Yellowstone!!

Wow, we finally made it! This is as far west as we are heading, and it was far! We left Billings yesterday morning at about 11am and headed to Red Lodge, MT. It is such a cute little town, very tourist oriented. We had decided to take road 212 over the mountain, Beartooth Pass. It is supposed to be the most scenic road in America, but everyone told us it was real white knuckle driving. Oh my god, they were right. The elevation at the top of the mountain was nearly 11,000 feet and the roads were twisted and narrow. I was sweaty and nervous, but Mark drove it slow and let the engine do the work (Aunt Mary had told us how to put out a brake fire, so we were prepared for that). We were up so high, there was snow on the ground-check out the pictures! We went down the other side, which was not as scary and it led us directly to Yellowstone. Within a few minutes of being in Yellowstone, traffic was stopped by a couple of buffalo standing in the road! One of them walked right past our truck-it was so cool! Then we saw antelope, more buffalo, deer-and then a black bear eating flowers in a field-a huge elk-and we were only in the park for about 2 hours! We got to the campground at the west entrance at about 9pm and we were exhausted. Today we will meet up with Brandi and Alex again at Old Faithful at lunchtime. There are so many things to see I don't know how we will get it all in. This KOA advertised WIFI,, but guess what? You can't get it at your campsite, you have to sit by their office, so it is kind of inconvenient. The girls fell back to sleep after breakfast this morning though, so I came down to do a load of laundry and update my blog for you guys! I am surprised you didn't see us on the news hanging off the side of the mountain yesterday! Look for geyser pictures coming soon!

Thursday (I think).....

We are having a great time here with my dad's brother, Uncle Bernard and his wife, Marvis. They have been amazing hosts! I think we have gained 10 pounds each...not that we are complaining! Yesterday Mark and Uncle Bernard and Brian went golfing and Courtney and Carli and I slept in, went shopping and relaxed. Later when the guys got home, we took Uncle Bernard and Brian's dogs to Yellowstone River to swim and retrieve the dummy....no, I'm not talking about Mark, they had a big rubber thing that is called a dummy. The dogs were so funny chasing it. Carli just loves them, and they love her, too! It wasn't long before the kids were in the water with them! The river moves pretty quickly here, and Carli was being swept downstream pretty quickly, but cousin Brian was in there to stop her from going too far down river. She was determined too swim back upstream, but was losing ground pretty quickly! We finally pulled her kicking and screaming to the side and carried her back to the car. She was having so much fun, she didn't want to leave.
Today we went to Absorkee to visit dad's grave and visit with family and friends of dad's. It was really nice seeing everyone, even though I didn't remember most of them, they all remembered me and most guessed who I was before Uncle Bernard even told them! It was fun. We had lunch in Fishtail, MT at a Cowboy Bar and Supper Club. We didn't get home until 5pm and had another big dinner waiting for us! Check out the pictures, there are some neat ones!

Picnic at Crazy Woman Canyon-then on to Billings!

