Most of today was spent driving from North Dakota to New Hampshire. Hopefully by the end of tonight, we will all be home safely. The car has performed wonderfully, even including a small hiccup early in the morning due to a loose battery connection.

Our journey has been incredible. The sights, sounds and feelings that we have been able to experience have been unlike any other time in any of our lives. God has truly blessed all of our lives through this trip – primarily by allowing us to gain a new appreciation for the beauty of His creation.

A couple of cool facts about the trip:

Total miles traveled: 7500+;

Number of states visited: 19;

 Total number of states license plates seen: 48 (missing Delaware and West Virginia);

Approximate total number of miles hiked over trip: +50;

Approximate Number of bugs squished on our windshield: Far far far too many to count

 Number of National Parks/Sites: 8 (Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Glacier National Park, Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore and Badlands National Park);

 Total approximate cost of trip: $1,250;  

Total hours of Adventures and Odyssey Listened To: 24 hours, 17 minutes and 8 seconds;

Total number of showers (combined): 10;

Favorite camping meal: Ravioli;

And that is it! Just want to say a quick thank you to our parents and the many others who have kept us in your. As we continue and complete our college careers we thank you for all that you have done for us. You continue to serve as our guidance and inspiration.  

To all our readers out there, thanks for putting up with our blog – we have really appreciated your prayers throughout our trip. God Bless and goodnight.

We have seen a lot of glory on earth on this trip, but nothing compares to HIS glory: Psalm 57:11  Be exalted above the heavens, O God; let thy glory be above all the earth!

Signing off – The one Lost but now Found Boys

Wow

Today we set out to our final destination; Badlands National Park.   Once again, this was unlike any of the places we had been previously.  Badlands was in one word: random.  We had been driving for several hours across the prairie and all of a sudden we come across this cliff complete with spectacularly random cliffs and what appeared to be giant sand castles. 

It’s very flat out here (and there are a lot of Buffalo)

We took our time driving along the ~30 mile scenic road that winded along the cliff edge, stopping at the end to eat our tuna sandwich lunches.   On the way back we stopped at several scenic overlooks as well as at several short hikes bringing us slightly off the road to explore. 

Cliffs

Are we on Planet Earth?

Random Sandcastles

It’s hard not to draw comparisons to the previous places we have been.  In many ways, the Badlands is like a combination of the grand canyon (as far as colors and the general surrounding flatness) and Bryce Canton as far as the really odd rock formations.  It is also hard not to become a bit glazed over to these amazing sites.  The size and scale of the Badlands does not compare to the scale of Bryce or any of the other sights we have seen, however it was spectacular in its own right.  The fact that you can look off in every direction and see grassland as far as the eye can see is breathtaking in and of itself.  Also, the rock sculptures here themselves are amazing.  They look like the most fragile sand castles, but in fact they are hard rock with only a trace of hardened mud to hint at a different scene during a rainstorm.  

DSC01466.jpg

One thing we had noticed on the drive from Mt. Rushmore to the Badlands was again something completely different: Missile Silos.  This whole area of Montana is littered with Missile Silos from the cold war.  These missile silos had enough nuclear weapons in them to destroy the world several times over.  Even still there are at least 500 missiles on standby at any given time.  Crazy.  On the way out of the Badlands we stopped by the starting of a new national historic site, the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, dedicated to the history of these silos and the conflict which created them.  It was rather interesting, but at the moment rather incomplete as things were only starting to be setup.

When we finished up at the Minuteman Missile site, we realized that it was only about 4pm and we had covered the area around the Badlands quite well.  Looking at the map, the time we had left to drive, and what time we would arrive at home we decided to turn and head towards home a bit earlier than first planned.  This way we would get started on the driving a bit early and hopefully can miss traffic and end up back home a bit earlier than we were planning. 

– Your homeward bound boys

Having decided to start the driving yesterday evening, and stay in a hotel last night, we woke up this morning in nice beds.  After getting ready (complete with showers and running water!) we headed down to a real treat: free continental breakfast!  After enjoying food we set out for the remaining few hours of driving to Devils Tower.

