Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and the Badlands

Well this will be the last post on my trip. I'm in Milwaukee, WS, and tomorrow I head 800 miles to Verona, NY to stay at the casino again before heading home Friday morning. I'm just about on my last legs. It's been a long trip and I'm ready to be back in beantown. I've got a few pictures from the last couple of days to post. See you all soon. Go Celtics!

Crazy Horse Monument


What the Crazy Horse monument will look like when it's finished


Mt. Rushmore


Badlands




Me about to climb up and explore a cave.... Bear Grylls style

Yellowstone the Winter Wonderland

So I finally got all the pictures from Yellowston together. We spent three nights there in a cabin in Canyon Village. No tv, internet, radio or anything. Oh and it was an absolute blizzard the whole time we were there. Not what you expect in the middle of June. It was a good time though. We saw the whole park and spotted tons of wildlife.(Thanks to my mom the scout) We ran into some trouble on the way out however. We got up early for our 400 mile drive to Rapid City and headed toward the east enterance of the park. When we got within ten miles of it or so we were told that the enterance was closed due to the snow. This meant that we had to drive about four hours out of our way back through the park to go out the northeast enterance. It was quite a frustrating drive through more and more snow squalls, but eventually we made it to rapid city twelve hours later. Here's some pictures from Yellowstone

A frozen lake on the way into the artic tundra that was Yellowston National Park


Boiling Mud at the Black Dragon's Caldron


A colorful hot spring


A big Buffalo on the side of the road


Steaming Earth


Old Faithful


A big Elk with a nice rack


Me in the snow


Mammoth Hot Springs


We went to Mt. Rushmore today and the Crazy Horse Monument. I'll put pictures of that up with some pictures from Badlands tomorrow. Next stop Mitchell, SD... Four days till Boston!

The Grand Tetons

Well I'm back finally
After a three days in Yellowstone, I've survived and now I'm in Rapid City, SD. Our time in Yellowstone was rather eventful. It was an absolute blizzard for three days straight. Nothing like a foot of snow in the middle of June!! So we spent the three days traveling around in the snow... spotting wildlife and looking at hot springs. It was a glorius time. But thats not what I'm here to talk about. I'll do that tomorrow. Prior to that we were in the Grand Tetons for a couple of days. The first day we went on a short hike around Jenny Lake and got some great views of the mountains. The next day my parents headed out to see some sites and I went on a six mile hike up Signal Mountain to get the best view of the Tetons from across the valley. It was a great hike...excluding the fear of bears. Took me just under 2.5 hours to do the hike...which was practically at running pace. Here's a few pictures from the Tetons

Elk Antler Arch in downtown Jackson


The Teton Range


A few of the peaks from across Jenny Lake


Me and then my folks in front of the Grand




Old log cabin in the valley


Me in front of the Signal Mountain lodge after my hike...have to wait for my film to develop to see the pictures from the summit





Tomorrow we head to Mt. Rushmore and the Rushmore Cave. And then to the Crazy Horse Monument. Maybe to Wind Cave if we've got time. I'll put some pictures of the winter wonderland known as yellowstone in another post tomorrow.

Jackson, WY

Hello from Jackson
The folks and I are staying in a great place in downtown Jackson Hole. We spent today in the Tetons checking out the scenery and hiking a bit. My computer is a little slow so unfortunately no pictures tonight. Last night we ate at the Silver Dollar Saloon. It's got a bar top that is completely covered in silver dollars. I had a buffalo filet. It was without a doubt the best piece of meat I've ever eaten. Absolutly delicious. Tonight we ate at the Cadillac Grill. I had an elk steak this time. It wasn't quite as good as the buffalo but I couldn't pass up giving it a try. Tomorrow we head into Yellowstone for three nights in a cabin. The chances of me having wireless internet there is pretty slim to none so all of you devoted readers will have to wait a few days... sorry. But just think how good it will be when there's a new post.

