Day 30

We really like the cool dry weather here in the northern US - Idaho, Montana, Utah and South Dakota.  The forecast is callong for 95-101f temps here tomorrow and Sunday, so it is a good time to move on as we really like the 70s for hiking and sightseeing.

Last night, we finished off the Custer, SD area with the Legends in Light laser show at Crazy Horse Memorial.  It is well worth staying up late to experience.

The Ark opened today at the Creation Museum in KY, we plan to see it next week as our last stop on our tour of the US.

We are about 45 miles west of Wall, SD and the SD ranchlands are peppered with hand painted signs. The cool weather and huge wide open spaces and big sky are ever inviting.  Perhaps some would thk it almost desolate, but we are enjoying the vast prairies and seemingly infinite horizon.

Our first stop of the day was Minuteman Missile NHS.  There is really only one word for this site dedicated to the Cold War nuclear program -- sombering.

The Badlands look like another planet - so dry and barren.

One of Isaac's Jr. Ranger badges fell off his backpack and he and Ken are rehiking a short hike here in the Badlands to try to find it.  Isaac has worked very hard for the whole vacation and is the only one of our children to complete the Junior Ranger program at every single park and site we have visited.  Losing his Hot Springs badge is very sad.

Found it!!  Annie found Isaac's Hot Springs Junior Ranger badge on the floor in the SUV!  It must have gotten hung up on somethin as he was getting in or out of the car!  He is happy!

Wall Drug is a trip!!  It was fun to just walk around and see all the Jackalopes. We also got some donuts and $0.05 coffee (for $1.xx since we got it to go).

Tomorrow is Annie's birthday and she wanted fudge instead of cake, so we picked that up in Wall as well.  We are going to try to find something fun to do for her tomorrow as she does not want to be in the car the whole day.

Annie likes all the "marshmallow fields even though they aren't done yet".  😊. She knows they are not marshmallows, but likes to call them that anyway.

Day 29

6000 miles so far

The morning brought another cave tour at Wind Cave NP - we have toured the longest three cames in the US as well as the largest cave chamber in the world!  Wind Cave is unique in that it contains box formations which have not been found in other caves.  There was a bat flying around in the staircase when we began the Natural Entrance tour.  Leaving Wind Cave, we saw a very large herd of bison and a few prairie dogs.

The Black Hills area is very pretty with its rocky outcroppings and Pondarosa pines.

The afternoon brought Mt. Rushmore NM and my long-time friend Tanya!  We have "known" each other for probably 16-18 years through an old online newsgroup called Oz (it was for scrapbookers), and we had met IRL once before in 2002 in Philly - before Ken and I knew we would be moving to the Philly area!  It was fun to catch up with her again, here in her home area.

Ken is working on adding a new page to the blog with some photos, so be sure to check the tabs near the top of the blog for a new photo page.

Day 28

Gilette, WY Walmart was our sleeping spot last night along with many other campers.  Today we head into Custer City, SD - listening to C.W. McCall as we travel US-16 into the Black Hills.  We did have to explain convoys to the kids as we listened to old trucker music.  Our CB has been almost silent the whole trip.

Cattle ranches and oil rigs have been our scenes this morning.  Last night we had a vast starry sky to the south and a two hour long lightning storm masked by thick black clouds to the north as we traveled down through Wyoming I-90.

Jewel Cave Scenic tour was on our agenda for the day.  Then we went to Crazy Horse Mountain. Both were worth experiencing.  At Jewel Cave, Ken volunteered to be the caboose for the tour and assure that everyone end the tour together.  The younger three children earned their Junior Ranger badges and patches, and our tour guide was from Clifton, NJ!

Crazy Horse Monument was recommended by our friend Brad - we all enjoyed it.  The children especially enjoyed the hoop dance demonstration and we ate dinner at the resteraunt there -- I had buffalo stew (yum).

Day 27

Today, we leave Idaho for Bozeman, MT and points eastward.  Bozeman marks the northernmost point of our trip and where wentake a sharp turn east.  We are now closer to the north pole than we are the equator.

