Natural Wonders and a Moose

After updating the blog in Minneapolis, Chrissy and I drove straight through the night so that we could make it to the Badlands National Park near Cactus Flat, SD (Don't worry we alternated sleeping and driving and would switch when necessary).
On Wednesday, we drove through the Badlands after purchasing the America the Beautiful Pass, which will get us into every national park that we visit. We did a one mile hike on the Notch Trail in the Badlands. We only saw chipmunks, but there were signs warning us about rattlesnakes. The hike has a ladder that leads up to a ridge along the rim of a cliff, but the trail is wide enough that there was no chance of falling. At the end of the trail, there was a beautiful overlook that showed more of the rock formations and flat plains of South Dakota. We continued driving the scenic byway through the Badlands and stopped at a handful of other viewpoints before exiting the park into Wall, SD, so that we could get gas and coffee.
After refueling, we found our way to Mt. Rushmore and took pictures from along the road. We then drove back down the mountain into Keystone and shopped for souvenirs. We enjoyed chatting with this one guy who worked in the store about our trip. Another worker commented on my colorful shoes (imagine that haha). We drove back to I-90 west and ate some lunch and drank Starbucks while I made reservations for camping and horseback riding before driving to Sundance, WY, in search of the statue of the Sundance Kid. I am a big fan of the classic movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, so I was really excited to be able to go to the town where the Kid took his name from. Our next stop was Devil's Tower, but we did not enter the park to explore considering there was a nice thunderstorm brewing. We did stop at the store on the outskirts of Devil's Tower and chatted with a woman who was hanging out on the porch and watching the approaching storm. She asked if we were spending the night in the local campground, but I told her we were driving to Cody, WY. That eased her mind because she didn't want us to be in the bad weather.
Chrissy and I trekked to Cody, WY, through Bighorn National Forest and slept at the Ponderosa Campground. We were too tired to put up the tent, so we curled up in the front of the truck and slept. The next morning (Thursday), we showered and I chatted up the manager of the campground. He gave me a free map of Wyoming and a booklet on Yellowstone National Park. We set off and drove about an hour to Crossed Sabres Ranch, where we had reservations for a 2 hour horseback riding adventure. Our guide's name was Jacob, and a woman named Bayley came with us too because she had never gone horseback riding before. Jacob is originally from Arkansas while Bayley flew in from Georgia to work in Wyoming for the summer. I rode on a gray horse named Smokey, while Chrissy rode on Rowdy. Our ride took us up into some mountains with a great view of the Rockies and the ranch down in the valley. Smokey enjoyed looking at the scenery more than keeping up with the rest of the group, which I was perfectly content with. We bonded over enjoying being loners every once in a while. We saw some bear tracks on our ride, but no bears. Jacob was really nice and stopped to take some pictures of us.
After our ride, we drove the 8 miles to Yellowstone National Park. We stopped at a viewpoint to take pictures of Yellowstone Lake, but when Chrissy turned around, she noticed there happened to be a bison eating grass on the hillside right across the road from us. A little farther down the road there were 6 more bison that were really close to the road so we got some really good pictures. The first sight that we stopped to view was the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River. We then went and took pictures of Upper Falls before driving over the Continental Divide to see Old Faithful. Our timing was great there because we arrived a half hour before the geyser was to go off again.

Following Old Faithful, we began our trek south towards Jackson Hole, WY, where we were planning on meeting up with my friend, Julie. I was amused by the construction signs in Grand Tetons National Park because they are completely serious when they say "pavement ends". One second you are on a nice road then BAM dirt road. I bet the Porsche that was following us was none too thrilled. As we continued through the Tetons, we saw bunch of cars pulled to the side of the road. I took the advice of the woman at the ranch who said whenever cars are stopped, pull over because there is an animal there. Chrissy and I wandered over to the other people and found out that there was a mama moose who had just given birth about 10 minutes before we showed up. We saw the newborn on its wobbly legs and got some great pictures and video of the mama. After the pitstop, I continued driving towards Jackson Hole and followed Julie's directions to the gas station in the town of Wilson so I could find her. I then followed her up Teton Pass into Idaho to her house in Victor. While driving up the pass, a moose ran across the road in front of Julie, which amused me.
Once we stretched our legs at Julie and Josh's house, Julie brought us to the Wildlife Brewery in Victor for dinner. Chrissy and I were both really excited for an actual meal finally. We chowed down on some pizza and I drank a Porcupine Porter because I thought the name of it was fun. The conversation was entertaining over dinner and Josh made some suggestions of what to do today. Once we got back to the house, Chrissy and I unpacked and then pretty much crashed because we were exhausted and were really excited for a bed to sleep in.
Well I guess I should go shower and call my Uncle Bob to inform him of our impending arrival tomorrow. More again soon!