Today started with a liitle rain and thunder, but by the time we got to the Grand Teton the sun was shining.  This is one amazing place to see. The mountains and scenery are out of this world. Everyone is in awe of the scenery.   I finally got a connection I uploaded select pictures in the time we had at the education center.   We are all having a wonderful time.

He it was only in the 40’s last night, balmy.  Today it is old Faithfull and the circle of fire. Also we are stopping by the main visitor and gifts shops of Yellowstone today. I got to say we have has some awesome weather.  There has hardly been a cloud in the sky all week. 

This may be the last update till we get home.  There is no connection near our site, and I’m not sure about our stop in Nebraska Sunday.  Keep check back just in case I get lucky.

Well I keep writing even though I’m O for Yellowstone in WIFI connections.  Today we saw Old Faithfull.  It was a picturest blue sky without a cloud in it.  Old Faithfull shot up 135 feet in the air.  Then after that, we walked around the other geysers and thermal features.  Everyone was in awe of the  Old Faithfull stop.  After that we continued on the circle of fire and had a picnic lunch.   In the afternoon we stopped at the Canyon Village visitor center to check it out.  Then we went to the North rim trail of the canyon.  Now I have been to the Royal Gorge in Colorado, and this was by far just as deep and I think more amazing.  It had two waterfalls dropping over 1500 ft.  The boys when down the trail that dropped 600ft to the lower falls.  I stayed on top, or they would still be pulling me up the trail.  It was just an amazing site to see.  There were also reports of grizzly bears in that area, but we didn’t see any.  Then we went over to the south rim and took the trail right up to the brink of the upper falls. The water rushing over the falls was a sight to see.  The river is high and the power of the water rushing over the falls was amazing.

Now it is just hard to believe that the heat index in Iowa is 113 and I am, on July 15, looking for an ICE scrapper to clear off the van windows.  The temp is 30 and frost is everywhere. I am typing this with a winter hat, coat and gloves on.  The water coolers have ice in them.   The best part, and elk walked through our campsite this morning.  Today is service project day all day and moving to our lakeside camping area.  The site we have Thurs – Sat was not available on Wed so we have to move the camp this morning. 

Man –o-man more buffalos, elks, and bears on the way our service project.  Our project was to remove evasive plants from a picnic area. We completed that and then went over to an amazing waterfall. Everyone kept a hold on Brandon so he didn’t fall in.  We are back in our new camp site for the next 3 days.  It is a great camp site.

Last night was a sit around the fire and relax. The stars are amazing here.  Jimmy said because we are closer to them.  I found out today that the only WIFI connection is 50 miles away that is why it looks like nothing has been happening.  Hopefully I can get something upload Friday.

Day 4  - Spokane Creek to Yellowstone

Again, what an amazing day.  We broke camp at 7:45am and arrived in Yellowstone at 10:00pm.  500 miles in the car 12 hours, the reason the Rocky Mountains.  When you are going 25 – 50 mph you can’t get from point A to B very fast, but the drive was amazing.  The scenery is something else.  Mountains with snow on them to deep river gorges.  The Lanhams had car problem and had the stay in Worland for the night to get it repaired.  Like I said the trip was amazing we got to Yellowstone at sunset.  Driving along Yellowstone Lake with the snow cap mountain reflecting off the lake and the sun setting the photos will not do it justice.  To show you how big Yellowstone is, we came in the east entrance and was still and hour from our campsite.  As we drove in to Yellowstone,  we saw 5 buffalo by the road and 3 elk.

Very busy day.   We began by going over to the Cosmos Experience.  It was an hour long tour of demonstrations of illusion and tricks of the eye.  After doing that we stopped by an old “ghost town” by our campsite.  After lunch we went onto Mt. Rushmore.  Marc again took us a new scenic way by Custer State Park.  We say over 75 buffaloes just off the road.  We got a tad lost, but we found our way as we went by the Crazy Horse Monument again.   Finally we got to Mt. Rushmore.  We took a group picture and several family pictures next to Mt. Rushmore.  We split up and I went with Marc, Matt and our families around the trail that takes you to the bottom of the mountain.  It was a very cool walk.  Again I have plenty of pictures to upload but I’m not sure when I will get time.  We are heading back to Mt. Rushmore tonight to see it light up.   We are packing up tonight for an 8:00 departure to Yellowstone tomorrow.  Depending on the connections in Yellowstone I will try to get something uploaded.

