The Rockies, 6/15 - 6/25/2011

6/15/2011 Wed.  Ellie came by and we had a quick lunch before she dropped us off at Newark.  Flight was packed.  Met up with David and Ruby at the Thrifty terminal.  Checked into hotel (Red Lion Aurora) and then headed off the Joe’s Crab Shack for dinner.  I had the Ragin’ Cajun which tasted good; but I am not particularly fond of crabs.  After buying a few things at Walmart, we returned to the hotel.  Will start early tomorrow for Green River, WY.  Hotel: Red Lion Aurora.

6/16/2011 Thu.  Left Red Lion at about 8 am for the 360 or so mile journey to Rock Springs, where we would arrive at approximately 3 pm, counting a couple of rest stops along the way.  At about 2 pm we drove through this rather severe downpour with lightning all around us; we had to keep faith in physics, and the Faraday cage in particular.  No lightning struck us so we didn’t have to find out.  Main purpose of this side trip is to accompany Ruby on her quest to reconstruct her family history.  The museum person showed her (some sort of phone book) a Roy Bing lived there in 1966, which was the year Ruby came to Rock Springs to reunite with her father.  Her family (on the father’s side) came to the USA at the turn of the 20^th century and five generations lived in the vicinity for various durations.  We also learned there was a Rock Springs massacre around 1885 where many Chinese were killed.

Rock Springs, WY.  Population 18708, Elevation 6271 ft.

Rock Spring City Jail.  Quite big for such a small town.

Reading up on the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre that occurred in 1885.  29 Chinese died by official count.

Ruby and David in front of apartment complex Ruby lived in for about a year, when she was 16.

Main Street Rock Springs, many businesses are closed.

Typical landscape.  This was taken near the Greater Rock Springs Intergalactic Spaceport, designated for Jupiter refugees if they have to leave that planet because of comet or meteor impact.

After walking around Rock Springs a bit, we drove to Green River.  While a smaller city, what we saw was a lot more impressive than Rock Springs.  Our hotel (Hampton Inn) is in front of a bunch of rock formations, and for a brief moment at sunset they lit up in a nice red color – hence the name of flaming gorge.  Dinner at a local place called Krazy Moose.  Hotel: Green River Hampton Inn.

6/17/2011 Fri.  Walked up a small hill to visit the interesting rock pillars behind the hotel.  Wonder if there is any risk of their falling on the hotel (they are precariously close).  Very nice scenery in this area.  Went to Sweetwater County Museum to meet up with Ruby who spent the morning doing some research on her family background; she got quite a few surprises, including the fact that her great grandfather was well-known in the area, and that he had may be as many as four wives.  Met with several Chinese who have lived in the area for a long time; one of them knew Ruby’s family and vaguely recall her being in the area 40 some years ago.  Lunch at China Garden.  Coffee with the Ng’s who grew up in Hong Kong.  We then started our 360 mile trip back to Denver.

David, Ruby and we outside Hampton Inn.

Climbing up the hill behind the hotel.

The rocks are huge!

We are sure this is called the Camel Rock.  It should.

Where the deer and the antelope roam ...

Valley of Green River.  The line in the middle is a train which can be 135 cars in length.

The Y Bing Restaurant site; it is now a YWCA and Women's Services Center.

The Y Bing Restaurant which was started by Ruby's Great Grandfather in the 1910s.  It closed in the 60s.  Fare included Fried Brain, Fried Kidney, and Fried Tripe.  You could also get a sandwich and, of course, Chop Suey and Chow Mein.

Stopped at Laramie to have dinner at a local place called Shari’s.  Service was quite slow.  So it was about 10:30 pm when we got back to the hotel.  David was very tired so I shared in some of the driving duties.  All in all a very interesting day.  That part of Wyoming is worth another visit.  Hotel: Red Lion Aurora.  Our check-in process was relatively smooth, David & Ruby, however, was assigned a room that was already occupied.

6/18/2011 Sat.  Woke up early and accompanied David to return rental car to Thrifty at DEN, leaving the hotel at around 7:30 am and getting back at about 9 am.  Group of about 50 people gathered together for the tour bus.  Most are from a Chinese church in Chicago (we joined the group via the Laws).  First order business was lunch; this is a Chinese group after all.  Restaurant in Gold, Colorado.  Followed by a tour of the Coors Brewery.  I don’t enjoy alcohol so had only a simple of fresh beer.  Overall not a very impressive tour as not much was happening.  We were then dropped off in the 16^th Street Mall area (outdoor) and walked to the South Platte River which would not even qualify as a creek in my book.  Denver must get very cold in the winter, I wonder how an outdoor mall works, but nonetheless it is there.  Bus also made brief stops at the Colorado Convention Center with its huge blue bear, the State Capitol Building with the mile-high marker (which changed over the years), and the Union Station which is under renovation.  Dinner was buffet Chinese.  An interesting aspect of the tour is that it will stop at a supermarket (Walmart tonight) every couple of days so we could stock up on bottled water, fruit, and what not.  I also realized this is the first guided tour we ever took in the United States!  Back to Red Lion Aurora in time to get our laundry done.  The longer we stay here, the less impressed we are with this hotel chain. Right now the problem is a broken-down boiler.  I hope they get it fixed in time so we can take a hot-water shower before we go to bed.  Total bus miles for the day: 100 miles.