US-191N from West Yellowstone to Montana is purportedly one of the best scenic drives in America.  We agree.

Today's destination is the Museum of the Rockies with it's large t-rex collection, exhibits on wildlife, Native Americans, an outdoor living histoy exhibit and a planetarium, it should be a place that we all enjoy.  We went to all three movies at the Taylor Planetarium, enjoyed the Pompeii exhibit, Living History museum and more.  One very intriguing find was a fossilized dinasaur bone which had intact soft tissue and blood vessels which is forcing scientists to rethink their theories on fossilization and the "millions of years" scenario. (Maybe thousands makes more sense afterall?!?!!). In the planetarium, one of the films had a sample of an audio recording of Jupiter "singing".... 😏

Near Taylor Fork, MT

After a few hours at the Museum of the Rockies, we stopped for supplies and groceries, and are heading east.

Bozeman, MT

I-90E between Bozeman and Billings... I love Montana - it is beautiful country - big, wide open spaces and majectic mountains, and cool dry weather!

East of Billings,MT

We decided to skip Little Bighorn NP in favor of some extra time in South Dakota: Jewel Cave NM, Wind Cave NP, Mt. Rushmore NHS, Badlands NP, Minuteman Missile NM, and my friend, Tanya!

Day 24

Our third day at Yellowstone NP was spent at Old Faithful.  We correctly (within 6 minutes) predicted the 2:19p eruption based on the elapsed time of the 12:43 eruption.  We walked the Upper Geyser Basin trail and caught a third eruption of Old Faithful. 

The children were startled by the audio CD tour commentary on the Upper Geyser Basin when the story of a 9yo boy dying in one of the thermal features was told.  Abby noticed that some of the warning signs posted at the trailheads were paid for by the boy's family and the NPSimproved the   boardwalks and increased the warnings about staying on the trails after his 1970 death.  Yellowstone does, afterall, sit on top of an active supervolcano, so caution is necessary.

Up next was the Fountain Paint Pot (mud pots are a favorite of the children's) and the thermal features on that trail.  We drove both the Firehole Lake Drive and the Firehole Canyon Drive.  Upstream from the Firehole Falls is a swimming hole which is heated by the geysers upstream!  Aliza, Isaac, and Zeke enjoyed swimming in the Firehole River.

Photos later when Ken has time and wifi.  No wifi here.  We have cell signal at the campground and up until we enter the NP, then we only have signal at some of the bigger visitor centers.

So far, a quick poll has shown that the favorite NPs among the Brothers children are: Carlsbad Cavern, Yellowstone, Hot Springs, and Petroglyphs.

Day 23

I think we have finally adjusted to Mountain time as the last two days we have slept until 8a local time, which is 10a EDT. We sent Happy Birthday messages to my dad and our nephew. 🎂🎂🎂

After we finish breakfast and pack lunches, we are off to Yellowstone again - Mammoth Hot Springs is on the list.  Yellowstone is just incredible - as we walked through the Norris Geyser Basin, we passed this little hole with a tiny bit of water in it labeled Vixen Geyser.  As the children passed it, it erupted 15-20ft into the air and continued erupting for 8-10 minutes, then drained back down into the earth like a sink drain.  Some of the thermal features just look like a rusty crust, but the sound eminating from them is reminiscent of bacon frying in a pan or a gurgling sound that is difficult to describe.

Ken got great photos to add later.  We had a bison walk right up next to our vehicle - that was exciting!

Day 25

We slept in!  We worshipped with FBC West Yellowstone and joined them for their pot luck (they have a really neat ministry to the tourists and the seasonal NP workers).  Everyone there was very friendly and told us about the best places to visit outside the NP.  We also got our laundry caught up and some housekeeping items in the camper.

The afternoon brought some downtime, then back out to the Junior Ranger station at Yellowstone NP for Junior Ranger oaths, badges and patches.

Back to the camper for steak, au gratin potatoes, berries and more.  The campground is right on Henrys Lake. 

Rainbow in Idaho

Henrys Lake in Island Park, ID

Ken is getting the children set up for some fishing in the lake. 

Zeke

Photos from around the campground