Day 20, 21 Cody, WY and Mt. Rushmore/Badlands NP

Once again, Russell decided that our day needed to start before 6am. "We can see more animals in the morning!" he says. Well, by now, we have heard this a couple of times from the "tour guide." And the girls and I know that's not really true!!! Remember the bison!! In the middle of the day!!!

Anyway, we load up and are off, heading out of Yellowstone, in 15 minutes. However, we have 72 miles to drive BEFORE we leave Yellowstone... a long 40 mph drive. We laugh at all the people that are entering the park that are pulled over to see bison and elk 200 yards in a field... Once again... remember the bison headed straight towards our windshield??? Well, we finally reach the end of the park, driving "S" curves, with sharp dropoffs down the mountain and looking at our last sight of snow in July. An hour later, we enter Cody, Wyoming. We decide to eat breakfast at Irma's Hotel and Restaurant. Those of you familiar with the west, will know that Buffalo Bill Cody owned this restaurant/hotel. The bar was worth $100,000 and given to him by the Queen of England. (Well, he lost a section on a bet!!!) But Calamity Jane and Annie Oakley both stayed here. It was a cool restaurant with animal heads and antlers everywhere.

Off again towards Mt. Rushmore. We were all tired and a "little" cranky. So we decided to stop an hour from Mt. Rushmore in a town called Newcastle, Wyoming. There was a wildfire burning their mountain and a lot of the hotels were full of volunteer firemen. Finally, we found a room... a "smoking" room. Sarah said the room stunk and she wasn't staying here. However, she lost and we all stayed in the stinky, air conditioned room. The highlight was the delicious Italian restaurant.

The next day, we were up early (7am) and headed towards Mt. Rushmore. On the way, we passed Crazyhorse. Just in case you were wondering... it's still not finished. Actually, Russsell saw it 25 years ago and said it didn't look they had carved much. We could see it from the highway and decided that was close enough. We could avoid the $25 car fee to get a closer look. We were one of the first cars at Rushmore (go figure...) We stay long enough to take pictures and watch the movie. Did you know that 90% was carved with dynamite!!! We enjoyed it. Once we left, we headed towards Badlands. We drove thru and saw a lot of prairie dogs. Since this was our last stop, the girls weren't too interested. But they were kind and faked their enthusiasm!!!

Prairie Dogs

Mt. Rushmore

Smoke from wildfires

Tanker loading helicopter- Something we had never seen before.

Really...population 10??? And we put up a sign for 10 people??? Are they all related?? Russell actually slowed down and took this picture for me!!!!

Day 17, 18, 19 Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park.... HUGE!!! I didn't realize how big it really was. Russell woke us up at 545 in Grand Tetons so we could get an early start and see some animals. We didn't see much. We tried to get a campsite (at 8am) and they were already booked!!! Finally, we found a site. But there was no guarantee that we could stay in the same spot 2 nites. Oh well, at least we had a spot somewhere!!! We unloaded and headed to Old Faithful. It really was amazing. The pictures really don't show how big or beautiful. Along the way, we stopped at a lot of hotpots, geysers, and mudpots. They all look different, and smell like sulfur!!! RUssell cooked a delicious chicken dinner and we had leftover sandwiches the next day.

Russell let Sarah and I sleep the next morning while he took Rachel to Montana to the McDonalds!!! (But they don't have gravy or chicken biscuits!!) Then we headed out to drive the rest of the park. Along the way, we were in 2 animal traffic jams. Buffalo (bison) were walking right down the middle of the street!!!! They are HUGE and you could hear their hooves on the pavement. The girls were scared to roll down their window. But of course, Russell had his wide open. He could have touched them!!!! Then we saw some coyotes, another traffic jam.

We drove the park for 8 hours, stopping at geysers, hotpots, mudpots, canyons, upper and lower falls and anything else that looked interesting. We finally made it back to our site and cooked a delicious dinner (hamburgers) and called it a night.

In the morning, Russell once again woke everyone up at daybreak and we headed out of the park to Cody, Wyoming.



Lunch in Yellowstone NP

So, when you don't make reservations, you have to move your tent to another site.

Buffalo really close.

Buffalo coming right toward us!!!

Upper Falls in Yellowstone

You can ride around Yellowstone in this cool car. Russell said it looked like the Von Trapp family in Austria. (The Sound of Music for those of you who aren't into their musicals).

These geysers and hot pots are so full of color. Pictures really don't show how beautiful they really are. Or how smelly they are...

Freezing.... 37 degrees....

Our only eagle

Playing cards and drinking hot chocolate

Our chef decided to marinate some chicken and cook it on the grill.

