Relocation Road Trip: Colorado to South Dakota : Day 3

Tuesday, 17 May 2011

After a comfortable rest and decent breakfast we filled up the car with a view and headed up I-25. The weather has been nice and cool (end of May) and clear until today. It starts to cloud up and rain is forecasted for our day at Mt Rushmore tomorrow - boo.

Wyoming welcomes drivers with a large bison silhouette. From Cheyenne we head northeast to Scottsbluff, Nebraska. This starts our "extra day".

Scottsbluff was our lunchtime pit-stop. I found a place called "Scotty's Drive In" for lunch. It was rated a great burger on a few sites and we were craving a good burger and fries after all that hiking. Well, the prices were good, the fries were thin and crispy. Chocolate milkshakes were good and like I make at home with vanilla ice-cream and a load of Hershey's 

brand chocolate syrup. 

Burgers were no better than that big fast food joint with frozen-tasting patties and generic buns, iceberg lettuce, un-ripe tomatoes, generic sliced orange cheese. Apparently the folks who reviewed this places' burgers have never ventured past the standard fast-food burger joint. I don't recommended it at all. 

 After our boring lunch, we headed over to Scottsbluff National Monument.

 We visited the interpretive center.

Hiked the easy Wagon trail.

Drove up to the bluff through tunnels.

Decided to hike the bluff. Very strenuous hike on narrow trails and steep, unpaved climbs. We hiked half-way to the cut-through and turned around. This took about an hour. You can hike from the bluff down to the interpretive center but then have to turn around and go back up the bluff!

Sabrina saw fox kits playing around their hillside den. She "barked" at them & they looked up.

 After a long, tiring hike we headed north through the Oglala National Grasslands on a pink road and up to Custer State Park in South Dakota. Here we drive past bison on open range.

We ate at a place called the Buglin' Bull in Custer, SD. This place good! I had the walleye and it was perfectly cooked, seasoned and delish! Service was good, prices were good for what you got (about $30 a plate). Decor was comfortable, food was great! Reviews on this place were highly mixed so, maybe we got in on a good nite (lucky us) or they are really improving. We broke tradition and stayed at the Comfort Inn & Suites in Custer. The room was clean and spacious. The heater did not have a "fan only" function as the Hiltons' do. This was a Big problem for us since we are used to a fan white-noise at night and were able to hear every little footstep and door shut. The beds are also not as comfortable as Hilton beds. This was a long day and we slept hard anyway.

Day 3 mileage about 435 miles

Expenses $ 335  ($108 gas, 80 dinner, 122 hotel,  20 lunch, 5 bluff)