Big Blue Bear at the Colorado Convention Center.

6/19/2011 Sun.  Woke up very early to catch 6 am bus ride.  6 hour bus ride (with 2 breaks after 1:45 hrs and 2:15 hrs) took us to Crazy Horse.  This is a massive project that would dwarf Mt. Rushmore.  So far about 8 or 9 million tons of rocks have been cleared, and there is a lot more.  They keep saying “it is more important to move forward than to have a set complete date.”  Reminds me of the Chinese story “Mr. Fool tries to move a mountain.”

Next stop was Mt. Rushmore, which Anne and I saw during our cross-country trip in the 1970s (summer of 75, to be exact).  It indeed feels much smaller than the Crazy Horse Memorial.  The visitor area is much nicer, if memory serves.  After lunch (I had the beef stew) we walked around the Presidential Trail.

Bear Country wasn’t there during our 70s trip.  It is a drive through Safari plus a zoo of young animals.  Quite a bit to see, but I do feel sorry for the bears, all they could do is to walk back and forth in a very small area.  The baby bears are cute, I have to say.

We went straight to the Buffalo Steak Restaurant when the tour bus dropped us off in Deadwood, SD in front of Salon #10 (there are many of them, being the place Bill Hickock was killed).  Anne and I shared a buffalo steak and grilled salmon, we also tried a bit of Ruby’s sirloin tips.  Have to give the nod to beef even though buffalo may be healthier.  Saw the start of the show when Hickock’s murderer was caught.

Hotel: Golden Hills in Lead, SD.  Pretty forgettable place, their gym and swimming is the Y next doors, which is closed on Sundays. Total miles: 475.

Crazy Horse Memorial.

Close up of Crazy Horse Memorial.

Walkway around Mt. Rushmore.

Main Street, Deadwood City, SD.

6/20/2011 Mon.  Bus left at 7 am.  Lunch at about 11:30 am.  By 12:30 pm or so we visited Devil’s Tower.  Anne & I had seen this in the mid-70s when we drove from CA to NY.  It is still impressive, but not nearly as it was back then.  Walked the 1.3 mile loop around the base, and barely made it back to the tour bus.  Also stopped by the roadside to look at Prairie Dogs, I remember more of them during our last trip. Total miles: 390.

Little Big Horn Memorial, where Custer made his last stand.  The current take is more balanced, talking about the strategic mistakes Custer committed which eventually led to the death of over 200 soldiers.  A memorial to the Native Americans that died during battle was set up in the early 2000s.  It reminds one of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC.

The place was a lot more "primitive" when we visited in 1975.  Now they have a nice cafeteria inside the park and a large store outside.

Prairie Dogs.

The black headstone marks where Custer was killed. 

Memorial for the Native Americans killed at the Little Bighorn battle.

Hotel: Holidaly Inn, Billings, MT.  Total miles: 390.

6/21/2011 Tue.  Bus left at 6 am to go to Yellowstone.  We entered through the North Entrance at the town of Gardiner.  Sites we visited included: Mammoth Hot Springs, Fountain Paint Pot, Grand Prismatic Spring, Midway Geyser Basin (several geysers), Yellowstone Lake & Hotel; Grand Canyon; Lower Fall (Artist Point) and Upper Fall, and Lookout Point.  We did see Old Faithful erupt soon after we got into the Park, but it was anemic.  What we saw 30-some years ago was quite spectacular.  We did see a rather impressive Grand Geyser display, and the visit was overall quite interesting.  Attended a ranger talk in the evening, it was about the Wolf Reintroduction Program at Yellowstone.  One breeding pair (where the male was soon killed after mating by a rancher) accounts for the majority of the wolves in the Park, and there are about 100 of them in the Park today, up from the 31 introduced 16 years ago.  Saw a lot of elk and bisons, and an occasional bear.

Mammoth Springs, Yellowstone Park.

Mother bear and her two cubs. The guide tells us these are grizzlies.

Grand Prismatic Spring.  The smoke/steam has a color tint to it.

Lower Falls, Yellowstone Park.

Yellowstone Canyon.  I remember taking a picture of Anne here during our 1975 trip.  Not sure it's the same tree as the Park was ravaged in a 1988 fire.