Yesterday we packed up and moved on to Billings. It is only about 3 hours from Buffalo, so we didn't go far, but it's amazing the way the landscape changes. Not as many big mountains and a whole lot of sky. Now I know why the call it "Big Sky Country" You can see for miles and miles and miles. But let me go back a day-before we left Buffalo, we spent one more day at Crazy Woman Canyon. You might remember the night before, Aunt Mary had given us some elk at the ranch...I took a survey on what to do with it-I asked Aunt Mary, probably the most experienced at cooking it, and then I asked grandma and then I called my mom. Mom and grandma both emphasized the need to wash it and mom said to make sure I tenderize it with the side of a plate. I floured, salt,peppered and fried the way Aunt Mary said to, and then baked it the way my mom said. Then I used mom's milk gravy recipe to make the gravy for the potatoes and the meat. It was some real country cookin'. It was delicious! We thought we had way to much, but we ate almost all of it! Honestly, it kind of tasted like cubed steak, and it didn't have any of that "gamey" taste.
The next morning we packed a lunch and went back to the waterfall at Crazy Woman Canyon and had a picnic and let the kids get in the water. The water was freezing cold. Alex and Courtney jumped right in, Carli was a little more hesitant. She thought it was pretty funny when she pushed me off a log and into the water, though! We stayed out there for a few hours and then went to Aunt Mary and Uncle Pat's house for one last dinner together. After dinner, they were still determined to find us a moose, so we piled into Brandi's truck and went back up the mountain. This time, we found one! It was too dark and far away to get pictures, but we found a baby moose drinking out of the stream and the mother standing behind the bushes. They were huge! We got back in the car and turned down a road and Mark spotted an elk cross the road with her baby. We went in the direction she was going, pulled off the road and waited, and pretty soon a whole herd of elk started coming out of the woods-about 14 or 15 of them. They were all "talking" to each other. I didn't know what kind of noise elk made, but they sounded like whales or seagulls. It varied from high-pitched to low sounds. Very cool. Aunt Mary said you almost never see them, they are very shy, so to see a whole herd was very rare. It was too dark for pictures, but Brandi got it on her video camera.
So now here we are in Billings. We saw my dad's brother Uncle Bernard, and his wife Marvis and my cousin Brian (who I have not seen since I was 4!) last night. They had us over for dinner and we talked for a long time, it was fun. Today Brian and Uncle Bernard took Mark golfing, and later this afternoon we will take their two dogs to the lake, which the girls will love.
Billings is a big city, I was surprised. They have all the stores we have and all the traffic, too. Coming into town from 90, we passed huge oil refineries and industrial areas. I was surprised. They have a lot of Casinos here, too. But they also have a beautiful backdrop of the mountains. By the way, on our way into town yesterday, we stopped and dropped the camper off and got it fixed, something to do with the axles. It should be fine now. We are staying at the Billings KOA, and it was the first KOA in the country, opened in 1962. It is the nicest one we have been to.
Uncle Bernard has big plans for me while I am here, people that were friends of my dad's that want to see me. We will go up to Absorkee (I am not sure I spelled that right!)tomorrow, it's about an hour away . The girls made a cement stepping stone to leave on dad's grave. We will be here for 5 days, then on to Yellowstone!

Day at the Whaley Ranch

I didn't post yesterday because we were so busy. On Friday Mark went golfing and Brandi and I took the kids to the pool. The town of Buffalo has a city pool, and everyone can go to it and it is free. It is huge, and very clean and well cared for. There is a snack bar, playgrounds, nice restrooms and plenty of parking. All paid for by the city and everyone is so nice here. The population of Buffalo is about 5,000-everyone seems to know each other. Mark said the golf course was really nice, but for some reason he decided to walk it. The combination of high altitude(which really does make you feel like crap) 100 degree heat, plus he ran 3 miles that morning made him almost sick when he got home. He took a shower and drank more water and he was fine. For a minute I thought we were going to have to go visit Buffalo's 25 bed hospital!

That night we went over to Aunt Mary and Uncle Pat's house for dinner. We cooked out steak (they eat alot of Angus beef around here) and Aunt Mary made frog eye salad. If anyone I work with is reading this-you know I love frog eye salad! Then they showed us a video from 20 years ago-our grandparents 50th anniversary party-and it was so funny to see our parents, (a) all getting along, and (b)looking so young! The kids thought it was pretty funny.

