What you are about to read is the longest blog post I’ve ever written. This is your warning to get out while you can. You might want to go to the bathroom or eat a meal before you start reading. If you make it to the end there is a special treat for you.
This is a basic travel log of our vacation this past week. This post may or may not hold any interest to any of you, but once again this entry is for journal purposes. Unfortunately for you I will not have any pictures accompanying this entry. It would break my long standing rule of actually attaching a picture to any of my posts. Therefore if you want to see actual pictures of the trip go to Becky’s blog at
http://www.thedarringtonhappenings.blogspot.com/ (WARNING! Becky is not near as good as I am at updating her blog, therefore you might not have the desired results. Give her a year or two and I’m sure she’ll update it).
You’ll probably get more backstory than you would ever want and I’ll apologize to those readers that aren’t family since most of what is written in this blog is family related and most snide comments are inside jokes that family members may or may not get.
But let’s get it started! This was the Darrington Family trip to Mt. Rushmore starting on Monday, June 30th- Saturday, July 5th. This trip was planned well in advance and we even invited Becky’s parents to join us. They were brave enough to actually accept our invitation. I’m sure they thought this was going to be a nice peaceful trip, a great bonding time with their kids and grandkids. They didn’t realize that they were going to see a side of our kids that they had previously never seen before.
Monday, June 30th
7:30 a.m. I wake up to the sound of someone weed eating right outside my bedroom window. I swear they were 2 feet from my window. They were actually across the street, but it was quite clear that I wouldn’t be getting any further sleep.
The plan is to get on the road by noon. We packed somewhat the night before. (What’s the official rule on packing on a Sunday? If I could only remember the words to that Primary song….”Saturday is a special day….” OK, I just ran through the whole song in my head. Nothing about packing for vacation and I didn’t have to shine my shoes so I guess we’re legal.)
8:00 a.m. Phone call wakes up Becky. It’s her sister Ann. They have some sort of ritual of talking 6 times a day on the phone. I’m just glad I’m not home for most of them.
8:30 a.m. I head into the office to “take care of some last minute items.” I learned this one from my Dad. Whenever we went on family vacation Dad would head to the office to “take care of some last minute items.” Which meant that Mom and the kids would have to take care of the packing up the van so Dad could come right home, hop in the car, and take off for vacation. It’s quite ingenious so I’ve chosen to implement that into my family vacation routine. Becky is none the wiser until she reads this blog post.
On the way into work one of the best one hit wonders of all-time comes on the radio. “Rock Me Amadeus” by Falco. Falco had some other song that came out that had medium success but I can’t remember what it was. Just a second. Checking Wikipedia…. The only other “hit” was “Vienna Calling”. Of which I don’t remember a thing about it. I guess he was truly a one-hit wonder. Did you know that Falco died in 1998 in a car wreck in the Dominican Republic? The things you learn in this blog.
The next song is “Winds of Change” by the Scorpions. I’m feeling it already. It’s going to be a good day.
10:15 a.m. I figure Becky should have the van packed by now so I decide to head home. I stop at the ATM to get $300. I’m hoping this is enough gas money to get us the 20 miles to Morgan to pick up Becky’s parents.
10:20 a.m. I stop to get a haircut just in case Becky isn’t exactly ready for us to leave. “Jump” from Van Halen is playing on the radio. The hits just keep on coming. This song reminds me of many nights staying up late watching “Night Tracks” on TBS or “Friday Night Videos” on NBC. The newness of the music video. What a milestone in the formative years of my life.
As I’m getting my haircut the stylist (I’m not sure what to call her. She’s not really styling my hair.) strikes up a conversation. I’m not the biggest conversation guy when getting my haircut, but she keeps pushing. She asks if I’ve seen any good movies lately. I tell her I don’t go to movies anymore because I have two kids that have essentially ended any sort of entertainment in my life. She brings up Indiana Jones IV. This movie I have seen. We have a mini-bonding moment.
The moment ends when I start talking about the first three Indiana Jones movies. She informs me that she hasn’t seen them. I ask her when she was born. She says 1988. Therefore she would have been 1 year old when Indy Jones III came out. I’m just getting old. How can I relate to a generation that wasn’t even born when the original Indiana Jones or Star Wars trilogies came out? These were important parts of my life. How am I ever going to be able to go back to Great Clips again to have my hair styled?
11:30 a.m. We’re on the road! First stop: Morgan, Utah to pick up the in-laws (insert in-law joke here). I’ll refrain from any in-law jokes since mom-in-law will stumble across this post and since I like my in-laws. The question is whether they’ll like me after this trip.
12:30 p.m. We’re now at full strength. We’ve got Aubree and Sydney in the very back, Mom and Dad Stevens in the middle seats and Becky and I up front. Time to leave Morgan. Knowing Becky’s parents they’ll be asleep in five minutes.
4:00 p.m. We cruise into Star Valley, Wyoming. Here’s the backstory: In July of 2000 I accepted a job as the Town Administrator of Afton, Wyoming. We lived there sans kids for three years. Afton is a wonderful place to live and we had a tough time leaving. The summers there are the best. Mild during the day and cool at night.
The winters are about the worst thing south of Alaska. Snow starts in November and is gone by the end of March if you’re lucky. It even snowed in mid-June our first year there.