Devils Tower

Devils Tower is not the most well known national monument, but it was the first official national monument.  The tower itself is both hard and easy to describe.  Simply put, it’s a several hundred foot tall pillar of rock. 

We took a bit of time to take a short hike around the tower and snap some photos. 

Devils Tower Again

After a short while there, we headed back to the highway and drove another few hours to Mt. Rushmore.  Mt. Rushmore was quite a change of pace from the other parks we had been visiting.  Unlike the previous parks, this one was manmade.  It was neat looking around at the monument, learning about each of the president’s whose image had been carved into the mountain, and learning about the sculptor and the process undertaken to sculpt a mountain. 

Mt. Rushmore

After spending some time at Mt. Rushmore, we headed to the National Forest outside the monument and found a campsite.  We setup camp and settled in for the evening after a long day of traveling and sightseeing.

Our Campsite (not quite all the way setup)

This morning we woke up to a bit of a scary situation.  The night before we had discovered that the tent pad that had been placed at the campground we were at was actually made out of concrete.  This meant that it was nice and level, but also those we were unable to properly put in any tent pegs.  The ones for the rain fly stretched out past the edge of the pad into real dirt so that was no problem, and the tent itself stands up on its own without much trouble.  The problem came in the morning when the wind decided to gust rather strongly.  We woke up to a beautiful, but windy day, with the tent starting to twist around us in the wind. 

We were careful to pack everything up in the tent while we were still in it, to make sure it didn’t blow away, and then we promptly took the tent down with Matt still inside.  After a few minutes of debate, we decided we should let him out and finish packing up the campsite.

After picking things up, we headed over to the Sun Point trail to eat some breakfast and get packed up for our morning hike.  We set out to Sun Point before heading west along St. Mary Lake.  This lake was absolutely spectacular.  It was ridiculously green and crazy cold.  We later read that the water is a really unique color because it is both so cold and so rich in oxygen from falling down the surrounding mountains. 

Sun Point Lookout

This trail brought us through the woods up past three magnificent waterfalls.  I am not even going to try to describe them, the pictures will have to do.

The first waterfall

The second waterfall

A Cascade

The third waterfall

When we reached the final waterfall we each took a turn running up to where the mist was shooting very forcibly out from the bottom of the falls.  It was crazy cold, but also a really amazing experience. 

Up close and personal

Now rather cold, we quickly doubled back and found a nice sunny spot along a cascade where we sat in the sun to warm up, and simultaneously took our shoes off and got our feet very cold dipping them in the icy water. 

Clean feet!

Ben taking a ‘shower’

After hanging out there for a while, we continued back towards our car once again.   On the way back, we almost ran headlong into a deer, who proceeded to continue munching on the plants beside the trail and right up next to us for about 5 minutes.  At times we were within 4 feet of this very daring deer!  It was a really neat experience! 

DSC01292.jpg

After our hike, we drove up as much of the Going-To-The-Sun Road as we could from the east, which wasn’t very far. 

Road Closed (and a huge plow)

After this, we headed over to the Many Glacier portion of the park.  This area was about a 45 minute drive from the St. Mary portion of the park, but again was a different experience.  This area was again a valley nestled between spectacular mountains.  The lake in this valley was significantly smaller than the previous two lakes we were at, but beautiful none the less.  After taking a brief car tour of the valley, we decided to take a hike around the lake.  This was a neat little hike during which we dodged a few rain drops and got some amazing photos.

A third lake!

Looking back to the south, it was quite clear that they were getting hit with a nice rain storm.  With this in mind, we looked at the clock and decided to head south at eat away a bit of our 14 hour drive to the Mt. Rushmore area.  This proved to be a good decision as we managed to stay out of the rain and drastically cut down the amount of straight driving we had to do. 

We left the mountains behind

Sunset!

We made it to a nice hotel in Livingston, Montana by about 10pm and got a nice night’s sleep. 

