Arrived home to Winston-Salem at 6:30pm after driving through some intense storms in West Virginia. Thanks to our wonderful friends for the warm welcome home and to everyone for tracking our blog. It was a great adventure but we are glad to be back and missed everyone!

Dinner in Louisville, KY and headed to Lexington, KY for the night. Should have a 6 hour drive ahead of us tomorrow. Hopefully home by dinner time!
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Lunch break in St. Louis to see the Arch.
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Drove across the entire state of Kansas today. The description --FLAT and lots of WHEAT! Staying in a hotel outside of Kansas City after driving 670 miles. Eating a late dinner and then to bed. We want to be home!

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Don't worry, we didn't get eaten by bears. It just turns out that at 12,000 feet elevation there isn't cell phone service!

We left Steamboat Springs en route to Rocky Mountain National Park after sleeping in on Sunday morning following an exciting night at the rodeo. We made a quick stop at a furniture store in Kremmling per the recommendation of our friends and managed to fit a purchase in the car -- GO Dave! We arrived at the park and headed up to the Alpine Visitor Center -- BRRRR! Fortunately I bought a sweatshirt at Grand Lake where we stopped for lunch and it was also cold. We were above the tree line at the visitor center as you might see in the pics which means it is too cold for trees to grow. The park has lots of elk just like Tetons and we got some greast pics.

After that we headed down the mountain to our campground in the park where it was much warmer -- thank goodness. I couldn't manage to post about our camping in Dinosaur because I was so grumpy about it. Lack of sleep will do that to you. Like I said earlier, it was hot in Dinosaur but once again the nighttime rains came and the tent was unbearably humid and stuffy. However, I am happy to report that we had the PERFECT camping weather and night in Rocky Mountain. Thank goodness we ended things on a good note. I was ready to put all the camping equipment on e-bay when we got back.

Today we did hikes around a couple of lakes and the kids did an hour long ranger program on beavers. They also got their junior ranger badges. We are now at a hotel just outside of Denver and will start heading home tomorrow. It's been a great adventure but we're looking forward to seeing everyone back home!



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Happy 4th of July! We've had a great weekend in Steamboat Springs, CO with friends from Winston-Salem who have a place there -- thanks for the great home-cooked meals guys! We caught a parade downtown in the morning and then the professional rodeo and fireworks in the evening. The kids really got a kick out of the rodeo as did the adults. Claire, Graham and Ethan got in the arena with the older kids and tried to grab the ribbon off a calf. They did a great job considering they were in there with hundreds of kids! Auguste did the Ram Scramble with the younger kids and actually managed to touch the ribbon on the ram but didn't manage to pull it off. Good try little buckeroo!


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It's hard to do justice with my Blackberry camera to the landscape we saw today on the drive from Wyoming to Utah but I attached some pics. We arrived at Dinosaur National Monument and went on the Fossil Trail and saw dinosaur bones still in the rock. We are camping along the Green River in Dinosaur and things are looking pretty good so far -- warm temps and the view is the one in the last pic.


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Today we left the Tetons and headed to Jackson Hole to shop for cowboy gear -- pictures to come later. This was after a little delay in leaving th Tetons because we were on a moose hunt. We only saw one moose on our trip -- outside the lodge window. Everyone in Tetons was on a moose hunt. Turns out that this year there are more elk then ever in Tetons which is bringing in the grizzlies more than ever which in turn is keeping the moose away -- or at least in hiding. In any case, our delay in Tetons and then an extended shopping trip in Jackson (going out of business sale!) delayed us getting to Fossil Butte -- cool post-dinosaur fossils which were found there on the Butte in the pic. We only just checked into our hotel in Green River, Wyoming with a 2 1/2 hour drive to Dinosaur tomorrow. We will be camping there. You can imagine my excitement!


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Trying one more time with the videos which didn't seem to post.
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Today was a big hiking day in the Tetons. You are not allowed to take anything from nature out of National Parks so the kids collect things and we take pictures of them. What you see is Auguste's rock collection from the Matilda Lake Trail.