Star Valley is not an actual city. Star Valley is made up of little residential areas and four incorporated towns: Afton, Thayne, Alpine and Star Valley Ranch. I have an aunt and uncle that live in Thayne so that was our first stop. We had a nice visit with Mike, Marie, Karen, and Alisa who was there with her kids. But more importantly while those in Utah were boiling in 95 degree heat it was an overcast 65 degrees in Thayne. What a lovely start to the trip.
6:00 p.m. We head back to Afton to stay with the Jacksons. Kevin and Bonnie Jackson were our best friends while we lived in Afton. We were next door neighbors and Kevin worked at the city with me. He was the Chief of Police when I left. Now he’s retired and selling real estate, making the big bucks.
It must also be noted that the Jacksons are about 15 years older than us. Three of their four kids were grown up and out of the house. Despite the generation gap we were able to become really good friends. In fact we were closer in age to their kids than to them.
Since we didn’t have any kids at the time we lived in Afton we spent a lot of time at the Jacksons. We played Hearts, Spades, Rook and Settlers of Cataan followed by Cities and Knights. So much so that I can’t play any of these games now because of burn out. Our personal record was 15 straight days of playing Settlers. Which ended in Becky leaving angry a couple of times and a renaming of the game to Settlers of Satan.
Also part of the Jackson repertoire was sitting in their backyard around their fire pit. Simply some of the best times in Afton were sitting around the fire shooting the bull. Along with the requisite entry into fringe Mormon doctrine all started by Kevin. Usually he was just wanting to argue a point whether he actually believed it or not.
Well our return was no exception. We skipped the games, but had a weenie roast around the fire pit. It started to sprinkle so we packed it inside for further conversation. Our conversation was on eternal progression i.e. moving “up” kingdoms after the final judgment day. Needless to say I tried to keep Kevin on the straight and narrow, but he had feelings otherwise. My in-laws began wondering why we would befriend an apostate, but it was for interesting discussion. Nothing was resolved nor should it have been. We reaffirmed our testimonies and then went to bed.
12:30 a.m. Go to bed.
Day 1 Travel Statistics
South Ogden-Afton
Miles traveled: 213
Cities or Towns traveled thru: Utah- Morgan, Woodruff, Randolph Wyoming- Evanston, Cokeville, Thayne
Believe it or not: This trip actually takes you about one mile into Idaho. So technically we traveled in 3 states.
Tuesday, June 1st
8:00 a.m. I think I got up around 8:00 a.m. or so. We took our time getting ready and we were out the door by 9:15 a.m.
9:15 a.m. We stop at the Maverik, gas up, and we’re heading out. Our destination today is undetermined. I pretty much have this trip planned out to the very detail, but this was the one night I didn’t have us a motel room pre-arranged. Our original destination was going to be Cody, Wyoming, but the cheapest motel on-line was $150. We’ll sleep in the car before we shell out that kind of cash. So for today we’re officially winging it.
10:00 a.m. We are driving alongside the Snake River and decide to stop at Lunchcounter. Lunchcounter is a series of rapids on the Snake. I’m not sure why they are named that. Just a second. Checking Wikipedia…..Nothing. I guess they call it Lunchcounter because it “eats your lunch” when you go through it. I’ll submit that to Wikipedia and see if it sticks.
We watch a couple of river runners cruise through it while I’m cheering for somebody to get dumped. I’ve rafted the Snake River one time and that was enough. My wife’s family thinks of the Snake as the holy sanctuary of river rafting. They keep telling me the story of when they got dumped going over Lunchcounter. And they wonder why I’m not excited about going on a river rafting trip with them.
11:10 a.m. We drive through Jackson Hole. Same old tourist trap I’ve always remembered it to be. OK, should I add my Jackson Hole story or not. You twisted my arm. Here you go:
One time when we were traveling back from Ricks to Gillette we were going over Teton Pass leading into Jackson. My younger brother, Marcus, sees a clump of snow in the road. The story he told us then: “I didn’t see the snow clump in time and ran over it revealing that it was a rock and completely blowing out the tire and bending the rim.” The story he tells now that Dad can’t punish him: “I swerved on purpose to hit the snow clump that turned out to be a rock.”
We’re able to get off the road, but we weren’t in a flat enough spot to actually use the jack to change the tire. A couple of us (me included, being the big brother and all, trying to rescue little brother for being an idiot) try to hitchhike down into Jackson. Nobody stops as car after car whizzes by. Finally I step out into the road and flag down the next car. We tell them we need a ride into Jackson. They reluctantly let us in. The back seat has a few empty beer cans rattling around. I can now understand their reluctance.
We get into Jackson and open up the phone book and find a phone number of a local bishop. Local bishop hooks us up with “ward handyman guy” and he brings a heavy duty jack and drives us back up to the car, helps us fix the tire and then brings us back down to his house so we can use his phone (pre-cell phone days). We call home and tell them we’ll be coming in a little later than originally planned and we head out.
I know that “ward handyman guy” will never read this blog. But he deserves a big thanks for helping out some college kids including a knucklehead younger brother.
11:40 a.m. We arrive and drive through Grand Teton National Park. They are majestic. There’s lots of snow still on them. The Tetons lead to this conversation:
Mom-in-law: “Does anyone know why they are named the Tetons?”
Me: (thinking to myself) “Is this a trick question? Does she really know? Is she setting me up to confirm that I’m the uncouth son-in-law I’ve always been?”
Dad-in-law: “No, where did the Tetons get their name?”
Mom-in-law: “Scott, why don’t you tell him.”
Me: *blushing* “Uhh, I think they’re named after (quickly eliminating every slang term I know) female body parts?”
