Day #5..pictures and chuckwagons

Since we put off taking pictures yesterday, that was today's main project.  We got up and ate at the hotel and got dressed and headed out.  We turned quite a few heads with our matching outfits!  I was over all pleased with the pictures.  I am still having trouble with one of my lenses and had to delete several, but I got some really good ones.  We went to three main places to take pictures.  We started off with the mountains and the flowers, which was one of my favorite places last year.  I won't post all of them because I took a ton, but I will post a few.  I do have to say that these were not my favorite.  They are good, but not my favorite!

Next, we went to the barn.  It was also one of my favorite places last year (but then what wasn't!).  These are my favorite ones, I have to say.  The kids saw the ground squirrels here for the first time.  You would have thought they discovered gold the way they carried on about them!  This barn was redone by a group of folks, but I can't remember the details from our wildlife tour last year.  But, really, the pictures speak for themselves!

I really didn't get a great one of all of us.  I was having trouble with the lens.

After the barn, there was another group of buildings right down the road.  Here is a picture I took there.  I loved this barn with the old working pens.

Next we headed to the reflective pond.  I love this place!  By this time we were tired and hot, but the pictures were still pretty good.  Just remember, you have to forget what these look like for the Christmas cards! 

This is all I am going to post here, you will have to see the rest later.


We came back to town and changed clothes.  We headed down town to a place Eley and I ate at last year, Mountain High Pizza Pie.  Eley didn't feel good today, so we went back to the hotel and I sat with the kids while they swam and he rested. We came back and got ready for our chuck wagon ride and dinner tonight.  We got dressed and headed down there.  I have to say it was a lot of fun.  We got into modernized covered wagons, and rode 2 miles up the creek to our dinner spot.

Getting ready to pull out in our new bandanas

At our table

The band

where we got our grub

Wyatt and Garrett helping out with a song

our wagon

Wyatt sitting on our guides lap helping her drive the horses

It was really a great time.  As I said before, Eley didn't feel well today, and I had a  little bit where  I  didn't either.  Tonight Garrett was feeling bad.  I think we have had a touch of altitude sickness, or something.  Hopefully all will be well tomorrow.  We have repacked and are headed to Yellowstone the next two days.  It may be possible that I have no cell service or wireless tomorrow night.  So if you don't hear from me, we haven't been eaten by bears!  Just out of technology :)   I will be talking to you soon!

Day # 4....the adventure continues

We all had a really great sleep after being in the car for so long.  We got up and ate breakfast and headed down town, in our red, white and blue.  We headed to the rafting office, to check and see what we needed to wear for the trip.  After we left there, we wandered around to some of the shops.  I got us all matching sweatshirts to wear in one of our pictures.  While we were downtown, we learned there would be a 4th of July parade at 10:30 that morning.  So we hung around to watch the parade.  It was a great parade!  We all enjoyed it.  I'm not sure if it was the actual parade, or the feeling of being in a beautiful place.  I took pictures with Eley's camera, although I don't know why.  I certainly didn't know any of these people.  I will post a few pictures for you to get a feel for it.

Waiting for the parade to start

This is the direction it came from

They had several 4H floats

This was a float advertising for the chuck wagon dinner we will be going to tomorrow night

Believe it or not, a farmer's market float thew corn!

After the parade, we headed back to the rafting office to leave.  Eley took his camera, because he has a waterproof case and I don't.  So these next few pictures are his.  We had to float, because they were concerned about Wyatt white water rafting.  Trust me, the river was plenty swift enough.  It was never bad, nor did we really get wet, but it was enough.  Our guide told us that today, the Snake River was flowing at 22,000 cubic feet per second.  He explained a cubic foot is like a basketball filled with water going by in one second.  So imagine 22, 000 basketballs going by in one second!  Usually it is around 10,000.  It is twice as high right now, due to the heavy snow.  He also told us that the Jackson Hole Ski Lodge normally gets around 400 something inches of snow, and this year they got 750!  So that puts it into perspective!

Here is what the river looked like.

We were in a raft just like the blue one you see here

Along they way, he told us different facts about the river, Jackson, the mountains, and anything we asked him.  We did see some wildlife along the way.  We saw a deer, coyote, Canada geese, sandpipers, and 8 bald eagles...yes 8!!  He said it was a record.  We decided it was because it was the 4th of July!

We rested for the afternoon.  Eley said he really thought our pictures would be better in the morning, so we are going to take them first thing.  We ate supper, drove around for a bit and then found a spot to watch the fireworks!  It was the first time in my life I watched fireworks in jeans and a fleece jacket!  What a nice change...

A storm rolling across the Tetons

A big group of elk

Beautiful sunset

You might can tell, but these were shot off the ski slope in town

I have to add one more picture.  I couldn't get it in the right place, but it was just too funny to me.  This was the end of the parade.  These guys and gals are the Chamber of Commerce!

Will post more pictures and update tomorrow!  Pictures then headed to Jenny Lake!

Day # 3...the day that I thought would never end!

I started out this morning bright and early.  I had the alarm set for 6:30.  I woke up, saw the sunlight, and checked the time on my ipad.  It was almost 6:30, so I got up and got my stuff together for a shower.  When I checked my phone, it was really just after 5:30!  My ipad hadn't reset its time.  By that time I was already awake, so I just stayed up.  We were packed, had eaten breakfast, and pulled away by 7:30.  I checked the road conditions on the Wyoming department of transportation, and one of the roads was closed leading into Jackson due to flooding, so we had to reroute ourselves in a different direction, adding an hour.  So what I thought was supposed to be an 8 hour trip, now was over 10.

