Brenda and Harlan's Trip Blog

We slept until about 10 this morning, then checked out of the hotel about noon.

We headed over to the northern side of the river across from Starved Rock, at the lock and dam, where many folks go to watch the bald eagles. It was cloudy today, but visibility was still good. Somebody had set up a decent sized reflector telescope, and thru it one could see an eagle across the water very clearly.

We left there and headed to Roselle IL to meet with somebody Harlan has been working with online for a couple of years’ time for their first face-to-face meeting. Very nice guy; we went to the Big Bowl restaurant and had good food and conversation from 3pm until nearly 6pm.

From the restaurant we drove to Harlan’s parents’ place (I hope I punctuated that properly) and chatted for a while, picked up some food, and enjoyed the evening. Nancy (Harlan’s sister) is probably coming here from Austin tomorrow, unless she stays in Austin for another day or two. We’re planning to be here until Thursday, when we head to St. Louis for a visit with a friend of Harlan’s from grad school and do some restaurant hopping.

We decided to spend the night at the ancestral home on the matress of remarkable configurations. There’s an excellent chance that we’ll shop for a new matress for the sofabed in the morning, or perphaps check into a hotel so we can get a good night’s sleep.

The alarm went off at 8am, as usual. Harlan heard it and turned it off, and then (H: waited for Brenda to wake up, B: fell back asleep) until around 11. Brenda heard it and then (H: snored, B: waited for Harlan to wake up) until around 11.

We headed over to Mr. Salsas for breakfast, which was pretty tasty. Brenda remembered some of the exciting things Jarrett and Amanda did in Colorado on their recent trip there, so followed suit. After that, we toured the town of Peru IL, doing some shopping and basically vegging out.

Returning to the hotel around 5:30 or so, we did some more vegging until Harlan went to a local place to pick up dinner.

Basically, more vegging.

We hope to see the eagles in the morning, and will decide if we’re gonna stay here another day or head to Chicago.

The alarm went off on time, but we were both Movin’ Slow, and didn’t get the car packed up and hit the road until close to noon. The phone book said the AT&T Wireless store was next to the KrispyKreme we passed on the way to dinner last night, and that seemed to be a Sign. The good news was the “Hot Donuts Now” sign was off, so we were able to resist. Harlan was able to replace the broken belt clip holster for his new phone, and we stopped off at the CD Warehouse place next door and sold them a CD we picked up in Chico and replaced it with a 3-CD set of the best of the Jazz Crusaders.

Our next stop was IHOP for breakfast, and we now know 2 things: don’t order their oatmeal, and their Harvest Grain pancakes are better than the regular buttermilk pancakes.

We called the ranger at the Badlands visitors center and told him about the bobcat picture. He was interested in it, so we got his email address so we could send him the url to the picture. He said they might want to use it for their collection. We’ll see…

Once on the highway we made it to the hotel in Ogelsby IL by about 3pm, and after checking in we headed straight to Starved Rock State Park for some hiking.

We climbed to the top of Starved Rock (it seemed smaller to Harlan, who last saw the place probably 35 years ago), which now has a view of a wintering area for some bald eagles (we saw 4 or 5 of them). We hiked to a few more places (including French Canyon, with some frozen waterfalls) and it was pretty nice. If you ask Brenda about these places she’ll say they were pretty and it was nice, and if you ask her if the trails were muddy she’ll talk about how there was “mud everywhere” and it wasn’t much fun.

We’re planning to head back again tomorrow (the eagle viewing is best before 11am) and then hike more trails.

After we hiked, we visited the lodge. They have expanded everything there (the parking lot, the lodge, …) and lots of the trails have been closed, and much of the remaining ones are now “boardwalk” trails to avoid erosion.

Brenda was getting hungry, so we headed back to the hotel for a recommendation. We picked Mr. Salsas, a mexican place in town. Great chips (they didn’t salt them), good food, and Brenda will probably suggest we have another meal there because she really liked the way the fried chicken looked.

The alarm went off at 8 again this morning, and we were tired and it took longer than usual to get up. We also discovered we were indeed in Central Time, so it was really after 9. We were on the road by a quarter to 11 (central time).

Basically, we spent the day driving. We did see some billboards for the Corn Palace so we drove to it and thought it was so lame we didn’t even park the car and try and visit. OK, perhaps we were a little embarrassed at the thought of being the only ones walking in to the place…

We stopped for the night in Davenport IA, and the hotel clerk directed us to a Texas Road House for dinner. Brenda loved their chili and their bread with cinnamon butter. The manager gave us a coupon for a free appetizer on our next visit. As we probably won’t be back here anytime soon we’re thinking about finding a local geocache and leaving it there.

