Criggers go to Cody, Yellowstone

When Carol Crigger heard the Valley Voice was asking readers to report back from their summer vacations, she jumped at the opportunity. Crigger and her husband Ken hit the road for Cody, Wyo., last month. They detoured through Yellowstone National Park, saw a few bison and even spotted what has to be the world’s largest lever-action Winchester rifle. The rifle, racked atop the roof of a Cody motorcycle shop, had to be at least as long as a tour bus. Cody is home to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, which has quite a display of guns that won the West.

In upcoming editions of the Valley Voice, readers will report back from Washington D.C., Wrigley Field in Chicago, the Grand Canyon and the Colorado Rockies, as well as few favorite campsites closer to home.

Our question-and-answer forum with Carol Crigger follows.

The mission: Tell us about where you went and why you went there. Is this your favorite place on Earth? Do you have relatives there? Was your trip business or pleasure? Who went with you? How long did it take to get there?

Our trip took us to Cody, Wyo., by way of Yellowstone Park, and was a mixture of business and pleasure – mostly pleasure. I am a member of Western Writers of America, with the occasion of our travel being the organization’s annual five-day convention, which culminates in an awards ceremony. Western Writers gives out the Spur award for excellence in various categories of Western writing. I didn’t win. My husband went with me – or I guess I went with him, since he drove. He calls himself my chauffeur. Due to Cody’s proximity to Yellowstone Park, we took an extra day in which to visit the park. This turned a one-day drive (long day) into two.

About your ride: Give us the details about your vacation ride. Did you rip up the road in a convertible sports car or ramble along in a camper and pickup truck? If you went by air or sea, tell us about your plane or boat.

For a reason beyond my Ken, every time we buy a new vehicle its maiden voyage is a vacation trip. This time, our new Ford F150 got a bit of breaking in. We worried about gas mileage – who doesn’t these days – but we’re always very conservative in our travel otherwise and put well below average miles on our cars. That’s our justification for a gas-guzzler. Actually, considering the pickup won’t be thoroughly broken in for a few thousand more miles, it did pretty well for a truck, averaging around 17 mpg. The most expensive gas we found is right here in good ol’ Spokane, where we paid $2.97 at the Millwood Albertsons before we left. Cheapest was in Missoula at $2.79. We paid $2.75 in Cody once, but come to find out their octane is only 85.5. We didn’t get as good of mileage on it, either, due perhaps, to the higher elevation. Anyway, this pickup rides great and has every bell and whistle you can think of. Just as good as a Cadillac. The roads everywhere are as good as or, in most cases, better than those in Washington, even though the other states pay less in gas taxes. Explanation, Olympia?

Here’s an interesting fact … you can always tell a Washington car without looking at the license plate. They’re the ones with yellow or pink of whatever ribbons plastered all over the rear.

Howdy, stranger: Where did you find the friendliest people? Give us a few words about what made them so nice and where you found them.

The friendliest people we ran into were at the Absaroka Mountain Lodge, located about 12 miles outside the eastern entrance of Yellowstone Park. The lodge is a dude ranch where we went trail riding one morning and were treated to a campout breakfast. Very nice, younger people running the lodge, and every person working for them was so pleasant. Our horse wrangler went to great pains to match the animal to the rider’s ability. My husband ended up with a 30-year-old mule. What does that tell you? I had the friskiest horse. Fancy wanted to stop and splash every time we crossed the rather high, fast-moving creeks. Bless her, it was all great fun (and not beyond my horsemanship capabilities to get her moving again before she had a notion to roll).

Don’t stop there: If you ran into a bad restaurant, waitress, rude town or terrible bathroom, tell us all about it.

Warning: Do not eat at Granny’s in Cody. In a word, yuk. The food, the waitress, the whole experience. I wouldn’t have gone into the bathroom on a bet. For a tourist town, Cody is not the most hospitable place – in my opinion, anyway.

Houston, we have a problem: If at some point in your trip, things didn’t go according to plan, let us know. Maybe your spouse forgot to pack your underwear, or your car broke down. Maybe you took off for an out-of-town concert and forgot your tickets at home. Tell us all about it and how you got out your pickle.

I never lose anything. So of course, I lost a 14-carat gold box chain with a small diamond slide. The monetary value isn’t so great, but I loved the chain, because it had a clasp I could actually manage with my clumsy fingers. Dang, dang, dang! I e-mailed the hotel, but it hadn’t been found.

Bon appetit: Give us the best meals of your trip. Multiple listings are fine. If, for example, you had the biggest cinnamon roll ever in Provo, Utah, but also the best steak of your life in Blackfoot, Idaho, tell us about both. Please tell us what made the food so exceptional. Please give us the price, the name of the restaurant and a general idea of how to get there.

Here we are at the Absaroka Mountain Lodge again, for the best meal of the trip. Enjoyed a perfectly cooked steak; tender, crunchy fresh veggies, and melt-in-your-mouth homemade croutons on the crisp salad. I don’t usually like croutons and push them off my salads, but these were marvelous. I ate every one. At $21.95, the dinner was a real value. The dining room is open to other than guests staying overnight at the lodge, by the way. Otherwise, if you want good food, stay in Spokane. Just to mention convention food, the WWA convention was held in Spokane Valley last year at the Mirabeau Park Hotel. I’ve gone to six of these shindigs now, and the Mirabeau Park has the best food served anywhere.

You saw what? Give us the best roadside oddity you spotted and where it was. This might be the world’s largest paper airplane in Mukilteo, Wash, the world’s largest baked potato in Idaho, or the world’s largest penguin in Cut Bank, Mont. If you would like to see, before leaving town, if there’s a large roadside attraction along your route, we would suggest searching the World’s Largest Roadside Attractions Web site at www.wlra.us/search.htm. Another good site is www.roadsideamerica.com/. Make sure to take a picture.

I loved the Dragon’s Breath Spring in Yellowstone. The Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody is a marvelous place, too. The gun collection is astonishing, the art works magnificent, and everything there fascinating. Highly recommended. The Winchester rifle over the store in the picture just goes to show how important it was in Western history.

Here, Moosey Moosey: If you spot any wildlife worth noting, please do.

Hey! I did see a moosey, standing in the shallow water of a small lake. Saw lots of buffalo in Yellowstone Park, of course. I saw a wolf, too, which is quite a rare occurrence, or so I understand. Several elk and a far-off bear. The worst was all the roadkill on the way home. We counted 13 antelope and/or deer in just one morning.