Archive for Places to go
September 22, 2007 at 7:43 pm · Filed under Places to go
From Thermopolis to Cody is only 84 miles but it could seem longer if you don’t enjoy the Wyoming countryside. It’s dry rolling hills all the way, with few towns and a lot of open space. Fortunately, I do like the scenery, and Eleanor and Emma had books to read. I don’t think either of them noticed a thing until we pulled into Cody.
Cody is one of those towns that is almost entirely based on one famous person, in this case the larger-than-life “Buffalo Bill” Cody. He founded the town in 1896, opened the big hotel (“The Irma” named for his youngest daughter), founded the newspaper, and doubtless did many other important things to get this small town going. It is a bit like visiting Prince Edward Island and finding everything dedicated to the celebration of Ann of Green Gables, except that Ann was fictional and Buffalo Bill really existed.
Bill was a product of his times, at first a famed hunter of buffalos who certainly did his part in helping them along to near-extinction. (I’m not throwing stones, just pointing out a historical truth. At the time, buffalo hunting was brave and admirable work, but the men of the era were so efficient at it that they virtually wiped all the buffalo out in a matter of a couple of decades.) Later, Bill fought in the Civil War, was important to Native American relations, and finally founded “The Wild West” show that toured the world very successfully. He was by all accounts an exceptional man, and now I’m wondering if there’s a good 20th century biography of him that I might read.
The centerpiece of Cody is the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, which includes five superb museums. This is their annual fundraising weekend and so admission to the museums was free, a huge bonus for us. (Family admission is $40.) We toured the excellent Plains Indian Museum and the Draper Museum of Natural History, and I did a quick run through the Buffalo Bill Museum before everything shut down at 5 p.m. Definitely recommended.
For the past week we’ve been trying to coordinate a visit with Bert & Janie and finally today the details have come together. We are going to rendezvous in Yellowstone on Thursday, along with another couple (tenters, from South Africa) who we met today in the campground. Most of the Yellowstone campgrounds are closed this time of year, but it looks like the NPS campground Madison will suit us well. It’s about ten miles from the west entrance. There will be no hookups and the weather will undoubtedly be cold up there, but we’re all looking forward to it all the same.
In the meantime, we’ll settle into Cody. I’ve got work to complete before we venture into Yellowstone (since I will be completely and gloriously cut off from cell phones and Internet as long as we are in the park), and so over the next few days I hope to get everything under control to allow at least a four-day weekend in the national park.
September 21, 2007 at 7:21 pm · Filed under Places to go
Thermopolis has been one of those places that is so unusual that we are willing to overlook all kinds of inconveniences to have the chance to explore it. The campground we are in is a tiny wedge of land between the highway and the train tracks, and directly on the final approach course to Thermopolis’s airport. Last night, the BNSF freight trains were so heavy and long and close that we could actually feel the Airstream moving with the shaking earth. We know now exactly what a 3.5-4.0 Richter scale earthquake will feel like in the Airstream.
Heavy trucks with jake brakes farting down the hill come by occasionally, and once in a while someone flies about 800 feet overhead in or out of the airport. The smell of sulphur from the campground’s private hot mineral water pools wafts past the trailer. I don’t actually mind it in small doses, but it irritates Eleanor and so we try to capture some clear air when we can and then close the windows.
But the smell of sulphur is part of the territory when you are near natural hot springs. This water contains 27 minerals, they say, and the bulk of it is sulphur, calcium, sodium, carbon dioxide, chlorine, and magnesium. Healthy, say some. Stinky, for sure. It bubbles out of the ground at about 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54 C) and then cools as it runs across the ground forming fields and cliffs of mineral deposits, before ending up in the river.
The state park is worth a visit, especially since it’s free and right in the center of town. The “state baths” are also free, or you can drop $10 to splash into the water at one of the water slides next door. Walkways bring you through the mineral-coated plains where the water naturally flows, much like the walkways through the geysers of Yellowstone.
One nice feature of the state park is a springy suspension bridge over the river chasm. This terrified Emma for about 30 seconds, and then she began to realize the fun of making the thing sway and bounce. Here she is trying to get the bridge going with her mighty vertical leap of about three inches.
