Day Fourteen

The Girls and the Presidents

1880 Train Ride from Hill City to Keystone, SD

Black Hills Gold/Silver Rings

1880 Train Station, Hill City, SD

Mount Rushmore, SD

I officially have a "case of the red ass"

Day Fourteen ~ We started the day today with an unexpected stop at the historic 1880 train ride in Hill City, South Dakota.  It was a 2 hour round trip ride that took us to Keystone, South Dakota and back.  We sat in an open air car and enjoyed the conductor's funny comentary and popcorn.  He told us all about the mining that was done in the area years ago and showed us some homemade mines and houses from the 1800's.  We also saw several deer along the way.  It was a very relaxing trip.  Then we headed off to Mount Rushmore.  We paid our $11 entrance fee, which is good for one year admittance into the memorial, then parked and set out walking to the mountain.  It was amazing to think of the people who sculpted it in the late 1930's & early 1940's.  It is huge and looks so precise.  It said that the sculptors got so good that they could make very precise features by using dynamite alone.  Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt & Lincoln are the presidents that are displayed.  We took an extra hike under the mountain to see the Lakota Indian tee-pee display and see different vantage points of the mountain.  Then we left and went to some local wineries! Wineries make me HaPpY!  We stocked up on about a case and a half of some new wine.  Our favorite of the day was rhubarb wine with a funny name then we took the girls to buy black hills gold rings.  They were so excited picking out their perfect ring.  Now we are in Alliance, Nebraska and I am watching the girls and Mike swim while I blog.  I am officially really missing my Wacky Jack and ready for my own BED! Night all. xoxoxo

Day Thirteen

Wyoming Sunset

On our way to carsick....

CaRsIcK...

Day Thirteen - Today was a drive day. We drove from West Yellowstone, Montana thru Yellowstone National Park out the East exit into Wyoming and Wild Bill Cody's scenic byway through the Shoshone National park. We stopped at Wild Bill's hunting lodge for Mike to explore. Then, We finally had our first roadtrip casualty, Brooke got carsick. Ashlyn was complaining about the curvey roads so we stopped to let her walk around and then not even 5 minutes later, Brooke was sick. We think it was a combination of crossing over a pass in the mountains and them trying fo watch TV that made them sick. So we turned off the TV and they both napped thru the rest of the mountains. We figured out where the deer and antelope roam... Wyoming! We saw around 70 pronghorn antelope and at least 10 or more deer. Now we are pulling into Hill City, South Dakota. Mount Rushmore is on the schedule for tomorrow. We are finally getting homesick and missing our Wacky Jack and ready to start the meandering way home, but what a fun trip we have had.

Day Twelve

Eagle Ridge Ranch, Idaho

My sweet cowgirls

Me & My JUMPER, Cassie

Ride 'em Cowboy

Day Twelve - Today we woke up and drove out to Island Park, Idaho to do some horseback riding at Eagle Ridge ranch.  Brooke was quickly matched up with her horse named... Wait for it... Brooke. :-) Mike was on Scout, Ashlyn was on Beau and I was on Cassie.   Let me explain how I ended up on Cassie.  The ranch hand asked if anyone had good balance.  No one said anything, then he looked over at me and said I was the lucky one who got to ride Cassie today.   He said something about her saddle sliding or something but nothing about the fact that she likes to JUMP things.   We went on a pretty intense wooded ride, not like all other plain ole trail rides I have ever been on.   We were not following a path, which Mike loved. I, on the other hand, was jumping all downed trees that the other horses were walking over.   Cassie would wait for the horse in front of her to clear out of the way and we would lean back and jump over it.   It was pretty fun except for the first time because it caught me off guard. Ofcourse I screamed and completely looked like a city girl.   Brooke's saddle slid sideways on Brooke so she was trick riding and she never said anything, just kept holding on almost upside down underneath the horse until Mike got the guide's attention.  Ashlyn tried to convince me the whole day that she needed to buy a horse so she could barrel race. It was quite the experience.  We all were happy with our 3 hour ride except for the sore booties.   Then we went and did laundry... Ugh.  Yep you still have to do laundry on vacay.  Boo.  Although it was nice to do 3 loads at the same time and be DONE.  Then we headed back into Yellowstone to see the evening animals.  We saw 2 Grizzly Bears, 4 wolves, 2 coyotes, a hugs herd of elk, a possible cow moose (long distance) and the traffic jam buffalo.  The Buffalo were so neat tonight because it was cool, the big boys were locking horns and fighting and the babies were chasing each other around and playing.  They were so sweet.  We also saw the most majestic (Ahslyn's description) holy huge Elk looking over a cliff at us.  His horns were amazing.  We took lots of pictures.  I can't wait to upload them.  We didn't make it out of the park until 9:45pm thanks to the traffic jam.  It is confusing here because it gets da light at 5ish and doesn't truly get dark until 9:30ish (Mike says more like 10:30ish).   It was quite the predicament for tent living.  Every morning I would have to dig down deep in the girls sleeping bags because they would bury down hiding from the light and cold.  Anyway, we finally ate some Chili at 9:45pm at Three Bears Lodge.  Then tucked in snug and warm ready for the 30something degree weather expected tonight.