Harlan got the digital pictures loaded into the Badlands album of the galler (this link may not work after the albums are renamed to something better than “album57”, but for now they should be OK).

Harlan inadvertantly woke Brenda late last night as he filled the tub for a soak before bedtime. Sigh.

We woke up just after 8am again, and were on the road before 10am. We headed east, then north toward Rapid City, then east on 44 to the badlands. It was supposed to be a scenic route, but it was pretty dull until we got to the little road that heads north to Wall SD. Then it got Scenic! We got the car gassed up in Interior SD, then headed to the visitors center (near Cedar Pass). We watched a video on the area and talked to the ranger about what we should see, where we should hike, and where we should drive. We asked about the wildlife that lived in the area.

Our first hike was a little loop just north of the visitors center. We then drove north a bit more and hiked the short “window” trail, and then the “notch” trail. The notch trail was a lot more interesting – it was just marked with occasional stakes in the ground, and at one point there was a ladder that took us up maybe 80′ or so; it was made out of 1/4″ cables strung thru about 4″ diameter, 2′ long tree trunks. Brenda was not thrilled. She became less thrilled as some of the trail got close to the edge of the small canyon. Brenda did not finish the hike, but Harlan did and took more pictures. The good news is the return trip (at least the scary bits) were easier. Going down that ladder was harder than going up.

We then drove back south a bit, and then headed west on 240, staying in the Park headed back around toward Scenic SD (what a lie…) as sunset approached. Good thing, too, as about 4 miles past where 240 turned north (and we stayed heading west) we saw a critter trotting acroos a field. It stopped and hid in the grass when we stopped, and it sure looked like a bobcat! (The ranger we spoke with said he’d been at the park for about 5 years’ time and had never seen one.) The digital picture should be up tomorrow, and we will have to wait and see if the 35mm shots came out or not. We drove another 15 miles or so down the road, seeing bison, elk, and deer before we turned around and headed back east. Rather than take 240 north to Wall we followed the road back a bit more than halfway to Cedar Pass where a useful gravel road headed north to I90, at mile marker 121.

Once at I90 we headed back west to visit Wall Drug, which was about to close as we got there. Very interesting place – more than a little retro. We bought some stuff (magnets, tee shirts, etc.) and decided to see how far east we could go.

We settled on Chamberlain SD, where the clerk at the Holiday Inn Express suggested we eat at “Al’s Oasis”. Nice place, tasty food. Brenda ordered a scoop of cinnamon ice cream which tasted as good as the stuff from Maggie Moo’s. It was from Blue Bunny. Harlan ordered a bison burger to go for his dessert, and we also stopped by a TCBY for some white chocolate frozen yogurt with hot fudge sauce.

Back at the hotel, we pretty much took it easy (no West Wing tonight because the “real” president was on instead).

Tomorrow we plan to see if Al’s Oasis can do a good breakfast, and then see how far we can get toward Starved Rock State Park.

We woke up around 8 again, and were out of the hotel before 9:30. We headed north on the route recommended by several of the rangers, up 16 to Spring City, then turned SW on 16/385 to Hill City, then N on 17 to 231 to Mystic, Rochford, and then took 17 thru Dumont, and then went thru Cheynne Crossing, Savoy (where we almost saw Roughlock Falls except the last mile of the road was closed to auto traffic and it was windy and uphill, and covered with ice and snow), passed by Bridal Veil Falls (which was completely frozen), and headed into Spearfish. Brenda was not all that impressed with the route, but Harlan liked it.

We ate lunch at the 7 Grill and Soup Shack in Spearfish, upon the recommendation of the salesguy at the nearby RadioShack (where Harlan was again unable to find a belt clip for his cellphone). Great place! We shared big onion rings, and Brenda had a tomato bisque with corn, and Harlan had very good french onion soup and a very tasty grilled chicken with some green sauce on it. We then went east on 90 to Piedmont to try and find Bethlehem Cave, on the recommendation of a ranger at Wind Cave. We searched for a good half hour, passing several places that reminded Brenda of the movie “Deliverance”, but no luck.

