Well we have been in wilderness for 4 days. I mean WILDERNESS!!!! Yellowstone is absolutely beautiful. Every turn is a completely different experience. Plains where the buffalo roam, mountains topped with snow, mud boiling, steam bursting from the earth, geysers, sulfur smell, rapids, lakes, rivers and of coarse animals.
For animals we saw, bears and cubs, elk, ducks, fish, coyote, buffalo (lots of them), and deer. Never saw a moose or a horned sheep which are there as well. The park is over 2 million acres so there is a lot of space to roam.
This place is a geologists dream. Some parts are from volcanoes, some are from the ice age, and so much more I can't even tell you cause it's over my head.
Mike did some fishing. He bought a 3 day license. No luck. First you couldn't fish in the Yellowstone river that fed into the Yellowstone lake cause the Cut Throat trout were spawning. Couldn't fish in any river that left out of the Yellowstone lake cause the cut throat trout were spawning. But you could fish in the Yellowstone lake. I guess the spawn and are too tire to eat. The do have to go over some pretty remarkable rapids. We watch them do that. Oh yes and you can't fish with a barbed hook. You have to smash the barb down. But he looked good fishing. (just ask him)
Yellowstone was great but we had no extras. No Internet, not TV and you had to pay for a shower. Everything is green green green. I did enjoy it but I don't think I'm such a primitive camper anymore.
Last night was probably the cherry on the top of the cake. We were lying in bed, it was about 12 am. When at first we heard a dog bark. Mike said, wolves. I said no; a dog. Well............. it was not a blooming dog. It was coyotes!!!! A pack, right through out campground. On the road behind us. I'll tell you even though I knew they couldn't hurt us it was one of the most frightening things I have ever heard. Whew!!!!!
We are in Great Falls, MT. Stores, Internet and antenna TV. not as beautiful but easier.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
June 23, 2008
Didn't do to much today as my cold is not better. So we found a walk-in clinic and as you can imagine it took 2 hours of our day. Have sinusitis and got some antibiotics. Mike had lost a crown a few days ago. (has the crown it just fell out) So while I was waiting for my appointment he was searching for a dentist in hopes he would glue it back in. No luck for him.
We did have some time this afternoon to go to this western village of the 1800's. These log cabins are original, some were one room homes, some were blacksmith's shops, one was a saloon, one was a store, one is a two room house that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid hid from the law. These buildings were found all around the area, some in Montana. They were moved here where they wanted to start the town of Cody. Didn't happen cause the water wasn't so good in that spot. It was pretty interesting. I think I like the west!!!!! People are really nice here. I need to make one correction. This town was named after Buffalo Bill Cody, not Wild Bill Cody. He had a wild west show he took all over the world.
Ok, so tomorrow we're off to Yellowstone. I doubt if we will have Internet there, so I'll have to catch you up when we head to Canada.
Take care all.
We did have some time this afternoon to go to this western village of the 1800's. These log cabins are original, some were one room homes, some were blacksmith's shops, one was a saloon, one was a store, one is a two room house that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid hid from the law. These buildings were found all around the area, some in Montana. They were moved here where they wanted to start the town of Cody. Didn't happen cause the water wasn't so good in that spot. It was pretty interesting. I think I like the west!!!!! People are really nice here. I need to make one correction. This town was named after Buffalo Bill Cody, not Wild Bill Cody. He had a wild west show he took all over the world.
Ok, so tomorrow we're off to Yellowstone. I doubt if we will have Internet there, so I'll have to catch you up when we head to Canada.
Take care all.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
June 22, 2008
Today was a really fun day but would have been better if we both didn't feel like we are getting colds. Hope it passes.
Today is Sunday, we have one more day here before we go to Yellowstone. The weather has been nice here in the 80's and 90's but will drop remarkably when we go to Yellowstone, as it is over 8000 feet above sea level. Here in Cody we are 4000 above sea level. It gets cooler at night but not bad.
Anyway we went to a Pow Wow today. They were called Plains Indians. However, there were all kinds of tribes there. They sang, danced, and spoke in there native language. Of coarse they speak English normally but I was amazed how many could still speak their native language. There was a Chief Jo Medicine......... can't remember his full name. He was 94 years old. He was considered a war time chief as he served in World War II. The costumes we quite pretty. Some were real authentic made of suede and feathers. Some were a little plastic but all very colorful. I especially like the ladies shoes. They were all beaded moccasins. They were more like a boot-moccasins as they went up the leg. Very pretty.
