Ready to hit the road!!
June 7 & 8 The Drive West
We left Atlanta 3 days ago. We drove to Columbia, MO the first night. Pretty uneventful day, but we did have a flat on the trailer & had to change it on the side of the road in Illinois then go to Walmart & get new tires. No big deal, we didn’t get as far as we would have liked. We passed the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, before we pulled into Columbia. The hotel in MO had a great indoor pool and hot tub that we enjoyed. Day two we drove to Ogalala, NE. It was a beautiful drive. The Nebraska landscape was so green and we saw lots of wildlife. Who knew Nebraska was so pretty, even on the interstate??? We had a great hotel with a hot tub & pool. Had a nice dinner & breakfast the next day. The hotel had a lake behind it with a walking trail where we saw rabbits and a slider turtle laying eggs.
Are we there yet?
Can someone check the chemicals in this tub - Avery, where are you?
June 9 The Drive West (cont.)
Day three we drove across the rest of Nebraska and into Wyoming. Once we left I-80 the drive was incredible. Saw hundreds of pronghorn antelope on the way out. Areas we drove through reminded us of Sedona and the Grand Canyon. The layers of color in the mountains were stunning. We got to the pass just past Dubois, and were surrounded by thick snow. We saw our first elk. We drove on in to the Tetons stopping to see a herd of buffalo and admire the "Majestic"(Courtney's description) mtn. range. Found an awesome campsite at Signal Mountain. We set up camp and went to the restaurant where we had a great dinner & the most incredible view you can imagine. We decided it was completly worth the drive just to see the majesty of the mountain range. Rusty said "We can go home now."
We made it!!!!!
June 10-13 The Grand Tetons
We’ve had four incredible days, even though it rained on & off almost the whole time. We woke up to rain on the first morning. We headed in to Jackson to do our grocery shopping and explore town. The Elk Refuge Center was our first stop . We spent several hours there looking at exhibits and watching a movie about the area. After our grocery trip we headed to the Gros Ventre area of the park. The landscape was beautiful & as we drove by the river we spotted our first Moose. We had a picnic at a lake side picnic table. We headed back up towards the campground where we stopped at the Oxbow bend overlook & saw a mama moose and two calves. Hightlight of the day!
1st Moose!
The second day started out with rain again. We headed to the visitor center at Moose, great name for this town and went to a neat Ranger program on animals in the park. The Ranger was from South Carolina & was a great presenter and gave us lots a places to look for animals and also gave Rusty fishing information. After lunch in town we drove to the summit of Signal Mountain, where the ranger had said there was a black bear with two cubs. We didn’t see them, but we enjoyed the great views. We had deer in the campground & spotted some elk on the road.
Friday was fantastic- before I got out of bed, Rusty was at the door of the camper with a 20 inch Lake trout! Thanks ranger Justin!! The weather was dry so we planned out our hiking. First we went to Two Oceans Lake & trails and hiked about two miles. We saw a river otter and trumpeter swan. Then we went to the Colter Bay area where we picnicked near the visitor center on the lake. It could not have been prettier- nice weather, the mountains, a hillside covered with sagebrush and yellow wildflowers. We went to Swan Lake & Heron Pond to hike. It was about a three mile hike and absolutely beautiful. We saw beaver, white pelicans and great views. We headed back to our campsite where we had a nice fire & met some great people from California. John & Jeri were on a five week trip with their sweet dog, Tucker ( a golden retriever who Avery and Courtney adored.) John just retired from being the travel editor for the San Francisco Chronicle, so he knew tons about the area and we really enjoyed spending time with them and talking about travels. We also spent some time with other campers- two brothers and their families from Colorado. All great people and one of the reasons we love to camp- we meet so many nice folks. Anyway, the evening stayed clear and we were able to get our best pictures of the mountains. The sun is setting around 9:15, but it doesn’t get dark until closer to ten. This night Rusty and I stayed up and the sky was clear enough to see some beautiful stars.
