A Long & Winding Road

Notice the Beatles reference. Hip Mom & Dad. The other title for today would have been Oh Give Me a Home, Where the Buffalo Roam.

We started today with Breakfast. (It is a Bed & Breakfast, so that’s a good place to start). Anyway, we had breakfast with Bernie and Diane Bloch from New York City. Brooklyn, actually. Good folks, and interesting conversation. She taught violin in the school orchestra and Bernie was a social worker. Can you imagine the stories he could tell. (They still thought Mormons could have more than 1 wife...Jo set them straight).

1st stop, Mt. Rushmore. Wow, big difference from 40 years ago, well, sort of. Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln were the same but the visitors area was huge. (Notice the resemblance)

2nd stop, Crazy Horse. Wow, big difference from 40 years ago, this time really big difference. 40 years ago there was a hole in the mountain by CCH (Chief Crazy Horse) ‘s armpit. Now, there is a whole face to go with the armpit. Good addition, I think. All of the Rushmore faces could fit on CCH’s head. How’s that for the Native Americans poking a stick in the eye of the Rushmore monument. Also, a moral to the story. Things can really change in 40 years. It's hard to believe, I know... but it does.

3rd stop, Hmmmmm... I guess there wasn’t a third stop until this B&B in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Actually the third stop, that wasn’t really a stop was the Needles highway. It is a hyper ventilated Alpine Loop road with one way tunnels and nearly 360 degree turns... Really this is the only road I have been on in my life that turns on itself so tight that they had to build an overpass over the original road that the turn began on. It was a full 270 degree turn. This road had about 49 squiggly road markers indicating winding roads. Your Mom’s stomach counted each one of them while turning green. She did survive without letting go of her lunch. Oh wait, she didn’t have any lunch, because we didn’t stop to get lunch. So you see, father knows best!

The 3rd stop really was for the buffalo. We saw a herd of 3 (That’s right Three). But we stopped anyway and while they posed, took their picture. The stop lasted for 47 seconds. For this we drove 2 hours out of our way. Well, actually later on, we did see a decent sized herd of buffalo, about 100 head or so.

After the buffalo, it was non-stop to Scottsbluff. Kind of reminds me of where I grew up in Idaho. (You know what I mean).

We had a good dinner and we are the only patrons of the B&B today. Nice and quiet as we have the entire upstairs to ourselves. Tomorrow morning is a French breakfast of all things.

We are doing great, and your mom and I are still on talking terms. She has held up well. (Katie, you can still go to college...so the room better be cleaned because your mom is in a good mood now, and it needs to stay that way).

Adieu