We then headed a bit farther (further?) east on 90 to the Petrified Forest of the Black Hills, and discovered that while the gates were open the place was closed. The manager said we should feel free to walk the trail anyway, so we did and it was real impressive. We came across a woodpile that seemed to easily have a chord or two of logs on it and were amazed to discover the logs were all petrified. There were petrified tree stumps 12 to 18″ in diameter, some fallen trees that were petrified, and “things like that”.

We then stopped off at a Best Buy in Rapid City in yet another unsuccessful attempt to locate the cellphone belt clip, and headed toward Mt. Rushmore. We got there about 4pm, and saw a movie that described how the place was built. The trail that gets closer to the base of the monument has been closed for the past few days’ time because of ice and snow, and is not expected to reopen for at least a couple more days’ time. We stopped in to the gift shop and Brenda bought a magnet. Harlan noticed the “magic gloves” and “magic hat/cap” at the register, and the clerk said there was really nothing magical about either. Sigh.

We headed to The Gas Light for our last meal there, and finally had the bacon-wrapped shrimp (not as good as the ones at the mexican restaurant, Vallarta, outside of Crater Lake), and learned that they had sold out of the creme brulee the night before and had not yet made more.

Going back to the hotel we noticed that more progress had been made on the jigsaw puzzle (now maybe 20% done) and we got some quarters and laundry detergent.

Tomorrow we’re planning to drive around (and to the extent we can, thru) the Badlands, make a quick stop at Wall Drug, and start heading toward Starved Rock State Park in IL.

We woke up around 8 and were on the way to Jewel Caves by a little after 9am. Brenda was a bit perturbed that we were probably going to be there on time instead of 10-15 minutes early. We got there just before 10am and while the place was open there appeared to be nobody around. We were wondering if we missed the tour (Harlan would have been in big trouble then for being late) when 2 rangers showed up and we learned we’d be the only two folks taking the tour. While in the off season this tour is given twice a day (assuming folks show up to take it), during the peak seasons the tour we took leaves every 20 minutes and is almost always filled with 30 people per group. (there are 2 or 3 other tours that run in the summer as well that are also full.)

The tour was great – after some initial failures with the digital camera, we got a bunch of nice shots that are already on the photo gallery here. We asked lots of questions and had a very nice time. We left and headed straight for Wind Caves, and got there about 10 minutes before the next scheduled tour, and just before the tour started a couple of other folks showed up so the 4 of us got the tour. It was also interesting, and while the two sites are similar, they were different enough to be individually interesting.

We left there and headed down to Hot Springs, and along the way we saw more prarrie dogs, bison, and deer (regular and perhaps a pronghorn or two). We filled the gas tank (and poured in a gallon of windshield washer fluid), and decided that it was too late to try and visit the Mammoth Site (an archaeological dig site). We started looking for some geocaches on the way to wherever we felt like driving, and just passed a bunch that did not inspire us.

We drove thru Custer State Park, where Brenda was sometimes intimidated by the size of the bison. We also saw more deer and some rabbits. Maybe a hawk. We took some scenic roads and stopped off at one geocache at the top of a mountain that had a scenic overlook of the area, including Mt. Rushmore.

As it was getting late (near sunset), we headed off to the Gas Light restaurant again (it seems to be the only nearby restaurant with decent food) where Brenda had the parmesan-crusted halibut and Harlan had pieces of filet in a burgundy mushroom and onion sauce over noodles. We shared an OK dessert of a brownie with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and a cherry. Harlan wondered why *anybody* would use Hershey’s chocolate sauce on a dessert (if you’re gonna use a choco sauce, at least use Hungerford Smith’s Mellocream Fudge), and why they didn’t heat the brownie first. No leftovers tonight.

We headed back to the Hotel and each found a couple of more pieces to the crossword puzzle, then headed off to the room where Brenda had a soak in the tub and Harlan uploaded the day’s pictures to the website.

We’re shooting for another 8am wakeup and more touring of the area.

The day started a bit unpleasantly as Brenda woke Harlan at 7am and he was a bit grumpy about this surprise. We were out of the hotel by 9:15 and headed toward Devils Tower National Monument via Rt. 585 to 85 to 16. Scenery was OK, but we learned the more scenic route is via I90 to US14 to US385. We plan on covering this route in a couple of days as we visit other places of interest in the Black Hills of South Dakota. There are so many things to see in this area.

The day was overcast and we got there before 10:30 and were apparently the first visitors of the day. While the rangers were telling us the places to see and hike both there and around Mt. Rushmore in SD, another small group arrived and headed toward the tower.

