Friday, July 23, 2010

Go West Young Man....

I'm going to share pictures of our two weeks of vacation with you - and some stories of people and events along the way. We left for Yellowstone National Park on July 2 and drove up to Le Claire, Iowa that evening. There is a wonderful restaurant called Sneaky Pete's that is covered inside with the remains of ties that men have unknowingly worn. Ties are cut off with scissors and hung from the beams inside the restaurant. You can trace the decades by the tie styles. They also have the very best wood grilled catfish. Yum! At O'dark-thirty the next morning we headed to Murdo, South Dakota. The place for burgers in Murdo is the Rusty Spur. The Super 8 in Murdo is is very shabby with sheets that are too small for the beds and indifferent maintenance.

My husband likes to take photographs in South Dakota. There is an old 1880 town near Murdo that has been created by moving old buildings from their build sites. From Murdo, we toured The Badlands National Park. Early in the morning is the best time to drive the park and is almost essential if you want to hike. It can get really hot in the afternoon and most of the animals are in the shade somewhere. We saw a gazillion Meadowlarks, deer, antelope, pelicans (which we had never seen before in the park), prairie dogs and turkeys.

The night of July 4th we stayed in Wall, S.D. For you Bob & Tom fans, you can tune to 100.3 outside of Wall. We left Wall early the morning of the 5th heading for Cody, S.D. We met a couple from Dunlap, IL at a Flying J in Gillette, WY. Dunlap is just 10 miles or so from our home. Small world. The wildflowers in the Big Horn mountains were at their peak. We usually head west the last two weeks in July, so we were two weeks early this year. I have never seen the spring flowers so lovely. A new restaurant on the outskirts of Cody is the Terrace. I had Hazelnut Shrimp which is a dish I'd never eaten before but surely will order again the next time we're in Cody. Cody is the home of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. If you visit, plan to spend several hours there. The Center has many wings and will take some time to see it all. For you mothers, there is also a super Walmart so you can stock up on all the stuff you forgot. There is also a scrapbooking store near the Super 8 but it doesn't open until 10:00am and we are usually on the road long before that. Tomorrow Yellowstone...

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