Craig’s Friday Countdown - Places On The Way

59 hours in the car, and 22 places ranked worst to best along the way.  

20.  Gillette, WY. –  Stopped for gas.  A strip mining hellscape, with coal dust covering every horizontal surface, including the too scary to look at tattoos festooning the women folk.  Could not leave the gas station fast enough.      

19.  Rawlins / Sinclair, WY. – Stopped for gas.  The twin cities feature a refinery, penitentiary and fast-food sandwich makers on work release. 

18.  Rest Stop, NB. – Cleaning schedule, indeterminate. 

17.  Butte, MT. – Stopped for gas.  The gas station has a casino.  The restaurant next to the gas station has a casino.  The hotel behind the gas station has a casino.  The shed next to the McDonalds across the street has a casino.  You could literally hit four casinos with a rock from one location, none larger (nor more pleasant than) than the worst convenience store you can imagine.  A vortex of despair.   

16.  Livingston, MT. – Could be nice.  Don't know.  Arrived late at night coming up from Yellowstone to a town completely without power.  Pressed onward. 

15.  Tree Rock, WY. – There’s a tree with a fence around it on Wyoming’s eastern border.  Pull over.  Look at a tree.  This passes for excitement?      

14.  (tie)  The Great Plains – Grass, for hours on end. 

14.  (tie)  East / Central Washington – See, The Great Plains.    

13.  Bitterroot Mountains – A candy store for drivers.  The longer version (here). 

12.  Omaha Culvers – The first sign of home, heading east. 

11.  Rapid City, SD – Much like Davenport, get off the Interstate and visit downtown. 

10.  Badlands National Park – Foreboding on a scale hardly imaginable. 

9.  Yellowstone National Park – A wonderland of geologic magic, with wild animals that own the place.  The world’s first national park was created by the 42nd Congress.  Would that contemporary Congresses have such gumption.     

8.  Jackson, WY.  – If only for the store, Teton Mountaineering. 

7.  (tie) Dornan’s – Provisioning, and end of adventure meals, both done right.   

7. (tie) Grand Teton National Park Visitor Center – A good piece of contextual architecture and it’s called … The Craig Thomas Visitor Center.  What’s not to love?  

6.  The Brick – Classic tavern, operating since 1889 in Rosyln, WA. (the setting for Northern Exposure, very charming).  History.  Cheeseburger.  Local root beer.  A perfect road stop.  

5. Lake of the Crags – 9,565 foot elevation backcountry campsite in GTNP.  No bears. 

4.  Mount St. Johns Summit – 11,435 foot GTNP summit.  No ice. 

3.  Washington State Conference Center – Site of ICMA Conference.  Wonderful to see friends, including Redmond and Tanisha stopping by for the presentation.  Proud to see Team Davenport, out in the world. 

2.  Jenny Lake Ferry Docks – The jumping off place for adventure on the way out, and the happy to return to place on the way back.     

1. Home – Speaking of happy to return, waking up to see the sun rising over the rolling harvest hills of Iowa.