6:00a. Madison Campground
Up early to get a strong start on the day!9:00a. Madison Campground
It took us three hours to break down the campsite and pack the van. I thought we were getting better at camping but we really aren't.10:00a. Canyon Village.
We have a long drive ahead of us today, and I promised myself a shower. I drop the wife and kids off at the Canyon Village diner and head to the Laundromat to clean up.10:30a. Canyon Village
I meet my family at the diner and find my kids practically licking the plates clean. Apparently all of the hot dogs and spaghetti and pop-tarts and numerous other camp meals have not been nearly enough to fill the bellies of my growing boys.We have a lot of miles to drive today, so we pile back into the van for the trip out of Yellowstone.
11:00a. Lake Yellowstone Hotel
We've driven 20 minutes and suddenly people need to use a bathroom.We make a quick detour to the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. While the boys use the facilities, I check out the lobby. This place is pretty swanky. I make a mental note that, if I ever become rich, I'll bring the wife back here for a long weekend. (Maybe combine it with a week in Jackson Hole.)
11:30a. Entering the Hayden Valley
Back in the van on our way out of the park, we talk about what we liked about the trip so far. We loved the lake and the river and the hikes and the canyons and the mountains, but there's one disappointment so far: Although we saw a handful of elk and even some small groups of bison, we never really encountered the wealth of wildlife we expected. I guess it wasn't in the cards.Five minutes later.
OH MY GOD. With little warning, we have suddenly found ourselves in a traffic jam caused by a herd of HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS of bison crossing the road, and spreading out across the valley.Check out this video of two Bison butting heads just a few yards from the van:
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| Yeah, that's a bison just strolling past the van. |
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| Bison everywhere! |
An hour later
It takes us nearly an hour for traffic to inch through the valley, but being surrounded by a herd of bison is nothing short of amazing. It took literally until the last hour of our time in Yellowstone, but thankfully we did get to see a display of wildlife that in inconceivable anywhere else in America.1:00p. The Shoshone National Forest
Leaving via the East Entrance of Yellowstone, we are immediately in the Shoshone National Forest. It's another anxiety-producing trip up and down a mountain range and my nerves are just about shot. |
| More beautiful scenery. More inadequate guard rails. |
5:00p. Bighorn National Forest
Another beautiful and majestic trip through yet ANOTHER mountain range. It's a good thing my hair is already mostly gray.6:00p. Buffalo, Wyoming
We come down out of the mountains to the small town of Buffalo, Wyoming. There's a gas station adjoining a McDonald's, so I drop the family off to order dinner while I fill the van.Twenty minutes later (the van has a big gas tank), I walk over to McDonald's to find the teenagers and middle kids standing outside, with no food. (My wife and baby are apparently still in the restroom.) When I ask what's going on, my teenagers say that they can't take the younger kids inside because of the bad language.
"That's a weird thing to say," I think as I head inside. As I approach the counter, I find that a patron has apparently had bad service at this McDonald's and she is SCREAMING at the staff with some of the most vile and vulgar profanities I've heard. And I've been to Steelers/Ravens games.
I manage to get the attention of a cashier and put my order in. While waiting for the order (it's a large order), the COPS SHOW UP. Apparently the McDonald's manager didn't appreciate getting cursed out, so she called the cops.
As the cops separate and interview the aggrieved parties, I stand quietley in the corner, trying not to attract any attention. The last thing I need is to be a material witness in a court case and have to travel back to Buffalo, Wyoming to give a deposition.
Luckily, a pile of bags, laden with nuggets and fries, is soon put in my hands, and we are back in the van and OUT of Buffalo, Wyoming.
6:30. Crazy Woman Creek, WY
We passed a sign for "Crazy Woman Creek." After the scene I just witnessed at McDonalds, it seems oddly coincidental.
6:50p. Interstate 90. Wyoming
My wife comments that the current geography looks just like the terrain in the board game "Life." She's not wrong.7:00p. I-90. Wyoming
We have reservations this evening to camp in a KOA just past Mt. Rushmore. Between the late start and the Bison Traffic Jam, we are WAY behind schedule. Best case is that we make it to the KOA between 9:00 and 10:00. Worst case is that we don't arrive until midnight because my family DESPERATELY wants to take a detour to Devil's Tower.I can't deal with putting up tents in the dark again.
I ask my wife to get on internet to see if she can find any hotels along our path. A few searches and phone calls later, she's secured us a suite at a Best Western just into South Dakota for a very reasonable price. (I mentally charge this to our "vacation budget"). I'm OUTRAGEOUSLY HAPPY.
We call the KOA to cancel our camping reservation. They tell us that we will be out $60 because we cancelled so late. I tell the woman that I will give her ANOTHER $60 if she can promise I never have to sleep in a tent again.
9:00p. Devil's Tower
This is another attraction that I thought would be five-minutes-of-looking-at-it and then we'd be off. But it's actually a very interesting and striking geological feature, and we really enjoy taking the hour-long hike around the tower, reading the guideposts and marvelling at the unique formation before us.But here's the most interesting thing: As we pulled into the parking lot, we see a pair of young men filling out some paperwork in a small pavilion adjoining the (closed-for-the-evening) visitor's center. The men have ropes and picks and backpacks and helmets and helmet-mounted headlamps. They drop their paperwork into a mailbox and head towards Devil's Tower.
As my family unloads from the car, I check out the mailbox. There are some instructions printed there, and they lead me to believe that a person can just park in this parking lot, fill out a form, drop it into a mailbox, and then go CLIMB DEVIL'S TOWER.
AT NIGHT!
This blows my mind. Devil's Tower is a national monument, kind of I guess like Monticello or the Washington Monument or whatever. But apparently it is perfectly OK to just GO CLIMB IT without getting explicit permission from anyone, as long as you've filled out a form.
I mean, I'm a comedian. ANYONE can just go into a bar on open-mic night and sign their name and then go on stage and tell jokes. But they still have to WAIT until the host TELLS THEM IT'S OK TO GO ON.
But for Devil's Tower, it's somewhat on the honors system or something.
So as we hike around the monument in the fading sunlight, we can see the pair of climbers make their way up the 867-foot mountain-side. And by the time we've returned to the parking lot, they've reached the top, where apparently they planned to camp for the night.
It's dark now and we're leaving Devil's Tower and it's definitely a place we wish we could have spent more time. Next time we're in Wyoming, we'll be sure to come back.
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| As the sun sets, Devil's Tower seems to take on a glow. |
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| So yeah, there are some dudes just climbing Devil's Tower. |
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| One of the teenagers starts planning his own Devil's Tower climbing trip |
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| From the foot of Devil's Tower, we watch the sun set over comparatively flat landscape. |
11:00p. Best Western. Spearfish, South Dakota.
I've never been so happy to see a Best Western sign.Once in the suite, everyone lines up for showers, keeping up our pattern of making sure the kids get clean every four-to-six days.
There's one very large living room with two sofa beds and a recliner. Three boys climbs into one sofabed, two boys take another, and one boy claims the recliner. The lights are turned off and the boys are soon asleep.
Down the hall in the suite is a bedroom with a king-sized bed. It feels AMAZING after eight days of sleeping on the ground. I watch some cable TV, which seems like a tremendous novelty, while my wife gets her turn at a nice long hot shower.
Today’s stats:
- States visited: WY, SD
- Miles traveled today: 486.6
- Miles traveled on the trip: 3,355
- Today's travel time: Just under 14 hours