Emma and I did try a swim in the campground’s hot pools. They run about 93 degrees, +/- 5 degrees depending on where you are. The water feels great. We were hoping the bottom would be natural, and possibly filled with interesting things to see, so we brought the snorkel gear. We were expecting something like Balmorhea State Park in Texas, but it turned out to be a rather ordinary swimming pool, although gigantic. The water felt very very good …
Our other stop today was the Wyoming Dinosaur Museum. If there’s any place they know dinos, it’s Wyoming. Right down the road from the museum they are digging away and finding new skeletons and other fossils routinely. The museum is a must-see for fossil and dino lovers.
It is Friday evening and Eleanor hoped there’d be some action in town, but it was dead. We walked around and noted some architecture, a few statues, a couple of open shops, and not much else. Eleanor was secretly harboring a wish for an old-fashioned soda fountain in town. No such luck. But we did see this cowboy trotting through town, heading (as all good cowboys should) west, into the sunset.
September 19, 2007 at 7:31 pm · Filed under Places to go
We had such a nice time with Jay and Cherie last night that we met up with them again at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum in Lion’s Park. They rode up on their gleaming aluminum tandem bicycle in matching “Airstream blue” jerseys, and we pulled in with the Airstream behind us.
The museum captures the history of Frontier Days, which is a ten-day event that has been held in Cheyenne for over a century. The centerpiece of Frontier Days is a big rodeo, and the museum has an extensive collection of photos and memorabilia from the rodeo over the decades. It also features a very large collection of carriages and western art such as bronzes. Definitely a good stop if you’re in Cheyenne.
Keeping in our new philosophy of getting lost for a few days, we decided to wander just a bit off the beaten Interstate path, over to see Fort Laramie National Historic Site. That was well worth the 30-mile detour, especially with the books I’ve been reading about western history. Fort Laramie was central to many important events that happened in the mid-19th century, including the gold rush in the Black Hills, the Fetterman Massacre, Wounded Knee, and the events that surrounded the violent deaths of George Custer, Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, and many others.
Emma discovered there was a Junior Ranger program, and scurried around with Eleanor among the many restored buildings to collect the answers she needed for her twentieth Junior Ranger badge! That was probably the fastest badge she has ever earned, completed in under two hours.
Meanwhile, I ran into a couple from Washington, Randy and Maureen, whose 1977 Argosy 24 was parked right next to ours. That’s the same model and length of trailer we used to own. They gave me a bunch of tips on traveling in Washington and we agreed to try to meet up in a few weeks when we get there. Instant friends ““ that’s one of the many things I love about owning an Airstream and doing my job.
Tonight we decided to stop at Guernsey State Park ($12 non-resident rate, no hookups), just about 13 miles from Fort Laramie, on a lark. We knew absolutely nothing about the park, but it turned out to be a spectacular one. The entrance road winds for miles along the shores of a lake, dipping down among canyon walls and yielding fantastic views at almost every turn. Little campsites are sprinkled along the shore, but most are not level. After about 3-4 miles of twisting along the road (at 10 MPH, the maximum safe speed for a big trailer like ours), we settled on a very quiet spot in a cove. Nobody else is here.
The water is low right now, so it looks like the Bay of Fundy at low tide. We walked out onto the dry mud bottom and found chunks of jasper lying in the mud, and crawfish shells. The wind is blowing strong and steady up above the canyon, but down here in our little secluded campsite it just makes the trees sway and rustle a little. This is a great place.
September 17, 2007 at 9:34 pm · Filed under Places to go
Last night it rained over most of the Rocky Mountains, and this left a handsome dusting of snow atop the highest peaks. We didn’t notice this until we pulled out of Aurora and began the gradual winding climb up Rt 36 toward Rocky Mountain National Park.
This park is a keeper. We have passed it twice in our travels over the past two years without staying, and this time — even though we have extensive plans in Wyoming and Montana — we decided to stop in for at least one night. I was grumbling about the thirty mile detour for a single night stay, but before we were even in the park I could see it was the right thing to do. The mountains are mesmerizing.
Not only that, but we managed to stumble right into the middle of the elk breeding season. This is a fascinating event, when the elk come down out of the mountains and start appearing in large groups near the roadways, and the bulls jockey for position to mate with as many cows as they can.
The best part of this is the “bugling” done by the bull elk. It sounds like a cross between a humpback whale song and a loon’s cry. Sometimes it sounds like a rusty iron gate being opened. Around sunset you can park along any road and watch the the bulls slowly follow their harems around the meadows. The photo above shows a bull elk with one antler broken off. He’s going to have a rough season, since the cows are looking for a mate with a big healthy rack of antlers.
