Our animals

We thought you kids would like to see a video of all of the pictures we took of our animals while on our trip.

Great Basin National Park (and Lehman Caves)

Today, we visited our tenth national park of the trip - Great Basin National Park, in Nevada. At Great Basin, there is another cave.

This cave - Lehman Cave - was quite different than the cave we saw at Wind Cave.

Once we were inside the cave we saw the differences between Lehman Cave and Wind Cave. Lehman Cave was gothic-looking, filled with stalactites and stalagmites (which gave us a chance to test our memory of the saying we'd learned from Ice Cave about which is which). Lehman Cave also has mitey-tites, where stalactites and stalagmites meet up with each other.



After the cave, we drove up to the top of the mountain in Great Basin, had lunch, and drove back down. We stopped at a few spots along the way for scenery, and then went on a short hike, where we were on the hunt for flowering cacti.



Our experience at Great Basin taught us that Nevadians have a sense of humor. On our way into the park, we were greeted by several statues.

Mesa Verde

Today we headed to Mesa Verde. While there, before we even saw any cliff dwellings, we learned: (a) we should keep wild life wild, (b) we should both bring water and not bring drinks on our walk to the first cliff dwelling we went to, and (c) there's something called Mormon Tea that grows in the area (we thought 2L might enjoy the sign).

Next, we hiked down to Spruce House, and were able to walk around parts of that cliff dwelling.

In addition to seeing Spruce House up-close, we were also able to see Cliff Palace (the largest cliff dwelling) from a number of vantage points along a drive through the park. We also got to see several other cliff dwellings from afar, and we were amazed at how many there were.






In addition to these kinds of dwellings, we saw several wild flowers. We have no idea of what these were.



Tonight, we're in Delta, UT, which, according to the front desk guy at the motel here, is in the middle of nowhere. Tomorrow we venture to our bonus park of the trip: Great Basin. (This also gives us our ninth, we think, national park of the trip.)

Black Canyon... of the Gunnison

Sadly, our hotel last night had no internet, so we couldn't update things until tonight. Yesterday, we ventured to Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

In any case, this was an area with amazing scenery that some brave souls (not us) hiked down into -- hence signs such as this one, warning people not to throw things into the black canyon, as those things might fall on said brave souls' heads.



We stuck to paths off the main road to see different views of the black canyon, as well as flowers.



Our animals enjoyed the scenery too, and even did some rock climbing.



After leaving Black Canyon (of the Gunnison), we headed toward Mesa Verde. On the way, we passed through a town with some fun statues we happened to see.

Big Things in Denver

The title of the post (not to mention the first bullet point) refers to the huge variety of large things there are in Denver. As we drove around , we seemed to find more and more large objects on every street corner. (Well, it was usually just one object per street corner, but more and more street corners seemed to have large objects.)



After the tour of large objects in Denver, we headed to Fort Collins. On the way, we stopped by a yard filled with statues of all sorts of dinosaurs, swans, trucks, flowers, and other objects made out of car parts. We were expecting just a few statues, but there was a never-ending field of them. The video is a little long, since the park amused us so much, so either bear with us, or stop it after you get the general idea.



On Wednesday, we headed to Rocky Mountain national park, where we saw not just huge mountains and great scenery, but also a decent bit of wild life.



On Thursday, we left Veena and Jerry's and headed to Great Sand Dunes.

CarHenge

We started the day with anticipation, looking for Carhenge - that Stonehenge of the west, made out of old cars. Sadly, the cars had been painted gray, which was designed to both stop rust and to make the cars look more like, well, stones. However, despite the gray paint, Carhenge did not disappoint.



After finishing our tour of Carhenge (where the animals posed on a car, on the station wagon, and in the belly of one of the dinosaurs), we headed to CO. We will spend several days in CO.

Badlands

Today we started out by braving the Badlands again. We learned that, millions of years ago, there was an ocean covering South D. Over time, the Black Hills and Rocky Mountains kept rising, and the ocean was shoved out of the way.