We first walked the loop around the base of the tower, where we took a fair amount of digital and 35mm photos (the digital pics should be up later tonight). Amazing place. We then drove a little bit north and walked another loop trail that covered forest, ravine, and prarrie terrain. While we got more photos from where we parked, we did not bring any cameras on that walk.

We probably spent about 3 hours there.

We then headed toward Jewel Cave National Monument where we learned that while we could still do a short cave tour, it would be better to come back tomorrow and do the long tour (which includes the short one). The ranger there also gave us a list of places to visit in the area.

We then drove past the outside of both the Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore on the way to our hotel.

We got a room at the Holiday Inn Express in Keystone, where Bobbie the front desk clerk upgraded us to a room with a jetted tub and suggested we eat at The Gas Light in the nearby ghost town of Rockerville, where we had good salads and while Brenda did not particularly enjoy her puff-pastry wrapped salmon with onions (so Harlan finished it), she did enjoy Harlan’s chicken and shrimp marsala. A miracle happened and we did not order dessert.

Returning to the hotel (with some leftovers), we helped Bobbie with a jigsaw puzzle in the lobby. After we each found a piece, we declared victory and headed back to the room.

We planned to head out earlier then noon today, but Brenda discovered she could not find her thyroid medication. After much searching, we gave up and called the Walgreens in Gillette to order another 30 days’ supply. We stopped at the Trailhead Restaurant for breakfast. The title almost matched our car brand so we thought it would be a good choice. It was. Great oatmeal and eggs. We both ate for less than $10. Amazing.

We then drove to Gillette via Rt. 26 to 16 through Ten Sleep Canyon. The native americans named it Ten Sleep because it took 10 “sleeps” to get to the next town. Part of Rt. 16 near Buffalo crossed the mountains at almost 10,000′ elevation. It was great driving because one moment we were in sunshine and clear skies and the next we were in a snow storm. It was beautiful. Wyoming has several signs along the road indicating the age of the rocks (65 million to 2.3 or 3 billion years old). We haven’t seen this in any other state.

We arrived in Gillette at sunset and went to the Wal-mart to find Harlan a replacement belt clip for his cell phone. No luck and then we headed to the health food store to get Harlan more Vitamin E. Then to another 3 star restaurant (we love those AAA rated 3 star hotels and restaurants) called Chophouse. We both had seafood. Harlan’s dish had too much cheese, but the dessert made up for it (coconut creme brulee) . Brenda stuck to her committment to change her reputation and only had one bite and left the rest for Harlan. Then back to the Holiday Inn Express for veggin and picture loading.

Harlan woke up a bit before Brenda but she got going sooner. We planned to have breakfast and be on the way to the National Elk Reserve just before 10am, but we skipped breakfast and got to the reserve a little after 10am. It was much warmer today then yesterday, and it snowed a bit overnight (better sleigh riding). Some busloads of schoolkids got there before us, so we didn’t get our sleigh ride going until just after 11am. This blew Harlan’s 3rd chiro appointment out of the water. The sleigh ride was very nice – the first stop was at a tree by a little river where a bald eagle was looking for lunch – we got a variety of pictures (video, film, and digital). We then rode into a herd of elk and got more pictures. On the way back we stopped near a coyote who was hunting for his lunch under the snow – Brenda got some nice video of his hunt.

The sleigh ride was really nice! We should have pictures up soon (Harlan reorganized the photo album tonight, and added a bunch of the recently developed and digitized 35mm film).

We checked out of the hotel around 1pm, and went to Cadillac’s for lunch again. Brenda had more pumpkin bacon chowder, and Harlan had a bison burger. Brenda was getting concerned that her reputation for sharing desserts was dwindling so she only had 2 small bites of each of the desserts Harlan ordered. He ordered 2 desserts to assure himself of “getting some”. Brenda had one bite of each dessert (pumpkin cheesecake and tiramisu), which left Harlan with about 2/3 of each dessert to finish.

We headed out toward Buffalo via Rt. 287 and north of Jackson airport we tried to look for a geocache, but it was a good mile up a snow-closed road and we didn’t feel like cross-country skiing to see if we could find it under the snow. The sky was clearing, however, and we got more pictures of the Teton range.

The trip toward Buffalo took us over the continental divide again, and the geology and general terrain changed several times. Very pretty.

As we were on undivided roads and it was getting dark, we decided to stay in Riverton and drive to Gillette tomorrow.

Gary Gerber called this evening and provided wonderful input for our trip tomorrow. Thanks Gary!!!!