Let's Eat!
Hike at Heron Pond
Rain, what rain?
Big Beaver at Heron Pond
Courtney and Avery on lakeside (Jackson Lake) of our campsite
Today is our last full day in the Tetons. We slept really late- until around 9:00. The sun is up at 5, but we start hearing birds around 4:30. This day I woke up then, but went right back to sleep and kept on – we are all really tired! We had a nice breakfast and chatted again with all our neighbors (who all are leaving today). We spent the whole day in the Jenny Lake area. We walked around String Lake and Norris Lake, then went to the south Jenny Lake area. After a quick sandwich, we took the boat across to the Hidden Falls & Inspiration Point trails. What a great hike! It is a mile up, along the way we saw an incredible waterfall & run off from the glacier, pika, marmots, and spectacular views from the top. It rained for a few minutes while we were at the top, but cleared up on the hike back down. When we stopped at the waterfall coming down the mountain, we could see repellers coming down from the rugged cliffs. We got back on the boat as a big rainstorm hit. We were all laughing like crazy as we zipped back across the lake. We drove to the Teton Village to see what the ski resort looked like. On the way we got a fantastic view of a mother moose & calf right at the edge of the creek. We then drove to the Gros Ventre campground to see the 2 owlets nesting there. We could see the mom Great Horned Owl, but never could see the babies. On the drive back to the campground we saw many buffalo and elk.
Can you see the people repelling?
How about now?
Marmot
Courtney at Inspiration Point over Jenny Lake
A wild boat ride in a storm, but this kid was having a blast!
One of our first Buffalo sitings - many more to come!
Then a mama Moose and baby
June 14- Yellowstone
We left this morning from the Grand Tetons. So sad to leave, it was a fantastic visit there. Courtney and Avery earned their Junior Ranger badges and then we drove north in drizzle. By the time we got to Yellowstone, it was really cold- low 40’s and there was lots of snow on the pass. We passed some beautiful waterfalls along the way. We got to our campground around 1:00- Madison campground, right where the Gibbon and Firehole Rivers meet. After we set up camp we walked along the river, then drove to the Firehole Canyon Drive and to the paint pots which are really cool. We drove into West Yellowstone to get fuel & groceries. A very neat little town which is the snow mobile capital of the world. On the way back to the camp, we ended up in an interesting traffic jam. A buffalo walked in front of our car and proceeded to walk right in from of us at a very slow pace. The traffic on the other side backed up too, with people taking all these pictures which included us, since we were directly behind him. We could not stop laughing! Finally there was a turn off and we pulled around him. There were elk and buffalo in the meadow next to the campground and while we ate dinner a big buffalo came wandering through the campground. We ended the day with a great campfire, dinner and smores.
Courtney and Avery saying their National Park Pledge
Buffalo leading us through the traffic - Are we in the Circus?