See ya when I'm back on the grid.

Go Celtics!!

Cheyenne, Wyoming

We left Denver today and headed for Cheyenne Wyoming. It was a quick drive... about an hour and a half. We spent some time walking around the historic city, known in the wild west days as "Hell on Wheels." We had lunch at the Albany Restaurant and Bar. After that we headed to the Wrangler, a western outfitter that was established in 1943. I finally was able to fulfill my life long dream of getting a pair of cowboy boots from Wyoming. I also got a hat. I couldnt resist. We had dinner at the Capitol Grill in The Plains Hotel. The hotel was one of the major hot spots in the old west times. It was the areas most elegant hotel built in the late 1800's, with marble staircases and all the best amenities.
Tomorrow we head to Jackson via the Grand Tetons. We'll be there for two days then into Yellowstone National Park. Its about 400 miles from here to Jackson and promises to be a great scenic drive.

Here's some photos from the day.

Wyoming State House (not as nice the the Massachusetts State House)


Cowboy Boot Sculpture... There are about 30 of them around the town that have been painted by different artists.


Me next to a giant cowboy boot with my new hat on!


My New Boots!!!!

A Magnificent Day in Colorful Colorado

Spent the day in and around Denver. We walked outside in the morning and saw a hot air baloon coming over the mountains. We watched it as it cruised by our hotel and off east.
We started off the morning by seeing some family. Went and visited my Uncle Cliff in the Hospital outside Denver, and to our good fortune he was looking really good. We spent a few hours catching up with him and my Aunt Deb and cousin Clifford. It felt good to talk with them. I haven't seen them in 11 years since they moved to Austin, Texas from New Hampshire.
After we caught up with them we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park. Luckily my Dad is a senior citizen and he got a lifetime pass to every national park in America for 10 bucks. Without him it would have cost 80 bucks and it would only be good for a year. Looks like we'll be traveling with him for a while!!
We drove into the Rockies up Trail Ridge Road. It's the highest paved road in America. We topped out at about 12,000 feet. The scenery was absolutly astonishing. I could never describe it in any way that would do it justice. Even our photos won't do it justice. You'll all just have to go there yourself some day. Believe me... it's well worth it. After we drove through Trail Ridge road we headed up Bear Lake Road which takes you almost 10,000 feet up to a beautiful lake in the middle of the mountains.
It was a fantastic day and definately the high point of the trip so far. Off to Cheyenne,WY tomorrow. I'll be fulfilling my life long dream of buying some cowboy boots. It looks to be a good day in Wyoming.

Here's some photos from the day.

Some elk grazing


What am I?


The Rockies at 12,000 feet


Mom and Dad at 12,000 feet


Me at Bear Lake


Bear Lake

We made it to Denver

Hello all,
We made it to Denver tonight after a 600 mile trek across Nebraska. As we headed into the Denver area the Rocky Mountains began to rise out of the valley ahead. It was a beautiful site!

Here's a photo from our hotel parking lot of the sun setting behind the mountains


This is a drawing I did after driving through Missouri.

Hannibal, MO and the Tom Sawyer Cave

So we left Brownsburg, IN this morning at 6:30 as usual and headed for Hannibal, Missouri. We changed time zones once we hit Illinois so we gained an hour on our day. I say we are ahead of you folks back home although Molly would beg to differ and say I'm behind. But in any case, that made the 300 mile trip to Hannibal feel alot shorter. We arrived at the Tom Sawyer cave around 10 am... just about the same time a bus load of 5th graders arrived. How exciting! Rather than share the cave with a bunch of obnoxious kids we decided we'd go check out the town and see the other sites and come back to the cave for the 11am tour.
We headed into town to see the rest of the sites along the mighty Mississippi riverbank. We got to see Tom Sawyers house (aka the Mark Twain Boyhood Home), Becky Thatchers House, The Tom and Huck Statue, The prison that held Muff Potter(there isn't actually a prison there...just a sign that said there might have been one at some point), and the Mark Twain Riverboat. It was a rather bleak and run-down old town but brought back many memories from the book.