Day Eleven



Ashlyn!!!



Zippity Doo dah



Mike Zipping

Brookie

Day Eleven ~ Today was one of my most favorite days of the whole trip.  We went ziplining!  It was so fun.  Even Mike had an awesome time.  Don't get me wrong, taking that initial jump off of a platform at over 60 feet was pretty scary, but we all did it! Brooke was tandem with a guide because she didn't weigh enough to zip her to the otherside.  I was so proud of Ashlyn because she had to do it by herself and did, even though she was terrified.  By the end of it, she was asking to go first, running off the platform and begging the guide to give her a push.  We did six zips and 6 high ladders kind of like a ropes course.  We then stopped in Big Sky and had an awesome lunch.  Mike and I had a BLT but the twist was this BLT had fried green tomatoes as well as red tomatoes on it.  It was AMAZING.  Now Mike and the girls are playing in the water at the camp ground and I am on my way too.  Sweet Dreams All. xoxoxo

Day Ten

Gibbon Falls

My mighty sexy fisherman

My wet cute husband

Tired Brookie = Rich Ashlyn

ROAD BLOCK

Just Plain Beautiful

Day Ten - Today we explored the north loop in Yellowstone. We jump out at Norris Geyser Basin and took a 1.5 mile walk around looking at all the thermo pools and geysers. Brooke didn't make it. She ended up convincing Ashlyn to piggy back her for $1 a minute. She is a mess, but Ashlyn was very happy to make a little extra cash. It lasted 5 minutes. Then we drove up to mammoth hot springs. I jumped out to see how long the hike was and read, count one it taking 2 hours. So needless to say we did not torture Brooke anymore and skipped it. The north side of the park has many beautiful water falls. All day we were really wanting to spot a bear. Funny how the one thing I was terrified of and we have been "looking" for both days. Finally this afternoon we were wondering what the traffic jam was being caused by, when we got to it we were able to see a grizzly bear eating clovers about 3 feet from our car.  It was the neatest thing.  We were all satified except Mike because he is still on the look out for the elusive moose.  We ended the day playing along side the Gibbon River while Mike fly fished and fly "fell" in the river getting his clothes soaking wet.  I asked for a re-enactment so I could get a picture...He didn't think it was too funny.  We ended the night singing campfire songs with a group of chinese tourist here on vacation.  Very interesting...unepected end of the day. :-)

Day Nine

Traffic Jam ~ aka Bison Herd

Us... Geyser

Old Faithful

Romantic... If you take away the 2 cokes. LOL

What better place to learn to drive but out in the middle of no where on a gravel road

