Category: Big Sky

Leave a comment

13 August 2018

Our first stop was at Helen’s Pancake House in Chadron for breakfast. Helen’s is also a steakhouse by night (different dining room, same building). Kim got a pecan waffle which was pretty and tasty. We were ready to hit the road, and we had thought we might make it to Thermopolis, WY, but you never know…

We were not far from Crawford, NE, so of course we had to stop by there. It, like many other towns we’ve seen on this trip, had seen more prosperous and populous days, but it had a stunning backdrop of three big rocks. It also had a free museum, so naturally we spent a while there, soaking up the local history and culture.

Our next planned destination was Toadstool Geologic Park, just north of Crawford. Since it was a 19.5 mile (each way) trip on a gravel road, it took us quite some time to get there and my car may never be the same. Once there, we were a bit surprised to see several other cars and people there, but we’ve learned that people show up in the darnedest places! Toadstool is very odd – think the Badlands meet Craters of the Moon – but we enjoyed our loop trail with explanations of what we were seeing.

We considered stopping at a restaurant (also on the gravel road, but another 5 or so miles out of the way) that the guy in the Crawford museum had recommended, but voted to just get out of the dust and move west. The next town of any size (and with any promise of food) was Lusk, Wyoming, where we rolled in a little before 3 PM. We stopped in at the Stagecoach Museum there to see how late it was open and to get a lunch recommendation and learned that ‘the best pizza in the state’ could be found here. Score! Sadly, it was closed but only until 4 PM, so we went back to the museum and checked it out before having an early dinner of really good pizza.

At this point, we decided that an early evening in Casper may be just what we needed, so that is what we did. It started to rain just as we arrived a little after 7 PM, so we got settled and then enjoyed the happy hour at the hotel. Another fine day!

Leave a comment

13 August 2018

So, it’s not even 10 PM and we are in our PJs, unwinding after another fun day. We could not find a single place in Colby, Oakley, Oberlin, or McCook to have breakfast, so we opted for a quick bite and a big iced tea at Sonic before we left Colby. Took us until day 3 to stop at Sonic – I think that’s a record!

We traveled up US 83 out of Kansas and into Nebraska, and saw very few cars and almost no big trucks, so we made great time. We had traveled this road before, so we didn’t make stops in those towns this time, especially since not much is open on Sunday mornings.

We decided to have lunch in North Platte, and we chose the Lincoln Highway Diner because we love the Lincoln Highway. It was an okay choice – we’ve been pretty underwhelmed with food options so far! We each had the hot roast beef sandwich and we left the bread and some of the mashed potatoes behind. It was tasty. Since it was a for real diner, you know they had pie, so we did, too….

We continued on Hwy 83 to Thedford, where we hopped on Nebraska 2, which is a scenic drive across the middle of the state. Lots of green rolling hills (if you’ve been to Scotland or Ireland, it’s very reminiscent), plenty of wildflowers, and NO traffic. We passed two cars, one motorcycle passed us, and two cars that were ahead of us briefly turned off. That’s it. Five other cars going the same direction that we were in almost two hours. We saw more trains than cars!

When we hit Allliance, we figured we may as well stop in at Carhenge (again). We were first here in 2007, on the Roadside Giant Tour. It hadn’t changed much, although now there is a little gift shop/concession stand and a for real parking lot. We drove on through Alliance and turned north to Chadron, NE.

We got to town about 5:30 and checked in our hotel and settled in, then went back down the road to the Chadron State Park for a little hike. We had done very little but ride and eat all day! We drove a couple of miles up a gravel road and then did the Black Hills Overlook trail. The scenery is so interesting here – think the prairie meets the badlands – and we were walking right along the top of a ridge. It was VERY windy – there were times we felt we could be blown right off the trail. Thankfully, we were not wearing our Sister Bertrille headgear (or any headgear!) so we stayed on the ground.

The sun was just setting as we drove back to town and headed to the Country Kitchen for a nice salad. Finally! We were about sandwiched out. Then we had to try out the famous ice cream shop here….

So that was our day – not too exciting, but a nice day for a Sunday drive!

Leave a comment

12 August 2018

Yesterday was a LONG day, and so much fun! We were up early (6 AM early) and had finished breakfast at Jimmy’s Egg in Wichita Falls by 8. We were getting an early start in hopes of meeting up with Kim, Blake, and Momo for lunch in the panhandle; in the end, logistics foiled that plan, but we took advantage of our early start.

Kim told us there was a town called Dodson that wasn’t far from where we were, and since Dodson is the name we grew up with, we had to go there. Also on our route was Memphis (also in Texas), but we would be bypassing Paducah (TX) this time.

Our plan was to meet the kids in Memphis for lunch, but not much there was open on Saturday, so we drove north to Pampa and the Coney Island Cafe, famous for hot dogs and homemade pie. Of course! We walked all over the downtown area and spent time in the White Deer Land Museum, which was very well done and so interesting!

We finally made it out of Texas a little after 4 PM, and 30 minutes later we were out of Oklahoma and in Liberal, Kansas. If you’re a longtime Sassy Sister follower, you may remember we’ve passed this way before, so we had already seen Dorothy’s House (think Oz, Kansas, etc.) I needed to stop driving for a bit, so we went to the Mid-America Air Museum. Fabulous exhibit, and they were open until 6, so we didn’t have to rush. We may have had an ice cream break before getting on the road again…

Somehow, we rolled into Colby, Kansas, just as the sun went down, so we didn’t break our ‘stop before dark’ two days in a row. We had an adult beverage and a snack at the nearby City Limits bar and then called it a day. I was asleep in minutes!

We are taking it easy this morning, but it’s time to get moving!