Mom-in-law: (thinking to herself) “I knew Becky should have never married this guy.”
Me: (thinking to myself) “I wonder if I’ll get hurt if I just open the car door and jump out at 65 M.P.H.”
11:55 a.m. We hit the entrance to Yellowstone Park. It costs $25 to enter or in our case $25 to drive through.
12:00 p.m. The $25 fee starts to pay off as we’re driving down the road and see 20 cars pulled off to the side and 50 or so people with cameras out. As we drive by the commotion we see a baby bear just off to the side of the road minding its own business. I guess bear sightings are pretty rare.
We pull off the road, grab our cameras and head back to the bear. When we get there it’s gone. I encourage Becky to go out in the woods to see if she can find it. What the heck, her life insurance is paid up. (I know, that’s a pretty mean thing to say about your wife. She wanted to get a picture pretty bad. I was just encouraging her.)
Alas, we didn’t get any photos of the bear that I wasn’t going to post on my blog anyway. I’m sure we’ll see a jackalope later to make up for it. If you’ve never heard of the famous Wyoming jackalope you can look it up on Wikipedia. I think. Just a second. Checking Wikipedia….. It’s there, but I’m not going to link it because you’ll click on the link as an escape to quit reading this blog and never come back.
1:30 p.m. Thinking we haven’t been ripped off enough for paying $25 to drive 90 miles through Yellowstone, we stop at the Village Grill for lunch. Shockingly it was only $7.25 for a cheeseburger and fries. And they didn’t even charge us for water.
2:15 p.m. We stop by some hot pots just to make us feel better about paying $25 to enter Yellowstone.
3:30 p.m. Finally drive out of Yellowstone. It’s pretty and all, but the speed limit was 45 M.P.H. and even worse people were obeying it.
5:00 p.m. We roll into the wonderful town of Cody, Wyoming. Now, I’ve got a brother-in-law named Cody who is married to Becky’s sister, Ann. Therefore my in-laws have two son-in-laws. Me and Cody. After we spent some time in Cody, my father-in-law called me Cody the whole rest of the trip. I know it’s confusing and all when you mix up people and cities, but who am I to complain. It would have been a lot easier on my father-in-law if we would have been in Scott, Wyoming.
5:15 p.m. Dad-in-law and I (Cody) go to the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum. We rushed through it pretty quick, but it had some cool things. I’m not a big gun guy, but they have one of the largest gun collections in the world here. Not only would it talk about some of the first guns ever invented, but it would have a couple of examples for you to look at.
Overall I was just glad I don’t have another brother-in-law name Buffalo Bill. It would have been too much for dad-in-law to handle.
7:00 p.m. Since we don’t have sleeping arrangements for the night we wander down the road to Powell, Wyoming. Powell is about 5,000 people and even has a junior college. We look for someplace to eat and find the highest quality place in town: A joint KFC/Taco Bell. Life is good.
I load up on the chicken and everyone else settles for tacos. My father-in-law (who’s notorious for being a penny pincher) orders food for himself and mom-in-law. Their total is $2.97. I guess they’re planning on eating the wrappers as well so they can get their money’s worth. My meal alone cost $7.50. I think my in-laws might be ashamed of me.
After eating everyone heads out to the car except for Aubree and I. I borrow a phone book and start calling local motels for the best price. After about 10 minutes the chick at the counter asks me, “Can she have a slushie?” in reference to Aubree sitting next to me. I said “Sure.” Thinking, “What about me?” So they bring Aubree out a free slushie while I sit there like chopped liver.
8:30 p.m. We decide to drive into Lovell, Wyoming (pop. 2,000) and book a room at the Econo Inn. Aubree refers to it as “Our new house”. The girls get in the motel room and they’re totally wired. They are jumping from bed to bed and yelling and shouting. We can’t hardly get them calmed down and it’s time for bed.
10:00 p.m. We’re all lying in bed and Sydney is crying at the top of her lungs. We have six of us all in one room and I’m waiting for the proverbial “knock on the wall” from our next door neighbors.
11:00 p.m. Sydney tires out from all of her crying and we finally fall asleep. Was it a smart idea to cram us all into one motel room? Are we going to be strangling each other by the end of the trip? If I were to skip out in the middle of the night, how far could I make it hitchhiking before anyone wakes up in the morning?
Day 2 Travel Statistics
Afton-Lovell
Miles traveled: 296
Cities or Towns traveled thru: Wyoming- Thayne, Alpine, Jackson, Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, Cody, Powell, Byron, Lovell
Wednesday, July 2nd
8:00 a.m. Wake up time. Rise and shine. Or “Rise and shout” as one of my MTC roommates would say each morning. Stupid Cougar fans.
8:30 a.m. We load up the van and we’re ready for our next adventure. We discover we have a flat tire. We had run over a small nail somewhere along the way. Instead of putting on the spare I run to the service station next door and buy a “Fix-A-Flat” which is this foam stuff that you spray in the tire and allows you to drive it a few miles to the tire repair place.
Lucky for us, Lovell actually has a tire repair place. After fixing the hole and re-inflating the tire, it causes a bubble in the sidewall of the tire. Time to buy a brand new tire. $107 later we have our new tire and we’re on the road.
9:30 a.m. We leave Lovell and head for the Big Horn Mountains.
10:00 a.m. We’ve halfway up the Big Horn’s and we stop at a lookout point. I’ve lived in Wyoming a lot of years and there are two different sides. The (1) beautiful side and the (2) less than beautiful side. So far our whole trip has been through the beautiful side. As we get on the other side of the Big Horns it is about to change.
