We did Yellowstone last year. Was crowded but beautiful. Spent time in Cheyenne and Cody. There is a cool museum in Cody. Hit Idaho Falls then made our way back through Jackson.
We are doing Glacier next month and will head up to Banff as well. Really looking forward to tis trip.
Never found any great restaurants in our Wyoming travels, which was surprising. Nothing was bad, just nothing special. We always seem to find at least one memorable place on our various trips.
Originally Posted by Bwana:
I have only missed one year in the last 18 years. I go to San Pedro every year. Fly into Belize City, then take a 15 minute flight on a puddle jumper to San Pedro. Lots of great accommodations and restaurants on the island and it's safe, unlike the Belize City area. The best was to get around, is rent a golf cart for the duration of your visit. You can take several day trip out of there and there is plenty to do. If you ever get serious about it, hit me up and I'll make several recommendations for you. I stay at the same place every year, the Grand Caribe. https://www.grandcaribebelize.com/
Good info - thanks! I'll definitely hit you up for other ideas if we get serious about it... [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rain Man:
I did a Great Plains circle back in 2018 or 2019. We did this in chronological order.
1. Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Grade: C. It really is a bit of an abomination against nature. It was kind of cool to see the rough shape of Crazy Horse still being carved, though.
2. Black Hills. Grade: B. If you don't do a lot of western landscapes you'd give it a higher grade. It was pretty cool, but I've toured a lot of the west already.
3. Deadwood. Grade: C. Just stopped for lunch. Kind of okay touristy town.
4. Devil's Tower. Grade: A. You don't have to spend much time here, but you really should spend some time here. It's a very unique place.
5. Little Big Horn. Grade: A. This is perhaps the best historic battle site I've ever visited. They've really worked to understand what happened, and they lay it out in a great way. (We also visited Big Hole Battlefield, which is not nearly as well documented, but it's got some good historical context.)
6. Glacier National Park. Grade: B. The Going-To-The-Sky Road is amazing. You really should do that. The rest of the park is a bunch of trees and stuff. The drive up there is kind of interesting because there are a bunch of road signs in a really funky native language.
7. Yellowstone National Park. Grade: A. Okay, I'll confess that I'm not into driving 30 miles in the park to see some mud bubble. The geothermal stuff is overrated. But it's cool to see the buffalo (err, bison), and we got to see a bunch of tourists stand around near a mother grizzly bear and her cubs, though I didn't get the exciting ending to that that I hoped. We stayed at a couple of different lodges, and the view at the one on the big lake is worth the stay. We also drove through the Tetons on our way out, which are very pretty and look very different than the Colorado Rockies.
Oh, I also achieved a lifelong dream of visiting the town of Lame Deer, Montana. I'm a bit of a mapophile, and I've always seen the town of Lame Deer on maps out there in the middle of Big Sky country, and wondered what it was like. I won't give it a grade because it's not really a tourist destination. We went through town and stopped for lunch at the student center of Dull Knife College, which was the only restaurant we could find. I was pretty excited to do this.
As a native Montanan, Glacier is better than Yellowstone in every way. The park is stunning, no idea how you didn’t find more than trees. You may have to hike a little to see all that Glacier has to offer. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Not to derail the thread too much, but for you Belizers, where did you stay and what did you do? My wife and I like to take a "get out of the cold" vacation over MLK weekend, and Belize is on my radar for this year.
Make sure to pack latex gloves, shit gets crazy… you can Belize that. [Reply]
I love the Black Hills, particularly Custer State Park, and more particularly the area around Sylvan Lake. My ashes will be scattered there or I'm going to be haunting people. Rushmore is impressive, but I've been out there so many times that I don't bother with it anymore. And I give zero shits about Crazy Horse Mountain, which is a just a big boondoggle that will never be completed. I first saw it when I was a kid in the 70s, and nearly a half century later it looks pretty much the same. Also, Crazy Horse was never photographed, so nobody knows what he actually looked like. They should call it Random Indian Face Mountain. Devil's Tower is awesome, but so remote from everything else that I've only been there a couple of times.
I've been to Yellowstone once, and there won't be a twice. It's one of those places where saying you've been there is better than being there. Yes, it's a beautiful area, and sure, the geothermal stuff is interesting, but eventually one geyser and mud pot is pretty much the same as another. Also, they're sulfurous, and stink like rotten eggs. A day was all it took for me to get my fill of the boiling stinking water and boiling stinking mud. Also the roads were terrible, the place was crowded and prices were ridiculous. To me the best part was the big waterfall. I'm not saying you shouldn't go there, but I'd make it part of a trip and not a destination. OTOH, I could happily spend a week in the Black Hills and have done so many times. I never get tired of that area. Except for the deer and the goddamn buffalo. There really needs to be a serious effort to depopulate the deer - they are a serious driving hazard. And the buffalo are just a serious hazard, period. If those nasty stinking fuckers had been hunted to extinction I'd have zero issues with it.
I have not been to Glacier. It's on the bucket list.
The Tetons were magnificent. I also really enjoyed the Little Bighorn Battlefield.
Of all the places I've been out west, Yosemite is most beautiful and nothing else really comes close. [Reply]
Originally Posted by JimNasium:
Oh, and even a good burger wouldn’t change my Deadwood grade, but I did make the mistake of staying the night there in an awful casino.
Gambling destroyed the old Deadwood I grew up with. Definitely not worth a stop unless you want to see the saloon Wild Bill was shot in. The Black Hills are a poor man's trip if you can't afford the time to go to the Rockies. But if you're driving west I'd think a couple hours out of your way to see Rushmore and Devil's Tower is a smart move. [Reply]
Originally Posted by big nasty kcnut:
Jackson hole very nice Helena pretty but if you on I 70 in Montana do not stop at the rest stop there. I got shocked twice there. Washing my hands
I'm guessing if you were traveling I-70 and were in Montana it would be quite a shock! [Reply]
I have lived here for 30 years now, and have worked for fifteen years traveling the state. DM me when you visit. If you like beer, I can show you around pretty much any town in Montana. [Reply]