Day Five

July 13, 2008
On this day we were not going to have to do any driving, YES! We set aside for this day go go see the Grand Teton National Park. Our plans where as follows: to take the boat across Jenny Lake and hike up to Inspiration Point, then to Snow King ski resort to slide down the mountain, and last to meet up with the Cziep Family for dinner and a show at Bar J.

Jenny Lake

Cooper our youngest, now better known as Cooper the Trooper, hiked all the 2 miles up to Inspiration Point. You know that old saying "smell the rose along the way" I think Cooper skipped and kicked the rocks along the way. He was always smiling and when there was times I didn't think he could go any further, he said, "no, mommy let me walk, I can do it".

Cooper found a new friend

I sure wished Sydnie was more like him. She thought she was going to die! She kept telling us she had "heat rash" and that she could not go any further and she was going to sit on a rock and die... she is our drama queen. However, we were not going to let her quit, we kept telling her not everyone gets this opportunity and that she can do it, just a little farther... and that once you have done it you can tell everyone you did! She wasn't sure if she cared that she could tell everyone she did it, but after we reach the top, she told us, "there I didn't, now can we go back!"

On our way back to the boat launch we lost Hunter, he got ahead of us, and so David started back tracking to find him. There was a moose, near the boat launch. David asked for us to come over to see the moose. For those that know Cooper, he does not get two feet in front of my parents little dog, you could only imagine how big his eyes got when he saw a 8 foot moose. Before I could even turn around to tell Cooper to look, he was already down the trail and hiding behind a gentleman saying, "it is scary to my eyes!" After a quick lunch we were on track to our next event of the day.

We headed back into Jackson Hole, and decided it was time to go up to Snow King and ride down the hill...

Sydnie thought this was the coolest, she raised her hands up in the air as if she was getting ready to ride a roller coaster. All the way down she kept telling me fast, no slow, ok go faster, no that is too fast...

After two times down the hill, we started to run out of time for dinner... and we still had to go into downtown Jackson Hole to ride the famous stage coach and take a picture by the Elk Arch.




Bar J dinner with the family

We finally made it to Bar J to meet up with David's family. This is a great place to dine when in Jackson Hole. They have great food and better entertainment for the hole family.

The cousins taking a ride on the train before dinner.

Day Four

July 12, 2008

On the Road Again

Another day driving to Jackson, WY. Again our day started out at 5am, we had a lot of road to cover and wanted to get to our next camp site at a descent time. We were rolling along the two lane road, we came to an area of the road that was "chipped sealed" for those don't know what that means (as I didn't) they put tar down and then put rock chip on top. We had rocks flying all around us and David kept saying I hope no one passes us and flips a rock on to our window, how ever he didn't think to say I hope that we don't flip a rock on us either. Yes, as you are already thinking, we flipped a rock and hit the passenger side mirror, you can see the mess that it made. Lorraine, my mother-in-law said, "that if you look at it, it looks like the route we took out west and the route we took back home." David had said other things to say about it...

A funny thing about this day, and for those with little kids you can relate. Sydnie had to use the restroom and it seemed the further West we headed the few and farther the rest areas seemed to be. David was flustered with the road, and Sydnie kept saying, "but daddy I really have to go." David hoping to surpass her for another few miles, said, "I will find a potty just for you, hold on a few more minutes", knowing that we had about 10 more miles to go before we even got off the chip sealed road. To our amazement around the next corner just for Sydnie, there was a port a potty. As always, David was quick to say, "look Sydnie, Daddy said that I would find one just for you!" As you can see from the picture, Sydnie thought that this potty was just for her. Once again dad came to the rescue.

Grand Teton
The sights coming down to Jackson, WY were just breath taking, to see the Grand Teton from this view and with all the wild flowers... oh, words just can not describe them.

We made it into Jackson, WY around 4:30pm that night, and had time to visit with David's parents and his brother Matthew. What a great visit and Lorraine brought up a cake with her, she always knows the right things to bring with her.

Day Three

Day three, July 11, 2008

Crazy Horse

Our first stop was Crazy Horse, the dedication of this family and those who donate. The power of ones vision.

Mount Rushmore

Our second stop, Mt. Rushmore. quick note: the average size of a 6 story building.


Question:
Who are the 4 presidents that are carved in the mountain and why they where chosen?
Answer:
George Washington represents the struggle for independence, Thomas Jefferson the idea of government by the people. Abraham Lincoln for his ideas on equality and the permanent union of the states, and Theodore Roosevelt for the 20th century role of the United States in world affairs.

When we asked Sydnie after our tour if she could remember the Presidents name, she said: Washington, Lincoln and President Monson, we all laughed, then she reminded all of us that he a great example to us too. There are too many times we learn more from our kids they I think they know or realize.




We had a great visit to Mt. Rushmore, and enjoyed the tour and walking thru avenue of flags, which displays flags of all 50 states. Hunter was our lucky winner and found Tennessee state flag.


Custer State Park

Our Third stop was Custer State Park. This park covers 71,000 acres in South Dakota's Black Hills. We saw most of the park via our truck. We drove on Iron Mountain Road, there are three granite tunnels that frame Mt. Rushmore Perfectly in the distance. Needles Highway, the name "Needles" come form the slender granite peaks. As you can see there where times that I was not sure if our truck was going to make it Thu some of the tunnels.


Our Fourth and final stop for the day Hot Spings, SD to Evans Plunge. What a great way to end the day.

Day Two

July 11, 2008

With very little sleep we started off again at 5:00 am, to Wall, SD home of Wall Drug Store. This was a must see per Gary Andrews a guy from our church. About 200 miles out from Wall, SD we started to see small bill boards advertising for "Free Ice Water" - from this point we would see these every 10 - 20 miles along our route.

Badlands Petrified Gardens
Before we could make it to Wall,we stopped by the Petrified Gardens, to stretch our legs. At first I wasn't sure if it was anything to stop and write home about, boy was I surprised. It was a great place to let the kids run around, and we found out some very interesting things.


The Badlands of South Dakota
While at the Petrified Gardens the store keeper said that we must drive threw the Badlands, it was was only 20 miles out of the way but would lead us right into Wall, SD. We thought we have come all this way, why not... We were sure glad that we did.

The views were breath taking, the kids really enjoyed seeing how the land has changed over the millions of years. David said, imagine how Lewis and Clark felt when they found this land, how different from the prairie lands." After 2 hours of getting out and walking around and seeing all the sights, we where back on track to Wall, SD.

Wall, SD

(home of the world famous Wall Drug Store)

This little town, is know for its Drug store. To read more about it go to http://www.walldrug.com/. When ever you are in SD you must stop by to get a world famous bumper sticker and "Free Ice Water"



Finally after a long day of driving and sight seeing we finally made it to our first campsite, at the Custer/Mt. Rushmore, KOA. The kids where glad to get out of the truck again, and as you can see they found a jumping pillow and I thought I would never get them off to come eat dinner.

Day One

July 10, 2008:
Our first day started at 4:00 am, with everyone loaded in the car ready to head "West".

Little did we know that this day we were going to drive over a 1,000 miles. With only a couple of short bathroom breaks and stopping to fuel, we made it to Sioux City, IA. We tried to stop at a rest area to catch some zzz's but with the temperature being 85 that night it was hard to sleep and Cooper was to hi per to sleep at 1am, so David loaded us all back into the the truck for another two hours of driving, before we all crashed in the cab of the truck. we didn't want to miss anything in SD.