Today was our first full day in Glacier National Park.  We woke up this morning to another spectacular day!  Who would have figured that Glacier National Park in Montana would be warmer than the Grand Canyon?  No one would believe it, but it was 70+ degrees out today and amazingly sunny. 

This morning we took a bit of a leisurely time getting ready, taking time to eat our daily bagels, cleaning up the campsite and getting everything packed up.  For some reason every time we pack the car up, it seems to get slightly harder to fit everything in.  I’m really not sure why this is though, we haven’t been stocking up on souvenirs and we’ve been chewing through plenty of our food every day.  Never the less, we managed to get everything packed in and ready to go before too long. 

From the campsite, we headed over to the Apgar Trailhead.  We had hoped to drive through the mountains, however the famous “Going-to-the-Sun” road was still closed throughout the duration of our visit.  This road is closed every winter due to excessive amounts of snow, and at this time, at the end of May, they are still trying to dig out the road from all the snow and avalanches. 

We also stopped by the visitors center on our way over there to inquire about visiting the east side of the park and what camping would be available on that side of the park.  More on this later.

Apgar

The Apgar Lookout Trail climbs up a small mountain on the far end of lake McDonald  which pours out of the Rocky Mountains of Glacier.  This trail promised to provide spectacular views out across the lake and up at the mountains.  On the way to trailhead, we were approached by a friendly park ranger who informed us that the access road to the trailhead was closed just ahead (about 2 miles from the start of the trail) due to flooding.  However, she informed us that we could easily park where it was closed and walk in the additional distance with only a minor wade across a flooded section of road.  We decided to do the hike anyway, with the additional four miles tacked on. 

The initial bit to the trailhead was quite easy, walking along a gravel road.  As informed, we had to pull off our shoes and socks a short way into the hike and wade through about 6-8 inches of water flooding around the side of a bridge over a small river. 

Road to the Trailhead

Once we reached the trailhead, we started a steady, but increasingly steep incline up the side of the mountain.  The trail progressed up the side of the mountain overlooking the town outside the park yielding increasingly spectacular views the higher we went.  On the way up, we progressed through mostly burned out forest, the remnant of a huge forest fire in 2003.  This made the trail very hot with the sun beating down on us, but also gave us great views with just about every step.

View on the Way Up

Once we arrived at the top, we were greeted with our first view looking east out over the mountains.  This view was completely breathtaking.  As has been the trend with this blog, the pictures can only start to do it justice

Glacier National Park

We took this opportunity to eat some lunch and enjoy the view.  We also took the chance to call some of our families and have them look at the webcam on top of the mountain looking out over the same view we were enjoying.  We also struck a casual pose in front of the camera and had family members snag a copy of the photo (to be posted here later). 

Webcam at the top

We then turned around for the trip back down.  Again, we were treated to great views all the way down.

The Trail Down

At the end of our hike down, we especially enjoyed the chance to take our shoes off and wade across the flooded road again.  Taking the time to soak our feet and cool them off.

Once back in the car, we decided to head up as much of the Going-To-The-Sun Road as we could.  On the way up, we passed dump truck after dump truck bringing rocks and debris down off the mountain.  Again, we were treated to spectacular views across the lake. 

View across the lake looking at where we hiked.

After this short scenic drive we decided to head over to the eastern side of the park to explore the St. Mary portion of the park.  The drive around to the other side of the park took about 2 hours but was completely amazing.  As we approached the east side of the park, we could see where the prairie ran smack into the mountains. 

Prairie meeting Mountains

In Glacier National Park, water drains not just to the Atlantic, but also to the Pacific AND Hudson Bay.   In fact, there is one peak, where a drop of water dropped on the exact top, can find itself split into three smaller drops, one going to each of these great bodies of water.  Quite Crazy. 

West Glacier

Once we reached this side of the park, we found the campground we had been told would be opening today to still be closed.  Once again we started to get a bit nervous.  We doubled back and headed towards the St. Mary campground instead.  This campground was supposed to open May 22nd, however we quickly discovered that they were still operating in “primitive” mode.  This meant they were open, but the restrooms were not open (thankfully one pit toilet was open) and the water was not turned on.  This was not too big of a problem for us as we had a water purifier with us.  We settled in for the evening and enjoyed a spectacular sunset.

