Day 6 (Jun 9) Of Sleds, Toboggans, A Maze and Mini Golf

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Today is our last day in the Grand Tetons, so we thought we would act like it was winter by heading to a place call Snow King Mountain.  This resort works a winter playground AND a summer playground. 

So, what does one do when there is no snow? Well, you create a way to use the chairlift to get to a place called the Alpine Slide.  It is much like a waterslide but with no water and a toboggan with wheels and a handle that controls your speed.  That's it.  Simple right? Well you should try it sometime!  So we did just that. One at a time we drug our sled to the starting point, put it on the track and climbed in.  When we got the green light we pushed the stick as far forward as it could go and by the 2nd turn I thought I would fly off the track! I let go of the stick and the sled stopped . . . FAST! Thank God for a shoulder harness! Well, it took me a couple more corners to get control of the sled and after that I was speeding down the track like a bobsledder in the Olympics! The Gold Medal is within my reach . . . !!!

Dot rode one too but with a much different result.  She is afraid of speed and so took the entire course at a speed reserved for a pony in a park. It took her nearly 15 minutes to get to the bottom!

Next I road the Cowboy Coaster. Dot won't ride coasters so she sat this one out. Anyway, the coaster is similar to the slide but instead of a trough it rides on rails and is much faster than the bobsled.  Once you get strapped in and settled, a cable that catches the sled takes you all the way up to the starting point of the slide but at that point you quickly gain speed and like a roller coaster, it whips you around corners and up and down hills with you again, controlling your speed.  It is much faster and really gets the adrenalin pumping! It is a great ride and if the line wasn't so long I would have definitely rode it again!

Next we tackled a Maze. Much like the corn mazes you see around Halloween, except this one is built from wood posts and plastic panels.  Throughout the maze there were panels depicting several animals one would find in and around the area and also the letters M A Z E. The idea is to punch a card they give you to start the clock and then you have to wander all through this maze to find every animal and the four letters. You then have to find your way out of the maze, punch your card again, check your time and see if you won anything.

This was the first time we had ever done a maze and it took us a while to find the animals and letters. We did manage to lose one another several times. Oh, and inside this maze were a slide, stairs, a zipline, an obstacle course, a balance beam, and even monkey bars! I think about an hour later, we came out the exit . . . completely exhausted.

It was getting late in the day but we decided to tackle one last thing which was the mini golf course. No I haven't play golf in several years and Dot has only played mini golf, so we purposely didn't keep score and finished the course in about an hour.

From Show King we drove a couple miles to a restaurant called the Big 

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Day 7 (Jun 10) Teton Village, WY to Casper, WY - 273 miles

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Where We Stayed: Hampton Inn & Suites

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After our last breakfast at the Alpenhof, we headed to our next destination: Casper, WY. We took the road that led us through the Grand Tetons one last time and then made a right turn just before Yellowstone and headed up into the mountains opposite the Tetons through Togwotee Pass.  At the top we crossed the Continental Divide at 9658 ft. elevation and headed down into the plains of Wyoming.  We stopped for gas and a snack along the way.  After about 5 hours we finally got to our hotel, checked in, and then left to find some dinner.  Tomorrow we have another long drive to Custer, SD.

 

Oh and one more thing . . . About an hour west of our destination we ran across some road rehabilitation, grinding off the top layer of asphalt and then oiling and laying new asphalt.  Well, as we passed the oil truck, the 45+ mph winds evidently picked up some of that oil and proceeded to cover my car with it.  Tiny droplets, hundreds of them, landed on the front of the car as well as the hood, right front & rear quarter panels, passenger door & window and windshield. 

By the time we got to our hotel, that stuff had stuck pretty good and we were faced with finishing the trip this way OR spending a few hours cleaning up the mess.  We first stopped at a car wash to see if it would remove any of it . . . which it didn't, so we went across the street where an auto parts store just happened to be. I asked one of the clerks there and he led me right to a shelf with the perfect solution. A degreaser with citrus added which is supposed to be the best solution. I purchased that and some rags stopped at the hotel to unload our luggage and Dot and then drove to the car wash to work on the mess.  