In the more prairie-esque portions of the Badlands, we found some more prairie dogs. Other wildlife we spotted on our way through the badlands were birds, a rabbit, and some bison (they seem to be all over this part of the country). Check out the collage below to see the cool bird we saw, to see the baby bunny, the prairie dogs, and the bison that roam Badlands National Park.



Once we'd finished with the Badlands, we headed to Wind Cave, another national park in SD. e entered through the tiny hole you can see in the cave pictures. ent possibilty). While in the cave, we saw what was called popcorn on the walls and ceilings, as well as box work.

Across from Wall Drug

We started the day heading toward the Badlands, just what it was that made them so bad. However, on the way, we were waylaid by signs for a mythical place called Wall Drug. At this place, according to the signs on the road, you could get free ice cold water, coffee for 5 cents, free donuts and coffee, see giant dinosaurs, visit a shooting range, shop for home decorations, shop for western wear, and I can't even remember what else. These signs started about 50 miles from Wall Drug, and were scattered all over the road.



After that side trip, we were ready to continue on our way to the Badlands. Once we got there, we discovered that the Badlands were most likely named the Badlands because they'd be a really bad place to live. They have rattlesnakes, don't seem to have good land, and they're hot. to leave the rest of the Badlands till tomorrow. Check in again for the actual photos of the park.

Instead, we headed over to Mount Rushmore. We spotted George Washington's face from the side of the road, and drove on closer to the park, figuring we'd get a better view.

Driving from Rapid City, SD to see Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse required us to go through South Dakota's Black Hills National Forest. While a National Forest is no National Park according to Michele, who has it in her head that she must visit all of the national parks in the U.S., we were pleasantly surprised by the Black Hills. Although we still are unsure as to why they are black (ok, well, they might look a little black from a distance with all of the evergreens), we still found them quite pretty and well worth the taking of a few snapshots from Nancy's spiffy camera.

After the mountain of presidents, we headed for the soon to be mountain of an indian - Crazy Horse. The mountain has been a work in progress since somewhere in the 1940s. Again, we went the cheap route (although at least the Crazy Horse people didn't do the "the fee is for parking" scam), and took a shot by the side of the road (accompanied by some other frugal travelers).

Deciding that was enough for the day, we headed for the big city of Rapid City. Along the way, we encountered a couple of muffler men, who you can see in the pictures.

Sedwick's Jump from the Bridge

Written by Sedwick: Well, I finally got around to copying the video to my computer. Actually this video includes jumps 1, 4, and 5. Thanks goes to Michele for operating the video camera, especially for jump 4 which required her to wake up at 5:30 AM. While not taking away from the niceness of the deed, it had more to do with her inability to sleep that morning than it did her desire to record the event.

Home on the Range

Soon into our journey yesterday, we realized that Home on the Range is not just a line from a song. Indeed, it's also a stop on the journey from the wilds of MT to Theodore Roosevelt National Park (at exit 7).

After passing wistfully by Home on the Range, we entered Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Soon after we entered, we realized that the park has more prairie dogs than you can shake a stick at. Luckily, we like prairie dogs and didn't have a stick handy to spend the day trying to shake at them.

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In addition to prairie dogs, TRNP also has wild horses. The first we saw came as a bit of a shock, as it ran by relatively close to us. After a bit, we got used to them.



We also encountered lots of bluebells (flowers)



After seeing the fun that the prairie dogs and horses were having, our animals (Mischievous Monkey, Bearable Bear, and Not Tigger Tiger) got out to stretch their legs and have some pictures taken.

Yellowstone National Park, Day 2

As we made our way into the park today, we were in search of an eagle’s nest that the hotel clerk had assured us would be 3 miles after the park’s entrance. Approximately 6 miles in, there was an eagle management area and a nest. Sadly, we did not see the eagle.

Between Lower and Upper Falls, the animals made a new friend. His name is Cooter, and he gets to ride around on the back of a motorcycle. Cooter’s driver commented that she’d seen the animals at Grand Teton.

