Grand Teton Mountains - Jackson Hole, Wyoming - Day 12

Yellowstone Park was fantastic! The variety of wildlife you get to observe living in the park can not be easily matched by another location. The vistas were also just as breathtaking and the exploration of the park requires a few days minimum. However, shorter visits enable visitors to see the highlights of the park with some planning. Monty got some fantastic shots and we hope to get them up in this blog and smugmug over the next 2 days while we have access to the Internet. Some of the wildlife that Monty and I got to see were: coyote, big horn sheep, bison, elk, white tail deer, bald eagle, prong horn deer, mother moose with her calve, and ospry! Add to that the natural wonders like the Old Faithful geyser and numerous other geysers, rapid moving rivers and Yellowstone Lake. It truly is a park that everyone should visit at least once!

We left Yellowston this morning and traveled a short way to the Grand Teton Mountains. We are presently staying in another KOA campsite south of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Jackson Hole is quite a developed tourist town which has visiters year round for skiing, white water rafting, camping, and visiting Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.

The only unfortunate event is it is still RAINING! We get periods of sunshine but thunderstorms always follow and this afternoon, we actually got hail!

Rain, Rain Go Away - Wet and cold in Montana - Day 9

Rain and then more rain. We looked ahead to see what the weather will be like in Yellowstone Park and yes, rain! Click on the link for a webcam that shows what we are experiencing here in Montana and Yellowstone for the next few days! Weather WEB CAM

Monty is uploading his pictures! Click on the link: Monty's Pictures

We leave today and head down to Yellowstone Park which is only about an hour south of Red Lodge Montana!

PIctures of the BIG things, Wildlife and Scenary in South Dakota

"Needles" on Needles Highway

Custard State Park , South Dakota

Bison in Custard State Park

South Dakota

Crazy Horse Memorial in progress of being sculpted.

http://www.crazyhorsememorial.org/ has a picture of what the

completed sculpture will look like. South Dakota

Mount Rushmore South Dakota

Wild Mustang Colt

http://www.wildmustangs.com/ South Dakota

http://www.cornpalace.org/ South Dakota

http://www.walldrug.com/ South Dakota

Albert the Bull Picture - More to come soon!

Albert the Bull is the first "BIG" thing we will see on this trip. Other BIG things we have seen already are more well known like Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Wall Drug Store, The Corn Palace. I will try to get photos of these up today while we have the Internet!

Red Lodge, Montana -- Day 8

We arrived at our campsite at Red Lodge KOA late in the evening. We decided to take some scenic routes on our way to see Mount Rushmore which were worth the added time to our travels that day. We got to drive through stone tunnels carved out from the mountains and see herds of bison, wild burros and mules, and white tail deer on the Needles Highway and the wild life loop in Custer State Park. We hope the pictures and video come out!

Mount Rushmore was as it is depicted on all the tourist brochures. We didn't spend that much time there. Monty took a few camera shots and I some short video and we were on our way.

The drive across part of Montana was long, but the wide open fields with not much on them but cows and deer was very isolated. The temperatures in Red Lodge took a dive last night and we have changed from wearing shorts to our long pants and sweatshirts. We hope that the wind dies down by the afternoon. We will use the next two days to relax, get laundry done, charge up the batteries and enjoy the free WiFi! I am acquiring a new respect for these simple KOA camping facilities that have all the basic needs covered. We will try to get more pictures up!

Sioux Falls, SD Evening of the 4th Day

This is our first time camping at a KOA campsite. It has laundry facilities, a pool, bathrooms and putt-putt golf. It is nice but it has no privacy in that campsites are situated like parking spots with very little trees between them if any. However, it has free WiFi which was a nice perk we weren't expecting! Tomorrow, we will head towards Mount Rushmore and will get the opportunity to camp for more than one night per stop. We will see some more BIG things from the road trip book I have. A couple will be: 1. The Wall Drug Store in Wall, S.D. 2. The Corn Palace in Mitchell, S.D.. Weird tourist attractions yes, but fun to see cause they are Free! Gas is about 2.35 / per gallon here with out ethenol; a little cheaper with 10% ethenol. Our little 12.99 TV is working and we get CBS so... looks like we can watch CSI tonight!

Souix Falls, South Dakota - Day Four

What a nice service Iowa has at it's reststops: Free WiFi! We stopped here just south of Souix City on our way to Souix Falls. Monty got to be a good samariton and helped an elderly couple who needed a jump for their little car. They were in a huge RV and their little car was in the wrong gear with a dead battery. They were soon on their way after Monty gave them a jump.
Lunch followed and we will leisurely head up to our next camp site. We will find a Walmart in Souix City for minor supplies and make sure our ice supplies are good.

We managed to see our first BIG thing: Albert the Bull in Audubon, Iowa. I have a book of BIG things that are across the US and this is the first one we have seen. In South Dakota we will see Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse memorial. I hope to post some pictures the next time I get access to the Internet.