Back to Vacation! Day 13: Lost Hours, Pioneer Trails, and London Fog

In the morning, we ran up and down the stairs carrying suitcases, bags, and boxes. Gabby oversaw the van packing, since Buck still couldn’t lift. Everyone looked around the house for another moose appearance, but all that was found was a deer (good spot Brennen). Saying goodbye was kind of sad! We had a really good week, the house was beautiful; we were feeling a bit at home, I think (at least I did :) The rain of the night before had fallen as snow on the mountain range, giving us a new view out our giant windows.

Buck wanted to stop by the Tetons visitor center again on the way out of town. As I mentioned earlier, he began collecting walking stick medals for his souvenir. He ended up with quite a lot, and they look neat on the karate staff he often used while we were hiking. Amazingly, on this crisp morning between the big house and the Tetons, we saw six moose! That’s a lot of moosen wishing us farewell! (Can you see the moose in the picture below?)

As we continued our drive, we bumped into a national forest rangers’ office. I noticed in my Jr. Ranger research that some forests (for instance the one we crossed in the snowstorm at night) have programs. We had a lot of driving to do, and you can often mail completed books to earn badges (we’ve never actually tried this), so we thought we’d stop and see. Though they didn’t have such a program, the ranger (who seemed to not get many visitors) was happy to hand over a quadruple stack of pencils, eclipse stickers, Smokey the Bear comic books, and other little do-dads. He also mentioned that there would be snow over the pass, but it “drives like a highway” so not to worry.

Twenty minutes later . . . hello, Narnia! Yes, there was snow alright. Winter always seems to be just around the corner in Wyoming. We made it half way over when Buck’s boss called. Important news, we pulled over to the side of the road and they had a chat about people reshuffling in the area. Never a dull moment in that business!

We planned on about seven and one half hours to get from Jackson, WY to Hot Springs, SD. Leaving as early as we did, I fully expected to take side trek into Fort Laramie National Park (Jr. Ranger, baby!). We also considered stopping by Sacagawea’s gravesite, until we learned it was an active Native American burial ground, thus seemed super disrespectful to go there. However, we did spend much of our journey on a flat, desolate stretch of Indian Reservation that I’m almost sure they’d give back (or swap out) if they could. There was NOTHING for miles—well, except for an endless smattering of pronghorn deer. Those white bottoms were EVERYWHERE! Well, like deer . . . Buck’s hunter senses were tingling :)

One very quick stop we hadn’t planned on making, but were instructed to by the forest ranger—Hell’s Half Acre. Sounds pleasant right? Yeah, well it is this crazy stretch of Badlands in the middle of Wyoming. Even stranger, it is completely fenced off with barbed wire and almost inaccessible car and by foot. Why?? We never did figure it out. It was cold in Hell; it may have actually frozen over (seriously, who names these places? I would have gone with “Pretty, Random Hole in the Ground”).

Despite our two brief stops, time seemed to be flying by. We were hungry, and decided to stop in the town which seemed to have the biggest print on the map: Casper. Upon arrival it seemed a fairly large town, especially after the desolation of the reservation. We headed for the visitor center. Once inside, we headed for the bathrooms (they were pretty nice!) Back at the information counter, I struck up a conversation with a lady about our plans and she was like, “Yeah, you can’t possibly get there before it closes. Oh and the weather is turning bad.” What? What weather? We’d been without cell service, listening to Adventures in Odyssey . . . more weather? Somehow, we’d lost hours on our journey. I still can’t figure out where they went—only that perhaps the original google estimates were somehow mistaken.

This Historic Trails Center did not have a Jr. Ranger program either; there was another that had a section of rock hollowed out and carved down by years of wagon train traffic heading to Oregon. That sounded neat to see! But, that too was stricken from my list of stops that day. However, there was a pressed penny machine—and when Graysen cranked the handle, a pressed penny fell out! Free of charge (I guess the kid before got tired of cranking : ) The museum was actually pretty neat and very well maintained. Lots of interactive displays, hands on learning opportunities, and we even got to “ride in a wagon across a river” like the pioneers did. I’m surprised the rocking motion and video screens didn’t make Buck sick, but he braved it like a legit pioneer ;)

After purchasing a few postcards, we made a beeline for the cabin we’d rented in Hot Springs. The directions, once in town, were a little iffy. We found the rental in a somewhat secluded area near some dilapidated neighbors, and I was having flashbacks to our first night’s stay in South Dakota. Buck went ahead of us (since the cabin was left unlocked for our arrival) and checked the premises. He came back (after turning on all the lights) and said, “I think you will like it. It looks like an older couple’s vacation home.” This . . . partially relieved my concerns, but . . . how old of a couple? :)

A quick tour proved reassuring, and it was a quick tour! Two little bedrooms, a small kitchen with a dining table for six, a small living room, and the tiniest bathroom on the planet—I take that back, the one in Paris was the tiniest bathroom on the planet. However, it was freshly decorated for fall, had very nice bedding, loads of towels, and even a washer/dryer (likely older than me, but still running). We kept that machine hopping. I figured I’d get my money’s worth out of the water supply while I had the chance, and it would help cut down on post-vacation laundry when we arrived home. This was a great plan until the front of the washer popped off during a spin cycle. Buck just kicked it back on and we called it good. Yup.

We were cracking up at the difference between a manager’s salary (Jackson Hole, spacious multi-million dollar house) and an assistant manager’s salary (two bedroom, log walls, no ceiling between the rooms) . . .  view of the Tetons; view of a steaming river that looked straight out of a movie set in London at night. In both cases, we had a comfortable, safe place to sleep and eat, so no complaints here!

Speaking of eating, we were hungry again. We dipped into the wifi (after deciphering the scrawly handwriting indicating the password) and discovered a family-style restaurant called, Woolly Mammoth's (it's kind of a theme for the area) that was still open. We headed there promptly, and enjoyed a nice meal served by a waitress who reminded me of our former pastor’s daughter. Sweet as pie!

Of course, our evening wasn’t complete without a trip to the grocery store. We bought some things for breakfast, some things for grilling, and headed back to our cabin. By daylight, we realized that all of the locations we'd visited were practically within walking distance of each other, but our GPS was so upsidedown and inside out we got a full tour of Hot Springs, South Dakota between destinations. Ha! Oh well, more fun tomorrow!