The Grand Geyser, much more spectacular than Old Faithful.

A boiling pot.

We stayed at the Canyon Ranch inside the Park.  Not a bad overall experience, despite the threat of mosquitoes partying in our room.  Total miles: 280.

6/22/2011 Wed.  Today is basically to get to Salt Lake City from Yellowstone by way of the Grand Teton Park.  We stopped at Jackson Lake, Colter Bay, and Snake River for picture taking.  After lunch in Jackson, WY we basically just drove to Salt Lake City to have dinner.  After dinner we visited the Utah State House and the Mormon Temple Square.  Interest level of the group was low, at best.  The bus needs to be fixed tonight, let’s hope it turns out okay as we still have two days to go.

Yellowstone Lake.

Where do bisons cross the road?  Anywhere they want.  A ranger came by and chased them away.

Jackson Lake, with Grand Teton in the background.  A lovely picture, if I may say so.

This pipe organ inside the Mormon Tabernacle has over 11,000 pipes.

Hotel: Red Lion Inn Salt Lake City.  Total miles: 430.

6/23/2011 Thu.  The bus had some problems and our planned departure was pushed back to 9:15 am (from the original 7:15 am), on a different bus at that.  We visited first the Salt Lake Marina, and then the Kennecott Bingham Canyon Mine, which has been in operation since the early 1900s.  Today it is ¾ mile deep and 2 ¾ mile in diameter – one giant pit, and produces about 300 tons of copper a year plus other metals (I vaguely recall 400,000 oz of gold).  The have 80 of these giant haulers each capable of hauling about 320 tons of rocks.  Each carries 6 11.5 ft diameter tires costing $25,000 per tire.

Crew practicing on the Salt Lake.

Kennecott Bingham Mine.  2 3/4 mile in diameter, 3/4 mile deep.

Tire of a Giant Hauler.  I am told they are made in Spain.

Since we were running late, we had only time to stop for McDonald’s.  The repaired bus was there to meet us but Corinna was replaced by Justin also.  It took about four hours to get to Arches National Park.  There we saw various rocks and arches, including the Landscape Arch which was a 30-minute or so hike each way to view.  The guide said the temperature was about 100F, it didn’t feel that uncomfortable, and the arch was definitely worth the trip.  We left the Park at about 8:30 pm and got to the hotel at about 10:30 pm.  Quick take-out dinner from the Village Inn next door.

At the Visitor Center.

Balanced Rock.  It looks even more precarious at some angles.

Delicate Arch.  At a distance.  We were short on time and the guide decided to skip this and go to the Landscape Arch instead.  A good decision, as the landscape arch may collapse anytime.

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Landscape Arch.  Its span is about 300 feet long and pieces fall off every now and then.

Skyline Arch.

Double Arch.

Hotel: Grand View Hotel, Grand Junction, Co.  Total miles: 415.

6/24/2011 Fri.  We left the hotel at 7:30 am to get back to DEN with a sightseeing detour, and, it turns out, a bit of excitement for me.  The sightseeing tour was Red Rock Amphitheater which is somewhat impressive, they have lots of rock concerts there, surrounded by some huge red rocks.  Quite a few in our group had a flight to make, so I am sure they were a bit anxious, but I (hope) we managed to drop them off at the airport in time, at about 2:10 pm.

At the lunch stop in Dillon/Silverthorne, I left my small backpack at Arby’s and discovered it after the bus had resumed its journey.  In the backpack were items such as a Canon SX35is, SPOT Tracker, and a GPS watch.  Nothing critical or “incriminating,” but certainly not what I want to lose either.  Thanks to smartphones and Google Maps, we managed to call the store and ask them to hold the bag for us.  We had booked a rental car to drive around till our midnight flight anyway, so instead we made the 2-hour or so (each way) back to Arby’s to pick up the bag.  On our way back to DEN we stopped by a Big Horn and a Buffalo Sighting spot, and saw nothing (in the case of the latter, couldn’t find where it is.)  Dinner at Panda Express at the airport.  Total miles: 270.

Red Rock Amphitheater.  Anne says this is where John Tesh would play; sure enough, he did.

Cyclists on Dillon Lake Dam.  Perfect picture of a Rockies town.

Town of Silverthorne, I left my backpack at Arby's.  Managed to get it back.

The Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel.  Highest point is at 11,158 ft.  This truck pulled right in front of us.

It’s been a long trip, we will have been gone for 10 nights, and I traveled about 3465 miles (2415 miles on the bus, 865 miles in David’s rental car, and 185 miles in our rental car).  We will have a short redeye flight tonight, and we both have early Saturday appointments to make.  Although we didn’t get to know too many people well, it was still all in all a nice trip.

More photos of the trip can be found in my Picasa Album.