Homeward Bound

Map Route

We woke early in Billings, Montana and drove west through the grasslands. The further west we drove the denser the trees got. We stopped in Livington for lunch then drove south to Yellowstone National Park. Along the way we stopped at the river to try to swim but the water was freezing. In the park we saw tons of elk and drove east through a part of the park. We went on a hike to Wraith Falls, a short hike through wildflowers to the waterfall. After playing with the flowers we drove on and stopped to see Tower Falls. The waterfall was a lot larger and we hiked to the base of it which flowed into Yellowstone River. The river smelled of sulphur and the stone walls across the bank were colored yellow. After our hike we spent some time in the gift shop then drove along the main road through the park. We saw our first bison and were thrilled. We exited the park into West Yellowstone where we found a lot to stay in for the night.

Entrance into Yellowstone

Wraith Falls

Nick enjoying the wild flowers

Alicia at Yellowstone River

In the morning we drove back into Yellowstone where we saw our first geysers. We saw tons of crystal blue pools that contrasted beautifully with the yellow and white soil. We hoped that Steamboat would go off, it is geyser that erupts every couple of years and lasts only minutes. The great thing about Steamboat is that it is three times larger than Old Faithful. It didn't go off while we there :(. We found a spot along the river for lunch, Nick and I waded in the cool river and Natalie showed our pet turtles off to a couple little kids. We drove to Old Faithful and got seats right up front to see the geyser go off. Within 5 minutes of waiting the geyser went off. It was really cool to see it in person and to feel the mist hitting us. After the eruption stopped we drove back towards West Yellowstone. We stopped just inside the park to eat dinner and watch the sunset. After dinner we parked for the night.





Hot springs at Yellowstone NP



Yellowstone Nat'l Park



Old Faithful



Alicia at the geysers in Yellowstone NP

We headed back to Yellowstone to finish checking out the park. We drove to Yellowstone Lake, along the way we saw a large bison making his way down the middle of the street. At the lake we had lunch and spent the afternoon laying in the sun, skipping rocks, and swimming. We left Yellowstone National Park and drove south to the Grand Teton Nat'l Park. We got to see the amazing mountain range reflecting off the lakes. We continued on into Jackson, Wyoming. We drove through the town and then headed west to Victor, Idaho for the night. We stayed at a campground and I finally got caught up on Orange is the New Black show off netflix.

Up close and personal with a buffalo in Yellowstone NP

Alicia, Natalie, and Nick in Grand Teton NP

Grand Teton NP

Nick enjoying the view at Grand Teton NP

We woke up early and thoroughly cleaned the motor home, then we drove south through Idaho to Utah. We stopped in Wellsville, UT to see Natalie's grandma. We told her grandma all about our trip and then we cooked up dinner. There was so much food we ate till we were sick. We left and drove through a crazy rainstorm to Salt Lake City, UT.

Nick riding shotgun 

We woke up and explored downtown Salt Lake City. We got to see Temple Square and look at the beautiful Mormon Temple. We left Salt Lake City and drove west past Salt Lake. We stopped at the Bonneville Salt Flats. The races were supposed to be going on while we were there but the rains earlier in the week flooded the area. We waded in the salty water and were blinded by the pure white salt reflecting the sun. We kept driving through the "loneliest road in America" through Nevada. It started raining and hailing really hard, we had to pull off for a minute until the storm passed because we couldn't see. We decided to drive through the night and we made it back home at midnight. We decided to spend our last night at our hometown Walmart because we had stayed at Walmarts all across the US.

Alicia at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah

Quote:
    " A journey of a thousand miles began with a single step" ~ Lao Tzu.

Lowlands, Highlands, and the Badlands

Map route

We woke up and drove north through Iowa into South Dakota. We headed west towards the Badlands Nat'l Park. Our first stop was a cowboy store in the middle of nowhere. We looked at buffalo hides and skulls and tons of fireworks. We got to see his domesticated bison in the fields. There was some strange animatronic machines that we put quarters into and watched some really creepy shows. At the store was Sturgis Motorcycle Rally stuff, we looked it up and the rally was going on this week. We decided we should check it out. All of the bikers on the road made a lot of sense now. We left the store and continued on, however it was getting late and I wanted to see the Buffalo Gap Nat'l Grasslands in daylight so we pulled off at a truck stop for the night.