10:30 a.m. We’ve passed the summit and we’re heading down the backside of the Big Horn’s. We hit some fog and it starts to rain. Our temperature gauge on our van reads the outside temperature as 49 degrees. That’s the lowest temperature we see on the trip. As we drive we see plenty of snow drifts and even see certain areas with a couple feet of snow. I guess Wyoming had a good snow year too.
11:30 a.m. We stop in Sheridan, Wyoming to gas up. This was a crucial part of the trip. We were planning on eating in Gillette, Wyoming for lunch but hadn’t picked out a spot. Mom-in-law suggests that we eat at Godfather’s Pizza. I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of that myself. In fact, I was downright disappointed in myself for not coming up with that on my own.
For those not in the “know”, I worked at Godfather’s Pizza in Gillette while growing up. I happen to love their pizza above any and all other pizza combined. They recently closed the one in Ogden which surprised me because I thought I was single-handedly keeping it open.
Godfather’s also has a lunch buffet. I think the buffet closes at 1:30 or 2:00 p.m. If it’s 2:00 p.m. we’re golden. If it’s 1:30 p.m. then it’s going to be close. Sheridan is a little more than 100 miles to Gillette. After I pay for my gas I grab a phone book and look up the number of the Gillette Godfather’s Pizza. It’s 686-7777. Once again I’m disappointed I didn’t remember the number. I know it’s been almost 20 years ago since I’ve lived there, but how can someone forget such an easy phone number that was actually engraved on my heart at one time.
I call Godfather’s and the lunch buffet closes at 1:30 p.m. No more messing around. I grab the family, shove them in the van and we’re out of there.
I didn’t speed the whole trip except for this one exception. It’s all interstate from Sheridan to Gillette and a 75 M.P.H. speed limit. I do a quick calculation in my mind and set the cruise control at 80 M.P.H. Our ETA is 1:15 p.m.
Things go smooth until we hit construction outside of Buffalo, Wyoming. I’m cursing the stupid flat tire we had. That had cost us an hour, $107, and possibly a chance for the Godfather’s buffet. I don’t have to tell you which of those three things bothered me the most. We hit a little slowdown, but we come out OK. We’re still on schedule.
We pull into the Gillette Godfather’s Pizza at exactly 1:15 p.m.
1:15 p.m. I run into the restaurant leaving everybody else in the van. I wasn’t waiting for anybody. I pay for the buffet, grab my plate, load it up, and go sit down and start eating. A couple minutes later the rest of the family walks in.
The restaurant is still how I remember it. I can still remember the memories of making pizzas, doing dishes, and watching some of my teenage colleagues drinking beer out of the tap. How did this place ever keep its beer license? (Sorry, that’s the city manager in me thinking.) It was a well run place, if you count the fact that I worked there over a few months and we had about 5 different managers. I guess the teenagers weren’t the only ones drinking beer out of the tap.
The pizza is as good as ever. After we’re done eating the girls are mulling around the “machines”. You know, the ones where you pay 25 or 50 cents and you control this claw-like-thing that drops down into a load of stuffed animals and NEVER, EVER picks one up. Well my mean, old parents NEVER, EVER let us play these games. And I think I give things to my kids to make up for the depravation I had as a child (sugar cereals, anyone).
One of the “machines” says on it that you are guaranteed to win. It costs 25 cents and it’s chuck full of penny candy. Aubree is begging to play and I feel like being a hero (these moments do wonders for my self esteem) so I pull a quarter out of my pocket and let her play the game. She puts in the quarter, controls the claw-like-thing and comes out with two pieces of candy. Perfect. One for her and one for Sydney. Aubree wants to play again and the hero thing has worn off, it’s time to load up and head to our next stop.
4:00 p.m. Our next stop is Devil’s Tower. If you’re not familiar with Devil’s Tower then you can do one of two things. 1) Rent “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” or 2) Look it up on Wikipedia.
I think Devil’s Tower is kind of cool. I’ve been there numerous times, but it is unique and unless you’ve been to Wikipedia lately, you probably don’t know that it is the first site to be dedicated as a National Monument.
Devil’s Tower has a path at the base of it that is a nice little hike. It’s not nearly long enough to work off 8 pieces of pizza, but it’ll be nice to stretch the legs a little bit. We have a nice leisurely walk until about the last quarter mile. Aubree goes into meltdown mode.
Most people with kids know the different stages of kid’s behavior when things are going their way. Things like a frown, or a whimper, or crying, or stomping of feet, or throwing themselves on the ground, or the dreaded meltdown. Aubree gets absolutely hysterical because, well, who knows why, I mean she’s a female, right. So, just as she starts going crazy we decide it’s time to get out of Dodge.
We pass the bench on the side of the trail that says, “Please take a moment and sit here to enjoy the peacefulness of nature.” A few people are sitting on the bench. Nature isn’t so peaceful at the moment. We head down into the parking lot and get the “everyone is looking at us” feeling because everyone is looking at us. Most people are giving us the “your kids are out of control” or “I would never let my kids act like that” looks. You know the look, I’ve given out quite a few myself over the years. This is just paybacks.