After the falls, we ran into a traffic jam. We asked a ranger, who told us it was a bear trying to cross the road. We searched in the trees for the bear. Only Aunt Shell saw the bear, though (poor Chad and Nancy). Unfortunately, Nancy deleted my picture of the bear from her camera, so we don't have a picture of it.

After the bear were more animals – we saw sheep, mule deer , and a dog (safely behind the door of a car). After these animals, we were very excited to spot a horned animal really close to the road. We think it was a velvet-horned elk (or so sayeth our memory of the book we looked at in the bookstore).

Next, we went to an area of the park described in our guidebook as being full of elk who harass the tourists. We came to an area full of lounging elk. Happily, they did not harass us.

Yellowstone National Park, Day 1

After checking out, we headed back to Grand Teton, because we had to drive back through that park to get to Yellowstone. We started our trip at Yellowstone by heading towards Old Faithful, which is a geyser (this is where hot air shoots out of the ground). Unfortunately, it was raining, so our pictures are great, but here you can see Old Faithful erupting.



We also saw some mud pots, which are pots of boiling mud. We saw hot springs too.



We also saw many more animals than we saw in the Grand Tetons. Here are some of the animals we saw on our first day at Yellowstone.



And, here are our animals, posing at different places in the park.

Our Day at Grand Teton

Grand Teton National Park is beautiful. The mountains here are huge, but they are described on signs as "teenagers" still growing. One of the most famous mountains, Grand Teton, was covered by clouds almost all day, but it finally peeked through the clouds.

Here are some pictures we took at Grand Teton. You will see two very pretty birds, some bison (or American Buffalo), some elk, three pika (little chipmunk-like animals), and a pronghorn antelope.



We also took some pictures of our stuffed animals, which I think you kids will like. Here are those pictures.



Yesterday and today, we are going to Yellowstone National Park. I'll write more about that tonight or tomorrow night if we get in too late tonight.

Sunday

Minidoka Internment National Monument

Unfortunately for him, Sedwick was not able to make any jumps today because there was too much wind.

While Sedwick was at his course, Nancy and I tried to find something to do. We started by looking for the Minidoka Internment Camp National Historical Site. While we finally successfully found it, there wasn't much to see.

Hagerman Fossil Beds

After driving about 30 miles to see the Hagerman Fossil Beds, we found the very small building. There was nothing much to see there, so we left. On our way back to the hotel, we saw this muffler man. As Nancy got out of the car to get her camera from the back, two dogs came charging at her (happily they were nice dogs).

Shoshone Falls

Nancy and I then went to find Shoshone Falls, which are water falls that are near the town we are staying in. I made a little video so that you could see many pictures of the falls.

Plans

Well, it's Sunday, and we are getting ready to go tape Sedwick jumping again. Yay! Then, Nancy and I are going to go see some fossils and we will go back to see the big waterfalls, I think. But, right now, Nancy is still sound asleep, Sedwick is learning to pack his parachute, and I'm just waiting for everyone to get ready!!

Cavemen, Not Shoshone

After taping the first base jump of the day, Nancy and I went off to see some Idaho sites. First on our list were the Shoshone Indian Ice Caves.

The best part about our tour of the ice caves, was our tour guide, who guided us through the ice caves saying very little. He told us that the statues of cavemen were built to scale and that the Ice Cavemen lived only 18-20 years because they did not have medicine and education like we do. Before going into the caves, he told us, in his mumbling and monotone voice, that the volcanoes in this area were not like other volcanoes, as they were formed by the a rift. He gave no explanation of how these volcanoes were unlike others or what a rift was. He also pointed out two stalagmites and told us the difference between stalagmites and stalagtites is that "stalagmites might grow to the ceiling; stalagtites hold on tight." Oddly enough, I'll probably never forget the difference between the two again!

There were two other oddities at the caves. The first were the huge statues outside of the cave in front of the so-called gift shop. Among these were one huge Native American, one HUGE dinosaur with a Native American riding it (??), and a third was an elephant. Why were they there? We don't know. It didn't make any sense to us at all. But, yhou can see them in the Mixbook project below.

