Spearfish, SD

We got off to an early start, getting up at 6:30 to have breakfast and pack up the car. We were on the road at 8:00 AM on the dot only 30 minutes shy of our goal of 7:30. The drive was beautiful and today was the perfect day to spend on the road. I had no idea how much beauty one could see from the window of a car moving along at 65 mph. I was completely blown away by the spectacular scenery along the highway. We started out in the Tetons, then drove between the Wind Rivers and the Absarokas (mountain ranges), then the spectacular Big Horns, and finally into the South Dakota Black HIlls. We stopped in Thermopolis, WY and for a picnic lunch in a park near the hot springs where it was nearly 60 degrees. Thermopolis is known for its dinosaur discoveries and hot springs (the world’s largest according to words painted into a hillside leading into town). After lunch we hopped back in the car for more beautiful scenery. We spotted hundreds of antelope by the highway, and saw everything from snow-covered fields, 3 billion year-old precambrian granite. Unfortunately everything wasn’t completely perfect and picturesque; ugly oil fields complete with pumps resembling huge grasshoppers littered a long stretch of the highway. The oil towns are horribly unattractive with no sense of order or planning whatsoever. It's like an airplane just dropped houses and businesses from the sky to take root wherever they landed. Something about the oil fields polluted by the big grasshopper like machines was a little unsettling, even depressing. Once you've seen those enormous long necked machines repeating the same incessant nagging motion over and over again for 50 miles it starts to get to you. I guess they are synonymous with our constant, nagging, incessant, dependence on oil and this made me feel a tad bit slimy as we burned through precious oil trying to make our way home. We logged 495 miles today to our ultimate destination, The Best Western in Spearfish, SD and an Italian dinner at Roma's. We didn't waste any time after checking into the hotel and walked several blocks to Roma within minutes of dropping off our luggage at the hotel. Roma's is a lovely looking place and I'm sure it is hands down the finest eating establishment in all of Spearfish, SD and possibly all of South Dakota but with the exception of a decent Caesar salad and a nice glass of wine the food was average at best and the tiramisu tasted like something I made in my Easy Bake oven when I was a child. There was a plus size waitress working at Roma's, she wore a snug fitting skirt and blouse and fishnet stockings, and I truly enjoyed watching her work because she had so much confidence and style. I took at least 50 photos today so I'll upload one in a few hours to accompany this post. Goodnight from Spearfish.

Idaho Falls, ID

Whew... I'm really just too tired to blog tonight, but I'll give it a shot. I slept pretty well at the western cabin all by my lonesome and didn't let a few creaks and rattles disturb my slumber; although truth be told I didn't go to bed until I was absolutely exhausted because I was a little nervous about being there alone. Bob and Lynne picked me up for our field trip to Idaho at 8:30 sharp and I was at the bus stop right on time. We stopped for coffee and bagels in Wilson, WY and then off to ID. The drive to Idaho took a little over 2 hours although the distance from Wilson to Idaho Falls is only 89 miles. The ride takes longer because there's simply no way to drive 65 over the pass and up the mountains and around the curves and turns so the speed for much of the trip was below 50 mph. We made it to Idaho Falls just after 11:00 where we shopped at Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, looked in on a furniture store, had delicious lunch at Cafe Rio, Bob went to his doctor's appointment and Lynne and I shopped some more at TJ Maxx and made another stop at Bed Bath and Beyond. We met up with Bob at the mall and all shopped at JC Penney and made a stop at Barnes and Noble where I was able to pick up a copy of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a book I've been wanting to read for a couple of weeks . Our last stop at the mall was at Precision Mountainwear where I picked up a pair of soft shell ski pants and a soft shell jacket. Yikes performance gear... are you reading this Gretchen? Finally we decided to check out "downtown" Idaho Falls to complete the trip, but the drive to downtown took less time than the actual scoping out of downtown Idaho Falls. It was 3:30 or close to 4:00 when we started the drive back to Jackson. I had my picture taken in front of the the Welcome to Wyoming sign and shortly after my photo shoot we were back in the town of Wilson where we stopped at the Stagecoach bar for beers and a little mixing with the locals. The same band has performed at the Stagecoach every Sunday night for the last 40 years so we're planning to stop in on Sunday night and I'm hoping we can talk John into going. We met a couple really nice people at the bar and they're expecting us back on Sunday so we can't let 'em down. A note about the Stagecoach, it has a drive thru liquor store! I've never seen such a thing so of course I had to snap a photo. After the Stagecoach it was definitely time to head back home because Bob and Lynne had plans to hang out with their neighbors, and I was anxious to see how my purchases would go over at the Swedish cabin (shower curtain, towels, kitchen stuff, mats, etc). On our way to Solitude we spotted a woman stuck in a snow bank in her Subaru station wagon, fortunately she had a tow rope so Bob was able to pull her car out of the snow. It turns out she's a hospice nurse who was answering a patient's call when she got stuck. Her job seems stressful enough without the added stress of not being able to get to a patient in need; so glad Bob was able to help her out. I made it back to the SW around 7:00 PM. I think john will be pleased with my selections but I predict another trip to ID is in our future. I'm spending the night at SW because Bob located the circuit box so I don't have to blog in the dark tonight and since I'm already settled in here there's no point packing up at this late hour. John's flight arrives tomorrow afternoon at that's just perfect because February 23 is the 2nd anniversary of our 1st date:-)