5:30 p.m. People cheer as we leave Devil’s Tower. Our next stop is Spearfish, South Dakota, but we take a route I’ve never traveled before. We head toward Hulett, Wyoming (pop. 500) and then through Alva, Wyoming (pop. 50) and then finally Alladin, Wyoming (pop.15). It’s really pretty country, but you can tell people who live out here don’t want to be found. If I wasn’t addicted to things like TV, restaurants and running water I could live out here too.
6:30 p.m. We arrive in Spearfish and our motel for the night. We’re staying at the Travelodge which was a decent room, but the swim pool was being remodeled. It’s an upgrade (slightly) over the Econo Inn in Lovell.
7:30 p.m. Even though I’m not hungry because of the vast amounts of food we had for lunch, I suggest that we go and get dinner. I’m kind of stupid that way sometimes. The clock says it’s time for dinner while my stomach is begging me to take the rest of the night off.
We drive around Spearfish and settle on going to Perkins. Perkins is a family restaurant that is somewhat of a national chain, but not one that you’d find in Utah. However we had one in Gillette during high school and that was our late night meal place.
I wish I could tell you about all the girls I took there on dates, but I can’t since I didn’t go on a single date while I was in high school. I could tell you about the time I took Miss Wyoming to Perkins in Gillette, but that would only prolong this already too long post. What’s that? You want to hear the story? OK, here you go:
After returning home off a mission, my mom was involved in the Miss Wyoming pageant. For a few years, Gillette hosted the Miss Wyoming pageant for the Miss America competition. Because I went on a date with Miss Wyoming and my younger sister became Miss Wyoming a few years later, I know more about beauty pageants than I ever wanted to. So, for those that haven’t dated a beauty queen or haven’t been related to one, here is the difference between Miss America and Miss U.S.A.:
Miss America is a scholarship pageant in which the winner gets scholarship money to the college of their choice. Miss America also has a talent competition. It has a swim suit competition as well to judge physical fitness (hey, I’m just passing on what I was told.) Vanessa Williams was Miss America until….well, this is a family friendly blog.
Miss U.S.A. is essentially a modeling competition. The winner gets a modeling contract. There is not a talent competition, but I would have to say that some of these contestants are definitely “talented”.
So, the lady who runs the Miss Wyoming pageant was in our ward. She recruits my mom to help out and this girl from Cheyenne, we’ll call her Trish, wins the competition. Trish is LDS and a returned missionary. She’s extremely talented on the piano and I’m sure she did well in the swim suit competition. After winning Miss Wyoming she has to fulfill her obligations for a year which includes traveling the state and coming back to Gillette every once in a while. My mom thinks we’d make a great couple and she arranges for us to go out.
At this point I’m about a year removed from a mission and I’ve never really been known for my dating prowess. I figure I’ve got to have a special night planned so we go to a movie and have dinner at Perkins. If I remember correctly, the movie we saw was “While You Were Sleeping”. I pull my patented move of “doing nothing” while we watch the movie in which the biggest laugh of the night was when the kid doing his paper route crashes on his bike. Trish doesn’t laugh. I’m toast. If she isn’t going to laugh at something that was absolutely hilarious then what chance have I got. She dismissed my looks long ago.
After dinner I drop her off to relieve her of her night of pure torture. I pat myself on the back for dating Miss Wyoming and my mom cries herself to sleep thinking of what might have been. Trish probably ended up marrying an astronaut or something and is living a life of luxury in the Grand Cayman Islands.
OK, where were we? I think I was talking about our vacation.
10:30 p.m. We go to sleep.
Day 3 Travel Statistics
Lovell- Spearfish, South Dakota
Miles traveled: 328
Cities or Towns traveled thru: Wyoming- Dayton, Ranchester, Sheridan, Buffalo, Gillette, Moorcroft, Hulett, Alva, Alladin South Dakota- Belle Fourche, Spearfish
Thursday, July 3rd
7:00 a.m. Wake up.
7:30 a.m. Continental breakfast. If any motel is worth their salt they’ll have a continental breakfast. The Econo Inn in Lovell didn’t have a continental breakfast.
8:00 a.m. We’re on the road. Our plan for the day is to go to Mt. Rushmore in the morning and then do something in the afternoon. The afternoon is up in the air.
9:30 a.m. We’re getting close to Mt. Rushmore. There are a couple things you should know about July 3rd at Mt. Rushmore. This is their busiest day of the year. They have a fireworks show that night on the plateau just behind the monument. According to their website, if you want to park in the on-site parking you need to be there by 10:00 a.m. I happened to stumble on this fact on their website a couple of weeks before the trip so I know we need to be there early.
We come into Keystone, South Dakota which is 2 miles from Mt. Rushmore. Aubree has to go to the bathroom because she refused to earlier, so we make a stop. It’s just past 9:30 a.m. and I’m getting a little ancy that we’re not going to get a parking spot. Aubree does her thing and we zoom up the hill to the monument. We are about 7 cars back from turning into the parking lot when they stop letting cars in. Aubree’s bladder just cost us big time.
If we don’t get into the parking lot we’re pretty much parking on the side of the road or back in Keystone. Like I said before, Keystone is two miles away and it’s uphill the whole way. After a few minutes my father-in-law tracks down a cop and he informs us that they’ll probably let a few more cars in but he doesn’t know when. I volunteer to stay in the van so everyone doesn’t have to sit in the car.
10:00 a.m. Sitting in the van.
10:15 a.m. Still sitting.
10:30 a.m. I see movement. Nope. False alarm. Still sitting.
10:45 a.m. Still sitting.
11:00 a.m. Finally they let a few cars in and I stay on the bumper of the car in front of me so no one can cut me off.