June 15, 2009
We got a late start this morning, but enjoyed a nice pancake breakfast. Then we went over and found the Junior Ranger books at the Junior Ranger station which is at our campground. We planned to go into the Old Faithful area to explore, do laundry and shower, but the traffic to it was horrible. We decided to head the other way. We drove towards Mammoth Hot Springs. Again we passed a number of great water falls then went to the Artists Paint Pots near Norris. They were great. On the way to Mammoth Hot springs we saw our first bear- pretty far away, but still neat. We had lunch at Mammoth Springs then went hiking around. It was pretty warm-probably mid - high 70's. The springs were beautiful, especially the mineral buildup with the variety of colors and levels. We saw what would be the only snake of the trip, we believe it was a small Bull snake. Pretty orange and black color that blended well with the colors of the spring area. We were pretty hot by the time we left and we stopped and got ice cream. There were lots of elk around the area. From there we drove towards Tower, where we saw some beautiful waterfalls and great wildlife including Pronghorn antelope, buffalo, and two bull elk. We got to the area known as the Lamar Valley or the “American Serengeti”. At the first turn out towards Petrified Tree there were several buffalo very close to the road. As we came around the corner there were two black bears down the hill. One was black and the other a cinnamon color. After we walked to the tree, we drove just a little further and saw a bighorn sheep. Not two miles down from there we came upon a group watching a coyote den. We saw the mom and the pups, who were jumping and chasing their prey. As we drove through the valley we saw hundreds, maybe a thousand buffalo and many newborn calves. We stopped and talked to a group of “wolfies”, these are people who follow the wolves in the area. They said that this area is the best in the world to observe the wolves. They told us there was a pack, the Druid pack, named after a nearby peak, that had been back and forth the last few days, but we didn’t see any. We turned around and headed back towards the campground and drove on and off through rain. There were incredible rainbows and at one point actually could see the end of the rainbow in front of us on the road. We drove right through it- very cool, but alas no pot of gold!! The friends we met in Grand Tetons, Jeri and John Flinn are staying in the same campground here. They came over with Tucker and we sat around the campfire drinking wine. They both had great stories, but especially John, who is friends with authors Bill Bryson (A Walk in the Woods) and Greg Morgensen (Three Cups of Tea).
Mammoth Hot Springs
Bull Snake?
June 16, 2009
Laundry & shower day. We went to Old Faithful Inn to clean up. After showers we headed out to Old Faithful with hundreds of other people. The Inn is beautiful & both the girls were amazed and wanted to check in! We drove to Grant on Lake Yellowstone and went on a sea kayak tour with about 30 other people including John & Jeri. We were out about three hours and hugged the shore of the lake on the West Thumb. We were able to get close to geysers, and could see some underwater. It was a great workout and a lot of fun. We bought the book “Lost in My Own Backyard” by Tim Cahill, who lives just outside Yellowstone and also is a friend of John’s. John and Jeri left Madison campground today, where were are currently, and will go stay a few days with Tim. It looked like a good book and came with a good recommendation from John.
Kayaking in Lake Yellowstone
Our friends John and Jeri - where's Tucker??
Old Faithful doing it's thing!
Inside Old Faithful Inn - Avery was in awe. Said she would grow up and buy it!
June 17, 2009
While the Grand Tetons were beautiful in scenery and wildlife, Yellowstone is just amazingly intriguing for the diversity of terrain and wildlife. I have jumped into Tim Cahill’s book last night and this morning by the fire while Sherri and the girls have slept in and want to share some information about this fascinating place. According to Cahill, “Many visitors know that most of what we call Yellowstone Park is the caldera of a giant volcano and that all of the park’s spouting geysers and colorful hot springs and mud pots are evidence of volcanism very close to the surface of the earth. We all know that.” The park is 2.2 million acres and most of this is flat rolling plain that is situated between two mountain ranges, the Grand Tetons to the south, Mount Sheridan is the closest peak to the south, and the Absaroka Mountains to the East and Mount Washburn to the North. Cahill states that geologists’ research shows that the 37 miles between these ranges was blown up 640,000 years ago. He reports “The eruption blew off the side of Washburn, the north side of Sheridan, and everything in between went all to hell. It was one of the biggest eruptions in the history of the earth. But there was no cone-shaped mountain.” He says that “The writer Bill Bryson has aptly described the hotspot as looking rather like a martini glass. There are forty active hotspots on earth at present. They are all located under oceans-except for the one under Yellowstone. Some texts are willing to say that there’s a cataclysmic supervolanic eruption in Yellowstone every 600,000 years or so. I don’t have to tell you again that the last one was 640,000 years ago.” Does Cahill think there is a possibility of this repeating, in a word "Oh yeah."
