2019 Road Trip: Days 7 & 8

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

I am going to be honest, I was not expecting too much from CCNP. Growing up less than two hours from Mammoth Cave, I thought, “You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all!” WRONG! Carlsbad Caverns was awesome!

On Day 7, as I stated in my previous post, I was going to explore Guadalupe Mountains, but there were bad storms in the forecast. I already had purchased a tour for Day 8, so I decided to do the self guided tour at CCNP. The self guided tour is free with your National Parks pass and took me about an hour to two hours to walk the entire path. I took the Natural Entrance into the caverns and the elevators back up. However, you can take the elevator both up and down is you do not want to walk 750ft down.

On Day 8, I woke up early and headed to start the Ranger led tour I had purchased. I decided to go on the Lower Cave Tour, and I am SO glad that I did! The tour lasted around three hours total and the Rangers were extremely knowledgable about the cave. For this cave, everyone is required to wear sturdy ankle boots (must bring your own), and a helmet with a headlamp and gloves (provided) the entire time.

To start the tour, you must use a knotted rope and walk backwards down 15 ft of smooth flowstone. After this, there are three sets of ladders that take you an additional 50 ft down. I did not have a problem with the rope or the ladders, but some of the other people on the tour did freak out a little bit because of the way the ladders were angled.

Descent down flowstone with rope
Bottom two ladders and one of the rangers

Once off the ladders, the tour begins! I am not going to go into detail of the tour, because it is something you all just need to get out and experience! I do highly recommend this tour if you are planning a visit to Carlsbad Caverns. There were no sections that required crawling, but there was an optional route you can take where you get to crawl, and of course we all did!!! A man on the tour also spoke highly of the Left Hand Tunnel Tour, which is another ranger led tour where everyone uses lanterns instead of head lamps.

I do not think you could wrong with any tour at Carlsbad Caverns! Just make sure you arrive early for the tours and wear the appropriate footwear, or they will NOT let you participate in the tour.

Until next time, peace!

2019 Road Trip: Day 4 & 5

Big Bend National Park

Have you ever been on the boarder of Texas and Mexico in June? I hope not. Now, I am not one to complain to about heat and hot weather, but here I am! Y’all, it was HOT. 110 degrees HOT. Luckily, I was able to get the last campsite in the Chisos Basin Campground where the weather was a little less hot. By “get the last campsite,” I mean I drive around until I saw this group of guys packing up and I sat at their campsite until they left. No shame in my game. Look at this beautiful campsite though!

Due to the extreme heat and an unforeseen event, I only camped in the park one night. The next day, I set out to hike early in the morning to beat the heat. However, before I was even a half of a mile into the hike, hikers were coming back down the trail saying there was some bear activity. So…no hiking that trail! With the heat setting in, I decided to just drive around the park. I drove the entire park and did a few short nature walks.

The first stop was the Hot Springs Historic District. This was a very interesting area of the park that I could talk about for days, but I am going to leave a link for you to read if you are interested in learning the background of this interesting location! https://www.nps.gov/bibe/learn/historyculture/hotsprings.htm

Petroglyphs
Rio Grande
Historic Hot Springs

There are many older buildings and petroglyphs to explore on the way to the hot springs. It was much too hot that day for me to get into the springs, but there were other people visiting and taking a dip! It is located right on the Rio Grande, which is pretty cool too.

After visiting the hot springs, I drove down to the ghost town of Terlingua, which is located to the west of BBNP. I was not too impressed with this so-called ghost town. However, the cemetery there is worth visiting and not like cemeteries in Tennessee.

After visiting Terlingua, some things happened and I headed back to Alpine, Texas to regroup and get some rest. Overall, Big Bend National Park was beautiful and so overlooked! I would love to visit this park again when the weather is more agreeable.

2019 Road Trip: Day 1 & 2

Day 1: Home to Hot Springs National Park

After a LONG drive from my home to HSNP (Hot Springs National Park), I finally arrived at my KOA where I was staying for the night. It was a fabulous campground and I had a great shaded campsite (YAY!). ALSO, DID YOU KNOW THERE IS WIFI AT A KOA KAMPGROUND!? I did not, and it was a pleasant surprise.

By the time I had my campsite set up and had a shower, I only had a few hours of daylight (and energy) to explore HSNP and grab something to eat. Traffic was horrible (I mean, it was Memorial Day weekend, I should have known better) and I finally made it to the free parking garage in town. After eating, I walked around for a little while and saw some of the Hot Springs. I also put my hand in one of the springs and YEP they are hot!

After seeing about all there is to see, and let me be honest, there isn’t much; I drove on the Mountain Drive/Fountain Drive in the park. At the top, there is a tower where you can take an elevator to the top for viewing, but I decided I would skip that part since it was about to close. However, there were some gorgeous views from a couple of pull offs that showed Arkansas’ beauty.

Overall, HSNP was nice and pretty in places. I definitely could see how amazing it was years ago, but a lot of the older, architecturally beautiful buildings are boarded up and forgotten. If Chip and Joanna Gaines could get a big ole crew into that area, MAN, it would be GORGEOUS.

Day 2: Drive to Austin

Okay, you guys, I KNEW Texas was big. I know it is the 2nd largest state and is basically (kind of, sort of) the size of Europe if you pushed them all together. But holy moly, Texas is HUGE. Also, people drive CRAZY, and I am a crazy driver so that is saying a lot. Maybe it was the 75 mph limit or the weird on/off ramps Texas has between Dallas and Austin, but I have never been so nervous driving on an interstate before in my life.