Day Nine - First let me tell you that although the tent is very warm and comfortable, it does not drown out the nightlife outside our tent. We have a bird that we have nicknamed the "Indian" bird because it sounds like an Indian war call ALL night long. Add to the fact that Mike was so excited to be sleeping in a tent that he was up all night adding wood to our fire box. Needless to say I didn't sleep much. Once we all took showers in our tee"Pee", we set out for Yellowstone National Park, but first stopped for groceries to make breakfast and lunch as we are tired of wasting so much time in restaurants. Once in the park, we were immediately in a traffic jam. The cause of this traffic jam turned out to be a herd of Bison. Once we got past the bison, we headed to check out Old Faithful. We stopped at all the pullovers and saw many other geysers and thermo pools. The water in the thermo pools looks so beautiful and clear that you just want to jump in them... Then you read that they are 167 degrees. They are many stories of how people's dogs have jumped in the water and died and several of owners trying to rescue them and dying. So no dogs are allowed on the boardwalks over the pools. We got to Old Faithful around lunch time so decided to picnic and wait for it to erupt. It usually goes off every 65 minutes or so. We were there for around 45 minutes when it went off. Then we decided to finish off the south loop stopping along the way to see waterfalls and other breathtaking scenery. We even found some snow even though it was 80 degrees. The girls had to get out and play in it. Mike started a snowball fight with a huge snowball to Brooke's face, which forced me to do the same to him... And so it began. We saw a lot of animals today like bison, elk, geese, and one grizzly bear very far in the distance. We were supposed to be back at our camp ground at 7 for appetizers and wine but pulled in a little late because of the same Bison herd on our way out of the park. Once sitting with our drinks and food by the water, we saw a bald eagle fly over. Perfect ending to a perfect day.  Night All. xoxoxo

Day Eight

The Name of the Ranch we are staying on

Home sweet Tent

Bear Spray!!!! YIKES!!!

Inside of our Tent

Wood Burning Heater in tent

Our Tee"Pee"

Day Eight - We set off this morning from north Provo. In Trementon, Idaho we had to make an unexpected pit stop because my new windshield had a chip so we stopped and got it fixed for free curtesy of Statefarm. What was not free was my husband's trip to the True Value next door... $50 and 3 sling shots later we were on our way. We stopped in Pocetello for lunch at Goodie's deli across the way from Idaho State University. We were in Idaho most of the day then dipped into Montana right before we got to our Yellowstone under canvas... Aka - our tent. :-). Our tent is not just the standard tent. I am snug as a bug in a queen sized bed with a wood furnace and the girls have little cots set up. We have a wood floor and dresser with night stands, just like a hotel except for the walls... Lol. We oriented ourselves to the tent city then headed off to Three Bears Lodge for a quick dinner. Mike and I tried out some local beer. We tried Moose Drool and Old Faithful Pale Ale. The Moose Drool was a little stout for me but I loved the Old Faithful. Then we headed to the West Yellowstone Rodeo. It was a little disappointing after attending The HLSR, but we still had a good time and enjoyed another brew called the Dump Truck which was also yummy. Now I am trying to convince mike to come to bed because he is LOVING looking at all the stars tonight.  It is supposed to be 43 degrees tonight  so I hope our heater works. Good night all. Xoxoxoxo

