Day 21, Encountering Devils Tower for the First Time

We left Montana and headed out to Devils Tower in Wyoming. It was the longest day driving so far. Luckily, Denis thought the landscape changed enough that it kept him entertained as we surpassed the 3000-mile mark on our trip.

On our way, we passed by Buffalo, WY. It made me look forward even more to my visit to Buffalo, NY at the end of the month.

For a break, we stopped in Gillette, WY. Denis wanted beer and ice cream and we found great spots for both - thank you, Google and Yelp! The Big Lost Meadery had a number of their brews on tap. We took two cans with us. Many microbreweries now have machines that seal up a can of whatever you want. A great invention!

Ice Cream Cafe has been part of Gillette for many years. For Bay area people, it reminded me a bit of Marianne's in Santa Cruz. I deviated from the Huckleberry and got Strawberry-Rhubarb. Yummy. 

The town of Gillette, while small, has art sculptures as you walk along the main downtown street. They also pay tribute to local heroes by hanging big banners with their pictures from the lampposts. Some recent contributions and others from times past. It was heartwarming to see.

After Billings yesterday, it was really nice to find this little town, pretty much by accident, and find it so lovely. It made us feel we were truly on vacation.

In our travels, we have seen many very long trains. We often wonder what they are transporting. Today, we got a glimpse at one of the trains' cargo. Can you tell what it is? It is the body of a plane! We wondered where the wings were.

We continued onto our campground for the night at the Devils Tower KOA. I guess every KOA has a schtick. This one has a nightly viewing of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. For those of you who may not be familiar with or remember the movie, Devils Tower plays a role in the movie.

We entered the National Park later in the day, which was great. There was a smaller crowd and the light on the tower was beautiful. We spent some time watching a few climbers - I was so happy none of those kids were mine - and walked around the base. It is an amazing geological formation. There are places you can see how the environmental elements have weathered and eroded the structure. The base is cluttered with parts of the column that have come crashing down.

The Lakota people have a story that the Tower rose out of the earth to protect the people from bears and the columns along the sides were formed by the bear scratching in an attempt to reach the people. It is easy to understand the origin of that myth.

We passed up the chance to watch the movie. It has been a long day and we are trying to pretty much keep to ourselves and avoid Covid 😔 The Perseid Meteor shower entertained us instead. With little light pollution from any nearby towns or cities, the stars are able to put on a show.

Location: Devils Tower National Monument, WY-110, Devils Tower, WY 82714, USA

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