Yelp to the rescue

So last night, we were supposed to go as far as we could in order to make Yellowstone today. The plan had been to get super close Mt Rushmore, see it at night, and then find somewhere to sleep.

As you all know, our first day car trouble halted a few of my wonderful plans. (If you have no idea what I’m talking about read the last few posts.)

Instead of making it to Keystone, we pulled over in Chamberlain, South Dakota.

As we exited the interstate, there was an Americinn Suites. It looked nice enough from the highway. However, as I drove closer, the AmericInn Suites looked more and more like an AmericInn Lodge. (You know where I’m going with this?) The building resembled Abe Lincoln’s cabin on steroids. Or worse, a live version of the hunting lodge that Gaston sings his song in during that dreadful scene in Beauty and The Beast. Needless to say, I pulled up feeling uneasy.

“Mom, uh, look in the windows and tell me if it’s safe.” (safe = nothing dead, stuffed, and hanging on the wall for all to admire, of course)

Before she could even glance, I saw him. You know, the deer. He was hanging right over the entry door. Nope. Not a chance I was going in there. For you are like me, you see one from your car and you can imagine at least 5 more inside. (Mom has just verified that there were at least 5 more inside including an elk.)

I immediately drove to the first parking space I saw, grabbed my Driod, and opened up my Yelp app. While Mom tried to figure out what Yelp was, I had realized that there weren’t really all that many choices in Chamberlain. And of the few that were listed, only one had even been rated. In fact, it had only one “$” for price, a 5 star rating, and been rated 7 times!

I called. No one answered. Boo.

I left a message. And they called back!

I asked all the important questions.:

“Do you have rooms available?” “yes”

“Where are you located?” “Just come down that road. Turn right at the Mcdonald’s and go 2 blocks.”

“Oh, and one more question, do you have any taxidermy?” “huh uh” “I’m sorry, what did you say?” “No, we don’t.” “Okay, see you soon!”

Little did we know that we were embarking one of our favorite adventures to date. We pulled up to a quaint little mom and pop inn. Mom immediately loved. I immediately made comparisons to the Bates Hotel in Psycho.

The innkeeper was charming. Her adorable granddaughters kept peeking at us from behind the counter. She gave me a $5 discount for finding the inn. She asked us if we wanted 2 queens or one for no price difference. Then she even offered us the room right on the river. Uh, yes please!

The room itself was simple: 2 beds (turned different directions), a basic tv, and a bathroom. But seriously what else could you ask for $50? There were a couple little cute features like atwisted hand towel in the bathroom and a rag (with a super cute poem) to wipe down your car’s windshieldin the morning. (just realized we neglected to use it. Bummer.)

When we woke up this morning, we were greeted to gorgeous views of the river. Mom was greeted up coffee. I took a shower without being slashed. It was a definite win for each of us.

After staying at A Bridge View Inn, wewere able to attack today’s drive with vigor. Of course, that vigor wore out by hour 5 but more on that later… J

The nomad