surprising to literally turn
a mountain corner and there is Thomas Jefferson jutting from the side of the mountain. Lots of
pictures ensued and we ate lunch at the cafe there. Onward we went through the mountains and
forest to Jewel Cave, picking up brochures and then westward again to Sheridan, Wyoming.
There is so much to do, you could easily spend an interesting week in the Black Hills area.
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Onward to Yellowstone
The next morning we wound up through the Bighorn
mountains past Shell Falls, lunching at the Cody Burger King and then westward to Yellowstone.
We found that Yellowstone was still in the grip of winter and the lakes in the eastern passes
were covered in blue-green ice. Downward we went to the shores of Lake Yellowstone where we spent
a few moments skipping stones over the surprising smooth surface (it was stormy on my last visit).
Steam rising a few miles away told us we were near the thermal features and we headed north to
the Mud Volcano. It was its usual bubbling, boiling sulfurous self. On the way back south to our
lodging at Grant Village we got caught up in a hail/lightning storm that made life interesting
for a while. We hauled all our gear (including our precious TV) into the dorm room and went down
to the lakeside cafe for dinner. That night it snowed about 2 inches. In the morning we headed
over the central passes (where it snowed on us again) to the Old Faithful area. Fortunately the
temperature was in the mid-30's so driving was not a problem. Through the spinkles we visited the
Old Faithful Inn, the Visitor Center and got a good closeup view of Beehive Geyser doing its
thing. We went back to Grant Village (cause Dad accidentally left money in the room) and then
back up to the Norris Geyser basin. It was not Dad's day, cause he locked the keys in the van.
Mom and the kids huddled in the visitor area until Dad could get a ranger to call a tow truck
to help break in. Well, it was back to Old Faithful (for postcards and ice cream, and it also
hailed again) and then back to Grant Village and dinner (sandwiches) from the Store.
Grand Tetons
Next we traveled south to the Grand Tetons and saw the sights and then checked into The Lodge at Jackson Hole. The hotel has a rustic motif and decorated by large wooden bears made from carved wood. We went to downtown Jackson looking for a place to eat and then dad went crusing looking for a good place to wash the van. The next day we drove south through some road construction and the the middle of Wyoming, past the Oregon Trail and then through a Thunderstorm late in the day crossing the Flaming Gorge Dam and then to our hotel in Vernal, Utah. We ate dinner at the Pizza Hut that night.
Dinosaur National Monument
In the morning we headed out to Dinosaur National Monument which is very close to Vernal. We toured through the very nice Visitor Center looking at all the incredible dinosaur bones and then spent a great deal of time in the Gift Shop buying a large variety of dinosaur related items. The next two days took us through the heart of Colorado cruising down south from Dinosaur across a very lonely road connecting with the Interstate highway to Grand Junction and then west past the Grand Canyon of the Gunnison and through Gunnison itself. We spent the night in Gunnison and the kids played in the nearby park. The next day we headed west past Royal Gorge (did not stop) and onward to Colorado Springs to a Holiday Inn where there was a huge swimming pool and dad watched the sunset and enjoyed the rainbows as the kids played in the pool with their mom.
Across Colorado and through Kansas
The next day we headed across the eastern plains of Colorado and western plains of Kansas and spent the night in Hays, Kansas. Then the next morning we visited the Sternberg Museum which was quite nice with a huge Mammoth in the decorating the entryway inside the Museum and then many, many individual displays of prehistoric creatures including an enormous full-size Mosasaur (it was an ocean-going dinosaur) found in Kansas and then a huge replica of a T-Rex upstairs complete with roaring sounds. After lunch we spent the afternoon driving back to Wichita, our home.
Mail comments/questions or suggestions to:
dave.c.cole@att.net