We went back to the camper and rested cause tonight we went to the Rodeo. It was great. Kinda smelly but once you got past that it was wonderful. Bare back bronco riders, saddle bronco riders, bull riders, lasso the steer and tie 3 legs together, women lasso the steer but no tie, kids 12 and under bronco steer riding, women's barrel racing with horses, kid barrel racing with horses (one was 4 years old!) and a very funny clown.
So that's about it for today. Glad to hear from you Annalisa. I'll try my best at your request!
Oh yes I thought I would show you how Goobie looks out the window in the night! Have to raise those blinds.
To see better pics of the slideshows - see http://picasaweb.google.com/mike.dicesaro
Today is Sunday, we have one more day here before we go to Yellowstone. The weather has been nice here in the 80's and 90's but will drop remarkably when we go to Yellowstone, as it is over 8000 feet above sea level. Here in Cody we are 4000 above sea level. It gets cooler at night but not bad.
Anyway we went to a Pow Wow today. They were called Plains Indians. However, there were all kinds of tribes there. They sang, danced, and spoke in there native language. Of coarse they speak English normally but I was amazed how many could still speak their native language. There was a Chief Jo Medicine......... can't remember his full name. He was 94 years old. He was considered a war time chief as he served in World War II. The costumes we quite pretty. Some were real authentic made of suede and feathers. Some were a little plastic but all very colorful. I especially like the ladies shoes. They were all beaded moccasins. They were more like a boot-moccasins as they went up the leg. Very pretty.
We went back to the camper and rested cause tonight we went to the Rodeo. It was great. Kinda smelly but once you got past that it was wonderful. Bare back bronco riders, saddle bronco riders, bull riders, lasso the steer and tie 3 legs together, women lasso the steer but no tie, kids 12 and under bronco steer riding, women's barrel racing with horses, kid barrel racing with horses (one was 4 years old!) and a very funny clown.
So that's about it for today. Glad to hear from you Annalisa. I'll try my best at your request!
Oh yes I thought I would show you how Goobie looks out the window in the night! Have to raise those blinds.
To see better pics of the slideshows - see http://picasaweb.google.com/mike.dicesaro
Saturday, June 21, 2008
June 21,2008
Well sorry didn't write last night, Friday, as it my beatin night. I got a good beatin too!!!! So bad I couldn't lift my arms to type. I was sent to do laundry and back for a good Friday night beatin. ............ Truth: I was real tired and we did do laundry.
Yesterday the 20Th we left Hill Town and went to Deadwood. Deadwood is still in the Black Hills but it famous for preserving it buildings from the late 1800's. It was a very notorious town in it's day. A big gold mining town. Guess a lot of gold in those there hills. Very lawless for a time from what I understand. Burned down 3 times but was rebuilt. Seems the bank burned down but the gold in it didn't. Very interesting town. In this town Wild Bill Hickok was slain in the #9 saloon. He was only 39 years old. Calamity Jane also live in this town and she died the day after Wild Bill. She was in love with him but don't think it was mutual. She is buried right beside him. From Deadwood it was only a while when we hit Wyoming. Wow what a first impression it made. Rolling hills green, just beautiful but we were still in the Black Hills. A few miles into Wyoming we stop at what is called a "vore". A vore is a sink hole!!!!! The Indians use this sink hole to send the Buffalo in. Yep corralled them to their death. They would send about 300 at a time to this hole. And, they would use every part of the buffalo. All the meat was taken out of the hole by the children, put on sleds and taken to where ever they lived, which, was not near there. They would use the hide, some was stiff and use for armour some was soft and this hide was rub with the brain and a chemical in the brain would soften the hide to like a suede. Amazing. Use the fur,use it all except some of the bones which was left in the hole. There was 20 feet of bone in this particular hole. Oh yes and this is the "pre-historic" indian, they did not have horses!
Not far from there we stopped at Devils Tower. Our camp site was at the foot of this thing. This tower is made of lava, lime stone and other sediments. It is constantly eroding.
