Old Chicago Redemption

We hit our first dud of the trip - congratulations, Billings! In planning the trip, it looked like an ideal place to stop for a couple of days. It was close to the Little Bighorn National Battlefield and it seemed like it had enough stuff to do for an extra day. Well, I was wrong. The Battlefield and Monument were good but we ended up going back to our hotel relatively early yesterday with nothing left to do. I had booked a Billings tour and there was some historic mansion to visit but other than Montana's only zoo (which Jess found), there wasn't much. After looking into it more closely, the tour was really expensive for no real history (Calamity Jane once passed through here! Some guy ate near here!) so we cancelled it and booked a room for tonight in Bozeman, MT instead of Billings. Thankfully we got out of our reservation without penalty so it made sense to get closer to Yellowstone instead of wasting time and money in Billings.

We got on the road and headed towards a place called Virginia City. That, along with nearby Nevada City, were classified as ghost towns. Jess was pretty interested in visiting ghost towns so I thought this might be fun. We originally planned on doing that before Yellowstone but after staying in SD an extra day, we decided against it. With a day opening up because we left Billings early, I decided to give a try since it was only an hour past Bozeman.

The drive out there was beautiful - the mountains are bigger and there are wide open valleys. We also crossed the Madison River and that had some fantastic scenery. Unfortunately, once we got to Virginia City it went downhill. Now, most of the tourists are gone and half the shops are closed. Even if it was busy, however, it still would have been just ok. There was a free museum that was like someone's basement full of junk. Between an old wagon, some period dress and old printing presses, there were modern items like a CareBear with a Carolina Panthers logo. When we went upstairs, there was more junk along with a little shop. Jess started to get creeped out and it didn't help when the old guy running the place was talking about wanting to get to a bigger town but he "was in too deep now." We quickly got in the car and drove to Nevada City, which is a collection of original old buildings from the mining town plus other old buildings from around Montana in various states of repair. It was neat to look at for a minute but there wasn't much to do. We headed back to Bozeman to get dinner and find our hotel since we'd like to hit the road early tomorrow for our first day at Yellowstone.

Madison River

Virginia City

Approaching our hotel, I saw a wonderful sign: there was an Old Chicago nearby! Yes, this is a chain pizza restaurant but everyone knows I love chains and pizza. There used to be one in Wake Forest that we went to all the time - even though I typically don't like deep dish pizza, I love theirs for some reason. As time went on, Old Chicago was better to go to because there were no crowds, even on a Friday night. Of course, that was a bad since they ended up closing shortly thereafter. This chain is mostly in the Midwest and West so I haven't had it in at least 6 years. I looked up where they were before we left for the trip and I knew we'd cross paths with a couple but as the trip went on, I completely forgot about it. Driving out of Billings today (going in a direction we hadn't gone before), we saw a sign about a mile from our hotel. I was so crestfallen for the next hour, I don't even remember driving. So when we pulled up to our hotel and saw the sign for it, it was sweet redemption. We did have it for dinner and it was delicious, though I think I built it up too much in my head (or it slightly changed since 2008).

Bozeman is a neat town. It's very pretty here and they have everything in terms of stores and places to eat. We went down their Main St. and it was pretty lively. All in all, if you ever go to Montana, skip Billings and go to Bozeman - you won't regret it.

Tomorrow we go to Yellowstone National Park and are staying at the Old Faithful Inn.  We don't know if we'll have internet or cell coverage so there may not be any posts until Saturday. It should be fun, since as they say in Billings, "any day you're not in Billings is a good day." Note: No says this, though they should.

Billings Blah

Everyday, we head out to see the beautiful landscapes and learn some history about the West.  Today was Little Bighorn Battlefield and from the minute I got out of the car next to the National Cemetery there was this sad feeling (I don't handle death well and am often overwhelmed in cemeteries) but this felt exaggerated.  Walking up to the monument and seeing the stones where the men fell was eye-opening and heart-breaking.   Reading all the accounts of what happened seems like such a tragedy on both sides.  I noticed walking around it was different than all the other historic or tourist sites we have seen this trip since no one really spoke above a whisper and there was an overall heavy feeling.  It was still beautiful and you can see why everyone wanted to be there but it was a very solemn experience.

 Just a portion of the National Cemetery.

These are stones marking where the soldiers fell.  Custer is in the middle of the field and shows he fought and stayed with his troops.

This is the monument for the soldiers.

This is the Indian memorial.

 
On our way to Billings we saw a sign for a National Monument and decided to check it out. Pompeys Pillar looks like a large flat top rock formation from a distance.  When you get closer it is 150 feet tall and is close to the Yellowstone river.  The interesting part is William Clark named it after Sacagawea's son, who he called Pomp.  William Clark climbed the rock and wrote of it in his journal, even signing and dating the rock.  They have added stairs and the climb to the top was kinda tough but worth it since the view was impressive.   It's a really neat little piece of history and a nicely done visitor area.

W Clark July 25, 1806

View from the top.

I conquered all 215 stairs on this 90 degree Montana day.

Now we are back in Billings with nothing to do.  It is super boring here and instead of wasting tomorrow learning how nothing happens here we are leaving a day early and going to Bozeman.  At least that gets us closer to Yellowstone.

I Own North Dakota

It was about time Ryan had a break from driving so I took the wheel for a while today.  We left Deadwood, SD around 9:30 am and got to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota around 1 pm.  The open roads and 75 MPH speed limit make for a fun drive.  I then slowed down to about 20 MPH in the park.  The park had some more fantastic views and crazy wild life.  Wild horses and more bison were on the road, including right next to a visitor center where you had to walk close by a bison to get to the restrooms. 