Day 2  - Spokane Creek - Crazy Horse

Woke up to a beautiful day.  Temp in the 50’s and the sun coming over the mountains. The camp was up by 5:30, 6:30 Iowa time.  Grab some pancakes and off to today’s activities.  I will be posting pictures throughout the day, now that I have the code.  I will post pictures of the service project and the road to get here around 1:00pm Iowa time.  Look for Crazy Horse pictures tonight.  A group is heading into town to get supplies and are going to take picture of the “straight road” More to come.

Well we are back from the service project with one casualty.  Brett put a hole in his wrist catching it on barb wire.  Brett is fine. Now Brandon and Brett are the same.  The project was cleaning clearing old graves from weeds and clearing trees from the fence line.   We are having Lunch and then off to Crazy Horse.

HOLLY BUCKETS!!!!!

Man what an afternoon.  Marc took us on the “scenic” route to Crazy Horse. Your first clue you are in for a ride is the sign, “The Next 7 Miles Are Not Maintained in The Winter”.  It started out great at, he climbed up a small incline to the top of a hill and we got to see Mt. Rushmore in the distance.  Then the fun began. We went around several switchbacks on the way to the top of this huge mountain.  Along the way the trees were cut,  so after each turn you could see Mt. Rushmore framed in the trees.  The problem was I have been on wider roads on a golf course and the golf cart.  Man the road was narrow and the shoulder is 1000ft straight down.  Man we were high up, I have to say I was getting a little nervous  driving a big van and 11 people up the mountain.  People were getting quezzy from the constant U turns.  We went through 3 one lane tunnels and one spiral down the mountain.  After coming out of the mountain I was so focused on the road that I missed the turn.  Marc in his white truck turned and another white truck was in front of him, so I followed that.  I realize I was following someone from South Carolina, oops.  I got turned around and regrouped. We went around Mt. Rushmore and finally got to Crazy Horse.  We all saw a movie on the monument and toured to complex.  I must say it is real impressive.   Everyone had a great time over there.  

We then came back to a dinner of pork loin and cheesy potatoes and 2 cobblers.  Now the scouts are taking on the adults in capture the flag.  Hey Jeff, Brenda has a telescope we are using to see the stars.  Set up in 10 minutes.  We didn’t have to call Saturn. 

I had to cook tonight and I have a ton of pictures to look trough.  Hopefully I can get them posted on Tuesday.  Tuesday we are going into town to do some stuff, then over to Mt. Rushmore for the afternoon, and then back to Mt. Rushmore at night to see it light up.   Wednesday we are on the road again.   I uploaded some pictures. More to come later.

Well we are off.  We left promptly at 7:00am.  Pastor Bob was there at the sendoff to say a prayer for us and to bless our trip.  As I write this we are heading west on I-80 in a down pour, but what else would you expect from a campout I am on. Well it is 11:30 and we are eating lunch in front of a shopping mall in Sioux Fall SD.  The girls used the excuse they need to go to the bathroom so they went to the mall. Everyone is fairing ok so far.  Half the trip down half to go. Well I was planning to update the site at lunch but no connection. 

So we headed west to Rapid City.  The stop we made between Sioux Falls and Rapid City had 10 gas pumps, 2 bathrooms and 35 people waiting to go to the bathroom.  Amy kept asking “Where are the mountains?”  Well we found more rain before we found any mountains.   We got to Rapid City at 5:00 mst.   At Rapid City everyone in the group was with us.  We then proceeded to the campsite.  It was 15miles.  That if you drove straight there were more turns on this road than you could believe.  Turn right turn left make a “U” turn and go up and down like a yo-yo.   Also there were cows, deer and turkeys on the road.  We finally made it to camp and everything is set up.  The boys found the playground to play on.

Tomorrow we will be up and off to our service project at 8:00am, then in the afternoon we are off to see the Crazy Horse Memorial.

I’m a little late getting this updated as there is a connection at the camp, but I got up to the office too late to get the security key.

Check out The pictures.