Category Archives: Road Trips

Rocky Mountain National Park – The Road Less Taken

  By placeswithkids | January 31, 2012 - 11:10 am | , , , , , , ,
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scenic views at rocky Mountain National Park

Scenic views from Old Fall River Rd.

The last few lines of Robert Frost’s wonderful poem “The Road Not Taken” completely summed up our last and final day on our US Western road trip which we spent at Rocky Mountain National Park:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

There are basically two ways to drive to the top of Fall River Pass and the Alpine Visitor Center – the paved, scenic byway known as Trail Ridge Road or the gravel-one-way-only-formerly-an-Indian-trail road known as Old Fall River Road. Guess which one we took?? And like Frost’s poem, it made all the difference.

When we stopped at the Fall River Visitor Center, the park ranger convinced me that taking the slower, less populated (as well as motorcycle free) road was worth the trip.

Old Fall River road - Rocky Mountain NP

Old Fall River Road

Driving slowly (as in 15 miles/hour), I slowly edged my way up, hugging the side of the mountain when I could because there was no guard rail. The views were amazing and we found ourselves stopping often.

Our first break was to explore a waterfall.Waterfall off Old Fall River RoadAs the boys scrambled up and over rocks, my oldest decided to get a little TOO up-close and personal and fell in. Shaking my head, I threw him the keys to our car and he changed into whatever clothes he could easily find in the suitcases before continuing his adventure.

Wet clothes after a dip

The road was steep and although we found ourselves gasping at the scenery, I didn’t feel comfortable pulling over until we reached a flatter area and a mountain meadow. I truly think it was impossible to take a bad picture in this people-free area.Rocky Mountain NP

Soon after, we entered into the alpine tundra zone where snow never melts – even in the heat of the summer.

Glacial snow field at Rocky Mountain NP

Glacial snow

We continued to inch our way up to the top, the Alpine Visitor Center within sight until finally . . . we were there.

As we searched for a spot in a parking lot crammed full of motorcycles, tour buses, cars, and RV trailers, I silently thanked the park ranger for her recommendation to take the “road less taken.”

Alpine Visitor Center rocky mountain NP

Alpine Visitor Center

[box]Both the Trail Ridge Road and Old Fall River Road are open seasonally. Check at park visitor centers to see whether they are open when you visit. [/box]

Next up: Our last stop on our US western road trip . . .

 

Wind Cave vs. Jewel Cave in South Dakota

  By placeswithkids | January 17, 2012 - 9:21 am | , , , , , , ,
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Wind Cave Tour

Touring Wind Cave

One of the many decisions I made when planning our family’s western US trip this past summer was whether to visit Wind Cave National Park or Jewel Cave National Monument. In the end, convenience and size won out and we visited Wind Cave National Park located a few miles from Custer State Park and the first cave to be designated a national park.

With Wind Cave only accessible via a ranger-led tour, we took the popular Natural Entrance Cave Tour, a 1 1/4-hour tour with moderate walking (and only a few instances of being completely in the dark) Tip: We used a flashlight app on our our iPhones to help light the way through some of the darker parts!

We saw the only natural entrance to one of the world’s longest caves (5th in the world)

Natural entrance to Wind Cave

Natural Entrance to Wind Cave

and the park ranger demonstrated why it was called Wind Cave.

Why Wind Cave

Why it's called Wind Cave

According to reports by its discoverers, Jesse and Tom Bingham, they were first attracted to the cave because of a whistling noise. They found the cave entrance and the wind blew so hard out, it knocked off Tom’s hat. Days later when they returned, the wind had switched directions and the hat was sucked into the cave. (It’s now known that the “wind” is related to a difference in atmospheric pressure – how boring).

Once we entered, we were treated to a lack of typical cave formations . . . no stalagmites or stalactites because Wind Cave is considered a “dry” cave. Instead, we saw numerous examples of a cave formation that makes Wind Cave so special – boxwork.