The roads in Yellowstone form a big figure eight. Today we started around the big loop to the North and stopped along the way exploring the different geyser basins starting with Norris. Norris is about a two mile hike and had some incredible springs. We went to the Canyon area and walked around the overlooks at Lower Falls. This has to be one of the most picturesque falls in the U.S. We ate lunch there and enjoyed the gorgeous views of both the waterfalls and the canyon which is also known as the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone because of the incredible color in the rock. There were people repelling into the canyon while we were there. Next we went to Fishing Bridge and the visitors center there. The view of the lake with the snow covered mountains behind them was gorgeous. The visitors center had a great display of birds that was very interesting. We went back and explored the West Thumb geyser basin on the edge of Lake Yellowstone. This was the area we had seen from the water when we had kayaked the previous day. It was very cool seeing it from land, and actually turned out to be one of our favorite areas- especially one pool called “Sapphire” that was the most incredible color of blue and made us all want to go for a swim. It started raining on the way back to the campground, so we skipped the fire and ate spaghetti in the camper before heading to the ranger program at the amphitheatre.
Lower Falls in Yellowstone Canyon
Yellowstone Canyon
June 18
The girls slept in this morning since they were up so late last night. Rusty got an early start and went for a drive at some of the areas close to us. I sat around the campfire reading and drinking coffee for about three hours. What a great morning! Once we all got moving, we headed to the Junior Ranger station where the girls did a program on birds.We drove to Kelper Cascade then on to Old Faithful.The visitors center had a fasinating movie on the geysers and thermal pools. We had planned to hike, but it started raining pretty hard and was cold, so we had lunch in the Inn. Afterwards we watched Old Faithful one more time, then headed to Biscuit Basin and Black Sand Basin. Each basin is a thermal area with a variety of different pools, springs, mudpots, geysers, etc. The girls had completed the Junior Ranger activities by then so we went to the Ranger station and went to a program on animal sounds and then they got their badges. The last area we visited is called Midway Basin. There are pictures in most of the books here of the Grand Prismatic Pool. It was really cold and windy outside when we got there and the steam off the pool was so thick we could hardly see each other, much less the pool! Anyway it is a really cool area with waterfalls coming down banks that were black, green and yellow from the minerals. We headed back to the campsite, made a huge fire, baked potatoes in the coals, and then had smores before off to bed.
Grand Prismatic Spring - Huge, but also too windy and foggy to see real well, awesome nonetheless!
June 19, 2009
So sad to leave Yellowstone! We packed up and headed to Glacier this morning. On the way out of the park we saw more buffalo (of course!) and got a great look at a bald eagle in her nest with babies. Later we saw an eagle flying near one of the lakes we passed. We stopped for lunch in Butte, Montana. Matt’s Place is in the National Register of Historic Places. They are known for their milkshakes and pork chop sandwiches. Delicious milkshakes and the sandwiches, while deep fried (in Montana??) were great, too. We drove north around Seeley Lake, where we saw meadow after meadow covered in bear grass blooms that were each the size of a tennis ball. We got to Glacier pretty late and set up camp in the nicest campsite so far. Thick woods right on Lake McDonald. It was light until after 10:00.
June 20
After breakfast we went to the village of Apgar and got Junior Ranger packets and talked to the Rangers about the area. We drove up the Going to the Sun Road which was open almost all the way to Logan’s pass. The drive takes you along Lake McDonald, then McDonald Creek before it goes up the mountain on a curvy road with steep drop offs on one side and sheer cliffs going up on the other. The melting snow created waterfalls everywhere. When we got to the top we played in snow, watched about 6 big horned sheep playing, had a picnic, hiked a little way up the road, and took in the unbelievable scenery. The road is closed further up because there was an avalanche in January leaving up to 70 feet of snow in places. Apparently most of the snow is removed, but there is still damage to the road. We came back down the mountain and went to the town of Hungry Horse for showers and groceries. We ended the night with a fire and grilled steak…yum!
Views from the Road to the Sun
Courtney and Avery having fun in the snow.
No this is not photoshop-c'mon do you really think we could figure out that program??