Campsite

Sunset at St. Mary Campground

Sunset at Yellowstone

Today we left Yellowstone National Park and drove to Glacier National Park. Although we were sad to leave the wildlife, we were still greeted by a herd of buffalo blocking the road on the way out. The trip was about eight hours – we traveled to the Apgar Campground beside Lake McDonald.

Just a quick update on the trip. Total miles to date: 4521. Total amazing views: Too many to count. Total days without a shower: 5.

On the way, we were treated to some amazing views leaving Yellowstone… we also passed an area where we think some people saw a bear, but it was gone by the time we arrived. The actual journey itself was rather uneventful… other than a few notable exceptions.

Buffalo!

The single largest exception was lunch. We stopped at Famous Dave’s at Ben’s suggestion. Although we were first a little intimidated by the prices (it was a higher end restaurant for us poor college boys) we decided to buy the special combo ribs plate for $30 dollars.

The waiter brought a MASSIVE set of ribs with French fries… they were so big that the meal had to arrive on a plate over two feet in diameter. (actually, it was an inverted trashcan lid which was kind of cool) The ribs alone weighed at least five pounds… French fries also weighed two pounds. These ribs were not from just a skinny demented type of cow either… no, these were full rib tips with huge slabs of meat hanging off the side. We fought the good fight for a little over an hour before we gave up trying to eat it all. (We still had about two pounds left for a future day.) Combined with the sauces provided, this was a glorious meal that will be remembered for years to come.

Lots of Wings

Anyways, besides that lunch (which was amazing btw) our trip was quiet. We stole some internet from the parking lot of resturant. We also picked up some groceries and got to listen to the Montana accent (which was Matt and Ben’s favorite so far).

Once we arrived at Glacier we were pleasantly surprised to find the camping area pretty much empty with plenty of choice spots available. We were able to get a nice little spot not too far from the lake next to some campers from Mississippi (which was one of the license plates that we needed). After setting up camp we decided to go watch the sunset at the lake.

Sunset over the Lake

 Hope you guys are doing great! – The Lost Boys

Today we awoke at 8am for day two at Yellowstone. We mention the time, 8am, because Ben has developed an eerie internal alarm clock that wakes him, and everyone else, up at precisely 8am. At first we thought it was a fluke but after the third or fourth time it happened we’re pretty sure it’s not. So anyways, we got on the road shortly thereafter to travel the northern loop of the park. The first part of the trip took us over another mountain, lending more spectacular views of Yellowstone and the surrounding landscape (at this point we’ve kind of gotten spoiled by so many amazing sights.)

Old Faithful

Serious Snow Blower

The farther north we ventured, the lower we got in elevation. This meant less snow, more meadows, and a variety of different animals. Our first major stop was a beautiful waterfall that cascaded down and joined with another river to form a fairly intense river. We made it down to a small beach area at river’s edge and wandered around for a while.

Waterfall

Canyon where we saw goats

We couldn’t go on every road we wanted to…

From there the next major stop was Mammoth Springs. This is Yellowstone National Park headquarters. It was where the army was stationed in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Many of the army barracks and other military buildings are still standing today.

Historic Military Building

Mammoth Springs is so named for hot springs that have formed massive hills of rock. They were similar to the springs of yesterday but much larger and actually a lot drier at this particular time.

Mammoth Hot Springs

Huge Piles of Minerals

After Mammoth Springs we headed back south. Within a few miles we had the unique privilege of watching a herd of buffalo cross literally right in front of our car. At one point a buffalo walked within arm’s length of Matt’s passenger window. These beasts are enormous. We felt that our car would not stand a chance against one of these monsters should one decide to swing its head our way.

