Day Three, June 29

 

Is it only day three? It seems like it’s been much longer that we’ve been away.

 

Today was a rest day, thank goodness. We all needed it. The dogs were exhausted last night, and so were we. It was nice and cool in camp last night, didn’t need the air conditioner, and by morning it was downright chilly in the camper. We had a bit of a lazy morning, then went to our lovely campground hostess, Lanna, for some thoughts on where to go and what to do today.

 

She’s so neat. She has great knowledge of the area and suggestions for folks for what kind of day/experience they’d like to have. We said we wanted more to “sit at a brewery” rather than “do a 20-mile hike.” Aside: who does a 20-mile hike on a rest day?? Not us. She strongly suggested we check out the Spearfish Canyon, just the short stretch on 14A from Spearfish to Savoy. Said we’d be sad and even ridiculed if we’d not gone to see it. It was So. Lovely! Tall canyon walls with big chunky layers of rock that have not had time to erode yet. Saw a mountain goat with her two tiny kids at Bridal Veil Falls (and got a preview of what the gawkers will be like when we get to Yellowstone). Meandered to Savoy where we tried to take a little hike to Spearfish Falls, but never quite figured out where to go. The dogs loved the hike we took all the same.

 

Then Jim was keen to take some dirt roads, so we went left out of the parking lot we’d found, on 222, and drove as far as the Rod & Gun Campground of the USFS. A tiny campground with not a lot of shade but neat to see what it would be like out in the harder wilderness. A little dog named Cooper bounced out of the woods to say hello, a little black Shih Tzu-looking dog. We had to be cautious in backing up for the turnaround to avoid squishing the little guy. Anyway, such tall canyon walls, and trees hanging on to whatever little bit of soil is on top of the ridge. The sky was a happy blue but also that same sort of slanty-light blue that you seem to get in Wisconsin in the fall, that half-polarized, super-saturated blue. (again, I have a few photos, but getting them downloaded here might take me a minute and a better connection)

 

Went through Lead and Deadwood after our dirt road excursion (mind the bumps, by the way, they can be pretty lumpy), with the hopes of checking out the distillery in Deadwood. Jim has been to Deadwood once, but I have not. Did NOT expect the basically Wisconsin-Dells-main-street-tourist situation we encountered there. Nowhere to park, got the dogs in the car. Might have parked in the ramp, but we had the rocket box on the truck and we’d not fit under the ceiling without removing it. Ugh. Not really even a possibility to drop me off and have me pick up something. I felt bad for not feeling that whole situation.

 

Okay, so then we went back to Spearfish, to a brewery that Lanna had mentioned, Sawyer. Cute little spot among other cute, bougie spots. A little creek ran behind it and we saw a few dogs frolicking in said creek. One golden was a pro at fetching rocks. The dachsunds were just plain cute and not too interested in the water. We ordered a nice Mediterranean pizza and a couple of beers and had a great time, sat outside on the patio. Dogs were safe in the car; Mom was a stickler about setting a timer to go check on them every 20 minutes. It wasn’t hot, they had shade and air, and we made sure they were okay.

 

After a fine lunch, we stopped at the Wal Mart for a few provisions, a few too many if I’m honest, but we wanted to make sure we had the next few days’ meal plans covered. The fridge is still over-full from home. But we have Shakshuka planned for tomorrow night in Shell, WY. Chicken Broccoli Rice something or other in the instant pot in Yellowstone, maybe sausage & grapes the second night, maybe a tuna pasta the third night. Also have fixins for the sweet potato poblano taco situation. We will surely not starve.

 

Went for a swim in the heated pool here at the campground. Good thing it was heated, except the air here is always moving and is dry and very cooling. Watched some kids constantly cannonballing in the deep end of the pool. The two families of those kids had been meeting here since the ‘70s, which is so sweet.

 

I did some laundry – might be early for it, but why not start the rest of the trip with clean towels and such. So nice to hug those towels out of the dryer.

 

Finally had those frozen meatballs from RecipeTinEats that we’d brought, with some toasted bread, and salad. Oh no, I forgot the ranch dressing. Whatever will I do? Okay, so let’s try the front office, they have a few things and salad dressing might be one of them. Ope, nope, no salad dressing. But the helper girl there said, “Hey, I’m easy, I like a little olive oil, garlic, and lime and I’m good.” Crap, I’m supposedly the chef and I didn’t realize I had all those things on hand. All of those, zest the lime before juicing, and throw in a dose of Sandwich Sprinkle from Penzeys. Imma call it Chris’ Dressing and it's my new favorite.

 

Quiet here in camp at 8:30 already. Cooling off; won’t need the A/C again tonight. Heater maybe! Dogs are snoozing but could be convinced to go for yet another walk. Really good for all of us to have kind of a rest day.

 

We’ll leave early-ish tomorrow for Shell, WY, about 8 or 9 a.m. Water tanks are filled, but need to visit the dump station as we leave. We’d come back to Chris’ Campground; it’s a nice spot. I think we’re having a really nice time so far, and we’re always looking for new adventures (or they find us, one of the two).