Ok now we are today the 21st. We got up, had a very good night of sleep. Went up to the Tower, it's a national monument, to see it up close. We ended up waking around the circumference of the base. Saw some nutty climbers on one side of the face. (Look like fun Judge?)
We started driving and driving. We saw white capped mountains. We went over what was called Big Horn Mountains. They were beautiful. Snow capped. Not bad going up but coming down kinda scary. But Mike did a great job. We saw beautiful wildflowers, snow, great temperatures. It was beautiful. But let me tell you what is in-between Devils Tower and the mountains. Many many many horned antelope. There are more antelope in Wyoming than there are people. You can't go more than 10 miles without seeing one or many. But also there are miles of kind of no so pretty fields with an oil well here and there. Many more than I expected. But I didn't expect any. Not such a nice part of WY. Got over the mountains and there is a large space to the Rockies. Like a plain. Lots of farms, lots of live stock. Drove some more and got here to where we are now......Cody. Went out to dinner in Cody. Home of Wild Bill Cody. He built a hotel here which is where we had dinner. Had ribs that fell of the bone and were still as moist as a rare steak. Yum. Town of Cody is pretty big and was quite busy. Has a rodeo every night. Think we might give it try tomorrow night. We are about 50 miles from Yellowstone so we are here for about 3 days. Goobie will be happy.
Some of my readers have been curious about our gas mileage. We are averaging about 10.5 miles per gallon. And the gas prices since South Dakota have been under $4.00 per gallon. Talk to to all tomorrow.
Yesterday the 20Th we left Hill Town and went to Deadwood. Deadwood is still in the Black Hills but it famous for preserving it buildings from the late 1800's. It was a very notorious town in it's day. A big gold mining town. Guess a lot of gold in those there hills. Very lawless for a time from what I understand. Burned down 3 times but was rebuilt. Seems the bank burned down but the gold in it didn't. Very interesting town. In this town Wild Bill Hickok was slain in the #9 saloon. He was only 39 years old. Calamity Jane also live in this town and she died the day after Wild Bill. She was in love with him but don't think it was mutual. She is buried right beside him. From Deadwood it was only a while when we hit Wyoming. Wow what a first impression it made. Rolling hills green, just beautiful but we were still in the Black Hills. A few miles into Wyoming we stop at what is called a "vore". A vore is a sink hole!!!!! The Indians use this sink hole to send the Buffalo in. Yep corralled them to their death. They would send about 300 at a time to this hole. And, they would use every part of the buffalo. All the meat was taken out of the hole by the children, put on sleds and taken to where ever they lived, which, was not near there. They would use the hide, some was stiff and use for armour some was soft and this hide was rub with the brain and a chemical in the brain would soften the hide to like a suede. Amazing. Use the fur,use it all except some of the bones which was left in the hole. There was 20 feet of bone in this particular hole. Oh yes and this is the "pre-historic" indian, they did not have horses!
Not far from there we stopped at Devils Tower. Our camp site was at the foot of this thing. This tower is made of lava, lime stone and other sediments. It is constantly eroding.
Ok now we are today the 21st. We got up, had a very good night of sleep. Went up to the Tower, it's a national monument, to see it up close. We ended up waking around the circumference of the base. Saw some nutty climbers on one side of the face. (Look like fun Judge?)
We started driving and driving. We saw white capped mountains. We went over what was called Big Horn Mountains. They were beautiful. Snow capped. Not bad going up but coming down kinda scary. But Mike did a great job. We saw beautiful wildflowers, snow, great temperatures. It was beautiful. But let me tell you what is in-between Devils Tower and the mountains. Many many many horned antelope. There are more antelope in Wyoming than there are people. You can't go more than 10 miles without seeing one or many. But also there are miles of kind of no so pretty fields with an oil well here and there. Many more than I expected. But I didn't expect any. Not such a nice part of WY. Got over the mountains and there is a large space to the Rockies. Like a plain. Lots of farms, lots of live stock. Drove some more and got here to where we are now......Cody. Went out to dinner in Cody. Home of Wild Bill Cody. He built a hotel here which is where we had dinner. Had ribs that fell of the bone and were still as moist as a rare steak. Yum. Town of Cody is pretty big and was quite busy. Has a rodeo every night. Think we might give it try tomorrow night. We are about 50 miles from Yellowstone so we are here for about 3 days. Goobie will be happy.