Here's a few pictures from town


The town


Big Muddy


Tom and Huck Statue


Mark Twain Boyhood Home and The famous whitewashed fence



Missouri is known as "the cave state." There are two caves in Hannibal, the Mark Twain/Tom Sawyer Cave and The Cameron Cave. We took a tour of the Tom Sawyer Cave. It was an hour long tour that was given by a guide. The walk through was 5/8 of a mile and went 350 feet underground. The cave has been outfitted with lights that the guide switches on and off as you go through. At one point in the cave we stopped in the room where Tom and Becky lost their candles and got lost in the dark. The guide showed us what it would have been like for them by shutting off all the lights in the cave. It was complete darkness, the darkest dark i've ever experienced. You could stand there forever and your eyes would never adjust.
Up until 1997 when the cave was deemed a national landmark, anyone that visited the cave was able to carve, paint or sign there name on the cave walls. The cave walls are littered with signatures that go all the way back to the mid 1800's when the cave was discovered. Some are written in candle smoke which produces bold black letterforms on the walls and ceilings. In the 1870's Jesse James and his gang robbed a train in Saverton, MO. After fleeing the robbery site they found refuge in the Tom Sawyer cave. There is a room in the cave where Jesse's gangs signatures can be found. I tried to take as many pictures as I could inside the cave but the lighting conditions were hard to deal with. Some of the pictures are blurry or hard to see but you'll get the idea.

Walking through the tunnels of the cave




Some signatures made with candle smoke



The Cross at Number 2 - Where Tom and Huck found the treasure buried



Seal Rock - The blue light is added for effect but there is a natural pool of water that gathers beneath the seal shaped rock




After the visit in Hannibal we headed further west to beat the sever weather headed our way. We are staying in St. Joseph, MO for the night and head 600 miles to Denver tomorrow. It'll be another long day but we gain another hour once we cross over into mountain time about 2/3 of the way through Nebraska. Probably won't update again until Sunday night or so.

Until then...

A day through the worst state in America

So we left Niagra this morning at 6:30am ... which right now feels like days ago. We headed through a small corner of Pennsylvania before heading into the dreaded OHIO....DUN DUN DUNNNN


Saw some nice vineyards on the way through


Then it was on into Ohio and a stop at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Cleveland Browns Football stadium was right next to the Hall of Fame so we checked that out. There was also a beautiful sculpture dedicated to the fireman of Cleveland who lost there lives on duty. Unfortunately you weren't allowed to take pictures inside the Hall of Fame but I got a few shots of the outside of the building. The architecture was magnificent.

Cleveland Browns Stadium






The Fire Fighter Sculpture





The outside of the Hall of Fame... Rock On!


Me in front of a cool Neil Young-Rust inspired guitar sculpture


Dad in front of the Johnny Cash Tour Bus



After the Hall of Fame we proceded onward through the hell that is Ohio. We were certain to drive cautiously due to the fact that there was almost always an angry trooper around every corner ready to pounce on any car that dares to disobey the speed limit. Nothing like being stuck driving the speed limit on a wide open stretch of prairie highway. Eventually we made it out of this wretched state and into Indiana. After a 12 hour day on the road we arrived at our Comfort Suite hotel.
We went to dinner at Applebee's and now are in for the night recouping.

Some severe weather is headed out way tomorrow so we've made a few travel changes. We're going to swing into Hannibal, MO and check out the Tom Sawyer cave and instead of spending the night there we are going to head another 200 miles through Missouri to take a chunk out of the 800 miler to Denver the next day. So it'll be another 12 hour day tomorrow and yet again the next day. But after that it's a few days in Denver to relax and see some family.

Next update from Saint Joseph, MO
So long.