We hadn't gone too far, when we swung by Devil's Tower National Monument.  It was neat to think about how it was formed.

Devil's Tower

After we left there, we headed west across the state of Wyoming.  Right outside of Sheridan, we started going up and over the Bighorn Mountains.  We had been watching them get closer, but it was fun to start driving up them.

We hadn't been driving long when I took this.  Wyatt was too scared to get out!

We continued up and over the mountains.  It took most of the day to work our way up and across.  But we were so happy with what was up there!!  SNOW!  I couldn't believe it, on July 3, there was still snow on the ground!

Once we got over the mountains and started down, the landscape drastically changed.  It went from a springtime feel in the mountains (it reminded me of Colorado with the snow and wildflowers) to what I would think Arizona or New Mexico would look like.  I had NO idea part of Wyoming looked like this.  I am going to add a few pictures of what was on the back side of the Bighorn Mountains.

Like I said, I had no idea part of Wyoming looked like this.  We kept driving on until we went through Cody, and on into the east entrance to Yellowstone.  I could not get over all the snow!  I knew I had been reading about all of the record snow levels and flooding due to the melting snow pack, but it was unreal!  We saw it all throughout the park in different spots.  In the woods, in parking lots, by the side of the road...crazy.

As we worked our way down through Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, we stopped a few times for various views and/or wildlife.  I will end with a few of these.  We finally made it to Jackson, in only 14 hours!  I thought I would go mad!  The kids did really well though.  Tomorrow we were supposed to go white water rafting, but they called and due to the high water levels, they aren't permitting children under 10 to go.  And I really appreciate them being so cautious, even though we were disappointed.  I didn't want this to be a frightening experience.  So they switched us to the 13 mile scenic trip with lunch.  I am sure that will be fun, too.  I just hate I can't take my camera with me.  But water and cameras don't mix.  I am also planning on taking our pictures tomorrow night in our matching shirts.  The kids have been properly warned.  Hopefully they will turn our great and I will have some to post tomorrow night!  Thanks for all the prayers for safe travel!

This guy was on the side of the road in Bighorn National Forest

Obviously not an animal, this was Shell Falls in Bighorn

Bison in Yellowstone

This view was across Yellowstone Lake

This guy was also right on the side of the road in Yellowstone

I know its almost impossible to see, but this is a grizzly bear with two cubs
in Grand Teton National Park, with Jackson Lake in the background.

Just so you can appreciate it, here is where the grizzly was
zoomed out!  I love these mountains!

Day Number 2

Today we had an awesome day!  We left Kearney around 8:30 headed towards Custer, South Dakota.  We changed times in Ogallala, Nebraska.  We got off the interstate there, and headed on a two lane highway up into the black hills.  It was so pretty.  The farm lands combined with the hills, the kids loved it.  They have said all day they want to move here, wherever here was at the time!
We got into Custer around 3, and checked in to the motel.  Eley said I did much better on our accommodations tonight than last night.  We got unpacked and the boys changed into jeans.  They were already cold and it was only in the low 70's.  Our first stop was Crazy Horse.  We learned all about the monument and why they were making it.  I didn't even know it existed until today!

The monument is not even half way done

After we left Crazy Horse (which by the way, Wyatt kept wanting to know where the horse was) we headed up the mountain to Mt. Rushmore.  Just as we turned in, it started pouring rain and hailing.  It didn't last long, and we parked and walked up.  There was another storm moving in so we hung out in the gift shop for a bit.  They announced that the night time show was cancelled, due to the weather.  So we snapped a few more pictures in the rain and headed down the mountain.

We saw a lot of wildlife all day today.  We started off seeing turkey as soon as we left Kearney.  Later on we saw antelope.  When we got closer to Custer we saw prairie dogs, buffalo, mule deer, white tail deer, and a mountain goat with two kids.  So we are already off to a good start!  

Prong Horn Antelope

Prairie Dog

White tail deer

But most of all, the scenery is magnificent.  We love the mountains and the rocks together, it was so beautiful.  I will end with a few pictures of what we saw today.  Tomorrow we head west across the state of Wyoming into Jackson!  Finally :)

The First Day

Today was the first day of our vacation.  We were scheduled to leave at 4 am, but Eley turned the alarm off!  He woke up at 5, got us all up and we were pulling out a little before 5:30.  Here is everyone, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.  It didn't last too long and they were snoozing away.

Eley and I were stressed most of the day because we had taken a good bit of our money and put on a Wal-Mart Visa card.  We figured out, after it was too late, that the card was only temporary, and they would send you a permanent one in 7-10 days.  Then we tried to use it at a few gas stations, and it was declined.  So we were pretty stressed out, thinking our money was stuck on a card.  But we realized that you can use it, but you have to go inside, and it worked for stores and restaurants.  Once we got that all taken care of, we were set.  But just a note to you all, if you need something like that, do it 2 weeks ahead of time, or just know you have to go into a store and can't use it at a pump.
We made it to Kearney, Nebraska, at 6:00 pm, in 12 1/2 hours.  The kids did great, even wanting to eat their lunch in the car.  We got here and made a quick trip to Cabela's.  It was a very small one, because it was one of the original ones.  Then after a great supper at a local Mexican chain restaurant, we came back to the motel.  I can't say it is the nicest one I have ever stayed in, but it is a very big room.  Anyway, we are going to turn in early.  We will get up and eat breakfast here at the motel, then head out.  Our goal is to eat breakfast around 7.  We go back to mountain time, so we actually gain an hour.  Tomorrow is Mt. Rushmore, and we can't wait.  There is a chance of rain, so we are hoping it doesn't.  Will post tomorrow...pray for safe travels.  Thanks and love to all <3