Boxwork in Wind Cave

Boxwork in Wind Cave

Made of calcite ridges that stick out of the ceiling and walls, the ridges form a box-like pattern, hence the name. And while boxwork is not unique to Wind Cave, the cave does have the most and best-formed boxwork examples in the world.

Boxwork in Wind Cave

Anne’s special note: A brief apology for my lack of posting – I tore my ACL while skiing on vacation and am recovering from surgery. I’m also following Mara’s example on The Mother of All Trips and trying to blog “like no one is reading” – focusing on content and my personal “voice” rather than site hits.

Driving the Iron Mountain Road

  By placeswithkids | December 9, 2011 - 5:49 pm | , , , , ,
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Tunnel on Iron Mountain Road

One-way tunnel on Iron Mountain Rd.

One of the more harrowing aspects of our Western US trip was driving narrow, twisting, and very tight roads like the Iron Mountain Road, also known as the Peter Norbeck National Scenic Byway, up and down mountainsides.

The Iron Mountain Road is the more scenic route to Custer State Park (our next destination), but it has tons of switchbacks and narrow tunnels that could only fit one car at a time.

Iron Mountain Road

Driver's view on Iron Mountain Road

Complicating matters was the large number of motorcycles on the road and wet driving conditions. The scenery, however, was worth it,

Black Hills of South Dakota

Black Hills of South Dakota

as was the sight of wooden “pigtail” bridges, also known as spiral bridges.

Wooden pigtail bridges Iron Mountain Road

Wooden pigtail bridge

These bridges are used in steep terrain when the road loops over itself and permits a road to climb rapidly. And boy did we have a rapid ascent and descent!

See other fabulous photos at DeliciousBaby.com and check out other posts at RWethereyetmom.com

 

Mount Rushmore – An American Classic

  By Anne Patrone | October 27, 2011 - 9:58 am | , , , , , ,
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Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore

It’s hard to imagine a trip through the Western National Parks without a stop at that most classic of American symbols - Mount Rushmore. 

Designed and sculpted by Gutzon Borglum (who also sculpted Stone Mountain outside Atlanta, GA), the sculpture at Mount Rushmore was intended to celebrate America and its ideals. Although Borglum originally only intended the mountain to hold the faces of two men – Washington and Lincoln . . .

Washington and Lincoln at Mt. Rushmore

Original plan for Mt. Rushmore

. . . he eventually settled on four presidents that symbolized the foundation and birth (Washington), the growth and expansion (Jefferson), the preservation and restoration (Lincoln), and the conservation and economic growth (Roosevelt) of the United States.

We arrived EARLY at Mount Rushmore allowing us to beat the crowds that quickly formed later in the morning and purchased an audio tourthat directed us to stops along the 1/2-mile Presidential Trail. If you’re short on time, I’d recommend a quick walk along the Avenue of Flags . . .

Avenue of Flags at Mt. Rushmore

Avenue of Flags

to the Grand View Terrace, where you can get some excellent shots. However, if you have a little more time, stop into the Lincoln Borglum (Borglum’s son named for President Lincoln) Museum where you can learn how Mount Rushmore was created over a span of 14 years from 1927 to 1941 through interactive displays and old film footage.

Inside Mt. Rushmore museum

Watching how Mt. Rushmore was built

Walking along the Presidential Trail, we learned more about the sculpture and in particular, its controversy for defacing what the Native Americans considered a sacred mountain. To ease some of the tensions, there is a small Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Heritage Village at the half-way point of the trail where we explored some of the traditions and items from the tribes.

Heritage Village Mt. Rushmore

Touching a bison hide in Heritage Village

The Presidential Trail loops around past the Sculptor’s Studio – well worth a short stop to see Borglum’s original model/design for Mount Rushmore and the original Borglum View Terrace, which became too small to handle the crowds of visitors.

By the time we finished, the crowds were intense and we stopped for an early lunch at the excellent Carvers Cafe (serving healthy salads for mom and pizza/burgers for the guys).

Seventy places visited, 430 to go!