Day Seven

We told Smoky the Bear good bye and headed out for Utah

2 Kids 4 States

Mike, Ashlyn & Brooke in Wilson Arch, Utah

Porcupine Pilsener, Moab Brewery, Utah

Day Seven ~ Today we left Grand Canyon National Park behind and headed to the Fours Corners National Monument.  We added a couple of hours to our final destination time but sometimes it isn't so much the destination but the journey.  We arrived at four corners around 1pm.  At one point I was in New Mexico, Ashlyn was in Colorado, Brooke was in Arizona and Mike was in Utah.  All around the monument they have a square built for the local Navajo Indians to sell their goods.  We decided to get a fry bread with honey and powdered sugar to share.  It was, of course, delicious!  Then we headed towards Salt Lake City, our final destination for the day.  We were driving along enjoying the beautiful scenery when we saw a small parking lot next to the highway in the middle of no where then we looked over and there on the side of the road was a HUGE arch in the rocks.  We pulled over and jumped out to take pictures then we saw you could climb up under the arch so we set out.  It was such a neat, not planned, excursion and allowed us to get out and stretch our legs as this was our longest driving day of the whole trip.  Then we kept heading into Utah.  At around 6ish, I told Mike I was getting hungry because all we had done was snack since breakfast, then we saw a sign for the Moab Brewery that served dinner. (See Leslie and Andrea... Not Mexican).  We stopped in and ordered our beer.  I  had a Porcupine Pilsener and Mike had a Heffiweisen (sp).  They were both great beers... not Shiner but great none the less.  I had a cheese beer soup in a bread bowl and a house salad with sunflower cilantro dressing.  It was so good.  Probably my fav meal of the whole trip. :-)  Then we set off for SLC, but only made it to north Provo.  We have about 5 more hours tomorrow then we will be in Yellowstone for 5 nights in a tent.  I am not sure if I will have wifi there so may have to catch you up on a lot when we start the meandering way home. Night all xoxoxo

Day Six



Us...The Colorado River

The Girls on The Colorado River

Freezing Water!!!

My Hard Hat Girls

Indian Taco... Yummy!

Day Six ~ Today we woke up at 5:15am to catch a bus to take us to Page, Arizona which is 2 plus hours away.  We put on swim suits on to ready ourselves for the slow water raft trip.  Then we realized it was only 44 degrees outside. WHAT? We are supposed to be in the water today... Or so we thought.  We met another bus in Page that took us to the Glen Canyon Dam that dams Lake Powell.  It is protected by homeland security so they check your backpacks for weapons.  We had a screwdriver... Don't ask why? LOL! It was Mike's hunting backpack.  So we left it with our bus driver, who happened to be a Lakota Sioux Indian who transplanted from South Dakota 14 years ago.  On the second bus, we went through a 2 mile tunnel to reach Glen Canyon Dam.  We had to wear hard hats until we reached the raft, which was fun for the girls and I but normal for Mike (He actually said he felt safe and comfy in his hard hat and could maybe take on the Grand Canyon and the heights in his hard hat).  Once on the raft, we realized that even though the temperature outside had risen to 90+ degrees, the Colorado River is a steady temperature year round of a frosty 47 degrees.  Looks like we wouldn't be swimming today after all.  They pull the water from the bottom of Lake Powell to come down the river so it is very clear green colored and cold!  Our first stop was to view some Indian drawings on the canyon wall.  We very quickly put our piggies in the water at this stop but it was so cold it started to make your feet tingle within a minute or so.  The next stop was a beach stop to allow us to hangout and play in the water if we wanted.  I sat in the sand while Mike dared the girls and promised them treats if they would fully immerse their heads in the freezing water.  He finally convinced them and they went under along with several other CrAzY people who went all in.  We ended our raft journey at Lee's Ferry which is a pully system that the Mormon church put in to help their people get to Utah.  Then we got out and back on our bus to head back to our hotel.  We did stop at an Indian reservation to get fry bread and souvenirs along the way and our bus driver gave us interesting info about the Grand Canyon which made the ride home go quickly.  Did you know that 25ish people fall off the Canyon every year and only 4-5 actually die.  Also, they have 4 or 5 suicides at the Canyon every year although that is usually in the winter months not the busy summer months..  We made it back to our hotel at 6pm and sat and drank wine while the girls swam in WARM water in the pool while I did laundry.  Then we headed to another Mexican restaurant to try it out and LOVED it.  It was called Sophie's Mexican and Mike and I got an Indian taco.  It was fry bread with all the traditional Mexican toppings and was delish!  We continue our adventure tomorrow with a long car ride . Pray for our safe travels. Nighty night.

