Today the primary goal is Devil’s Tower – the centerpiece of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Our AirBnB served us well in Cheyenne, and we were on the road just a little later than planned. And thanks to me there were a few extra short stops this morning. But the drive was good – I can only say that there’s a lot of nothing on the east coast of Wyoming. We did go through some nice natural beauty, but there’s an awful lot of wide open spaces that are very flat.
And then there is this. It’s what we came all this way to see, and it did not disappoint. We went in to the National Monument, drove around to the visitors center. And we hiked the paved trail around the tower. The trail involves a lot of steep up and down, and even with temps in the 70’s we got quite warm and stopped often primarily to just look up in awe, but also to catch our breath. It is worth the trip.
And from there it was a quick hour to Gillette, where we checked into the La Quinta. It’s a brand new building! Let’s take a nap! And we did.
We went to the Rib and Chophouse for dinner, and dinner was great. Our waitress, Sierra, was nice with a great smile and we had fun. For my part I decided to have a margarita- it’s happy hour, what the hay. Out came a 18 ounce frosted beer mug filled to the brim. And it was good. So good that I ordered another one.
Then we dove into the short ribs. Everything was great. And the place became quite busy while we were there. When we left Mr. Sun was still a factor, and Gary did a great job of getting us back to the room.
I quickly ran totally out of gas. Don’t know if two tequilas did it or what, but I crashed.
So that’s the story for today. We’re having a great time.
2019 Red Lodge Montana 