Road Trip Day 9 S. Dakota and Wyoming

Ok, well before I start anything I have to first say: Holy Shit JoAnn, you did it....I'm sure you did it with the help of Jessica by your side or maybe she just did the whole thing for you but there you are with you name on my list of "followers". Oh I'm so proud of you! HAHAHA!

Well today was another interesting day to say the least. I think Mom's definition of "God's Country" is pretty to the T. And then we witnessed another part of this sacred country that we weren't expecting, but I'll get there in a second.

I have some pictures from last night that I forgot to put up, maybe because it was 2am, so there are some of the town at night. We did our gambling and shyed away from the signs warning against bringing in switchblades and firearms. The scary part being that there needs to be an actual sign for that!

We got up early this morning to go for a walk and it was insanely windy and freezing! But we blustered on! We walked through town and went to a museum (the name escapes me now), that was a tribute to the history of the town and also to Mr. Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane. Once again we were asked not to take pictures and for the most part I didn't but then I saw something that I had to take a picture of (scroll down). We continued our walk through the cold and suddenly I noticed some familiar moisture in the air and then before you knew it we were in a full-on blizzard/whiteout! So our walk ended shortly but we got a few photos in.

We decided that we better high-tail it out of there ( sorry, I couldn't resist) and get into Wyoming. We had planned on seeing Devil's Tower today but it probably would not have been much of a sight to see, since we could barely see infront of us. So we will have to go back tomorrow. Then we thought we'd stay in the town of Sundance which is only a few miles West of the Tower. Well, when we drove through the town we thought best of it and decided that we'd continue on to Gillette which looked like a bigger town on the map..... WELL, it IS a bigger town..... as we approach the town coming over rumbling hills we are bombared with factories and oil mines. Apparently Gillette is a big coal and oil town. No harm, the town looked promising for maybe a decent meal and an opportunity for a manicure.....maybe.

So we get our hotel room and are walking into the building, to which we have to pass a big fat guy with a bull-ring in his nostril to get into the door.....awesome. We get ourselves settled and I decide to go back to the car to get some more things and then get whistled at by a group of Latino guys (yah, I don't care what you say, it freaks everyone out). So I grab the pepper spray out of the car (the guys are long-gone by now) and go back to the room.

The woman at the front desk recommended the restaurant in the hotel (of course she did), and we figured well the less time we have to be out of the hotel and out of our rooms the better. So we're walking to the restaurant and we pass by a ton of older guys who are covered, hand and foot in black coaly soot. And we're thinking.....well, we may be the only women here. Of course then two old broads came in and mom said outloud "Oh, Good". HA! Well, now maybe we're only 2 of the 4 women in this hotel. We also passed by a midget cowboy who has now been coined "Mom's new boyfriend". Oh I also forgot to mention the uncanny-ness of the fact that tonight we had our best dinner since being on the road. So good, mom took pictures!

Well I'm not going to write more because I'm exhausted and mom has a hot date with her new beau: Mr. Tall. But I promise I will be cuddling with my pepper-spray tonight! Hey, maybe if mom snores too much I'll give her a little spritz!

9:44 pm. My mom and I are watching a movie and she is putting on body lotion. I comment that it smells good and she says that it's the hotel lotion.....upon further inspection she realizes that it's Pantene Conditioner.....ALL OVER HER BODY!


The bar that serves Bull's Balls (no we didn't eat any)



She's a natural! We didn't win squat!


Old courthouse


THIS IS IT! An invitation to a hanging! What happened to that? Why don't we send out invitations to executions anymore? I mean look at the stationery! It's beautiful!


Saloon 10 where Wild Bill Hickock played his last game of poker, had his last sip of whiskey and his last breath









So this is why they call it "God's Country".......ohhhhhhh


This is the slime factory. Sounds gross but it's actually where the miners would sift and clean the gold.


The blizzard we drove through


Mom's excellent photography skills


Wyoming

Sorry no picture of Mr. Tall.....he's shy

Momma's additions: we had really high expectations today: another State, the Devil's Tower and Keystone National Park, maybe the Bighorn National Forest... then we saw our first a flurry which became a blizzard. Remembering last night's story by a visitor about being snowed in for days in Deadwood we decided to move on after a quick brunch ( during which we concluded that bisquits and sausage gravy in the Midwest don't hold a candle to the South, for that matter nothing edible here does and I use that term very loosely ). After battling snow, rain and gale winds we decided to pull into Gillette (pronounced like skillet), have a "beauty day": do our hair, get our nails done, generally take it easy and double back tomorrow. The parking lot is full of pick up trucks, major piercings are popular and I'm guessing it's really easy, even for a dog face to get a date around here. We had even planned to use the hotel pool but wisdom, caution and common sense derailed plans to explore this mining town and we've opted to watch movies in the room instead. Slumdog Millionaire definitely deserved the Oscar, Confessions of a Shopaholic probably doesn't but it will be fun to watch together behind our double bolted door.

ps: 9:47 pm: I'm a little mortified but my body frizz is under control...