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.