Tag Archives: Land That We Love Tour

The Badlands at Dawn

On Friday September 24th we were up before dawn for our 39 mile tour of the Badlands. This would be day 4 on our Land That We Love Tour. On this day besides taking in the Badlands our drive would be a total of 469 miles and approximately 6-1/2 hours to our destination for the night in Omaha, Nebraska.

We saw some Big Horned Sheep at our first stop and along the way.

The 39 mile loop is easy to access off of Interstate 90. We started on the west end of the loop and returned to Interstate 90 on the eastern entrance. The loop has convenient parking areas along the way to stop and enjoy the vistas. We took advantage of each one. Several of the parking areas also have restrooms.

That little black smudge in this photo is a buffalo. I zoomed in as far as I could to get this shot.

We were so thrilled to have started our tour before it got light and we would recommend dawn in the Badlands. Sunset would probably be another lovely time of day to be here, too.

Our first stop along the way and we were already blown away by the amazing landscape. I will be posting several days worth of photos from the Badlands.

We found ourselves reciting part of Psalm 19 and praising the Creator of it all as we began our day here…

The Law of the Lord is Perfect

The heavens declare the glory of God,
    and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
    and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words,
    whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out through all the earth,
    and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5     which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
    and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
    and its circuit to the end of them,
    and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

7 The law of the Lord is perfect,
    reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
    making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right,
    rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
    enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean,
    enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
    and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
    even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
    and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
    in keeping them there is great reward.

12 Who can discern his errors?
    Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
    let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
    and innocent of great transgression.

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
    be acceptable in your sight,
    O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

On Thursday September 23, 2021 we drove from Sheridan Wyoming and entered South Dakota on our Land That We Love Tour. We approached the Memorial on the south side through Custer City on Highway 16. As we wound our way up the road to get to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial we started to see many interesting rock formations on the mountain sides.

We entered the Memorial and found a parking spot and walked up some steps to the main entrance.

No fee to walk in and the only fee we paid was $5.00 for our parking spot since we are seniors, $10.00 if you aren’t a senior.

Getting closer to the main attraction.

All the states are represented with their state flag and a plaque with the year they were admitted into the Union.

To prove I was there.

We found different vantage spots to zoom in for a closer view.

To read the history of the making of this monument click HERE.

This last shot was on our way out and down to Rapid City, South Dakota to look for a spot to enjoy some Linner (Linner is the meal we have that combines lunch and dinner later in the afternoon). On this route you go through Keystone which looked like a fun spot to explore but we had reached our limit so we just kept driving the 40 minutes to get to downtown Rapid City. More about Rapid City and where we ended up eating in a future post.

Back to the present we find ourselves in the last week of October 2021. We’ve had some powerful winds and leaves are falling and blowing around to find a resting spot. Hope all is well in your corner.

On Our Way to South Dakota

Heading East on our Land That We Love Tour we left Sheridan and traveled I-90 planning on taking the back way to Mount Rushmore via Highway 16. Before we got to Highway 16 we pulled off at Buffalo to mail some postcards and enjoyed the historic downtown main drag which I seem to have forgotten to take photos of. After Buffalo we stopped in Gillette, Wyoming to fill the tank with gas at $3.339.

The welcome to South Dakota sign seems to have been filled with bullet holes.

The rock formations started getting interesting as we came into Custer, South Dakota.

We saw the Crazy Horse Monument from the highway.

Next post will be an overload photo post of Mount Rushmore.

On Thursday September 23rd the miles driven were about 312 with a long stop at Rushmore. We were still in Mountain Time. We hit Mountain Time in Missoula, Montana. Wyoming is also in Mountain Time as is most of South Dakota.

Land That We Love Tour ~ Sheridan, Wyoming

Yee-Haw!

Wednesday September 22nd we arrived to Sheridan, Wyoming on our Land That We Love Tour. We drove 370 miles which took us approximately 5-1/2 hours. We stopped in Billings, Montana on the way to Sheridan to top off our gas at Costco. We paid $3.049 per gallon. When we arrived in Sheridan we did a little shopping along the main drag before we checked into our hotel and found a spot for dinner.

We ended up taking a recommendation to eat at the Wyoming Rib & Chop House. We paid more here, $63.77, than the service we received but it was the sign of the times with establishments not being able to keep full staffing. This is also a chain of restaurants in Montana and Wyoming and other states. We tried to stay away from chains when we could.

Watch out, Dear!

Our son has traveled to Sheridan for a Rodeo in the past. Some historical information can be found here.

We stayed at a Fairfield by Marriott at the AAA rate of $156. With the added taxes the total came to $176.28.

In the morning on day three of our trip before we moved along to South Dakota we shopped at Shipton’s Big R Sheridan and found boots for Dear and little JJ.

Montana Back Roads

On our Land That We Love Tour Day Two we left Helena, Montana on a back road connecting us to I-90.

These are statues.

We got to I-90 and before I could yell stop we passed Wheat Montana. We circled back because I was intrigued.