The whole process took over 2 hours, in 80 degree temps with a stiff wind but I got most of it off, then ran it back through the car wash again, picked up Dot and we headed out to find some dinner.

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Day (Jun 11) Casper, WY to Custer, SD - 292 miles

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Where We Stayed: Comfort Inn & Suites

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Another long day. . . all driving days are . . . The scenery finally changed from a prairie to some really interesting bluffs. These were made up of several layers of strata which told of the years it took for them to be created. Multi hued and with various different kinds of earth, these were seen for nearly all our trip until we finally got to the black hills of South Dakota. Here it turned to heavily forested hills and huge rock monuments.  The trunks of the trees are much darker that what we have in CA which is why it was called the Black Hills.

We drove through a strip of road called Spearfish Canyon which is 14 mi. of curvy, twisted road lined on both sides with tall canyon walls of rock and greenery. Another of the Roadsters favorite.

We then drove a little farther and stopped in Deadwood, SD. Famous on its own for all the colorful characters who called this place home, it was also a series on HBO a few years ago.  We found parking beside the former train station, and walked around the corner to the Adams Museum and took a couple hours browsing though the history of the town. People like Wild Bill Hickcock, Calamity Jane, and others all made their mark on this place.

Our final stop of the day was at the Crazy Horse Monument & Museum.  Here is a work-in-progress monument being crafted atop a nearby mountain. It includes a bus ride (optional) to the monument but we chose to just stay on the museum grounds.  This is a completely privately funded project.  The museum was huge with hundreds of exhibits on the Lakota Indians that lived in the Black Hills, and still do.  The area included the sculpture's studio and home along with a full Indian University for those who wish to attend. We a movie on the beginnings of the creation of the monument and ended up having dinner and then enjoying a laser light show displayed on the side of the mountain.

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Day 9 (Jun 12) Four Presidents and a mountain

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We begin the day with breakfast at the Hotel and then left to our next outing . . . Mt. Rushmore. First we had to drive this wonderful road we were told about which is called the Needles Highway.  It is a series of sharp turns, hills, and even a couple of tunnels through granite.  It was quite fun but Dot didn't like it much.  She never does but lets me have fun when I can.

We got to Mt. Rushmore around 11am and there were no lines at the ticket booth (for parking) and we parked and were inside the monument grounds just a few minutes later.  As many pictures that I have seen of this monument, seeing it in person is really a stunning picture all on it's own.  We first walked the Presidential Trail which winds through the forest at the base of the monument and then up to a platform just under the monument.  There was ranger that was answering questions from those all around him, including me. The entire walk was about a mile but the amount of stairs at the end was almost too much for the both of us! We are obviously out of shape!

We visited the Sculpture's studio and listened to a narrative of how the monument came to be.  Then we saw a video of the making of the monument and followed that with a stroll through the museum.  Finally we had some ice cream, shopped in the gift shop and book store and headed back to the hotel.

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Day 10 (Jun 13) Custer, SD to Billings, MT - 391 miles

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Where We Stayed: Boot Hill Inn & Suites

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Today was a very long drive.  It might have been shorter but we just had to stop at two landmarks: Devil's Tower Monument and the Little Big Horn Battlefield.  We left about 10 am but when we arrived at the Monument there was a very long line of cars waiting to get into the park.  We sat in this line about 10 minutes and decided to get out of line and go to the gift shop & restaurant.  After looking about an purchasing another souvenir, we headed to our next stop.

Some 3 hours later we arrived at Little Big Horn Battlefield finding that they were closing in 40 minutes, so we headed to the monument at the top of the hill where all the soldiers remains are buried in one place, checked out the gift shop for more souvenirs and had time for a short visit at the headstone monument where there are stones for each of the soldiers who died there.

Had to drive another hour to get to our hotel but it was a very full day and while we would have liked to have more time, it just wasn't meant to be. Tomorrow we head to Cody. WY