Anyway, I finally made it to my “Uncle” John’s house (He is one of my father’s best friends, so I have always called him uncle) in Austin after a long day of driving. I showered and John and his wife took me out to dinner. After that, we talked about places we have traveled, and then this old 29 year old went to bed around 9:30 to prepare for the drive to Big Bend National Park.

So, not exactly an enthralling couple of days, but the weather has been nice and I have enjoyed what all I have seen so far on my trip! Only 39 days left of my road trip, stay tuned!

Peace!

Small Town Shoutout

If you despise traffic, chain restaurants, and high rise hotels as much as I do, then my Small Town Shoutouts will be must reads for you!

Any time I am planning a vacation/getaway/road trip/etc., I always try to find those small town gems. The towns that are overlooked or forgotten and away from the interstate. This town checks all the boxes.

What town is it, you ask? Greybull, Wyoming.

Greybull, Wyoming

I am from a small town, and while I will most likely never move back to such a small town, I do love staying in them while on trips. I do not even remember how I found this place. If I had to guess, I was trying to find somewhere to stay between the Black Hills and the entrance to Beartooth Highway. Whatever I did to find this town, I am sure glad it happened!

The first thing I look for in a small town is a quirky motel or an old hotel. Let me tell you, I hit the jackpot when I found the hotel I stayed in while in Greybull! We stayed in The Historic Hotel Greybull & Speakeasy.

Entrance to front office and The Speakeasy Restaurant
© Savannah Hamlet

This hotel was once a speakeasy during Prohibition. The speakeasy area, located in the “basement” area is now restaurant: “The Speakeasy Restaurant.” The rooms are decorated with vintage decor and are all unique in their own way. Some rooms have bathrooms and showers, some have just a sink. There are bathrooms in the halls if you room does not have a bathroom. There are even a few rooms that have full kitchens. Here is link to their website if you are interested in learning more about the accommodations and/or restaurant: https://www.historichotelgreybull.com/

Hotel entrance
Speakeasy Restaurant
Our adjoining rooms
A room in the hotel
Another room in the hotel
Large room with full kitchen with view of Greybull

We did not stay in Greybull but one night. We got to town around 3p.m. and immediately checked in. Once we were settled in our rooms, we went and had dinner at the Speakeasy. After that, we walked down the main road and took some pictures. Of course, with Greybull being such a small town, nothing was open. However, we did get some pictures of vintage signs throughout the town.

There are a few points of interest close to Greybull. One of these is Shell Falls Interpretive Site. At Shell Falls, you can park and take a short walk on a paved pathway to see a gorgeous waterfall.

Greybull is also only about an hour drive to Bighorn National Forest. It was raining while we drove though Bighorn NF, but it is a beautiful area. I would love to go back to Bighorn NF and spend some time camping and hiking in the forest. Greybull is only 53 minutes to Cody, Wyoming and 1 hour and 50 minutes to Red Lodge, Montana. It is an excellent choice, in my opinion, to stay in this charming town if you are on a road trip in the area. I hope you enjoyed this Small Town Shoutout.

Peace.

Just a Jeepin’

During the summer of 2018, my best friend, Sara, and I took a 3 week road trip of a life time. We drove in a 4 door Jeep from Tennessee to South Dakota to Wyoming to Montana and then back down to Wyoming. We were able to visit 4 National Parks, 3 National Forests, 2 National Monuments, and many more spectacular places. I will give a brief overview of where all we went, and have more detailed blogs in the near future of each location we visited.

Our first stop after two LONG days of driving was Badlands National Park. I was extremely excited about Badlands National Park. I personally feel that the Badlands do not get enough credit. C’mon guys, look at the views!

Door/Notch Trailheads parking area
© Savannah Hamlet

Next, we headed to the Black Hills National Forest. We only had one night in the Black Hills, so we made the most of it. Within 24 hours, we saw Mt. Rushmore, drove the Needles Highway at sunset, saw a laser show at Crazy Horse (SO COOL), visited Sylvan Lake, visited Sturgis (our dads, both bikers, were extremely jealous), AND went to Devil’s Tower. Needless to say, we had a blast and saw A LOT.

After a couple of days of exploring the Badlands and Black Hills, we were Montana bound! We took a scenic route through Bighorn National Forest, and stayed in a charming small town, Greybull, WY. We then took the Beartooth Highway and stayed the night in Bozeman. I know, weird, but it was the only way we could drive the highways and not have to backtrack.

Shell Falls between Bighorn National Forest and Greybull
© Savannah Hamlet

After leaving Bozeman, we took a long, rainy drive to Glacier. We stayed an entire week in Glacier and WOW WOW WOW. If you have never visited Glacier, cancel your current travel plans and go, now!

Two Medicine Lake at Glacier National Park
© Savannah Hamlet

The last week of our trip, we visited Yellowstone and Grant Tetons National Park. I have nothing to say about Yellowstone, you will see a whole blog about Yellowstone later on. Grand Tetons were GORGEOUS. Just fab, y’all. 10/10 would recommend.

Grand Teton National Park
© Savannah Hamlet

This post really does not serve a purpose except to set up the next few blogs I post about each location. You at least got to see some awesome pictures taken with an iPhone, pretty impressive for a phone, huh?

Peace.