Day Five

If you look closely, you can see the Colorado River

It took a lot of coaching to get him this close to the edge

The Elk

Ms. Kitty's dinner show. This was drunk Frank

Day 5 ~ Today was all about The Grand Canyon.  We woke up and went straight to The Grand Canyon National Park.  It cost $25 for a 7 day pass to get in with your car.  We spent all day there just exploring.  It was the most amazing scenery I have ever seen.  The pictures I have seen of it do it NO justice what so ever! The vastness of it can't be translated in pictures.  We started out at Mather Point and I realized it was going to be a long day for Mike.  He was a nervous wreck at that very first look out.  He would hardly allow the girls to go to the rail to look over and I had to beg him to come to the rail for a quick picture.  It didn't help that he found a book in the gift shop called Deaths in the Grand Canyon.  We all giggled at him all day.  We walked along the rim for about 3/4 mile then decided to jump on the shuttle because Mike was constantly fussing at the girls to stay away from the edge and Brooke was tired of walking.  We rode the shuttle to the market place and looked around the gift shop and ate some pizza at the cafeteria style restaurant.  Then we jumped back on the shuttle to take us to Hermit's Rest which was about 7 miles away.  This shuttle had a bunch of stops you could jump off at to take pictures and enjoy the magnificence of the canyon and the Colorado river below.  The girls and I walked down the trail into the canyon a little bit but had to turn around because Mike refused to come. Lol...  It was the trail that they take donkeys down into the canyon with.  Hermit's rest was a neat building that the Santa Fe Railroad built for their customers to view the canyon because the other look out trail was a toll.  So they brought them up to this little house by stage coach.  We had a Popsicle and filled up our water bottle in the Grand Canyon spring water filling station and headed back to the visitors center to find our car.  Brooke, of course, slept on the shuttle back to our car because everything makes Brooke tired. :-) We came back to the hotel and got ready for our Dinner Show we were going to.  We decided to walk to dinner because it wasn't far and it was an awesome evening.  Along the way, Brooke says look at the deer.  We all look over and there were 2 elk grazing in the open lot between a hotel and McDonald's. They were so beautiful to watch and did not care one bit that they had an audience.  The Dinner Show was pretty neat although not the same caliber as Gatlinburg.  The girls really enjoyed it so to me that is all that matters. We had fried chicken, prime rib, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn and green beans.  It was good food but in my estimation, we paid a little too much for what we got.  Now everyone is asleep getting ready for an early wake up call because we have a slow water raft trip planned for tomorrow. Nighty Night. Xoxoxo

Day Four

Us at the top of Sandia Peak, Albuquerque, NM

The girls on The Sandia Peak Tram

Loal

Mike & girls at top of Sandia Peak.

Day Four ~ Today we woke up and headed towards Albuquerque.  We met Mike's cousin, Loal, for lunch at a yummy Mexican restaurant.  Mike ordered a open faced burger with all the Mexican toppings.  He said it was the best mix of all the flavors he loves.  Of course it had green chilies on it, which we have noticed is added to everything here.  After lunch, we headed to Sandia Peak, which is a mountain in Albuquerque.  They have a tram to take you up to 10,378 feet elevation in about 20 minutes.  It used to be the longest tram ride in the world until about 6-7 months ago when Armenia built one a little bit longer.  When we first lifted off it was 90 degrees and no wind.  At the top there was a 20+ mile an hour wind and it was 60 degrees.  There was a little swaying and bumps at the top and I have realized that my sweet, strong, brave husband is truly terrified of heights. I will be honest, one the way up, I was a tad bit nervous also because we were swaying around about 960 feet above the ground with around 20 strangers.  Also, when I googled the place for directions, right under the directions was an article about the Sandia Tram Accident. Yikes? I kept that to myself until the end of the trip.  Brooke was cracking me up because she kept asking "when are we gonna get back on the tramp?" bahaha!  On the way back down, Mike spotted the wreckage of a TWA flight that crashed on the mountain in the 50's.  It was a very neat excursion for the day, then we headed off to our first official destination, The Grand Canyon.  Mostly all the way to GC, we drove along historical route 66 and even drove thru Winslow, Arizona (for all you Eagle fans). We finally saw our first Elk when we got to Flagstaff, which so far has been my favorite drive thru city.  We finally pulled in tonight at around 8:45 local time and headed out to explore and ended up at the Mexican restaurant next door to the Red Feather Lodge with margaritas...You can take the person out of Texas but not the Texas out of the person. :-) Goodnight all! xoxoxo