The Long Winding Road.

Trip Start Jul 19, 2008

Trip End Aug 01, 2008

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Where I stayed

Best Western Sunset Motor Inn Cody

(Cody hotels)

Flag of United States Cody, Wyoming
Monday, July 28, 2008

No more South Dakota today! As a final farewell to the intrepid Lim Family Circus, South Dakota served up one final surprise to Isabel and I. We got stuck in between floors in the hotel elevator this morning and had to climb out of the elevator! Hotel people just acted like it happened all the time. Luckily for Bob and Sophie, I had sent them down the stairs (7 floors) because the 2 elevators (actually... 1 working elevator) for a 400 room hotel just didn't work very well, the wait for an elevator that was not full was worse than waiting for a subway train with room at rush hour. We found out that Sophie does not like elevators with windows that you can look out of (she's lived in buildings with elevators all her life and has never minded), but somehow, seeing the ground made her feel like she was falling and she HATED it and couldn't wait to get out.

Bob and I had worried a little bit last night about the winding road over the Big Horn mountain that we had to take in order to get to Cody and had contemplated driving about 100 miles farther through Montana to avoid it, but in the end we decided just to take the winding road

Wyoming

. Our first stop (which we almost decided to forgo, and are really glad we didn't) was Devils Tower. Devils Tower is an igneous intrusion thats over 1200 feet tall. It was just amazing, and there were people climbing up as well!

One thing I've forgotten to mention in the previous blogs is the number of RVs on the road throughout this road trip. I'm sure there were more on the road back when gas prices weren't quite as ridiculous. I really have RV envy right now. Some of them are pretty nice. Bob and I went to an RV show in Boston with our friends Will and Sandy a couple of years ago and saw the insides of some of these things. They range from small basic ones to super luxurious ones with staircases to loft areas, washer dryers, master bedrooms etc. Bigger than a lot of the apartments I've lived in. If we ever do a roadtrip again, we may just have to get an RV.

It was about 100 degrees when we left Devils Tower and headed on the road towards Cody. Along the way, Bob saw a buffalo, which made his day (and he still insists that what we saw in Custer yesterday were not buffalo). About 3 hours after we left Devils Tower we started up the mountain road through the Big Horn National Forest. The scenery was really breathtaking, and yes, the road was winding, but not too bad and well worth it. We saw a lot of cows just roaming around, in the fields, by the side of the road etc., I also spotted a moose!

After we came down the mountain, the road to Cody had a whole lot of nothing, just empty land and lots of plateaus. There is a forest fire an hour away in Red Lodge, Montana, so it as a little hazy. Cody is the last town before yellowstone, so there are a ton of tourists here and lots of restaurants. Tomorrow, we head to Jackson!

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