Yellowstone Park

Buffalo Bill Dam

waterfalls

one of many geysers



Old Faithful performs again!



We spent another day yesterday saying, "wow, incredible, amazing!" It was a 12 hour day touring Yellowstone and seeing all the sights!  We were approaching a 90 degree corner on the way out of the park and two buffalo were walking down the middle of the road!  We were also seeing smoke from the fires out here, pretty close at times!    The sights were  well worth it but we were exhausted last night!  Today we went to an Old West Town and toured the Buffalo Bill Historical Center!

Cody, Wyoming

The truck checked out as having nothing wrong and is  in excellent shape!  Sounds like the doctor's!  They said the noise we hear is the fan coming on to cool the engine and it is normal.  We tested it today and all went well.  It even took us up a big mountain so praying for it to continue.  We are here in Cody and it is very smokey from the wild fires.  They say that one about 40 miles south of us went from 100 acres to 1700 acres this afternoon and the wind is blowing the smoke our way, of course!  It is bad enough to not go outside tonight.  We planned on going to the rodeo but are staying inside.  Hopefully off to Yellowstone tomorrow.  Temps still in the 90's.

Cook Lake

Another 90 degree day in Wyoming!  Today we went exploring to find the Cook Lake Recreation Center which is 10 miles up a dirt road.  Travel was slow due to the dirt and windy road and a wrong turn so it took over an hour to get there!  Once we found the lake it was a very tranquil place to have lunch.  Saw lots of deer along the road and this one was smartly standing in an area marked Private No Hunting! 

Devil's Tower in Sundance, Wyoming

brown tailed prairie dogs

Another day spent viewing a breath taking rock formation!  We drove to Devil's Tower which is the first national monument designated in 1906 by President Roosevelt.  It is the core of a volcano exposed after milllions of years of erosion by the Belle Fourche River and the weather.  We hiked around the base of the Tower which was 1.3 miles.  It was interesting to view it from all sides.  It is attractive to rock climbers which we observed.  Also, American Indians consider it a sacred place and will leave prayer ribbons and offerings in the bushes and trees along the way.  It looks like we will spend a few extra days here because the truck acted up hauling the camper yesterday.  The garage can't look at it until Tuesday so we are here until at least wednesday depending on the diagnosis.  The truck runs fine without the camper,  just doesn't like hauling up the hills. 

SD sunset, Spearfish Canyon

South Dakota sunset

Buffalo in middle of road



Spearfish Canyon

Spearfish Canyon is amazing!  We went from mountains yesterday to being deep in the canyon today!  The pictures don't show how high the canyon walls are!  I also am adding a picture of the buffalo stopping the traffic yesterday! 

Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse

Yesterday was another breath taking day in South Dakota!  We saw Mt Rushmore, drove the scenic highway thru the Black Hills and Custer State Park, visited Crazy Horse and stayed to see the lazer light show. In Custer State Park our trip was delayed for about 20 minutes while we waited for buffalo to get out of the road!  We didn't return to the camper until after 10 pm.  We spent the day saying "oh wow" again!  Today we drove thru Deadwood, the Spearfish Canyon scenic highway, and visited the oldest fish hatchery in the United States.  Tomorrow the plan is to head to Wyoming, stop to visit Devil's Tower and off to Yellowstone.  What an amazing trip we've had!  Another difficult time choosing pictures for my blog!

Badlands Wildlife

We took a loop road in the Badlands today that brought us to the wildlife!  It was a dirt road but we saw bighorn sheep, lots of prairie dogs, a coyote, prong-horned antelope,  and buffalo.  Needless to say we also saw more fantastic views!

The Breathtaking Badlands

Words and pictures cannot describe the breath taking views and beauty that we saw today.  Dana and I spent a lot of the day saying "wow"!  Even though I took over 200 pictures not one can represent God's work as we saw it today.  We were in awe and spent a lot of time just taking it in.  We did a lot of walking and even hiked up a crevice to peek thru a "door"  to the view!  We recommend that everyone should have this place on their "bucket list". 

Wall, South Dakota

Missouri River

We are now in Wall, the home of the famous Wall Drug Store.  It opened in 1931 and in 1936 the owners started giving free ice water to people travelling thru the area in order to attract business! We saw lots of fields of sunflowers today too! Yesterday we toured the Corn Palace which was interesting.  The murals on the building are made and changed once a year.  They are made of corn and locally grown grasses.  Amazing!  Tomorrow we are going to the Badlands.  It is amazing how vast the land is out here!  You can see forever! 

Sunflower fields