We are home

Friday night 8:00 PM - 3842 miles in 12 days

Day 10

This is day 10 of the vacation and we visted Mt Rushmore located in the Black Hills of South Dakota near Rapid City. Unbelivable.

Tuesday - Day 9

This is a post detailing the last couple of days. We got into the KOA campground at the foot of Devils Tower after dark on Monday night
We got up yesterday morning and visted the park and the "Tower". There were people climbing up the face of the mountain. I am not sure you can make them out in the picture. We talked to a park ranger who told us that people are out there almost every day climbing.

We left the park mid day and drove down to Rapid City South Dakota. We setup in the Mount Rushmore KOA and then drove out to the Crazy Horse monument that is being carved into one of the mountains. They have a long way to go before the monument will be completed and have been working on it sense 1948.

Day 8 - Monday

On the trip across Montana & Wyoming along I-90 we stopped at the Little Big Horn Battlefield where Custer last stood. This was a neat place to visit if you have any interest in the Indian Wars and that part of our American History. This is in Southern Montana just along I-90 about 50 miles before you enter Wyoming.

Day 8

Bozeman, Montana
Just passing through.

Day 8 - Monday September 20, 2010

We left West Yellowstone MT yesterday morning and drove north along this beautiful river valley to Bozeman, MT where we picked up I-90 and headed east. As you can see from these pictures the view along the way was much better than the trip across souther Wy last week.

Cody, Wyoming

We drove across Yellowstone and out the East Gate to Cody, Wyoming today. We visted the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and Wal-Mart. Cody is east of Yellowstone about 50 miles but it was across the mountains and down one unbelivable narrow winding road. 

We then drove back up the unbelivable narrow winding road and across Yellowstone back to our camp ground in West Yellowstone, Montana.   We did stop at the East Gate Entrance and found a GeoCache.

Yellowstone National Park

This is the lower falls on the Yellowstone River at Cayon Village. There is no way to explain how beautiful this was.

Yellowstone National Park

Brenda spotted this wolf crossing a beautiful valley. There were also many bison along the river here.

Yellowstone National Park

This is Yellowstone Lake looking south close to Bridge Bay,

Yellowstone National Park

She is with me!

Yellowstone National Park

What a beautiful site. Just a few more miles into the park we saw a herd of elk and this big fellow was in charge. There were at least 12-15 total elk in the herd but this was the only bull. We came back by this spot late in the day and they were still there. Traffic was backed up with people stopping for pictures.

Yellowstone National Park

This is the way we started the day this morning. We were no more than 10 minutes into the park and saw this beautiful swan on the Madison River.

Old Faithful

Saturday September 18 2010
We watched her blow then went to the
Lodge for lunch.

Old Faithful Inn

This is the huge fireplace at the Old Faithful Lodge. Not sure you can see the clock.

Day 6 Saturday morning

Headed into Yellowstone west gate at 9:00 am and 42 degrees

Sent from my iPhone

Yellowstone National Park

We did get to see some wild life as we traveled up through the park.

Yellowstone National Park

This is the Lewis River across the road from Moose Falls. Sandye kept hanging around looking for Brad Pitt fly fishing in the river.

Yellowstone National Park

Here we are at Moose Falls on the Lewis River in Yellowstone. I need Sandye to backup a few more inches but I couldn't get her to move past the tree.

Grand Teton National Park

Sandye and Brenda on the shore of Jenny Lake. We saw the cutest little boy with his parents and grand parents picnicing on the bank. He was having a big time throwing rocks in the water. Made me think of a time we went camping on Table Rock and all Sam wanted to do was throw rocks in the water. We feel sure we raised the water level that day.

Grand Teton National Park

This is the actual Grand Teton Mountains. Sandye was excited that we saw snow. The tallest mountain is Grand Teton with an elevation of 13,777 feet.

Grand Teton National Park

We saw a moose at the Jenny Lake Vistor Center. It was up the bank behind the tree but when Sandye & Brenda got out on the bridge to take its picture it obliged by walking out into the open. There are several pictures of the cow on the slide show.

Grand Teton National Park

After 4 long days we have finally made it to a National Park. This is at the South Entry just north of Jackson Hole, Wy on Route 89-191

Day 4 & 5 - Thursday & Friday

We had a great day in Jackson Hole on Thursday.  Sandye & Brenda went shopping downtown and Jack & I rested from all the driving earlier in the week.  We have come nearly 1350 miles in 3 days.   Jackson Hole is a neat place.   I would like to fly back out here sometime to spend a long weekend.  Jackson is in the Snake River Valley.   There is rafting, fly fishing, horse back riding, snow sking in the Winter and many other outdoor activities that one could enjoy.  And the shopping.  WOW!.

On Friday morning we left for West Yellowstone, MT.   The trip was only about 150 miles but the road took us through the Teton National Park and through Yellowstone.   We spent most of the day getting to West Yellowstone.  We made many photo stops and I will be posting pictures plus the daily slide show.  Sandye & I are going to work on picture labels first. 

The drive through the parks was fantastic.   We will be exploring Yellowstone over the next two days.  Our base of operation is West Yellowstone MT which is a neat little town at the west gate of the park.

Jackson Hole, Wyoming.