The down side of this season is that most of the campgrounds have closed. Only one is open this late in September (on this side of the park), and as the ranger told us, “Retirees in RVs pretty much keep this place jumping through October.” It seems pretty strange to close all the other campgrounds, since September is still peak season here. So we ended up in an “RV Resort” just outside the gates at $40 per night. One night won’t break the budget, and this place has the advantage of wi-fi in the campground that actually works.
On any visit to a national park, especially a short one, we find the best thing to do to get to know the place is to attend the Ranger Talks. This evening’s talk was about (of course) elk. Up at this altitude it’s pretty chilly and the temperature drops quickly after sunset, so fleeces were mandatory. My wool poncho from Mexico made a nice lap blanket for all three of us.
Emma paid careful attention to the ranger so she could use the information to complete some of her Junior Ranger program. She should be able to complete most of it this evening and turn it in tomorrow before we head out midday.
I talked to Bert Gildart today about our planned rendezvous. Instead of meeting up at his house near Glacier, we are thinking now that a meeting in Yellowstone might be better for all. The plan is still fluid, but it seems we will spend more time in Wyoming than we thought.
September 11, 2007 at 9:16 pm · Filed under Places to go
Yesterday’s list included some of our all-time favorite state parks. Those are defined as ones that we would go out of our way to visit again. But there are many others that have been really great. A lot of great parks didn’t make yesterday’s list because of any of these reasons:
- we didn’t stay at them long enough to get to know them
- they are beautiful but a bit too isolated for us to be likely to visit again
- I can’t get online on site, so we can only visit them when I’m officially taking time off work
- they are overshadowed by wonderful National Park sites nearby
- I forgot about them until today!
On this list:
Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park, Three Forks MT
Fish Creek Pond/Rollins Pond State Parks, near Lake Placid NY (canoeing/kayaking)
Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort SC (lighthouse)
Santa Rosa State Park, Santa Rosa NM (right off old Rt 66)
Kanawha State Park, Charleston WV (must be under 25 feet to fit in!)
Picacho Peak State Park, Picacho AZ (off I-10 between Tucson and Phoenix)
Watkins Glen State Park, Watkins Glen NY (waterfalls! This one should have made the first list)
Rockhound State Park, Deming NM
Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, Alamogordo NM (near White Sands Nat’l Monument)
Jamaica State Park, Jamaica VT (another one that should have made the first list)
First Landing State Park, Virginia Beach, VA
Nickerson State Park, Brewster MA (Cape Cod, excellent bicycling trails)
Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Jupiter FL (sand dunes, natural Florida)
Letchworth State Park, Perry NY (waterfalls)
New Brighton State Beach, Capitola CA
Sometime soon I’ll do another list of our favorite National Park campsites. Some of those are really spectacular.
Tonight we met with Fred Coldwell, who writes for Airstream Life magazine regularly. Fred and I reviewed my edits on his upcoming article for the Winter 2007 issue, and discussed the photography we would use. His article will look fantastic in the magazine, since the topic is Airstream photographer Ardean Miller. Ardean is the guy responsible for all of those fantastic Kodachrome images of Airstreams from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, and the magazine article will be loaded with them.
After business was concluded, we all went out for pizza near Stapleton at this place that makes enormous 18″ pizzas. One pizza easily fed all of us with leftovers for lunch tomorrow, which means tomorrow will be a nice day too…
September 10, 2007 at 10:45 pm · Filed under Places to go
We left Wilson Lake under gray skies and light rain. We had hoped to take a “blue highway” north of I-70 to take in some scenery and small towns, but the weather became so dismal in showery rain that it seemed pointless. With the wet roads, we’d run a small risk of skidding through an intersection somewhere on the back roads, so instead we just took I-70 again and accepted the reality of another day of Interstate highway.
Let me tell you, Kansas is not flat. At the very least, it rolls and pitches like a wavy sea, which makes the Armada roar as it repeatedly downshifts to stay up with the fast-moving trucks. Toward the west, Kansas appears flattish but it is really tilted up, a shallow grade climbing from about 1,500 feet (at Wilson Lake) to about 4,000 feet at the Colorado border.
I hate driving those long shallow grades, especially when the speed limit is 70 (and in Colorado, 75 MPH). The trailer handles fine at higher speeds, but the fuel economy plummets, and with a constant shallow grade, it gets even worse. Add in the rain we had today, and we’ve really got a situation going. Not fun. So I kept it at 60 MPH in the rain, and 65 MPH when the rain finally cleared in Colorado.