This was my third time to Mt. Rushmore, but every time I’m there I marvel at how cool it is. The problem was that because of the fireworks show that night people were all over the place. Most people had plopped their camp chairs in some spot and were going to wait it out the next 11 hours. The fireworks show wasn’t starting until 9:15 that night. I guess they were estimating 30,000 people for the show.
As I’m walking around I see a big table with a bunch of candy bar looking things spread all over the place. They are called Tanka Bars. In my mind I’m thinking that this is some new product that they were giving out for free to try to promote their product.
Me: (reaching out to grab a Tanka Bar) “Are these complimentary?”
Guy: “No. They are three dollars each.”
Me: (pulling my hand back) “Oh.”
Me: (thinking to myself) “Well, this is kind of awkward.”
Guy: (thinking to himself) “Stupid moocher.”
Me: *slowly walks off whistling*
After further review a Tanka Bar is a Native American health/protein/energy bar that has just hit the market. They are made from buffalo and cranberry. That is not a joke. Here’s part of a newspaper article to prove it:
The tiny community of Kyle on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation seems an unlikely launching pad for the next big thing in health foods, but two longtime entrepreneurs believe Tanka Bars could take off."We wanted a snack that was good for you, that would be traditionally appropriate for us but that, number one, tasted good," Karlene Hunter of Kyle said. "These taste good."Tanka Bars will be a high-protein, low-glucose mixture of buffalo and cranberry.
On second thought, I’m glad they weren’t free.
So even though I had been there about 30 minutes I was ready to go. I had seen what I wanted to see, there were way too many people there, and I skirted certain disaster by refusing to pay for a Tanka Bar.
11:30 a.m. We leave Mt Rushmore and notice more and more people coming in. I’m not sure where they are going to put 30,000 people, but I’m not sticking around to find out.
12:00 p.m. It’s lunch time. We head to Subway to try to get something “healthy”. Aubree opts for McDonalds which is across the street. We make a special stop just for her. I just can’t picture my Dad doing the same thing for me when I was three.
1:00 p.m. We go to Storybook Island in Rapid City. This was a city park and best of all it was free of charge. Different sections of the park had different themes. We had Winnie the Pooh and the Hundred Acre Wood, The Three Little Pigs, Cinderella, etc. etc. It was kind of a neat little park and a nice distraction for the kids.
3:00 p.m. We head back to Gillette. Gillette is essentially the town in which I grew up. We moved about every four years when I was a kid and Gillette was no exception. We moved there right before 9th grade and it ended with me heading off to Ricks College after graduating from Campbell County High School in Gillette.
After my freshman year in college and serving a mission, I would spend summers in Gillette and then spent some additional time there after graduating from college as the “kid who refuses to leave”.
I can remember one time waking up at about 11:00 a.m. and coming upstairs only to find my dad at home for an early lunch. The disappointment on his face was palpable. Admittedly I felt like a big chump, but I pretty much was a big chump so there was no hiding it. Dad, if you’re reading this, I get up some days at about 5:45 a.m. to play basketball and about 7:00 a.m. on other days. It’s been eons since I slept until 11:00 a.m. I’m just glad you never gave up hope. (Or maybe you did and I just didn’t know it.)
While growing up in Gillette I had two best friends, Matt and Steve. We hung out all the time. We had the same interests (sports, sports, and basketball) and we, for the most part, stayed out of trouble. Since leaving Gillette I’ve lost touch with Steve until about 8 years ago I tracked down his phone number and we talked on the phone. I sort of kept in touch with Matt for most of the ‘90’s but lost touch at the turn of the century.
Recently Becky did an internet search so we could send them a Christmas card. We found both of their addresses hoping that the internet never lies. Matt got his card and sent a letter in return. I still haven’t heard from Steve, but there could be some other Steve in Illinois that received a Christmas card and he has no idea who sent it.
After Matt and I reconnected, I let him know we were coming to town. We arranged to meet for the first time in over ten years. More on that later.
The bottom line with Gillette is that it is more or less my home town. I feel some kinship since I graduated from high school there, but it’s not like this everlasting love that I need to visit there every year. Once every ten years ought to take care of it. Outside of my 20 year class reunion next year, I’m not quite sure why I would come back.
5:00 p.m. In Gillette, we’re going to live in luxury. I had some extra Marriott Reward points so we booked two nights at the Fairfield Inn free of charge. The Fairfield had only been open about a month so it was going to be nice and new.
As we drove in to town we noticed a billboard advertising the Fairfield Inn and their indoor waterpark. Sweet. Now we have something for the girls to do.
As we arrived at the Fairfield we see that they are still constructing the waterpark. After our experience at the Travelodge in Spearfish, this was strike two for swimming pools on the trip.
7:00 p.m. We’ve been on the road for four days now and it comes time to choose a restaurant. Nothing sounds good. Gillette has added a few new restaurants since we’ve lived there (Applebees, Good Times Burger?) but then I have a moment of clarity. We hadn’t had Chinese food the whole trip and Hong Kong Restaurant was still in business.
As a child my parents would feed us chop suey and tell us it was Chinese food. Chop suey sucks. As a result when anybody would mention Chinese food I would turn my nose up. It wasn’t until I discovered the world of sweet and sour pork at the Hong Kong Restaurant that I realized my parents had been feeding me a lie. Real Chinese food is sweet and sour pork or chicken, ham fried rice, lo mein, kung pao chicken, and whatever other tasty treat the buffet is serving that day. I have yet to find chop suey at a Chinese buffet.