Day 16 Grand Tetons

FInally made it to the Grand Tetons. We started out at McDonalds in Jackson, Wyoming. It was a crazy, crowded town. A little down the road, we found a tent site and set up. It was a realxing day. We saw a deer run across our campsite. Since Russell can't hike much, we drove around and pulled off at all the sites. While driving, a storm was approaching in the distance. We got some cool pictures with a double rainbow. Back at the campsite, we... Russell... cooked dinner and we all bundled up... low was 37!!!!


A storm approaching and our second rainbow of the trip. Thank goodness the rain was short and didn't get our tent too wet!!!

Storm and dam

Grand Tetons with snow on top.

We had some family time playing cards. We actually had a good laugh every night.

At the park.

Days 13, 14 and 15 (Carbondale, Colorado, Vernal, Utah, Huntsville, Utah and Jackson, Wyoming

Campsite outside of Jackson, Wyoming. Everyone was very scared of the bears!!! No more creams and lotions for a while!!!

Yes, we followed the Oregon Trail in Bear Lake, Utah

Famous raspberry milkshake. Ice cream...again... for lunch!

So, don't you need to try buffalo jerky when you are in Utah and Wyoming??? But we didn't realize 3 oz was $13.oo!!!!

A HUGE thank you to Charlie and Jim for letting us stay with them in Huntsville, Utah. Lani's (our neighbor) parents.

Ralph, their neighbor in Utah, and all of his turned wood... bowls, lamps, spoons...

Our treasures...

Ralph's Model T that he rebuilt with a wood body.

Yes, he made a coffin for his wife and a casket for himself.

Riding horses at Charlie and Jim's house.

Rachel

Utah

Here we are with Jake's (our neighbor) parents in Vernal, Utah.

Dan really knows how to cut dinner for a large family... chicken, beans, potatoes, corn, salad, homemade bread... Yummy!!!

In Carbondale, Colorado with Todd and Carrie Allen and their girls, Cecilia and Emily. The 12,000 ft mountain in the background with snow on top!

Day 10 ,11, 12 (Tues, Wed, Thursday)

Ok... Everyone keeps emailing looking for the blog. So here it is. We haven't had internet access for the last couple of days and we won't have access for the next 2 days. We have driven from the Grand Canyon, thru Glen Canyon, by passing the north rim of the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Red Rock Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Arches National Park and Moab, Utah and now we are in Carbondale, Colorado...about 30 miles from Aspen. We have camped the past couple of nights. Everyone was happy until the girls saw the sign about rattlesnakes and scorpions. Thank goodness it gets too cold at night for snakes and no one touched any rocks to find scorpions. Driving thru the west, we have noticed the terrain changes drastically as you go over mountains. One minute, there we are at the bottom of red canyons that are shooting up for a mile around. Then, as we drive over the mountain, the terrain changes to look like the surface of the moon...gray, ashy, small, sand-looking mounds. We have seen cows right by the side of the road. At one point, in southern Utah, we were driving across the top of the mountain range with no guardrails. The road was about 40 feet across and just dropped off. Russell actually drove about 20 mph. It was scary. You might have heard of the "million dollar highway" or "hells backbone". Once in a lifetime is enough!!!

The girls are doing a great job in the car. We look for exciting stops...like Sonic "happy hour". We have continued our lunch tradition of ice cream. In Moab, Utah (a huge rafting, 4 wheel drive, biking area) we found a great cabin. The 8 inch plastic mattress felt terrific... after sleeping on rocks! Now, we are in a nice, comfortable house!!!! We are staying outside of Aspen with one of Russell's fraternity brothers. It's nice to reconnect after 20 years. (And wash clothes, and eat a homecooked meal and sleep in a real bed!!!)

Next, we are off to Utah, again, for a couple of day, the north to Yellowstone. Then... who knows!!! Check back to see where we end up!!

Total miles so far... 3500.

Zion National Park... Hiking Emerald Pools. This is the girl's favorite spot so far... even better than the Grand Canyon!!!

This is Bryce Canyon... beautiful, sand castle looking mountains.

Here are those cows on the side of the road. We saw this a couple of times. Of course Russell honked!!!

Driving thru Capital Reef National Park, we found an orchard where we picked our own apricots!!!

Here is our comfortable little cabin in Moab, Utah.

THis is the Delicate Arch in Arches National Park.

I know this picture doesn't show all the cool colors, but this full moon rising above the arches was amazing!!!

Our Sonic stop. Yummmmm. Sweet peach tea and 1/2 price!!! Russell ordered a cherry lemon sundrop.... oops... no sundrop out here.

Here is our historical section of the blog... We saw Doc Holliday's gravesite. We met a group of dentist who drove from Pennsylvania to see the sights out west.

SNOW... in JULY!!! How cool is that!!!!

And finally, we drove up to Snowmass. Those lifts and runs were soooo high. Nothing like it in NC!!!