Some of my readers have been curious about our gas mileage. We are averaging about 10.5 miles per gallon. And the gas prices since South Dakota have been under $4.00 per gallon. Talk to to all tomorrow.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
June 19,2008
We had a rip snortin storm here last night about 2:30 am. It lasted a good hour. They have some violent thunder and lighting storms here. It was so bad Goobie got under the covers and hid. But when we got up this morning the weather man said it would be in the 80's. It was nice in the morning so off we went.
Well as I told you yesterday we were going to the museum to see the works or Borglum. We we went back to Rushmore ; they had a free museum. (need I say more) It was interesting. We actually met a guy who worked on the carvings. He was very old but amazing. The carving at Rushmore took 14 years to complete. I definitely think everyone who can, should visit this place. But on our way, we saw SNOW on the side of the road, at least it looked like it. We stopped, it was hail from the storm last night. Oh yea, forgot to tell you it hailed last night too. Very noise!!!
After we went to Keystone as we found out there was an old part of town. There we went through the oldest general store, The town doctors office, the ice house, and the school house. All in the late 1800s. The store is still in operation and is on the National Historic Register. The ice house is now a fancy gift shop and the school house had it's last 8 students in 1988.
Carrie Ingals Swansy lived in Keystone. She is the sister of Laura Ingals of "Little House on the Prairie". Lot of information about the Ingals family here. Didn't realize that this famous TV series was from real lives.
The a casual drive around the National Forest to see if we could see some mountain goats. Well the weather dropped to 52. Then we had a little hail, then rain. Exciting eh?
By the way, enjoy your comments. Keep em coming.
Well as I told you yesterday we were going to the museum to see the works or Borglum. We we went back to Rushmore ; they had a free museum. (need I say more) It was interesting. We actually met a guy who worked on the carvings. He was very old but amazing. The carving at Rushmore took 14 years to complete. I definitely think everyone who can, should visit this place. But on our way, we saw SNOW on the side of the road, at least it looked like it. We stopped, it was hail from the storm last night. Oh yea, forgot to tell you it hailed last night too. Very noise!!!
After we went to Keystone as we found out there was an old part of town. There we went through the oldest general store, The town doctors office, the ice house, and the school house. All in the late 1800s. The store is still in operation and is on the National Historic Register. The ice house is now a fancy gift shop and the school house had it's last 8 students in 1988.
Carrie Ingals Swansy lived in Keystone. She is the sister of Laura Ingals of "Little House on the Prairie". Lot of information about the Ingals family here. Didn't realize that this famous TV series was from real lives.
The a casual drive around the National Forest to see if we could see some mountain goats. Well the weather dropped to 52. Then we had a little hail, then rain. Exciting eh?
By the way, enjoy your comments. Keep em coming.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
June 18,
If you hadn't figured it out I wrote the 17th of June this morning during a storm but it was about things we did on the 17th. So here I am 9:30 pm SD time on the 18th. Ok now we are on the right day.
Had a thunder storm this morning!!!! (surprise) The storms here are pretty intense. One crack of thunder actually rattle the camper. It warmed up by noon, in the 70's and off we went. Today we went to Custer State Park. It's really really big. Many roads. First we went on Needles Highway. Believe me, it is not a highway. It goes up and up and there are tons of granite rock formations. Some look like cathedrals some look like big rocks. lol just kidding. But it was neat to see these things. We stopped at a lot of overlooks and I found this pine tree with the oddest pine cones, or the start of pine cones so I took a picture of it. It is really thick and fat. Then right next to it was a different pine tree with a skinny pine cone start and took a picture of that too. Let me add here that I am at the mercy of my husband to load the pictures here as my computer will not download pictures from my camera. It is a bit frustrating.
The we went to Custer, the town. Well I wouldn't recommend this town to you all. It did have some old buildings from 1880's but that's about it. We had lunch there and Mike had a wire in his salad. Everything else was pretty good.
Then we went back into Custer State Park again.