So Hong Kong was the choice and sweet and sour chicken, lo mein, and cashew chicken were the dishes. It was probably one of the better meals we had had on the trip. Just above the KFC/Taco Bell in Powell.
8:00 p.m. We take a quick tour of Gillette on our way back to the hotel. We drive by our old house (my parents moved in 2001 and none of their seven kids have taken up residence in Gillette, let alone the whole state of Wyoming) and it looks different. We try to take some pictures without looking like stalkers or terrorists.
We drive by my old Junior High, High School, golf course, new subdivisions, old subdivisions, city hall and other boring places that the passengers in our car couldn’t care less about. Unfortunately for them, I’m the one doing the driving and they have to sit and listen to all the stories of my youth. I would dare say that it was more painful for them than this blog entry has been for you.
In honor of my older sister, Melissa we drive the main drag in Gillette where all the high school kids would cruise on Friday and Saturday nights. I had a feeling if we would have been there a little later at night we might have run into some of her old friends still living the good old days.
9:00 p.m. We get back to the hotel and I’m asleep by 9:30 p.m. All this travel is starting to wear me down. But we have a big day tomorrow since it’s the Fourth of July and we need to be fresh.
Day 4 Travel Statistics
Spearfish, South Dakota- Mt. Rushmore- Gillette, Wyoming
Miles traveled: 238
Cities or Towns traveled thru: South Dakota- Spearfish, Sturgis, Blackhawk, Rapid City, Keystone, Mt. Rushmore Wyoming- Sundance, Moorcroft, and Gillette
Friday, July 4th
7:30 a.m. Wake up. Here we go again.
8:30 a.m. We head to 2nd Street in Gillette to claim our seats for the 9:00 a.m. parade. Rumor has it that there are 125 entries in the parade. I figure that I’ll see a few people that I know in the parade just to remind me that I’m back home.
9:00 a.m. The parade gets underway. They have a rule that you can’t throw candy from the float so they have people walking alongside the float handing candy to the kids. Aubree and Sydney make a killing. Or should I say, I make a killing because candy isn’t good for kids.
Out of all the entries, I recognize a whole three people. One of them is a U.S. Senator that is from Gillette, Mike Enzi. And his son Brad was with him. The last person I recognized was my friend Matt’s brother, Tony. Over the whole course of the time there I didn’t have one person come up to me and say, “Hey, Scott! It’s been a while.” Maybe it’s because I graduated 19 years ago or maybe it’s the additional 75 pounds. Either way, Gillette has moved on without Scott Darrington.
11:00 a.m. I drop off the family at Bicentennial Park for the free hot dog feed. Dad-in-law is more excited than I’ve seen him the whole trip. The price is right.
I go to visit Matt solo since I wouldn’t want to go with my wife if she were to visit a friend she hadn’t seen in ten years. Matt looks about the same. He might have a little gray hair, but don’t we all. He is married and has a son that is two weeks younger than Sydney. He’s working at a local bank, has a nice house and seems pretty content.
We talk about old high school memories and who he still sees around town. I find out that a few of our classmates have passed away via cancer, car accident, and the like. He reminds me of a story about my brother Spencer that had me in tears it was so funny. I would post the story, but it would slightly embarrass Spencer and his kids might read this someday.
It’s interesting to see old high school chums and see how far we’ve come since then. We’re responsible adults (or at least try to be) with jobs, mortgages, and families. Talk centers less around sports and more around our kids and politics. I guess we have to grow up sometime and it has its plusses, but I wouldn’t mind taking a trip back to the days of little responsibility, free food at home, and constantly hanging with the boys.
1:00 p.m. I get a call from Becky and they’re ready to be picked up. The hot dog feed is over and Dad-in-law is getting ancy. Not to mention that it’s naptime for the kids. I’ll probably see Matt next year as I’m planning on coming back for the 20 year reunion so it’s kind of a “see you later” instead of a “let’s keep in touch.”
4:00 p.m. The girls are napping and we’re out in the lobby. Mom and Dad-in-law challenge Becky and I to a game of Rook. It’s been a long time since I’ve played, but when you have my kind of skillz then it comes back to you real quick. We, of course, wipe the floor with them and they ask for mercy.
My mother-in-law is a competitive game player. She’ll play any and all games and she likes to win. I like to play games too, usually, and I like to win as well. The good news for me is that I usually win and she usually loses. I think she used to rule the roost until I married into the family.
One time we were playing Hearts and I was cleaning house as usual. I was feeling pretty good about myself and start into some pretty eloquent trash talking. Mom-in-law isn’t too impressed with my bravado and takes a full glass of water and throws it in my face. It’s always fun to see people snap. Especially your mother-in-law. She still remembers that day and I haven’t forgotten it either. I try to lessen my game playing around her and definitely the trash talk. Sometimes I have to just smile after winning my 15th consecutive Speed Scrabble game, but the message is sent. I am the champion.
6:00 p.m. We head to the City swimming pool that, according to their website, is free of charge and open on holidays. Oh, the deception of the internet. Just when you trust it unconditionally, it bites you right in the…. Anyway the pool was closed and that was strike three on swim pools for the trip. Our swimming trunks never see the light of day.
We head to Legacy Park just to burn some time and actually do something the girls would enjoy. I’m not really hungry but it was time to eat again.
