Day 3

Day 3

Dan here…

Kari and I woke up from a wonderful nights rest. I slept an extra hour while she worked out. Then, off we went after our continental breakfast, which was free by the way. BONUS BABY!!!!! Told you it was like a resort!

We headed south to start the day just to pass through the town of Deadwood (yes the one from the cable series). It was an old gold mining town in the old west that had a lot of famous personalities spend time there(Wyatt Earp and such). It may have been worth visiting 100 years ago when it was a booming town, but now, it is nothing more than a tourist trap. Lots of one dollar stores and fake cowboy stuff. I don’t quite want to call this place the Corn Palace, but it was pretty damn close. Avoid this place. But then we headed back north along the scenic drive through Spearfish Canyon. It started out uneventful, but then had its moments when it opened up enough to look around. Little did we know that along this route we would see a massive convoy of tractors. Yes, farm tractors. Why, we have no idea, and we’re not sure we want to know. None the less, it was pretty entertaining to see. Just when we thought the convoy was over… NOPE… here come some more tractors.

After reaching I-90 again, we continued west towards Wyoming. Once we entered Wyoming, it wasn’t long before we reached the turnoff for Devil’s Tower. This was a must see for me, since I have always loved the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. We were still miles away when it revealed itself. It was pretty crazy to see it in person. It’s such an iconic image. We drove to the visitor’s center and got out to look around. I had no idea how big it actually is. It is nearly 1000ft tall. We could see people actually climbing the face of the tower. Pictures below. Kari and I decided to get out and walk around and eventually completed the entire hiking trail all the way around the base of the tower. It was a nice hour long hike and with the sun out, it gave us lots of opportunities to see the tower. Definitely worth visiting!!!

Next we were in for a long drive. We got back onto the I-90 and headed west through Buffalo, WY and then followed it north all the way into Montana, where we stopped to get gas in Billings, MN. Then we headed on Highway 212 towards Yellowstone. The timing of this drive was perfect. We started approaching huge mountain peaks and then eventually began to drive on a zigzag road over on of them. The drive made Kari a little nervous since she was driving. The road dropped off for a few thousand feet on the side, and I have to say, it made me a little nervous too. It took us about 2 hours to make the journey over the mountain and along the outskirts of Yellowstone. Below are a few of the amazing images we saw.




We eventually arrived in Cooke City, MT. It is a really small town in the valley of the mountain. Kari and I checked in to our Super 8 motel, which seemed like a decent place to stay considering how far in the mountains we were. We got advice from the hotel manager to go grab dinner at the bar/restaurant down the road called Miner’s. We ventured down to it and grabbed food and a beer. We were pleasantly surprised when a couple of women got on the small stage and began to play folk/bluegrass music that sounded like it belonged in a bar in Nashville, TN rather than a small bar in Cooke City, MT. I actually bought one of their CDs that they were selling and they both signed it for me. I mentioned to them that I was from TN originally and that’s when they told me that they had lived in Nashville, TN for years. It wasn’t surprising, they were really talented. They are called the Miller Sisters. I will post a link to their website later. You should check it out.

Next, Kari and I walked back to the hotel to call it a night. It was another long driving day, and it took its toll on us. Tomorrow will be a relaxing drive around Yellowstone National Park. We’re looking forward to it and will post about it soon. Goodnight!