Sunday, June 3, 2012

From Wyoming to Iowa!

Hello all- it's been a while for us - Mom's having a tough time with the new blogger, but here goes!  Cody is certainly a wild west town and first thing we did was explore Yellowstone NP!  Since passage from Jackson was closed when we were there, we swung around via Lander to Cody and entered the Park from the East Gate - woo hoo - look how beautiful Yellowstone Lake looked as we drove around it.  Obsidian Beaches just gorgeous with snow-topped mountains!

We checked out the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, below, and saw the lower falls in full glory.  So amazing!

And Sammie found a super spot in which to take a refreshing dip (we were glad the rangers didn't find us heh he!)

We loved seeing these buffalos - well, just about everywhere in Yellowstone!  The iconic symbols of the west!
 
How cool is it to see HOT, hot, hot sulphur stuffs pouring down into cold streams?  We were amazed!

So after a wonderful stay in Cody, we headed NE and checked out this sign on our way to Sturgis!


...But not before checking out this incredible site - Devil's Tower!  WOW!  We took a little hike around the base of this monument and enjoyed all the views from the top.  Then... we had a picnic near a Prairie Doggeh Town at the bottom - still amazing views!


Incredible views!


And near Sturgis, we found a holy Sioux site called Bear Butte.  Just gorgeous and a lake to boot for us to swim in!


Below... have you ever seen Mt. Rushmore in snow?  Tears seem to drop with runny noses, but we still had a great time seeing this incredible monument to four awesome presidents.






And below was one of our fave lakes in the Black Hills - Sylvan Lake; the only place where Mom hooked a fish, but couldn't land it!
And here we are in the South Dakota Badlands NP - check out the colors of these strata!  The pink were colored from crustaceans many thousand million hundred and... well... you know... years ago!
THE Badlands, fur shore!
Luv fest!
Well... we had to stop in Mitchell, SD to see this a-maize-ing Corn Palace heh heh!
These pics are so out of order, pals - we had a photo of "Welcome to Iowa" but it seems to have disappeared.  Anyhoo, we thought this cool photo would do as well to welcome you to the newest state we've never been to!  Wait til you see where we've been hangin' for the last couple of days!
Here are the famous bridges of Madison County!  Mom and Dad played us the movie a couple of weeks ago so we could brush up on our Iowa bridges!
Here's Avalon swimming under the most famous bridge of all; the Roseman bridge - we both had a ball dipping our tootsies into the river here!
We had a pawsome campfire last night, then went to check out another stone bridge today that was also featured in the "Bridges of Madison County."  Happy Trails to y'all!