June 21
Avery’s birthday and Father's day. After pancakes and bacon Avery and Rusty opened cards and gifts. Avery got money from her grandparents, so she wanted to go to the National Park store at Apgar. We spent about an hour in Apgar doing some shopping, then went to the Lake Mc Donald Lodge where we went on a boat ride. We started out in the open air- it was the warmest day so far at almost 70 degrees, but still had to move inside the downstairs as it became quite chilly! The ride was really nice. We had an early dinner at the Lodge then went to the Trail of the Cedars at Avalance Creek. This area was beautiful- very lush with huge old trees. According to trail info, unlike most areas in the park, it has not burned since the 1500’s. We drove back up the Going to the Sun Road where we saw some great wildlife. As we got almost to the top, a bighorn sheep was right in the road. He couldn’t seem to decide if he was going to go up the rocky cliff, or down the steep ravine. We finally went around him, and he was close enough to touch. There were many more sheep on the top of the cliff including some babies. On the way down we stopped when we saw a few people out with scopes and binoculars. There were two grizzly bears up the hill- the male was enormous!! After that we spotted a moose eating and drinking from the creek. We watched her for awhile- they are so funny the way they stick their whole head under the water. We stopped for birthday dessert in the Apgar Village - Huckelberry pie was a hit! We had a nice fire going when the rain came in about 11:00.
Lake McDonald
Big Horn Sheep checking us out!
June 22
We decided to head to the east side of the park, since you can’t see any of the Glaciers from the west side. It rained all night last night, so packing up was a wet, cold mess! We took the perimeter road of the park which took us by an area called “Goat Lick.” There are cliffs right off the road over a river, where the minerals are inviting to the mountain goats. There were about a dozen goats there, many of them small babies. The goats are so beautiful- nothing like the little goats we normally see. They are snow white, shaggy haired handsome animals. We stopped at St. Mary’s Lodge, a National Park Lodge to get a hotel room since we were only going to be staying one night. There was a Blackfoot convention so they were booked solid. Ironically, the only thing available was a luxury tee-pee with plasma TV. Lady at the desk said they can get a little cold and at $250/night, we decided to pass. Maybe next time! We went on up to Many Glacier and got a room at the Swift Current Inn inside the Park. It was still raining and very cold and windy, we were so glad we were not camping! We unhitched the camper and went into the restaurant and were eating pizza when our friends, John and Jeri from San Fran came in. They were camping close by, so we were hoping to get to see each other again. After lunch we went to the Going to the Sun Road from the east side. Much less was open on this side, but it was still beautiful. We got out in one area and walked back to Sunrift Gorge. It was incredible- tons of water coming over that was so clear & the area around it was so green. Rusty got out at Sun Point and walked down to the water. He said it felt like he was going to blow off the cliff. I don’t know when I’ve ever been in stronger winds. We stopped at the Visitors Center where the girls got their Junior Ranger badges. We drove to the campground and picked up Jeri and John and went to the Many Glacier Hotel for dinner. Beautiful scenery and great company!!
Bridge at Sunrift Gorge
Sunrift Gorge
Blustery on Sun Point
Hotel at Many Glacier
June 23
What a difference a day makes! The weather is great again. Rusty and John got up at 6a.m. & went hiking together. It was still cold (37) but the the sky was clear. They hiked to Grinnell Lake just below the Grinnell Glacier about a four mile hike with beautiful views and lots of snow. The girls slept in and after a quick breakfast the four Godwins said goodbye to our friends from California and hiked up to Red Rock Lake and Falls. It was a wonderful three mile hike and we could finally see Glaciers. The lake was clear and beautiful and the waterfall was fantastic. On the way back we came upon a bull moose. He was about 15 yards from us- we got some great pictures & we were all so excited that we got to see one! We hooked the camper up and headed north to Canada.