The next picture is sagebrush which is EVERYWHERE in Wyoming in place of grass. We learned on our horseback ride that it is called 'Cowboy Cologne'. Cowboys would rub it on themselves and stick it in their pockets so that they would smell good when they couldn't take a bath but were headed ino town to meet the ladies.

Next is a picture of us on the trail today where we almost got stuck in a thunderstorm -- literally had to run the last mile. Once again no sign of bears thanks to all of the singing that my partner in crime and I do. Per the request of Jennifer, see the attached two videos!

Finally, I just can't get enough of those Tetons. See another poic at the end from the trail today.

Tomorrow we head to Jackson Hole and Fossil Butte!


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A day of horseback riding for the girls and canoeing for the boys. Sorry no canoe pics!

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We just can't seem to catch a break camping. It went down to 37 degrees last night. Slightly out of the range we expected given that our sleeping bags were meant for 40 degrees or higher. And I thought the grizzly bear that had been sighted in the campsite hours earlier would be what kept me up all night. Try sleeping in a tent when it's close to freezing.

Needless to say, when we arrived at the luxurious Jackson Lake Lodge today in the Grand Tetons, we promptly inquired about adding a third night. Originally we had planned to stay 2 nights and camp one night in the park. EVEN DAVE admitted we were down on our luck in the camping department. Don't worry though, we still plan to camp 2 more nights so I'm sure we'll have more to entertain you with.

On a better note, we did enjoy the earlier evening at the campsite and were able to have a campfire. Today we went to the Mud Volcano and saw the Dragon's Mouth -- a way cool hot spring that you see in the pic as well as lots of other cool bubbling things. It sounds like a dragon is in the cave. Uncle Dan, we also saw the Black Dragon Caldron. We drove to Tetons afterwards and have the view you'll see in the pic from our window. We are told there are lots of moose and elk in the area outside the lodge so we are looking forward to our first moose spotting tomorrow.

All looking forward to a good and WARM nights' sleep!

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I tried to post an entry yesterday but my cell service has been spotty in the park. Here's another try ...

The kids managed a five mile hike yesterday to Lone Star Geyser, a cone shaped geyser that only erupts every 3 hours, and I managed to sing the whole way to keep the bears away -- a technique recommended to us by friends who backpack. I didn't think I could sing so many verses of DO-RE-ME without getting tired of it. Dave on the other hand pleaded with me to stop when we finally got to the geyser and the danger of surprising a bear was over . However, I started up all over again on the hike back!

At night we drove up to a higher elevation for a wagon ride to a Cowboy Cookout. As you'll see in the pic Auguste discovered some elk bones there and was quite thrilled by it. On the way home we saw a black bear and a grizzly bear, from the car fortunately! I'm still hoping to get a good pic of one to post on the blog. In lieu of that I posted the signs at our campground.

Just finished two nights in the Old Faithful Snow Lodge and just arrived for a night of camping along Yellowstone Lake. The sky looks clear but I've learned that's no guarantee around here!

The kids say a big hello to all of their buddies!


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We made it to Yellowstone today and walked along the Upper Geyser Basin and saw lots of geysers. We are staying in the Old Faithful Snow Lodge, a short walk to Old Faithful which you'll see erupting in this picture. We saw bison in the park but no bears yet -- thank goodness!
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A bit of a contrast from the hot Badlands.
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We made it to Wyoming last night and plan for a short and scenic day of driving through the countryside ending in Cody for a cowboy shootout. Yesterday we hiked in the Badlands some more and the kids earned their Junior Ranger badges! Lots of prairie dogs to see yesterday which was fun. Claire and Dave went to a cool astronomy viewing put on by the Park Rangers the night before. The number of stars we could see without a telescope was unbelievable, even the Milky Way. Despite the clear night, an unbelievable storm swept through the Badlands that night. Three hours of lightning and thunder like I've never heard or seen before. Did I mention we camped in a tent? My response to this experience isn't fit to print.

We did wake up to a clear sky and after spending most of the day in the Badlands drove to Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monuent and then on to Gillette, Wyoming to sleep. We took it easy this morning and are headed back to the road now. Hope eveeryone is well!

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The words for the Badlands are HOT, WINDY and AWESOME!

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