BACK TO WORK

AM I got in four before we left for our big family trip.  Just a quick out and back to the bridge.

12:30 PM left for Provo. 

We climbed at the quarry from 6 to 10 PM  The kids loved it.  Saucy and Kire are quite good. 

AM left for Jackson WY.  NO run today.  stopped in Logan and had a nice little lunch at the park.  The kids wer happy to get out of the car. 

PM stopped @ Jackson and had dinner downtown.  We watched the gun show and looked around the shops.   The fudge and ice cream store was calling out to us, so we indulged.  There was a chop just across the street that was filled with taxidermy.  It had animals local and indigenious to the African continent.  Very cool.  The four arches made of antlers was also a neat sight.

AM Laur and I started at the same time today.  I went up by the ski lifts and then into town and made a loop back to the hotel.  The run was tough.  I couldn't ever get started.  It seemed like I was running in mud.  I think the travel was working on me today.

We drove through the Tetons.  How spectacular!  We took a ferry across jenny lake and then hiked up to hidden falls and inspiration point.  Saucy loved the little chipmunks and one crazy looking marmet.  The view from inspiration point was great.  Those mountains are seem almost not real, because they are so pretty.  The waterfalls were running high because it is still early in the year.  I loved it.

PM we stopped for a lunch at the main lake, and then went on to Yellowstone.  We hit Old Faithful about fifteen minutes before it went off.  The kids thought it was amazing, so did laurie and I.  There were hundreds of people waiting, so after it went off it was a mad dash to the visitor center and then off to West Yellowstone for the night.     

AM No run today.  We just woke up late and after breakfast went to Yellowstone canyon.  We stopped at the upper and lower falls for a couple mile hike.  It was great to walk down and stand right on the precipice of the lower falls.  The roar of the water was so loud it was necessary to shout to be heard.  The ground would actually rumble as the water hit the bottom.  At +/- 310 ft the power and amount of the water was crazy.  It wasn't as big as Niagra, but since it ran down in the canyon, it seemed more powerful at the bottom.

Kire loved the buffalo we saw standing right on the edge of the road.  Saucy yelled at it and it started bucking and snorting.  I think it wasn't too happy.  As we were going out of the park, we saw a real nice bull elk still in velvet and grizzly bear snoozing up in the trees.  I want to go back and spend a week there next year and hike and bike for the whole time.  The area is beautiful.

AM We stayed in Gillette WY last night.  The hotel had a nice little water park, so the kids swam until late.  I didn't get a run in this morning which turned out better, because we had a major hike today. 

Mount Rushmore always has one of the biggest fireworks shows in the U.S. for the 4th, but since the 4th was on a Saturday, they did it today instead.  We heard it was going to be really crowded, so after a quick stop in Sturgis to see the motorcycle museum, we got to Keystone SD.  By 2:30 PM the closest parking spot was 2.5 miles away.  We ecided to use this as our daily hike, so we piled our coats, snacks, and folding chairs on our backs and took off up the hilll.  When we got to the top, the park was packed already.  There were people that got to the park at 6 AM just to get seats in the ampitheater.  We set our stuff up in the woods on on the right side of the ampitheater.  The monument was neat, but I think I must have expected a little more.  I had always wanted to go to Rushmore, so I may have just built something bigger up in my mind. 

By about 8 PM it started rain and the fog rolled in, so it covered the monument.  We realized the fireworks were not going to be seen, so we started the hike back down the hill.  we decided to run down so that we could beat the traffic.  

We hadn't gotten a hotel room for the day, so the closest that we could find was a little dive on the east side of Newcastle WY.  It was midnight and we were tired and just went right to bed.  

AM Checked out the Crazy Horse monument.  This was unexpectantly one of the highlights of my trip.  The museum was very interesting and informative.  Because it was the 4th, they had brought in some of the Navajo code talkers that fought in WWII.  They had to be late eighties and early nineties.  I grabbed a rock from the monument to bring back for the classroom.  I was impressed with Ziolkowski and the dream he had and more impressed with his perserverance in accomplishing his dream.  Great sight to visit and well worth the entrance fee.

PM We stopped and wind cave national park for a lunch and then took a tour of the cave.  it was a 1.5 mile hike down into the cave which went as far down as 200 feet below the surface.  I started to get claustrophobic even with the lights that were on.   I had to really focus and breath.  My kids on the other hand thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.  I think that will be one of the highlights of the trip for them. 

We saw quite afew more buffalos as we went out the south end of the park and on to Cheyenne where we stayed for the night.