John hiking below Grinnell Glacier
John, Jeri, and Tucker
June 24
Hello Canada! We have the most incredible scenic campsite we’ve ever camped in! We’re right on Two Jack Lake which is teal blue, and we look across the lake at the Canadian Rockies… Wow! We actually moved into this lakeside site this morning. When we got into Banff National Park last night we went to the campground where we had reservations- it was a gorgeous view, but it basically was a tree-free parking lot for RV’s. We immediately left and came here where we camped in a decent spot near the road, then woke up this morning and moved to one of the best sites in the campground.. This campsite is a few miles outside of town (Banff), & we had Elk right behind our site this morning & we were put to sleep last night by loons- it was great! Today we went into Banff & rode the Gondola to the top of Sulphur Mountain. The views were unbelievable- it looks out over the town of Banff & the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel that sits next to a waterfall on Bow River. We hiked around the top for awhile & took lots of pictures of bighorn sheep. We came back down & went to the Hot Springs. It was so relaxing- like a giant hot tub with a hundred people you don’t know. The kids were not impressed. They had their goggles and wanted to swim, but said it was just for a “bunch of old people getting a tan.” We had a great dinner & fire looking out over our view of the Canadian Rockies.
Going up in the Gondola
Top of Sulphur Mountain
The Castle - Banff Springs Hotel
Hot Springs!!
Avery chillin' at the lake
Sunset from our campsite
June 25
We woke up to cloud cover this morning. An elk was right behind our site in the lake, while we watched, she barked, a very unusual sound from such a big animal, then swam across the cove. We drove north on the Bow Springs Parkway towards Lake Louise. We hiked at Johnston Canyon, which is now one of Sherri’s favorite hikes ever. There is a catwalk, built into the side of the cliff, which follows the river a mile & a half back into the canyon, so we were walking just over the water inside a beautiful narrow gorge. There was so much water coming through from the snow melts that the waterfalls were amazing. From there we drove up to Lake Louise. It started to rain just before we got there, so we took some pictures, then walked around the hotel a bit. We all enjoyed the harpist playing in the lobby. A little north is Lake Moraine which we thought was even prettier than Lake Louise- the water is Caribbean blue & crystal clear. We drove back to the campground from the opposite way on the loop circling this section of the Park, passing over the dam of Lake Minnewanka, which is gorgeous and then coming upon a herd of bighorn sheep hanging out on the road.
Elk heading out for a morning dip
Johnston Canyon
Awesome hike in Johnston Canyon
Lake Louise
June 26
Today we drove north to Jasper National Park. About 30 minutes beyond the Lake Louise area we hit snow at Bow pass. We stopped at the Columbia Ice Field and went out on a snow coach onto the Athabasca Glacier. The wind was unbelievable. We had on all of our layers and were still freezing. A couple on the snow coach with us was out making snow angels (must have been northerners!) Anyway, it was really neat to experience that. The glacier has receded quite a bit since Rusty was here in the early 70’s. There is a great exhibit at the Icefield Center that explained about the geology of the area and the history & facts of the glaciers. To be considered a glacier, there are three criteria that must be met: it must be larger than 4 football fields, at least one year old, and moving down a hill. The largest glacier here is 35 square miles! We continued the drive north on the Icefields Parkway, which is really gorgeous- completely surrounded by huge mountains and up close views of glaciers. We stopped and hiked around at both Sunwapta and Athabasca Falls- they were both beautiful. We checked into Becker Chalets and had a log cabin right on the Athabasca River. The views were wonderful. Checked out the town of Jasper & ate dinner at the Jasper Brewery, then drove to Pyramid Lake before going back to the Chalet. The sunset was after 11:00!