After a couple hours we got back on the highway and I drove into Montana so out of the two of us, one can say they drove in ND and one can't.  I handed over driving duties soon after but I hope Ryan enjoyed being a passenger in a National Park as much as I did.

We have also seen a lot of highway animal casualties during this road trip but today marks the first time either of us has seen a huge porcupine on the side of the road, We didn't know they ran wild out here.

It was a long day in the car but this sunset welcomed us to Big Sky Country.

Bears, Lizards and Sorta Eli Young Band

Today was our last full day in Deadwood. We've already extended our stay once and we kind of want to stay more, but unfortunately there's a lot of driving coming up so it's best we move on.

With our extra day, we decided to hit some of the touristy places around Rapid (that's what the locals call Rapid City, apparently, based on the one local we talked to who said the name of the city). First up was Bear Country USA. We left our passports at home but luckily they still let us in. It was kind of pricey for a 2 mile drive-through wildlife park but it was neat to be close to animals like arctic wolves, elk and bears. It's rut time for the elk so they handed us a flyer telling us that they sometime charge cars; thankfully our Kia Sportage wasn't sexy enough for the male elk to bother chasing. Recently seeing bison and bighorn sheep in the wild did make the park lose some of its luster but it was still fun. At the end, they had a pen full of bear cubs that you could walk around and that was pretty good since they were active. The enormous gift shop did put me off a little but I guess you only make money 4 months of the year so you gotta do it.

Next we went a few miles up the road to Reptile Gardens. Jess was quite intrigued since there are signs for this everywhere around Rapid City and when I looked at TripAdvisor, it got decent reviews. I will say that it did have a large array of reptiles but it was a bit smaller than we had hoped. It wasn't a disappointment but I'm sure seeing so many animals lately made it seem less special.

After lunch at a local place called TGI Fridays, we headed up to the mining town of Lead. It was an active gold mine from 1876-2002 and was owned by George Hearst at one point. Now that they left it, they do tours of the upper areas of the mine and the town that grew from it (the actual mine, 8000 ft. down, is now used for scientific purposes). Unfortunately the last tour just left when we got there so we didn't get to see much. After Labor Day, a lot of places do limited hours and they don't really tell you what those hours are. Even in Deadwood, yesterday seemed like the last big day since the town was half deserted today.

Our day ended with doing laundry, booking hotels for tomorrow (we decided to stay 3 nights in Billing, MT) and a little gambling. The Eli Young Band were playing at our hotel tonight and while we decided not to go since we just wanted to relax before getting up early tomorrow, we could open our hotel window and still hear the songs somewhat clearly.

Tomorrow we head to North Dakota and Theodore Roosevelt National Park and then ending the day in Montana. As the Deadwoodians say (quoting Wild Bill Hickok), "it's a good day when you don't leave Deadwood in a casket." Note: no one says this.

Two Tours

A day without getting in the car was what we needed.  We walked all over Deadwood, SD and it was everything I wanted it to be.

You might not know this about me but I LOVE tours.  Any tour really, but haunted tours are my absolute favorite.

The first tour was the Boothill Tour.  We got on an old school bus painted green with the windows removed  and got to see and hear about all the sights of historic Deadwood.  There were stories about all the buildings and some of the characters that built this town like Wild Bill, Sheriff Bullock and Calamity Jane.  The highlight of this tour was Mt. Moriah Cemetery where we got to see where Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok are buried.

It is a funny story because Calamity Jane wanted to be buried next to her "friend" Wild Bill but it is rumored he didn't like her and his friends buried her next to him as a joke.
From the hill in the cemetery we could see most of Deadwood and it was pretty and quaint.

On our way back through town we heard about some of the ghosts and haunting and it only made me more excited for our tour that night.

We also went to the Adams Museum. It was information overload but was interesting learning about all the fires and floods and crazy people in the place.

5:30 finally arrives and we are at the Bullock Hotel for our Ghost tour.  We learned all about Sheriff Bullock and the building including the fires and how it was used for patients during the small pox epidemic.  I will say I believe in ghosts and all that stuff so maybe I am just seeing what I want to see but I got two interesting pictures. One I showed our tour guide and she requested a copy saying it was a great example of orbs.  The other picture is a mirror where I think I see a faint image of a man's torso in a suit jacket.  Say what you want - I have heard it all from my skeptical husband.

On our walk back to the hotel we stopped in the Saloon #10 where we watched a reenactment of the murder of Wild Bill Hickok and it was fun to see the guys all dressed up and tell the story.

Then we had a quick dinner and I am ready for sleep.

Have you herd?

I was awake at 6 AM this morning because I was too excited to sleep any longer.  Today I got to see Mount Rushmore.  We drove up to it and thought it was cool but it wasn't until we got into the park that we realized how awe inspiring it is.

I loved every minute and every view you get of this massive monument from the Presidential Trail.

We even got a friendly stranger to get a picture of the 2 of us that isn't a cell phone selfie.

Next up was Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD.  I knew nothing about this going in except Ryan said it might be for kids.  It turned out to be a crazy story in a little town and it's still turning up new discoveries.  What I learned (the short version):  long time ago...big sink hole...huge mammoths fall in hole...hole fills in...in 1974 a subdivision is planned...bulldozer finds big bones...scientists get involved...40 years later bones of 61 mammoths have been found and they are STILL digging. The bones in the pictures are the actual bones (they leave most of them in place). 

On to Custer State Park...this was another picturesque drive with up close animal encounters.  I mean really up close...the Bison blocked the road and even rubbed their heads on car bumpers.  Wild burros stopped cars and begged for food very aggressively and more prairie dogs were everywhere.

What a great day!  I went into this trip with no expectations of what we would see and everyday I am blown away.  Sometimes you don't see another person or car for a half hour and it is so quiet you can almost picture what it must have been like in those pioneer days.  Totally loving this trip!