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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For those that were wondering, we did find a hotel last night about 45 minutes West of our planned destination. Every hotel told us it was the ONLY hotel with rooms left without having to drive to Iowa. We quickly found out why. Trains ran ALL night through the town on two tracks one of which was one block from our hotel. And did you know that when a train runs through the middle of a town it blows its horn VERY LOUDLY. I think this might end up being worse than the camping! I am happy to report that today we are in a Ramada with an indoor pool AND indoor putt putt.

Today was a shorter driving day -- only 9 hours instead of 13. We saw A LOT of corn fields in Iowa. Besides being amazed at how FLAT Iowa is, we were all mesmerized by the large number of wind farms that went on for miles. I tried taking a picture while the car was moving but it doesn't do it justice. We made it to Mitchell, South Dakota, home of the Corn Palace, a building made out of corn -- who thinks of these things? Auguste saw a herd of bison shortly after we crossed the state line -- a big thrill. About a 3 hour drive to the Badlands tomorrow, our first real destination!



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As if we didn't see enough corn today!

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Corn field in Iowa.
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Just crossed the Missippippi River into Iowa!

Note: The time stamp on the posts yesterday (and I imagine today as well) are Pacific time so just add 3 hours.
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The best laid plans ... Well, we made it to our planned destination Peoria, IL. Kids did GREAT in the car (thanks to KP for great car game idea -- working like a charm). Only problem was all hotels booked due to boys and girls soccer tournaments. Who'da thunk! Now we are pushing on trying to find a town with hotel availability. Thank goodness we gained an hour switching to Central time!


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We've only been on the road for an hour but we had to stop and get this one for the doubters.
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