Wyoming--Yellowstone National Park

Took off Thursday morning for Cody, Wyoming, Walmart so we can go into Yellowstone Bridge Bay Campground for a couple of nights. Oh my, did we find some fabulous scenery. We traveled through Devil's Tower and Big Horn National Forrest and really enjoyed the beautiful drive. We started to go up in elevation and the ups and downs challenged to RV--she took it like a champ.

Devil's Tower
 

Canyons
 

Old Faithful
 

Bring out the long sleeves and sweats
 

We crossed this several times
 

Friday, around noon we pulled into Bridge Bay Campground and Marina on Lake Yellowstone in the middle of Yellowstone National Park. The huge, deep lake is where the mountains and canyons meet the water. After getting set up for rustic camping (a lot of aged hippies with bandanas here), we set took off for Old Faithful and the 76 mile southerly loop of Yellowstone. Fabulous! Around every curve there is an artist's dream--the first day we took over a hundred pictures. The crowd here is very international with a heavy emphasis of Asians -- English was not the most common language among the tourist. We saw a lot of Bison--along Canyon Rd. they were actually at the road. That evening we went to the Amphitheater and listened to a talk by one of the park rangers about the history and culture of Yellowstone--he was so good (and funny) that we have been quoting him all day. Saturday brought The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, 300 foot clear waterfalls, and Norris Basin Geysers where we got a thorough education on thermodynamics. Mammoth So neat.

Relatives of ours? 

Pictures don't do the geysers justice--the water is really hot

Artists love the colors in the geysers' pools

Petrified tree

The waterfalls were throughout the park

South Dakota

On Sunday August 12th we took off for South Dakota which offered the Badlands, Wall Drugs, Sturgis, Crazy Horse Memorial and most importantly to us: Mt. Rushmore. Little did we realize that this was the last day for the Sturgis/Harley Davidson motorcycle Rally. This attracts over a half million cyclists to Sturgis, South Dakota, and has been doing so in mid August since 1938.  We drove right through the middle of town and the rally was closing up so traffic was not bad (plus the fact that it was over 100 degrees probably helped). We stayed in Rapid City, SD, which is in the middle of everything we wanted to see and on Monday morning we went to Wall Drug (unimpressive) and the Badlands (very impressive).  If I die and go to hell I will be shopping in Wall Drug daily. However, this exit off I-90 also served as the gateway to the Badlands National Park--yet another WOW moment when we drove through the sandstone park--the topography showcase beautiful upside down mountains. The temperatures dropped to a very pleasant 80's so we decided to make a full day of it and in the afternoon went southward to the Crazy Horse Memorial (sad--70 years in and they only have his face and hole for his arm) and then for the evening show at Mt. Rushmore (WOW--. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln in beautiful granite). 


They say they have good donuts....

The Badlands are awesome

 

Crazy Horse Memorial

Mt. Rushmore

Fitz and Teddy in downtown Rapid City

Me and my favorite Pres.--Ron

After a sorta down day spent taking in the President's statues in downtown Rapid City and getting in some groceries, washing the car, we went to Spearfish Canyon and Deadwood. Deadwood is known for being the place where Wild Bill Hickok was shot in the back by Jack McCall and died. Calamity Jane and other notable cowpokes lived there and they do tributes to the Gold Rush and Cowboys there. Fun day.

Spearfish Canyon

 

Bill Hickok lived his last 6 weeks here and was shot in the back

 

Love their Cowboys

 

You can always find a shootout

North Dakota

We traveled through Minneapolis on Sunday and were glad to miss the traffic that was sure to come on a work day. After a night at Walmart in Monticello and at a Pilot in Grand Fork we rolled into Diane and Bob Fritels' farm in Wolford, ND, on Tuesday around noon and plugged in while sitting in their driveway-- their driveway was 8 miles down a gravel road, past the fields they and their relatives farmed. What a pleasure it was to see our Texas buddies and see their way of life. Fitz got agronomy 101 lessons from Bob (drove a combine!)and Diane and I caught up with their family news and tales of farm life in North Dakota . She had a great vegetable garden and had just "put away a crop of CC Jelly--I think this is Choke Cherry. On Wed. they took us to the International Peace Garden on the Canadian border (about 40 miles north). This straddles the border at Manitoba, Canada. Then in the evening we went to a community picnic in Rugby where we met many of the Fritel relatives and friends--truly a Norman Rockwell evening.

Diane and Bob in their Tennessee Orange--look pretty good to us

The Fritel Farmhouse--here they raised their 4 children

The swimming pool in the backyard
 



North Dakota yard art

View of their farm out the picture window

We plugged in at the farm -picture was taken while in the cherry picker

Hands across the border at the International Peace Garden

Beautiful flowers and cacti 

Have to have a Peace Dove

Community Picnic
 

It is really about 14 miles down the road but here that is just around the corner

Thursday morning we took off for Medora, ND where they have the south entrance to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, a much touted Musical, Pitchfork Fondue (steaks cooked on pitchforks dipped for 4 minutes in boiling oil-yum) and cowboy town. The town, food and musical were very family oriented and nice but the main attraction was the National Park and the history of our 26th President. We fell in love with Teddy Roosevelt --vice president for McKinley who died in 1901, he served as president from 01-08. He did a lot to kickstart the national parks preservation in America and it was said that he added economic freedom to the freedoms of life, liberty and happiness. We also saw bison, prairie dogs (very cute) and our first ever elk.

You ride along I-94 and come over a hill and all of the sudden you change topography dramatically

I was a very hot week --103 in the shade!

The Medora Musical was wonderful--made us miss the kids

Steaks on pitchforks--who would have thought?

Buffalo were sorta mangey up close.

Prairie Dogs were cute but you could see why the locals didn't want them in their yard



Going out to Wind Canyon for sunset we caught this buffalo herd crossing the Little Missouri River

Beautiful sunset was found at Wind Canyon in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Can't pass up an opportunity for happy hour at sunset

　

Northerly Travels

The first of August the kids headed back to school and Fitz and I went north. First major stop--Lake Geneva, Wi. This resort village is about 50 miles northwest of Chicago and was where the rich and famous Chicagoans (Wrigley's, Montgomery/Wards,etc) retreated during the summer. The 21 miles around Lake Geneva is populated with fabulous homes and the boat tour showed them off. We stayed at Barefoot Beach State Park which was rustic and quiet but convenient.

Rustic and secluded
 

Riviera Beach at Lake Geneva
 

Stone House on the Lake is now 8 luxury condo's

The Bar and Grill on the Lake

Much like the Western Bluff on Mackinaw Island--lovely

 3 hours north was Green Bay/Bayshore State Park, WI and our second stop. The temps have definitely cooled (lows in the 50's, high's in the high 70's or low 80's). We took in the Green Bay Packers home - Lambeau Field and Door County. This is an area we missed on our boat trip because we went down the MI side of Lake Michigan. We went all the way to the tip of the peninsula at Gills Rock and then lunched in Sturgeon Bay (the only cut through between Lake MI and Green Bay). The trip report for Wisconsin is that if you are a football fan, Green Bay is a great stop. The wineries throughout Door County were very good and a trip across the Peninsula to Algoma was very worthy.

How could you not love Lambeau Field at Green Bay if you are a football fan
 

 

They have a giant Lombardi Trophy and call themselves "Titletown" since they have 13 titles

 

They LOVE Reggie White here which endears them to us UT fans
 

 

the arm span

 

Wine tasting at Algoma with a little music for added flair
 

 

Quite proud of their Cheese Curds which weren't too bad

 

Downtown Green Bay had a farmer's market on Saturday

 

One of the many wineries on Door County--pretty good