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After visiting the Shoshone Indian Ice Caves, Nancy and I took a trip to Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. If you like volcanic rock, this is the place for you! The park was apparently named because it looked like the craters on the moon through a telescope. Let me tell you... it looks nothing like any pictures of the moon I've ever seen. But, there was MILES and MILES of volcanic rock. Here's a little video of the park.

First Jump

Well, Sedwick's first jump from the bridge went well. Do you know that you can't do any skydiving until you are 18? And, this jumping from the bridge you have to do when you have many many skydives already. You can see pictures of the jump in the collage above.

Lazy Day

Today was a very lazy day. We didn't start until late, and even after getting started, all we did in the morning was try to find the cable needed for Aunt Shell's camera (so that we could put our cow round up video here). But, we did not find one. Nancy and I went off to find Shoshone Falls, but we decided not to pay the $3 to get into the park because we didn't have enought time to spend there. It was a windy day with some rain, and everyone was tired enough to have an early evening.

As we were driving around Twin Falls trying to locate a toy store (which we do not think exists in this town), we happened across some Muffler Men. They were so cute that we thought we'd take a picture.

Although we did not go into the park when we finally located Shoshone Falls, we were able to take a few pictures.

Wake up, sleepy heads!!

It's Friday, June 5, and Nancy and Chad are still asleep and snoring. It's 9 o'clock in the morning, for crying out loud!!! If they are this tired on the third day of our trip, how tired are they going to be after 20 days? I already got up, took a shower, went downstairs twice for coffee, and even finally decided to eat some breakfast. Hopefully, they wake up soon, because I want to do something today.

Cow Round Up (Thursday, June 4)

Today, we needed to drive from Ogden, Utah, where our hotel was, to Twin Falls Idaho. Twin Falls is the place where Chad is going to learn how to jump off a bridge with a parachute. I think he's crazy.

On the way from Ogden, UT to Twin Falls, ID, we decided to take a trip to see the City of Rocks. On the way there, we ran into a cow round up (which seemed more like a cowjam - like a traffic jam, Rollie, except that it was cows, not cars, slowing us down). This roundup had everything: cows (of course), horses, and real cowboys!! The cowboys helped us out by giving us directions to just keep driving. One cow decided he wanted to cross the road in the other direction and almost walked into our car.

Tomorrow, when I buy a cable to get video to the computer from my camera, I can add a video of the roundup.

When people in our country moved across the United States all the way to California, some of them came through Idaho (that's where I am now, if you don't remember). Some of the places they saw, the named, because it reminded them of something else. The City of Rocks is one of those places. They named it the City of Rocks because the big rocks reminded them of city buildings. Here's a little video that shows some of the pictures we took in the City of Rocks.

Did you know? Idaho is know for potatoes. You can see many many potato fields in Idaho. They are so proud of their potatoes here that they even mention them on their cars' license plates.

We came all of the way out here so that Chad could learn to jump from a bridge with his parachute. Nancy and Aunt Shell do not want him to do this, but he's going to do it anyway. Nancy took some pictures of the bridge that he is going to jump off of, so here's a little video of some of those pictures that she took.

Rush, Rush, Rush

This was a very very very long day! In the morning, we rushed around trying to get all of our things packed up and trying to get my medicine that I forgot to get refilled from the drugstore. Our taxi cab came at 2pm to pick us up. We arrived at the airport at 2:30, and then we had to wait until 4:30 for the airplane to take off! We first flew to Phoenix, Arizona where we had to run all over the airport to catch our next flight to Salt Lake City, Utah. Ask your mom and dad or gramma and grampa to show you those places on a map. We finally got off our plane in Utah at 11:00pm. Then, we had to drive to our hotel, which was about another 45 minute drive away, but we first had to wait until we got our rental car. We finally got to our hotel at 12am. We were very very tired.

Here's a map of the trip we will be taking:


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