The amazing sky at a rest stop

In the morning we drove through the grasslands, no buffalo in sight. We made it to Badland's Nat'l Park. It's a grassland with some rock formations/ canyons of beautiful reds and yellows. We hiked out into them and played around on some rocks. We stopped at the visitor center where we got to see some fossils being uncovered. When we finished at the Nat'l Park we drove to Wall, SD. We had seen billboards for Wall Drug since we got into South Dakota. We looked up Wall Drug to find that it was a huge store that had gained business by offering free iced water in a dry desolate area. We had to see it. The store is so large there is a map letting you know what each section has to offer. We browsed the various items before finishing up in a corridor full of taxidermy animals and strange statues. Out on the patio was an animatronic monkey and a huge Jackalope that I climbed onto its back for a picture. Two bikers that we saw yesterday at the cowboy store took a picture of me on the Jackalope. It was a little strange. We ended up in Rapid City for the night.

Alicia and Natalie frolicking through grasslands

Alicia at Badland's Nat'l Park

Nick at Badland's Nat'l Park

After a refill on ice we drove to Mount Rushmore. The drive was through lush green forests, we rounded a corner and saw the president's faces on the mountain side. After parking we hiked around the mountain and got to learn about the carving process. There were miniature faces that the carvers used for comparison. After leaving Mount Rushmore we drove south to the Wind Cave Nat'l Park and paid for the Fairground Cave Tour. We had to have our shoes "decontaminated" since we had been in another cave in the last 5 years We were in Ruby Falls cave just a couple weeks ago. Turns out there's this fungus outbreak on the east coast that is waking up bats from hibernation and causing them to leave the cave in search of food. The bats are dieing and it turned out Tennessee had a really bad outbreak. Ruby Falls is in Tennessee, so the rangers were really happy that we told them. After the shoe cleaning we walked on a 1 1/2 mile tour of the upper and lower level of the caves. There was some box work going on, it's where the limestone has gypsum in it that expands and contracts causing the limestone to crack. The cracks are filled with calcite and the limestone breaks away leaving a negative of the cracks. It looks just like a wasp nest and is really cool and a little too fragile looking to be making up a roof of the cave. We finished our tour and drove back to Rapid City for the night. We stayed at a campground after haggling for a lower rate since the rates were raised from Sturgis Rally. We spent the night watching Noah, a crazy movie with Russel Crowe and some cannibalism.

Alicia at Mount Rushmore

Alicia at Wind Cave Nat'l Park

After we got ready for the day we headed into downtown Sturgis to see all of the motorcycles. We walked through the biker crowded streets looking at all of the booths. We ate lunch, Natalie finally found a corn dog to celebrate her sister Kim's birthday. We stopped into a restaurant for the restroom and saw a lady passed out on the table. Not only was she out she was topless and her boobs were resting on the table as well. We left the restaurant to see more biker women wearing next to nothing. We went back to the motor home that we parked at the city park. We laid around on the grass looking at magazines and Nick went for a run through Sturgis. When he got back we cooked up some kabobs for dinner. After dinner we drove to Deadwood to go out with a friend. My friend from home, Cacia, happened to be in Sturgis working the rally. We went out to a karaoke bar where Cacia and her coworkers belted out rock and rap songs. We ended the night at a live band and danced the night away.

Sturgis, SD

Natalie and her corn dog

Alicia at Sturgis

Alicia and Cacia in Deadwood

In the morning we woke up and drove out of South Dakota to Wyoming. We drove through grasslands to the Devil's Tower National Monument. This was the first Nat'l Monument ever. The Devil's Tower is a large rock formation in the middle of grasslands. We hiked all the way around the tower, and we were able to see ladders bolted to the rock. The ladders had been there since the 1890's when the tower was first climbed. We drove on to Billings, MT for the night.

View off lookout near Devil's Tower

Alicia at Devil's Tower

Quote:
      "What if it's the there and not the here that I long for. The wander and not the wait, the magic in the lost feet stumbling down the far away street and the way the moon never hangs quite the same."