We were up early, leaving the hotel around 7 a.m., headed for Jewel Cave in Wyoming. We considered Wind Cave, but we learned that morning tickets sell out within 15 minutes.

The ride to the cave was only 40 minutes, but once we arrived, there were already more than 20 people ahead of us. The Ranger was very lively, telling lots of rules with a great sense of humor. “They will send you out of the cave if you don’t have the right footwear, and you will need to wait to buy a new ticket. No one is waiting for you,” he told us forcefully.

Someone from the crowd asked the guy if he was former military. He said, “No, but my brother, father, grandfather, uncles and everyone else was. My mother was a teacher, I went to Catholic school, and the nuns whooped me plenty. Roger?”

The crowd answered in unison: “Roger!”

Our spot in line got us the 10:55 a.m. tour, which meant we watched the video all about Jewel Cave, explored the visitor center, and had time for a quick hike full of switchbacks. The kids loved that part and could have easily hiked longer.

The cave tour began over 230 feet beneath the Visitor’s Center. It’s the 2nd largest cave in the US, 5th largest in the world, with less than 5% of its tunnels charted or explored. People who try to help map it out can only camp for 4 days at a time because they can only carry so much gear with them (not to mention their own trash and waste). 

The cave is always 49 degrees, and we were thankful to have warm enough gear. We saw dogspar jewels and bands of so many different stones, I can’t name them. We missed the longer tour, deciding not to wait for the 12:55, and left Jewel Cave for Cody, Wyoming. We drove for over 5 hours to get out that way, meandering through mountains and scenic route 16, which had 6% inclines, and a little more adventure to the drive than I wanted. Mark took over the drive after an hour and got us the rest of the way down the mountain. 

It was beautiful, just like the movies. There were pine tree spots with lots of mountains and a little lake tucked in between, opening up to what feels more like a desert…..brown land and red mountains.

In Cody, we set up at the hotel, Cowboy Village, and ate BBQ brisket, pork, ribs, a corndog, beans, and a killer salad bar for dinner. Everyone was more than full, except for Remy, who walked away with a belly ache. 

Hubs and LM2 made it out to the Cody Rodeo for over an hour and came home with stories of barrel racing.

Tomorrow, we’ll head to a cowboy museum in Cody before traveling into Yellowstone. There’s so much more ahead! Can’t wait to see what new discoveries we’ll find.