So happy we did. They had so many great products.

We were happy to find these mugs to use instead of the paper coffee cups that hotels are putting out these days. They were only $4.95. We patted ourselves on the back when we didn’t see any other mugs at the souvenir shops for under $12.00.

And did we mention the baked goods that they sell. Cinnamon rolls, bear claws, muffins, pastry twists, etc. They also sell sandwiches and other savories. The cinnamon roll was so good and it fueled us all the way to Wyoming for our next stop.

Before we left Helena we purchased gas at Costco for $3.199

Inside Cathedral of St. Helena

Continuing on our Land That We Love Tour here are the photos I took inside the Cathedral of St. Helena. This is a photo intensive post. Couldn’t leave out any of the photos I took. Dear and I had the cathedral to ourselves on this Tuesday afternoon.

The Cathedral of St. Helena was constructed at the turn of the century during the episcopate of Bishop John Carroll. It is an outstanding example of Geometric Gothic architecture, patterned after the Votive Church of the Sacred Heart in Vienna, Austria. Stained glass windows, white marble altars, statues carved of the purest Carrara marble, and genuine gold leaf decorates the sanctuary. The pews and woodwork are all done in hand carved oak. The magnificent lighting fixtures are of hand-forged bronze with a special lacquer finish. Outside, majestic twin spires rise 230 feet above the street.

In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Genesis 22:18

Abraham and Isaac

He is risen.

Jesus said to him: Feed my lambs, feed my sheep. John 21:15

All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth.

Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 3:5

To read about some of the history of St. Helena Cathedral click here.

Cathedral of St. Helena

Before we left on our Land That We Love Tour I noticed there was a cathedral in Helena, Montana. After we toured  the Capitol and had our meal in downtown Helena we used our phone google map to find the cathedral.

The Cathedral of St. Helena was constructed at the turn of the century during the episcopate of Bishop John Carroll. It is an outstanding example of Geometric Gothic architecture, patterned after the Votive Church of the Sacred Heart in Vienna, Austria. The majestic twin spires rise 230 feet above the street.

The outside today and I’ll share the amazing interior on another day. We were happy to find the front door of the cathedral open.

The Cathedral of St. Helena

Land That We Love Tour ~ Helena

We left our home on Tuesday September 21st for Day 1 of our Land That We Love Tour. We filled our tank with gas at the Costco in Spokane, Washington at $3.489 per gallon and made it all the way to Helena, Montana on that tank of gas. Our first stop was at Montana’s State Capitol Building. We parked in the rear of the building.

Wilbur Fisk Sanders (1834-1905) one of Montana’s first senators.

It was a very impressive interior with a lovely rotunda and grand staircase. This link speaks of all the art in the rotunda.

This link speaks to the art on and around the Grand Stairway.

 

Thomas Francis Meagher

Lady Liberty.

As you can see we had a warm sunny day. After our time at the Capitol we headed downtown to find a spot to have a meal. It was Tuesday so we enjoyed a Taco Tuesday meal at the Windbag Saloon and Grill. Helena was a pay for parking downtown. After our meal and before we checked into our hotel we found and toured the beautiful Cathedral of St. Helena. I’ll save that for another day.

Our night in Helena was our most expensive night on our whole tour in a Hampton Inn. The further east we traveled the less expensive comparable hotels were. We experienced the Covid all disposable product phenomena. No mugs for coffee in your rooms or at the ‘free’ breakfasts. Everything was paper disposable. Our disposable cups for coffee deteriorated and we decided that we needed to purchase some mugs of our own for the rest of the journey. One of the things we decided on was to take an inexpensive coffee maker, our own coffee beans and our grinder to make our own coffee each morning in the hotels. We are not fans of the small coffee makers and coffee pods, etc. hotels offer these days. We would do this again whenever we travel. These days hotels limit bath towels, hand towels, and washcloths to one per person but you can request more. No cleaning rooms if you stayed longer than a night. All of our stays were one-nighters except for our VRBO in North Carolina and our stay with my brother and his family in Dallas.

It’s been good to catch up with a lot of your blogs and see what is new. We have a lot of fall clean-up to accomplish on our property but it looks like we will not need to mow again until Spring.

 

Rex Hotel

On our last night of our Land That We Love Tour we had our favorite meal at the Buffalo Block Prime Steakhouse at the Rex in Billings, Montana. The barbecue we had in Kentucky was real good, too, but Buffalo Block won out with the ambiance.

We chose this spot to eat because the Historic Rex Hotel caught our eye. Dear’s dad’s name is Rex and he was born in Montana and we enjoyed paying homage to him while in the Treasure State of Montana. Montana is also known as Big Sky Country.

French Onion Soup

Bone in Chop crusted in all kinds of yumminess on top of garlic mashed potatoes.

Prime Rib Sandwich with horseradish, aujus, coleslaw and fries.

creme brûlée

Lemon Pound cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

If you are ever in Billings and want some upscale food at upscale prices this is the place.

I’ll be recapping our trip with lots of photos starting at the beginning soon.