Great Western Adventure: Day 6

In case you missed it, so far I've recapped the first few days of our Great Western Adventure, including our visit to Chicago, the Corn Palace, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, and Devil's Tower.

Day 6: Yellowstone

The last I left off, we had arrived in Yellowstone very late and went straight to bed.  We didn’t get to sleep for very long though, because at 7:00 the next morning, we awoke to loud grunts outside our cabin.  Having experienced being woken up by a howler monkey in Guatemala (which sounds like a dinosaur eating a pig), I decided that it was best to just stay in bed and try to fall back asleep, but Nick got out of bed to check it out.  After peaking out the window, he told me I had to see what was going on, and I saw the culprits: bison were wandering through the parking lot just feet from our cabin.

Nick went out and took a few pictures while I stayed in bed.  What a nice welcome to Yellowstone! 

A little later we had our first breakfast at the Lake Lodge, which would come to be our standard breakfast for our stay: oatmeal with raisins, bacon, a biscuit, and an apple (and coffee for me).  The guide books say that you have to eat twice as much food than you normally would while hiking in Yellowstone because of the elevation.  This proved true for me because I had some issues with the elevation and ended up snacking on trail mix about every hour.

After breakfast we set out to the Old Faithful area to pick up a picnic lunch before arriving at our first hiking trail head. 

The path ran next to the Grand Prismatic Spring and we were able to see the colors in the steam from a distance. 

The first leg of the hike was pretty boring, but we did encounter this little guy with a fist full of grass.

After a couple of miles, we ended up at Fairy Falls.

It was pretty warm that day and the spray from the waterfall was super refreshing.  We had a nice sit to cool down and have a snack.  It was especially peaceful because there weren’t that many people around.

Let me take a minute to discuss the gear that we acquired for this trip, most of which can be seen in the picture above.  The most important thing that we bought for the trip is our cameras.  We both got Canon Rebel T3i’s with Tamron 18-270mm lenses.  Although, I guess it could be argued that the most important thing that we got was bear spray, but thankfully we didn’t need to use it.  I also got a pair of polarizing sunglasses (a must for a trip to Yellowstone—it is quite sunny), a big floppy hat (it’s hanging around my neck in this shot), a hiking backpack with pockets for a water bottle on both sides, many Nalgenes (we each had two 24 oz. bottles and one 32 oz. bottle), and tons of sunscreen.  We use Aveeno Baby as recommended by Nick’s dermatologist.  It goes on pretty thick and you end up looking a little ghostly because of the natural ingredients, but it really does the trick.  I use Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock on my face.  It’s expensive but not only does it work, but it is seriously not greasy.  We invested in sturdy hiking shoes a couple of years ago (whatever was on sale), and we hit up EMS during their sales for some of those nifty pants that you can turn into shorts by unziping the legs.  My shirt is a moisture wicking shirt that I won at our Frisbee finals because I am skilled enough to be able to throw a Frisbee at a target.  Hurray!  We have a bunch of these shirts from over the years and we wore them pretty much every day.  The nice thing about them is that we’re usually sweating in them anyway, so we didn’t have to worry about ruining them with tons of sunscreen and bug spray.

We then ventured back on the trail for another mile or so and ended up at the Imperial Geyser, which turned out to be our favorite geyser on the trip.  We knew we were getting close when we started to see orange lining the creek.

And then we arrived at the Imperial Geyser.  Look at those colors!

When we got back to the car, I sat down to have a snack and this guy almost stole my food from me!  He is a raven and is terrifyingly huge.

We then headed next door to the Grand Prismatic Spring, where they have built a boardwalk from the parking lot and through the geyser area.  There are hilarious warning signs in the parking lot of each hot spring or geyser area. 

To get to the boardwalk, you first cross a bridge, where you can see the hot spring water flowing into the river below.

The boardwalk winds through an area where there are a bunch of beautiful hot springs.  Amazingly enough, we saw a kid who either jumped or fell into the hot spring area while we were there.  He was fine though—the part that he was in wasn’t that hot.

The Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest hot spring in the US and the third largest hot spring in the world (the two biggest are in New Zealand).  This thing is huge and awesome.

The sad thing is that you can’t get that good of a view of it from the boardwalk because of all of the steam.  Don't worry, a couple of days later, we climbed the hill that is in the background of the pictures, so stay tuned for a better view. 


It was very steamy and windy while we were there.  When the steam blows into you it’s almost suffocating and then when it blows away the air feels oddly cold even though it’s relatively warm out.  And some people lose their hats in the process.  Thankfully Nick and I both had hats with adjustable straps on them and we had them tight around our chins.