Buffalo Crossing

Our last memorable stop before returning to the campsite was a place called Sheepeater Cliff. We didn’t stay long at the cliff, though, as we decided to take a hike through the woods. We followed the edge of the cliffs which overlooked a river for about a mile.

Gorge with lots of water racing through it.

Ben and Matt got the urge to do some rock climbing and decided to descend the cliffs. Going down was easy, only about 20 feet. However, Ben decided to take the hard way back up and nearly got stuck. The major problem was that all the rocks were loose and didn’t provide any good hand holds. Fortunately he managed to make the top without any significant harm befalling him. Matt and Peter were a little wiser, taking easier ways back up.

Rock Climbing

We made it back to the campsite around 5pm and hung out until dinner. After dinner we went down to the marsh to watch the sunset, which was absolutely beautiful. And we also invented a new game called Obstacle Frisbee which entails us trying to throw the Frisbee to each other through a maze of trees. Needless to say the Frisbee is slightly deformed after smashing into many trees.

Matt decided to make a crazy fire castle. Peter made Matt be a man and light his castle with flint and steel, instead of “cheating” and using the lighter.

Meanwhile Ben decided to carve NH, his name, and “Official Poker” into a stick that we have been using to poke the fire and also to retrieve pots of water. The hope is that we will leave the poker for other campers, who will respect its role as Official Fire Poker.

This was our last night in Yellowstone and we will be sad to see it go. But tomorrow we head off to Glacier National Park for what we expect to be more spectacular views.

P.S. – For those of you that have been wondering, we now have pictures of 43 out of 50 state licenses. Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Mississippi, West Virginia, Delaware, and North Dakota still elude us.

Also, our car passed 4,000 miles for the trip today! Still chugs like a charm.

We awoke to a very weird sound this morning… Or lack of sound. As we emerged from our tent, we were delighted to find clear sunny skies over our head – No rain! After briefly clearing up our tent area and packing for the day, we headed out on the main Southern loop of Yellowstone. Despite the fact that we were covering some ground that we already had the day before, we felt confident that we could still find an adventure and cause some trouble.  (<- Matt’s words)

Our first stop turned out to be directly outside of our campground – Norris Basin.

Well, actually, before we reached our first stop, we discovered that Matt devours bagels by the bagful. We don’t know what the scoop is, but we are going to keep a better eye on the bagel department tomorrow morning… stay tuned for an update. As a side-side note – Peter eats his tuna without mayo and Ben hates crunchy peanut butter… who are these nuts? (no pun intended)

Anyway – Back to Norris Basin.

Norris Basin

This little area was somewhat anything we had ever seen. Unlike the massive, green, healthy valleys we had been seeing before, we were confronted with the stark contrast of a land that almost seemed mars like at some points. Huge billows of steam rushed into the air from the ground… The soil was claylike and seemingly dead from a distance. Massive holes filled with boiling water dotted the area while our senses were confronted with the unmistakable smell of sulfur. It was almost like we had stepped onto a really poor special effects scene of mars or Venus.

Norris Basin looking back

As we walked closer and explored the area however, (both there and throughout the day as we encountered this type of scenery) we found the area just as alive as anywhere else, just very different. Each pool had a different color to it, ranging from deep blue and green to bright orange. This change in color was caused by different types of bacteria – which in turn, were effected by the temperature range of the water (anywhere from boiling to a warm 120F degrees). The water itself also caused changes in landscape – each drop carried with it a minuscule amount of mineral base, causing little plateaus of different colors around each pool. The end result was a full rainbow effect of large pools – each with its intricate set of plateaus (such as the Grand Prismatic Spring). The beauty of the water was not to be messed with however – as some of the springs were incredibly acidic (just less than battery acid).

Grand Prismatic Spring

Colorful Bacteria

The geysers were also very interesting. Although there are a lot of inactive ones at Yellowstone, we were able to see a couple minor eruptions from some of the outlying areas. We were also able to see the regularly scheduled eruption of Old Faithful – one of the few geysers in the park that erupts on a semi-predicable timetable. Although it took a little bit of waiting, Old Faithful lived up to its name, shooting boiling water over eighty feet into the air. The inactive geysers were also interesting to learn about, as some of them had launched water and mud hundreds of feet into the air – only to remain silent for long periods of time – sometimes decades.