Snow coach on the glaciers
Athabasca Glacier
At the chalet in Jasper
June 27
We drove out to the Maligne Lake area after breakfast. There is a lake on the way out called Medicine Lake that has sinkholes, so that the whole lake disappears every fall & then refills every spring. It has no river leaving the lake. This is said to be part of the largest underwater system in the world. The Maligne Lake area was really pretty- we stopped briefly because we wanted to hike at Maligne Canyon. As we arrived at the parking lot, there was a huge bull elk right there- he was beautiful! The canyon was great, it is really deep with areas carved out with the force of the water- breathtaking! We had a picnic at Athabasca falls, then headed south. We rounded a curve and there were 22 mountain goats right on the road! It was so exciting to see them up close. There were half a dozen babies, and it was really neat to hear them bleating! The drive back to Banff was incredibly clear, so we could see a lot more than we had the day before on the drive up. We decided to stop at Lake Louise and Lake Moraine again to get some pictures with the pretty blue sky. We were so glad we stopped- it was beautiful. At Lake Louise we encountered a couple "biking around the World". They are taking seven years to do this. They said they would be biking to Toronto or New York then flying to Spain. They were getting out of their rafts, that yes, they carry with them. It was pretty incredible. We have met many young folks travelling abroad - Good for them! We got back to our site and Tom Luttrell and his wife Deb, friends from Edmonton, had just arrived with their two dogs, Stella and Sidney, and set up their tent. They treated us to a delicious dinner of grilled steak and salmon, and had a nice evening around the fire.
Isn't he a handsome fellow?
Maligne Canyon
Mountain Goats On Icefields Parkway
The Godwin's on Athabasca Glacier - Thanks Trey for the heater!!!!!
Lake Louise
How do I sign up? Then again, nevermind!
Lake Moraine
June 28
The prettiest day so far- mid 70’s by the afternoon! We hung around the campsite all morning sitting out by the lake- Avery put on her bathing suit and made a great attempt to get into the frigid water. We saw two bald eagles fly over and the loon came swimming by with her babies. We went to Stewart Canyon on the other side of Lake Minnewanka that connects to Lake Two Jack which we were camping on. Came back and Tom and Rusty fished for trout, but came up empty handed. Ate dinner and enjoyed Rusty popping corn over the fire. Enjoyed cutting up with Tom and Deb!!
Mama Loon and her little ones.
Tom with Deb, preparing to fish at our campsite in Banff
Bighorn Sheep at Lake Two Jack, Banff
Tom, the clown!
Popcorn over the fire
June 29
Packed up camp and headed south. We were sorry to leave the area, but glad to leave the prices.
Judith Gap Windmill Farm in Northern Montana Has about 100 Windmills. They are over 400 feet tall and can be seen for 25 miles.
Pretty Cool!!
June 30
Another long day of driving. We left
Prairie Dogs
July 1
Custer
Pronghorn Antelope
Bridge in Wind Cave National Park
Views of Sylva
Needles Highway
Eye of the Needle
Rusty checking out a tight tunnel
July 2
Visited
Mt. Rushmore
George from within a cave
July 3
We packed up camp and drove out through the
Courtney riding the famous Jackalope at Wall Drug
Colorful Views of the Badlands
July 4
Our main goal today was to drive and end up somewhere to watch fireworks. We did have to stop early today to see the
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Mt. Rushmore
The Gateway Arch
1971 when Rusty visited as a kid!
This was a beautiful 1934 Ford, named "The Great Pumpkin", that we ran into in the Black Hills, at Wall Drug and then here in Mitchell as we travelled across South Dakota over three days.
Fireworks at Mizzou
We went to the St. Louis Arch this morning. It was overcast, but the views from the top were pretty. The museum has a great display on the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Since we went along so much of it, its too bad we didn’t stop here first. We originally planned to stay tonight in
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St. Louis from the top of the Arch.
Lonely at the top? More like cramped!!
The Mighty Mississippi
We have packed a lot into a month. We drove 7,397 miles through 11 states, 2 countries, & we visited 7 national parks, 2 national monuments, & 1 state park- it was totally worth it. This has been so much fun, we learned so much, had a great time together, and this is something we will all remember forever. Our hope with writing all of this down and taking the number of pIctures we did, is that Courtney and Avery will better recall everything we did and the great time we had! Thanks for taking the time to appreciate our Big Adventure.