We then headed back to the cabin, which was a good hour away.  The park is pretty large, spanning 3,468 square miles.  The road system through the park forms a figure 8, and a lot of the time it takes at least a half hour to drive between major points of interest along the road.

On our way back to our cabin, we encountered a bunch of cars parked on the side of the road.  This was when we learned that cars pulled over means that there is some type of wildlife that can be seen from the road.  We pulled over and watched a bull elk snack on some wild flowers in the woods.

Some idiots got way too close to him, almost sneaking up on him so they could get a picture.  This is not recommended by the park system, which suggests that you stay 100 yards from elk and bears. 

Thankfully no one got gored.  We were pretty tired after the hike, so we ended up getting dinner in the same cafeteria where we had breakfast.  This was a big mistake!  We both got turkey with mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy, but it was almost inedible.  I was wise enough to pick up a chocolate pudding for dessert, which was delicious (probably because it was Jell-o pudding). 

Back at the cabin, we packed for our two-day camping trip in the Grand Tetons, which is just south of Yellowstone.  This is our tiny cabin covered in the mess that we made while packing.

If you plan on taking a trip to Yellowstone, I would book your lodging at least a year in advance.  We started booking about at least 8 months in advance and were unable to get more than two consecutive nights in the same place.  This ended up working out for us because we got to see more of the park, but if you have kids with you, this might be annoying.  The cabins get booked especially quickly because they are so cheap.  This cabin was a mere $69/night! 

The other places we stayed were a little more expensive, but all of the lodging was pretty reasonable.


The next morning we drove south to the Grand Tetons where we saw our first proper moutains.  Pictures to follow!

Great Western Adventure: Day 5

I’m recapping our Great Western Adventure.  So far I’ve covered our day in Chicago and our visit to the World’s Only Corn Palace!

Day 5: Rapid City, SD to Yellowstone

We woke up early and got our first (free!) continental breakfast at the Hampton Inn and then were on our way to Mount Rushmore.  When we were planning our trip, almost everyone who had been to Mount Rushmore told us that it wasn’t worth visiting and that we could skip it.  Although we had never been there, we couldn’t imagine driving right past it and not stopping by.  I’m so glad we decided to visit, because Nick and I really enjoyed Mount Rushmore.

The park is so clean and nicely maintained.  Even though you can see the faces from the road, it’s definitely worth the admission to drive into the park and see the exhibits, including an orientation video that explains how they used dynamite to sculpt the mountain.  It took 14 years to make!

We spent a good chunk of time admiring the monument, including posing for the obligatory nose-picking photo.

All of the rock that is below the sculpture is the rock that was blasted off during the sculpting process.

Afterward we drove down the road a bit to the Crazy Horse Memorial, which has been in progress since 1948!  Although the memorial is a lot bigger than Mount Rushmore—the President’s faces could all fit in Crazy Horse’s head—there are bigger issues as to why it’s not finished yet.

For a good estimate of how massive this thing is, those tiny yellow things at the bottom are construction vehicles.

Back in 1947 the Lakota Indian tribe elders invited Korczak Ziolkowski, an artist from Boston, to sculpt Crazy Horse on a mountain after seeing his sculpture "PADEREWSKI, Study of an Immortal," which won first prize by popular vote at the 1939 New York World's Fair.  Korczak (as he is fondly referred to at the memorial) had worked on Mount Rushmore, so he was familiar with sculpting a mountain with dynamite.  He started in 1948 and for much of the beginning work, Korczak worked by himself!  Eventually Korczak got married and he and his wife had 10 kids, most of whom continue working on the mountain today. 

Korczak died in 1982, but the family has kept the project going since, in the same spirit that Korczak instituted: not accepting any federal funds for the project.  The government has offered funds on multiple occasions (as much as $10 million) to Korczak to assist with the project, but he refused the offers each time.  He felt that taking federal funds was not in the spirit of Crazy Horse, who fought for his people to remain on their own land.  I get why this was important to Korczak, but I think if the family did accept federal funds, they could finish the memorial a lot faster and more people could learn about and appreciate Crazy Horse.  Having only the face carved (which was completed in 1998) and the basic shape of Crazy Horse’s arm and his horse, I don’t think the Ziolkowski family has any hope of finishing this memorial in my lifetime.  They have a nice small-scale statue of what the mountain will eventually look like.

Does anyone else think that Crazy Horse’s profile is oddly similar to George C. Scott’s?