Once we pulled into Aurora we got a little tour of the suburbs courtesy of Garminita the GPS. I always feel conspicuous towing the Airstream through crowded streets after a long day on the highway. There are people running their errands, picking up kids from school, coming home from work, and then there’s the giant silver trailer rolling through their neighborhood. I feel like I’m driving the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile, and everyone is staring at me.
But then I realize that people are not paying any attention at all, and my feeling changes. What’s wrong with these people? Don’t they know how cool an Airstream is? Can’t they see the colorful graphics on the side of the trailer (custom designed by Brad Cornelius, by the way)? It’s always a big letdown when we roll in and nobody even looks twice.
Well, at last we are parked in Cherry Creek State Park in Aurora CO. Long-time blog readers will recognize the name; we’ve been here twice before. It’s one of our favorite state parks. Terrific natural setting, great pull-through campsites with lots of space (and pink concrete pads), bike trails, a lake, and convenient to everything.
Coming here reminded me that I should have done a rollup of our favorite state parks a long time ago. There are many good state parks, but only a few are really great. Here’s a quick list of some of our favorites (all have RV camping):
Cherry Creek State Park, Aurora CO: wide open space, bike trails, wildlife
Henderson Beach State Park, Destin FL: beach and natural Florida dunes environment
Anastasia State Park, St Augustine FL: historic city, beach
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs CA: hikes, views, off-road drives
Gilbert Ray Campground, Tucson AZ (actually part of a county park): incredible views
Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, near Crescent City CA: centuries-old redwoods
Blue Spring State Park, Orange City FL: snorkeling in the spring, manatees
Charlestown Breachway, Charlestown RI: absolutely no services, no hookups, no picnic tables, nothing but beach.
There are many great state parks in other states, too, and I don’t mean to ignore them. In fact, as we travel northwest this fall and winter, one goal is to discover some new favorite parks in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and California. From here on in, state and national parks will be our destinations as much as possible.
September 9, 2007 at 8:24 pm · Filed under Places to go
Kansas has one huge advantage over other states. Most people who come here have terribly low expectations (“it’s flat”, “it’s boring”) so it is easy to be delighted by the little things.
Although we are not catching it on a great weather day Wilson Lakes is still clearly a very nice spot. It’s an irregular manmade puddle surrounded by rolling hills covered in delicate prairie vegetation. The campsites all have great views, and since virtually nobody is here, we were able to pick out a fine spot overlooking the water with total privacy.
There’s a marina in the park, so we did spot a boat going by towing a novice waterskiier, before everyone cleared out in the afternoon (it’s Sunday). On a sunny day this has to be a spectacular place to get in the water. The ranger station reports that a couple of weeks ago the water was 81 degrees.
About ten miles north on Rt 232 is the quiet little town of Lucas. It has one of those semi-dead downtowns that is so vacant you can stand in the middle of the road on Sunday and not worry about cars coming by for several minutes at a time. But it also has some of the most peculiar collections of folk art you will find in Kansas — or any other state.
One long-standing attraction is the Garden of Eden, actually a house of limestone carved to look like a log cabin. The garden is a collection of strange statuary made of concrete, created by Samuel P Dinsmoor decades ago. He’s still there — in the mortuary he built for himself.
We drove by but chose to visit the downtown Grass Roots Art Center instead. It’s an interesting place full of art by untrained artists who work in all sorts of media: stone, recycled junk, metal, pop bottles, even Barbie dolls. The tour takes about an hour and includes a backyard display of the local limestone architectural styles, and a side visit to the Deeble House. The Deeble House is filled with the work of one artist (the one who does the Barbie makeovers) and it’s interesting but strangely disturbing as well. Together with the Garden of Eden, these three places form the “Lucas Triangle”.
The other cultural aspect of the towns of Wilson and Lucas stems from the Czech heritage of many people who live here. Sadly, they don’t make much of it except at special occasions (and this Sunday in September is not one of those occasions). We would have liked to have found a Czech restaurant but the locals couldn’t point us to any place.
As I sit outside here at the picnic table (hoping for a better cellular signal), I can hear the crickets and other insects chirping and singing and humming. The tall grass prairie is alive with them, popping up and around all day and lending a melodic background to the campsite. All around us is tall grass, yellow flowers, the occasional moooo of beef cattle, and not much else. It’s very peaceful.
This post originally contained no photos because the local cellular network was not cooperating. I’ve found that when I’m on the so-called Verizon “Extended Network”, it’s code for “Barely functional network.” Generally uploads fail, which means I couldn’t post photos until I got to Denver.
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