Mount Rushmore (TEA Day 54)

On Monday we left Cody for Rapid City, which is near Mount Rushmore.

Cattle drive!

South Dakota!

Near Mount Rushmore, which is near Rapid City, we stopped at the Crazy Horse Memorial.

The Crazy Horse Memorial is a monument in progress, which was started in the 1960’s or so.

When it is finished, it will look like this 1/37 model, and will be taller than the Washington Monument.

We then proceeded on to Mount Rushmore, which was really cool.

We loved it. It was awesome to see something so famous.

We then stayed in the Big Sky Lodge in Rapid City.

It rained, so we witnessed a rainbow.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West [Cody, WY] (TEA Day 53)

Here’s our cabin in Yellowstone.

On the way out of Yellowstone, we stopped to get Charlie his free ice cream, from getting stickers at 4 out of 5 stores.

Then we drove maybe 2 hours to Cody, WY, home of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

That mosaic is 200,000 pieces. That’s a lot.

We stayed at the Beartooth Inn in Cody.

Canyon, Yellowstone/Grand Teton National Park (TEA Day 52)

Yesterday (July 19th) morning, we went back up to Canyon, Yellowstone, to see what we missed because of the thunderstorm.

Wildlife!

Wildlife! That’s a pelican.

Wildlife! Elk!

Wildlife! More bison!

Wildlife! Rabbit!

Back at Canyon, this is Upper Falls.

We took a short walk down to the brink of Upper Falls.

Wildlife! Elk up close!

While Dad, Sister, Eddie, and Marty walked down to the brink of Lower Falls, Charlie and Mom went to the three overlooks of Lower Falls.

This view was well worth the strenuous climb back up 3/8 of a mile, with an elevation gain of 600 feet by way of 10 switchbacks.

Then we visited Inspiration Point, but couldn’t get a great picture because the lower bit of the observation deck was closed.

We did get a good view from a spot not on the observation deck.

Then we visited the Mud Volcano stop. This is the Dragon’s Mouth.

This is Eddie by the Mud Volcano. It used to spew mud high into the air, but it spewed itself out.

After that, we drove down south out of Yellowstone and into Grand Teton National Park. It was pretty, but because of wildfires in Washington it was pretty hazy.

Yellowstone: Mammoth to Old Faithful to Yellowstone Lake (TEA Day 51)

7/18

On July 18th (yesterday) we left Mammoth Hotel. We stayed that evening in the Lake Hotel, so we began to make our way down there.

These are paint pots, aka mud pots. They were really cool! This pool of mud was constantly bubbling.

This is White Dome Geyser. We got to see it erupt.

There’s Old Faithful! Since it’s really famous, we were excited to see it erupt. However, we got there right after it erupted. So we walked around and saw the rest of the Old Faithful Geyser Bsin, and then got to wait another 30 minutes.

Look at all the people! And this is half an hour till eruption.

There it goes!

Later that evening, we arrived at Yellowstone Lake. We had some fun with our shadows down at the lake.

West Thumb.