Yesterday was ranch day! We left at 7am and met Mary and Pat at their house and we drove over the mountain(Bighorn Mountains)to Shell Wyoming. The drive to the ranch is so amazing. We stopped at Shell falls(check out the pics) and got some cool pictures. The kids just love that everytime we stop it is to splash in a creek, climb a mountain or do something physical! We got to Shell (population 50) at about 9:30 am. The ranch has not changed much. Uncle Pat took Mark to go do some ranch work (they were stacking bales of hay) and Aunt Mary hooked us up with a four wheeler and this little tractor that is like a tough golf cart so we could go exploring. Brandi and I crossed the creek with the tractor and walked around and then couldn't get it started again. Did I mention the mosquitos are the size of small birds around here? We had Carli with us, too. Nobody was answering us on the walkie talkie, so we had to walk back up the road and down to the ranch. Carli was not pleased with us. To make matters worse, Aunt Mary just put it in neutral and started it right up! After lunch, we decided to go see their cabin in the mountains. We had to take two 4 wheel drive truck because the cabin is very remote...and it is very remote. We drove to the top of the mountain and then had to walk down because there is no road. It is an old sheepherders cabin, so it's not fancy, but location is everything! We played in the creek, Courtney and Alex found fossils and climbed to the top of the mountain behind us and then we hiked back up to go find the four wheeler Aunt Mary had rolled(twice!) while herding cattle the other day. They found it and loaded it up in the back of the truck and we took it back to the ranch. Mark said he feels like he's at a dude ranch and should be paying for this experience! By this point it was getting late, and we were anxious to get over the mountain before dark, because Pat and Mary were staying at the ranch and we were going to Buffalo by ourselves. Aunt Mary wanted to cook us some elk for dinner at the ranch, but we wanted to go, so they gave us the elk and we will cook it tonight. We were actually starving so we decided to stop and eat anyway. We went to the Wagon Wheel, and it was niccer than we expected. We had a wonderful dinner, (angus beef!) possibly the best steak I have ever had. There were only about 8 tables in there. Guess who was sitting behind us? Wilford Brimley. I didn't see any celebrities in Vegas, but I see one in Shell, Wyoming. You could hear him talking in his Wilford Brimley voice all over the restaurant. He bought a ranch over here and we heard he moved his staff from New Mexico to here to run it. So that was our day at the ranch. The kids are exhausted, we are permanently encrusted in sand from the four wheeler,and we all have bruises, cuts, splinters and bug bites-but it's so much fun! I added a link on the right side of the blog so you could see more pics-someone please let me know if it is not working-and by the way, we love when we get comments from you guys!!

Crazy Woman Canyon

We spent yesterday with our personal tour guides, Aunt Mary and Uncle Pat. They have lived here their whole lives and know all the best spots to see, and we saw so many cool things yesterday I don't think I can write about everything! First off, let me start with our arrival in Buffalo. We purchased a GPS before we left and that thing worked flawlessly all the way out here. After 12 hours in the truck on Tuesday, the 3rd, we were in the home stretch-almost to the campground. We got off the exit and I knew Buffalo was to the left, but the British chick on the Tom-Tom that Mark is now in love with told him to go right. So we did. For 15 miles. In the middle of nowhere, GPS chick says "You have reached your destination". There was no campground. The worst part was that we had to turn around, and there was really nowhere to safely turn this 38 ft camper around. We had to drive a little further until we came to an intersecting road that gave us a little more room. We turned off the GPS, who still kept insisiting that she was right and we were wrong in her abnoxious little accent. We spent the next day grocery shopping and setting up, since Aunt Mary and Uncle Pat were up in the mountains at the ranch building fences so they could bring the cows down, or put them up, or move them somewhere. They took us to lunch yesterday at a place called The Pines, its a restaurant in the mountains were people can rent cabins and go on trail rides,fishing, etc. It was beautiful. We were,of course, the only people in there, and despite the flies that kept coming in the front door, the food was really very good, with a big menu. After lunch we went up the mountain. We see deer and antelope and bunnies so often up here, its like seeing cows and horses at home. They are just everywhere! We were on the hunt for moose, we saw the tail end of a mamma and baby one at the end of the day, but we couldn't get too close, especially when there is a baby, Uncle Pat said she would chase us. We went up to the top of a mountain and climbed the fire tower, and you could see for miles and miles. Rangers used to live up there, its a watch tower on top, a little house on the bottom. Outhouse included. We stopped at waterfalls, played in the streams, climbed rocks-it is amazing out here. We went to this huge dam up there that you can walk over-I was a nervous wreck. We all crossed over it but Brandi, she is afraid of heights. I am too, but Carli was insisting and she has no fear, she was leaning over the edge-it makes my hands sweat just thinking about it! The best part of the day though, was Crazy Woman Canyon. It is a canyon that is too amazing to describe, you have to look at the pictures. It is so deep, and the water that runs through it is so pretty. It is all rocky cliffs and caves. Check out my pics. Colleen-I am giving you a shout out here- you have to come out here. I don't think you would come home! Today we are taking the girls swimming and tomorrow we are going back over the mountains to the ranch. I am going to try to find a way to post all my pictures so you guys can see them-there are to many great ones to just pick a few for this!

Wyoming...finally!!

We had so much fun in Falls Park, SD yesterday! We went to the falls, which is right in the middle of downtown Sioux Falls-it reminded me off Maymont park-only the centerpoint was a flour park built in the 1800's that used this river and dam as a source of hydroelectric power. It never really got off the ground though, and finally burned down deep in bankruptcy in 1950. The remains of the mill and the dam are in the middle of town, and it is beautiful. We spent all day out there.

