Through Wyoming and on to Mt Rushmore

The breakfast at the King's Inn was pretty weird what with all those dead animals staring down at us with their glassy eyes.  But we got the car loaded and headed east with the goal of making it to Mt. Rushmore by the evening.  But first we had to get through the rest of Wyoming.  We set the GPS in the car for Keystone South Dakota.....the gateway to the prezes, and hit the road following Rt 14.  Soon after we passed the town of Shell, WY, we were in a totally different environment.  We had unknowingly come to the Bighorn Scenic Highway which leads through the northern part of the Bighorn range.  Our mouths literally dropped open in amazement at the sights before us.  Rising before us were ancient rock formations that were the remnants of an inland sea.  Signage told us that the rocks were millions, even billions of years old and were raised to the heights of 8000-10000 feet by the forces that shaped the rockies.  The colors and shapes were beyond description.

After slowly zig-zagging through the gigantic blocks of ancient rock, we started to descend to the plains below.  Then mile after mile of prairie faced us and also the traffic of I-90.

By 4 pm we were approaching our destination.  Jeff was worried that there would be a long line of tourists such as he had experienced on another trip, but luckily he was wrong.  The traffic was light and we got through Keystone and all the tourist traps to find easy parking and a short walk through the pavilion to the presidents on Mt. Rushmore.

After visiting the presidents and talking to people from all over the states, we broke our diet for ice cream and again headed east with the goal of getting as far through South Dakota as we could.  We stopped at the famous Wall Drugstore for dinner and made it as far a Kadoka SD before we had to stop for the night at the Sundowner Motel.....a decidedly "budget" lodging.  The air conditioning and shower were fine, but the bed was the hardest ever.

The famous Wall Drugstore.  Tourist trap supreme!

Sundown at the Sundowner

Onward through the Rockies

After our night at the Red Lion, we headed East again to our next destination:  Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.  But first we put in many miles through southern Idaho and we kept encountering the Snake River (or it's tributaries).  Finally after many miles we came down into the Jackson Hole valley. Our mouth's dropped open as we viewed the gigantic mountains of the Grand Teton's which arise from the valley floor to over 13,000 ft. to tower above.  We took our time:  Went to the visitor's center, had a nice lunch at a picnic area and took a hike by a lovely little lake.  Even though there was thunder, lightning and rain, we didn't let it dampen our spirits.  We then drove the short distance from Grand Teton Park to the south entrance of Yellowstone.  We expected big crowds, but were delighted to find we were often the only car on the road.  We didn't have time to drive the inner loop where all the big attractions are, but we drove around Yellowstone lake and saw waterfalls, geysers and bubbling sulfuric pools.  It was an amazing journey.  Finally we reached our home for the night, The Kings Inn in Cody Wyoming.

The Snake River

First view of the Teton's

Kissing a moose at the visitors center

Mts looming over the visitors center

String Lake

Hiking in the rain
String lake

Yellowstone lake

A Falls in Yellowstone 

Bubbling sulfuric mud
Yellowstone lake
The long and winding road 



The owner of the hotel was proud of all the African animals he shot. The lobby was full of stuffed trophies. Disturbing. 

On the Road Again

Jeff and I are ready for a road trip. We gave a great party, entertained a guest, and did lots of chores. Jeff even made me an obelisk for a rose I planted that turned out to be a climber.  So we left the day to day responsibilities to our nephew Nick and headed out across the US of A. Our ultimate destination remains unknown..... maybe Maine but in between we have miles to travel, fun to have and people to see. 

We started out on Tuesday with the goal of staying with brother and sis Jon and Sharon at their beautiful property in Central Oregon. We took the long way as usual and enjoyed a leisurely drive over the McKenzie pass 

Flowers in the way



Dee wright observatory 

A long way down 

Two of the sisters (the mts not us)




Sharon's hollyhocks 


The sunset from the back porch

After a great night of dinner and conversation we got an early start for a long drive to Twin Falls ID. Many miles later (410 to be exact) we gratefully pulled into the Red Lion. Our first room had a smoker in it last night so we changed to one that smelled better, went out to Italian and made plans to see two national parks tomorrow--Grand Teton and Yellowstone. More tomorrow (yawn)

At the mall in Boise where we had to buy a charger for the camera
Sweet sleep at last