We took the wildlife loop. This area of the park is more grass land and is suppose to have a herd of 1500 buffalo. Well we saw everything but buffalo. We saw prong horned antelope, white tail deer, and burro's. These burro's were once used to take people up a mountain which is near this place. This was discontinued and so they let the burro's go free in the park. Some are real friendly, they will come up to you and let you pet them. Then we ran into a bunch of them. The next one we saw was in the middle of the road and we had to name him, bigus dickus. He was on his way to a large group of other burro's but was having a hard time walking across the street. He gathered quite a crowd in the middle of the wilderness. Mike said he didn't think burro's could reproduce but I really doubt that especially after meeting bigus!
Now we are going to the big city! Rapid City ( that's when I called you Bob). Yep got to go. Had to refill a prescription and the only Walgreen's was in Rapid City. Also went to Sam's. Very hard to find out here. Food in the grocery is expensive here. At least in these little towns where there is only one grocery store. So we picked up a few things, about $210.'s worth. Ok we bought a couple of chairs and a side of beef. No sorry just a tenderloin of beef. Wanted to stop at a Staples but I think that was enough city for Mike.
I'm going to send you that brochure Emily as soon as I can get some envelopes.
Well we have one more day here in Hill Town and then off we go again. Goobie likes the looooong stays (3days). Tomorrow we are returning to Keystone to see the museum of Borglum the artist of Mt. Rushmore.
Forgot to tell Pat. Found my sign in Mitchell SD. Remember I was complaining how all these new signs I have missed. (parking for pregnant mothers, parking for mothers with babies, parking for green vehicles) Well I found one for us and I am having Mike post it here.
Take care all, Chad have fun in Maine.
If you hadn't figured it out I wrote the 17th of June this morning during a storm but it was about things we did on the 17th. So here I am 9:30 pm SD time on the 18th. Ok now we are on the right day.
Had a thunder storm this morning!!!! (surprise) The storms here are pretty intense. One crack of thunder actually rattle the camper. It warmed up by noon, in the 70's and off we went. Today we went to Custer State Park. It's really really big. Many roads. First we went on Needles Highway. Believe me, it is not a highway. It goes up and up and there are tons of granite rock formations. Some look like cathedrals some look like big rocks. lol just kidding. But it was neat to see these things. We stopped at a lot of overlooks and I found this pine tree with the oddest pine cones, or the start of pine cones so I took a picture of it. It is really thick and fat. Then right next to it was a different pine tree with a skinny pine cone start and took a picture of that too. Let me add here that I am at the mercy of my husband to load the pictures here as my computer will not download pictures from my camera. It is a bit frustrating.
The we went to Custer, the town. Well I wouldn't recommend this town to you all. It did have some old buildings from 1880's but that's about it. We had lunch there and Mike had a wire in his salad. Everything else was pretty good.
Then we went back into Custer State Park again.
We took the wildlife loop. This area of the park is more grass land and is suppose to have a herd of 1500 buffalo. Well we saw everything but buffalo. We saw prong horned antelope, white tail deer, and burro's. These burro's were once used to take people up a mountain which is near this place. This was discontinued and so they let the burro's go free in the park. Some are real friendly, they will come up to you and let you pet them. Then we ran into a bunch of them. The next one we saw was in the middle of the road and we had to name him, bigus dickus. He was on his way to a large group of other burro's but was having a hard time walking across the street. He gathered quite a crowd in the middle of the wilderness. Mike said he didn't think burro's could reproduce but I really doubt that especially after meeting bigus!
Now we are going to the big city! Rapid City ( that's when I called you Bob). Yep got to go. Had to refill a prescription and the only Walgreen's was in Rapid City. Also went to Sam's. Very hard to find out here. Food in the grocery is expensive here. At least in these little towns where there is only one grocery store. So we picked up a few things, about $210.'s worth. Ok we bought a couple of chairs and a side of beef. No sorry just a tenderloin of beef. Wanted to stop at a Staples but I think that was enough city for Mike.
I'm going to send you that brochure Emily as soon as I can get some envelopes.
Well we have one more day here in Hill Town and then off we go again. Goobie likes the looooong stays (3days). Tomorrow we are returning to Keystone to see the museum of Borglum the artist of Mt. Rushmore.
Forgot to tell Pat. Found my sign in Mitchell SD. Remember I was complaining how all these new signs I have missed. (parking for pregnant mothers, parking for mothers with babies, parking for green vehicles) Well I found one for us and I am having Mike post it here.
Take care all, Chad have fun in Maine.
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