We left the Crazy Horse Memorial and headed even farther west.  We stopped in a small Wyoming town for lunch and then drove the rest of the way to Devil’s Tower. 

On the drive to the top of the hill where the tower is, we passed by a field FULL of prairie dogs!  They got so close to the road!  There wasn’t anywhere to pull over though, so we continued on up the hill.

When we first arrived at the top of the hill, our first stop was the bathroom.  Outside of the building I spotted this awesome nest, which is also kind of gross.  Look at all of those caterpillars!

In a nearby pavilion, a ranger was giving a talk about people climbing the rock, including one guy who parachuted and landed on the top of the tower, only to be unable to climb down.  He didn’t have any experience rock climbing and thought it would be simple to repel down the side of the rock.  He thought wrong—he ended up being stranded on top of Devil’s Tower for six days!

You’re going to get sick of me saying things like this, but Devil’s Tower was impressive.  Nick and I walked through the visitor's center before walking along the paved trail that loops around the tower. 

While walking, we saw people climbing the rock!  I can’t believe that people climb that thing regularly!  We also saw a really old ladder that folks used to use to climb up the side of the mountain. 

A little while after we saw the people climbing, Nick spotted this little guy taking a nap on a tree branch.  He woke up shortly after we discovered him and I was able to catch him yawning.  HA!

When we got back to the start of the path, we encountered Santa and Mrs. Claus relaxing on their vacation.

Then we got back in the car to go visit the prairie dogs!  Not to give away the rest of our trip, but the prairie dogs were my favorite thing that we saw (this is not surprising as prairie dogs are my very favorite wild animal).  They are adorable and hilarious.  They all stand on their mounds and talk to each other with these little yips.  I could have stayed there all day.

Before leaving Devil’s Tower, we got some ice cream at a little store by the entrance to the park.  Back when my sister and I were little, we were eating at a local family restaurant with our parents when we overheard a kid a couple of booths down throwing a fit about how much he or she (isn’t it sad that I can’t even remember?) wanted a “prairie dog sundae.”  None of us had ever heard of a prairie dog sundae before and neither apparently had the waitress, who just stood there looking kinda confused.  Eventually the parents just told her to bring the brat a plate of whipped cream with a cherry on top.  We have no idea who came up with the term “prairie dog sundae,” but it is now legend in our family. 

As soon as Nick and I saw the sign for ice cream, we had visions of the mystery finally being solved.  It seemed like the perfect story: a family goes on vacation and visits Devil’s Tower, where the kid has a special sundae called the “Prairie Dog Sundae” because of the fields of prairie dogs.  We tentatively stepped into the ice cream shop waiting to be bombarded with prairie dog sundae signs, but sadly there was no such thing.  The mystery lives on!

We ended up leaving Devil’s Tower about 3 hours later than we thought we would and we had a long drive ahead of us to Yellowstone—a 6 ½ hour drive to be exact.  After passing through one of many national forests that we would encounter, it got dark, and we were left to drive through pitch black and barren Wyoming.  We passed very few cars and there was nothing around for miles except for very creepy oil fields.

About 20 miles outside of the East entrance to Yellowstone, our headlights caught the eyes of an animal, which we soon realized belonged to a grizzly bear!  He/she was about to cross the road and was as startled to see us as we were him/her, and backed away.  Thankfully we were driving pretty slowly because the road was windy and it was very very dark.  We paused just long enough to make sure that the bear wasn’t going to dart out into the street and then hurried along.  At about 2:00am, we arrived at the Lake Lodge Cabins and fell asleep in about half a second.

We didn’t get to sleep for very long though, because at 7:00 the next morning, we awoke to loud grunts outside our cabin. 

Check back tomorrow to find out what it was!

Pretty Things Thursday: 1923 Silver Peace Dollar

While visiting Nick's uncle near Chicago during our Great Western Adventure, Nick was given a small collection of coins that had been set aside for him by his great uncle, an avid collector of everything.  One of the coins, which were delivered in a bouillon jar, was this 1923 Silver Peace Dollar.

The Silver Peace Dollars were issued starting in 1921 after the end of World War I.

We thought this one was the prettiest of the bunch.  And today it is valued around $25!  I think we'll hold onto it for awhile.

Mr. Bird from the Ryan Berkley Quartet

Here he is: the final member of the Ryan Berkley Quartet!

I changed some of the colors in this guy from the first one I embroidered.  I am pleased with the results.

I especially love the shading on his head,

and his jacket and tie combination. 

Which I guess is basically the whole thing! Now I just need to find something oval to mount all of these guys on and hang them up on our wall!