We left Sioux Falls early this morning heading for Buffalo, Wy. We had just hit the interstate when we noticed something hanging/dragging off the back of Brandi's camper. We pulled up closer for inspection. It was dangling and flip-flopping all over the highway. When it finally broke free, it curled up like a slinky and rolled towards us. It was her sewage hose. We laughed so hard I thought we would wreck. Mark called Brandi and asked her if she was having a hard time keeping her sh** together!! Tomorrow's to-do list includes finding Brandi a new sewage hose so she can flush her toilet!

Our first stop of the day was the Palace of Corn. Now, I have to admit, I was skeptical about driving 10 miles out of the way for this, but guess what? I was right. It was ridiculous, but I took a picture of it anyway.

After that we stopped at Wall Drug "The Window to the West". It is like the South of the Border of the west, only a little nicer. Courtney and Alex , of course, needed some moccassins and Carli needed ice cream brown. It is a huge tousrist trap, but we stopped and shopped just like everyone else on 90! The diesel was ridiculous at this stop...$3.05/gallon!

The final stop of the day, and omg this was a long day, was Devil's Tower, which, thank God is finally in Wyoming!! We drove another 20 miles out of the way and 20 miles back to the interstate and Brandi almost ran out of gas, but we saw it! Carli said "mom-a volcano!" and it really does kind of look like a volcano. We took pictures and left, we were all tired and wanted to get to the campground in Buffalo. We got there 2.5 hours later and unhooked the campers, set up really quick and when down the street for dinner. We have 5 glorious days in one spot now and the kids are thrilled, Aunt Mary and Uncle Pat left us a note at the campground which was really neat and we will see them Thursday. After dinner we did a drive-by of our grandma's house, but she was in bed-all the lights off, so we will go back tomorrow. She is 93 years old! It is so neat to see how things have changed since the last time we visited. We are all excited to see the rest of the family. Tomorrow we are not doing anything. We might try to find a grocery store, but that may be too much work. Apparently everyone around here shops at the-get this, I will take a picture and post it tomorrow- the "Kum and Go". I am not making that up-it's a real store here.

Whew!

Hello everybody! Today is July 2nd. We have driven through Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois,Missouri,Iowa, Nebraska and now we are in South Dakota! The first night we spent at Scotts Airforce Base in Illinois, courtesy of Captain Brandi Schuyler, my cousin who is traveling with us. She bought a cute little Jayco featherlight camper to come with us, which she is pulling with her Honda Pilot. She has never pulled anything before, and she is doing a great job. I don't think I would ever change lanes if I were pulling anything, but she has no fear! She has her son Alex as her copilot, but he and Courtney want to ride together as much as possible and watch movies and make fun of us!The kids are doing really well, the first day we left at 4am and drove 14 hours. We got to Scotts AFB while it was still light so the kids could run around and burn some energy. The campground was very clean, quiet and nature-friendly. There were bunnies hopping around, egrets on the pond. All very soothing. The the second day we drove about 10.5 hours. Everything was going great until, of course, we had a crisis. White smoke started billowing around our RV tires and we were waved off the road by a concerned corn husker. Of course, it was Sunday and not only was nothing open, there was nothing around to be open. Just a little Travel Mart that had one gas pump. So we pulled in. Mark and Alex put the camper up on blocks and were getting ready to change the tire, but it looked worn funny, not really peeling or flat. We decided to just call for roadside assistance. That is what we have it for. Brandi offered to take the kids and go on to the campground in SD, it was still 2 hours away. That made the wait so much better! We went and got ice cream, made some phone calls and the guy showed up in about an hour. We were back on the road in no time. The mechanic says it looks like our axle is out of alignment, causing friction on the tire. It has probably been like that since we got it last year. It is not an emergency, but something we definitely need to get looked at. We are deciding today if we should wait and have it looked at in Buffalo, Wy when we get there. I just don't want to have to be without the camper for a day or two, but if we do have to, at least we have some family there. We decided to take a day off of driving today and figure this out-we are at a very nice campground in Sioux Falls and there is lots to do around here. The weather is perfect-no humidity and nice and cool. Hopefully tomorrow we will be back on the road!