Old Faithful

While we were visiting these areas, we got the distinct impression of the fluidity of Yellowstone. Geysers would move hundreds of feet over a short period of time – hills would appear and disappear – even huge eruption sites would sink into the ground or send earth shooting skyward – all based on volcanic activity from year to year. We also found out the cause of some of the tree deaths in Yellowstone. After a particularly hard quake one year, the underground activity caused an entire hill to heat up to two hundred degrees…. Cooking the tree roots from underneath!

Boiling, Churning, Water

Huge boiling death traps didn’t consume our entire day however; we still had plenty to see some of the other beautiful sites the Yellowstone had to offer. We saw hosts of wildlife… buffalo – huge animals that are said to way a ton (and we believe it after seeing them), hares… caribou…. and of course, the ever present mule deer. The wildlife in this area is incredible – and we have only seen a piece of it. As we are writing this blog, there are coyotes and wolfs sounding off in the distance (we are perfectly safe however).

Buffalo!

We also saw the grand canyon of Yellowstone…. While it didn’t compare to the actual Grand Canyon in size or majesty – it was unique in its own way. A huge (+100 ft) waterfall entered a gorge that was built of yellow rock. (hence the name – Yellowstone ) It was a truly cool sight to see… especially considering that this place is known for its wildlife.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Finally, we finished off the day with a wonderful dinner of beef stew mixed with rice pilaf… a delicious and filling meal. Ben and Matt snuck off to gather some firewood and Matt is currently preparing to make his treasured nightly hot chocolate.

General housecleaning for the day… Ben’s car got its little reward… a fresh helping of oil. Poor car has been doing great… already halfway done. Speaking of which… our currently plan is to arrive back at home Wednesday night.

In closing, our stuff is actually dry and warm… a weird feeling for us so far on this trip.  Matt would also like to add the random tidbit that: ‘by the way, the stars are incredibly bright here.’  

Our Yellowstone Campsite

Hope you guys are doing great! – The Lost Boys.

We woke up this morning to a depressing sight… lots of fog.  The plan for today was to set out from our motel and do some sightseeing / day hikes around the Tetons.  With fog looming, those plans looked to be in jeopardy.  Regardless, we set out ambitiously and made our way to the visitor center at Grand Tetons National Park. 

The drive to the visitor center brought us through the cool little town of Jackson Wyoming.  This town is an extremely touristy town built around the famous Jackson Hole Ski area.  The town is complete with a stereotypical “old west” downtown full of restaurants, shops and galleries.  You can really see how this place is packed and hopping on a winter evening after a long day of skiing. 

Jackson Wyoming Downtown

As we approached the visitor center we were treated to clear blue skies and the first glimpse of the Grand Tetons.  There was a quote by Teddy Roosevelt in the visitors center that just about summed it up: “These are what mountains are supposed to look like.”

First Glimpse

The Tetons are absolutely spectacular.  After spending the past few days looking at giant holes in the ground, we suddenly were greeted by the exact opposite.  Pictures can’t begin to portray these mountains size and grandeur. 

Spectacular.

 After pausing to pick our jaws up off the floor, we set out on a hike aroud Lake Jenny to Inspiration Point and Hidden falls.  This hike was absolutely spectacular with great views out across the lake and up in to the mountains.  Again, the pictures can’t do it justice. 

Mountains. Lake. Sky. Beautiful.

The destination was a really neat waterfall tucked into a fold in the mountains.

Waterfall!

After the waterfall, we headed slightly more up the mountains to inspiration point where we stopped for some lunch. 

Breathtaking

At about this point, Matt and Ben again digressed to being about 3 years old.  Obviously, many people before them were also acting this age, as the chipmunks here were very well trained.  They really took a liking to Doritos, and Matt and Ben had way to much fun indulging their appetite.