7:00 p.m. We eat at Good Times Burger/Taco Johns. If you’re not familiar with Taco Johns it is the Wyoming version of Taco Time. From what I remember it wasn’t too bad, but price wise it can’t keep up with Taco Bell. I opt for the Good Times Cheeseburger which was OK. I know my hamburgers pretty well and this was about a 5 on a 1-10 scale. The fries were crappy too, so it was a good thing I wasn’t hungry in the first place. And since I was stuffed after eating I had to finish it off with a custard ice cream cone. I fully understand why gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins.
8:30 p.m. We head out to Camplex for the fireworks show. Campbell County puts on a pretty good show. I’ve seen it a few times and I’ve even participated when I worked at the local rec center. I think some of the local coal mines donate money for the show and you can tell it is a high dollar show.
10:00 p.m. The fireworks show lasts about 20 minutes and I’m “Fourth of July’d out”. In fact I’m ready to get home. Something about getting back to my own bed seems pretty good right now. We head back to the motel and we all quickly fall asleep. Tomorrow’s trip will be our longest stretch in the car.
Day 5 Travel Statistics
Gillette, Wyoming- All day
Miles traveled: Just around town
Cities or Towns traveled thru: Wyoming- Gillette
Saturday, July 5th
7:30 a.m. Get up. I’m focused and ready to go. Mentally I’m in a good spot. I’m ready to tackle a long day in the car.
9:00 a.m. We check out, gas up, and hit the road. Next stop: Home
11:00 a.m. We take a potty stop in Casper and I buy some Nilla Cakesters. Outside of Godfather’s Pizza this was single handedly the greatest moment on this trip. I have had Oreo Cakesters before, but I would take vanilla over chocolate any day. I could only keep asking myself, “How come I haven’t discovered these things before?” Over and over again in my mind.
1:00 p.m. We pull into Rawlins, Wyoming which is again an old childhood residence. I lived there from 4th grade-8th grade. We do a very abbreviated tour of the city and I’m saddened as the new neighborhood we used to live in has become rundown.
Rawlins holds a special place in my heart because it was the height of my athletic achievements. I can remember our 7th grade basketball team losing a game 18-3, but it was me who scored 2 of those points. I can also remember our 7th grade football team scoring one touchdown ALL YEAR. But it was I who scored that touchdown.
In fact I was traveling through Rawlins one time about 10 years ago and I stopped at the Middle School to see if my names were still on a couple of trophies. In 8th grade they put your name on a trophy for assists, free throw percentage, and rebounds for the year. Sure enough Donnie Pixler has his name on the rebounding trophy and I had my name on the assist trophy (12 assists) and free throw percentage (36%). Not quite NBA material.
Anyway we’re in Rawlins and we’re hungry. They have a Wendy’s and McDonald’s in Rawlins. Aubree is the only vote for McDonald’s so we head to Wendy’s. I’m crestfallen as we see that Wendy’s has been closed down. Spurning Aubree, we decide to travel to Rock Springs before we eat at McDonald’s.
3:00 p.m. We pull into Rock Springs and head to the Wendy’s. It’s open, but barely. I guess what I mean is that a bunch of teenagers are running the restaurant. The kid who takes my order can’t be over 12. And he was moving like he was 112. It blows me away that you invest a ton of money into an industry where customer service is king and then you hand the keys to a bunch of teenagers. Not that teenagers are bad, but I wouldn’t trust them with my financial future.
6:00 p.m. We arrive in Morgan and say good-bye to the in-laws. They really don’t deserve all the grief they caught in this blog. In fact I would gladly go on a week long trip with them again. Maybe it’s because we’re on the homestretch or because I’m feeling punchy from the long drive, but it was a pleasure having them with us.
7:00 p.m. Home Sweet Home! The temperature gauge reads 93 degrees as that is the warmest temperature we have had all trip. A slight contrast from the 49 degrees we hit at the top of the Big Horns.
It was a great trip and it was even greater to be home. The girls did great during the trip and Becky hung in there as well. We all still liked each other after the trip was over so we’ll chalk it up as a success.
Day 6 Travel Statistics
Gillette, Wyoming- South Ogden, Utah
Miles traveled: 522
Cities or Towns traveled thru: Wyoming- Gillette, Edgerton, Midwest, Casper, Rawlins, Wamsutter, Rock Springs, Green River, Evanston Utah- Morgan, South Ogden
Totals for the trip
Miles traveled: 1,526
Money spent on gas: $346.78
States visited: Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota
Aubree meltdowns: 1
Tanka Bars eaten: 0
I can’t believe you stuck it out reading this post. If you make a comment I might even throw in a gift certificate to Taco Johns or something.
Thanks for coming along.
The annual summer Rowley Reunion was on the 24th. Usually we do an overnight thing but with Grandpa's health conditions he wouldn't be able to attend unless it was at their house. We're all thinking it's probably his last reunion.....It's still hard for me to see Grandpa the way he is now. He's not the same Grandpa I grew up with.
We thought about going to Squaw Peak in remembrance of the first time Scott and I went there together. That's where Scott first brought up the idea of marriage. I didn't realize at the time that would be the most romantic he'd get. We didn't really have time so we'll have to live that memory another time.
That picture is not close enough to get the real effect of the hair. I was number 2 on the top left hand of the picture. My best friend and I both played. We did everything together. Melia and I then went to Ricks College together. She got married after our first year and left me high and dry. I did manage to have some fun without her around. 
Aubree is actually trying to hide from me here.