Matt and Ben’s version: “After the waterfall, we headed slightly more up the mountains to inspiration point. During this trip, we were kindly guided by a chipmunk named Mooch. This cute little animal led our journey up the trail for several hundred feet, before ensuring our safe arrival at the destination. This relationship was far from one sided however, as we liberally rewarded our dear little friend with fresh bread and Doritos. Mooch was so touched by our generosity that he felt free to eat out of our fingers, palms and even teeth. (yup, this guy was fed mouth to mouth) Not all the little creatures of the forest were as nice as Mooch, as some of the squirrels went so far as to nimble hikers fingers until food was provided.”  

Stupid

After lunch, we decided to attempt to follow the opposite half of the loop, down the north side of the valley.  As some of you may know, the north slopes of any mountain in the Northern Hemisphere tend to have more snow on them then than the south sides.  This pattern continued itself on the hike down the hill.  We had a great time sliding down the snow on this trail, which at times was little more than faint footprints in the snow.  Thankfully, we caught up with another brave group of hikers who had been in front of us, but who also had a GPS unit.  Between careful observation of the trail and the GPS we made it down with a special bonus of soggy shoes!

Once back on a civilized trail, we headed back towards our car.  Along the way, we caught up to several other people standing in the trail.  Much to our delight, they were standing there looking at a young bull moose not more than 100 ft away.  We were able to stand and watch it eat and walk around in the woods, at one point coming to within 30 ft of us! 

Moose!

After returning to the car, we proceeded to drive up Signal Mountain.  This small mountain is across Jackson Lake from the Tetons and offers spectacular views out across to the mountain range. 

<Panorama Coming Soon>

Mountain Range

Mountain Range

After being once again blown away by the view, we again proceeded north, this time heading up to Yellowstone National Park.  Entering the park made us a bit nervous, as there were 4+ ft tall snow banks on both sides of the road!  We were under the impression that there would be camping available, however things did not look very promising.  Once we made it in to the southern most visitors center, we inquired about the availability of camping.  The lady at the information desk, informed us that most of the camping areas were still closed and pointed us to an RV park about 30 minutes north into the park.  Unfortunately, this RV park did not allow tents or soft sided campers due to the threat of bears.  We were a bit nervous at this point, as we did not want to sleep in the car or pay $150 to stay in a lodge overnight.  Thankfully, when we arrived at the RV place, we were informed that there was a campground about 45 minutes to the northwest (Norris) that probably had spots available. 

The other concern going through our heads at this point was the need to get an Oil Change for Ben’s car.  We had hoped to do it in the previous days, however Memorial day weekend put quite a damper on that as everywhere we found was not open.  We decided to bite the bullet and head farther north to get a campsite.  Thankfully we made it successfully and were able to find a nice campsite.  And, to top it all off, we had a spectacularly dry and starry night! 

Tetons Looking South

Quote of the Day: “This is what mountains are supposed to look like” – T. Roosevelt

Despite our expectations, we woke up to a sunny morning.  It figures that the days we are driving have tended to be the sunniest.  However, the entire day was not sunny; we had some rather intense rain storms too, which would have put quite a damper on any hikes or outside activities we would have tried today. 

After packing up, we jumped in the car and pointed our way north.  Ben did about 7 hours of driving today, bringing us through most of Utah, a corner of Idaho and into Wyoming.  The drive was quite spectacular, and again a different sort of geography.  Utah was a crazy contrast of fertile valleys and crazy mountains. 

Fertile Valleys and Mountains

This evening we are holed up at a tiny little motel just south of Teton National Park.  The idea is to get a good night’s sleep, shower up, and set out refreshed tomorrow morning. 

This evening we found a neat little burger place in Alpine, Wyoming. It was a really neat little place with a very friendly chef and great food.  In short it was just the neat little small town place you’d expect to see in a small town pop. 550. 

The Cheeseburger Factory

The Chef Extraordinaire

Quote of the Day: “This hotel is …. Orange” – Peter upon walking into our cheap motel complete with orange curtains, carpet, and paintings.