Yellowstone Part III

Thanks for staying tuned... Here is the last batch of pics from our adventure out West. The next stop we made after Yellowstone was the Teton Mountains. They quickly became one of my favorite land features I have ever seen. Case in point, the pic below.

This is the view of the Teton Mountains across Jackson Lake from our campground.We stayed at the Colter Bay Campground. The weather was beautiful except for scattered thunderstorms that were incredible. Gusts up to 65 mph took out the power and blocked roads out of the park one night. We were in a lucky little pocket of protection during that storm, but heard some pretty crazy stories from other people the next morning. 

Fox pups were hiding next to the lodge. The mom kept coming back and feeding them, then leaving to hunt for more food. They were adorable!

The boys on our hike through the mountains.

This photo gives me goosebumps. An old wive's tale says that the specks of light on a photo represent a spirit. It is so fitting that every picture I took of these two at the lake had a light orb on it. Like Grandpa Jim might be watching over them. It may be silly, but I love it.

Off-road biking with the little grizzly. Our nightly walk/bike was down to the lake to watch the sun set over the mountains.

Family pic at the Tetons

Hiking with Mom

Our last hike before heading to Jackson tired Jay out. He was exhausted from all the adventures.

Sean and Mali at the oxbow of the river. (Jay took the picture)

All this camping and driving was exhausting, SO...we took a vacation from our vacation. The Tetons are in the background, a heated pool in the foreground. We met friends Emily and Brian for a great dinner at a brewery in Jackson and spent the rest of the evening planning our next move over some exquisite boxed wine and piles of maps. 

We had such a great time but it was bittersweet as leaving Jackson meant we started heading East again.

The Wind River Range is in the background of this picture. After setting up camp at a horrible, buggy, wet site with no running water, we packed right up and drove to this spot. We were greeted by a friendly man named Randall and his kids, grand-kids, and tiny little Terrier named "Grizzly." 

Jay, the ragamuffin.

This is showing how ridiculous our camping style could be at times. It was SOO different from our canoe trips in the Quetico. After Jay went to bed, we watched Wedding Crashers outside, the Winds on one side and a quaint horse ranch on the other. You can see the TV behind Sean and he's looking at our video baby monitor. We didn't watch TV often, but it was a fun treat that night after a stressful driving day.

Jay and monkey watching TV on another long driving day.

Wyoming is gorgeous.

Hell's Half Acre. It was a huge canyon that the Native Americans would use to hunt bison. They would herd them all toward the canyon and force them to fall to their deaths.

We finally made it to the Black Hills. Since we didn't have reservations, we opted for a KOA. We are completely sold on KOA's (for family camping). The staff is always comically friendly and the facilities are luxurious (for camping). Jay and Sean are trying out the bounce pad. I think Mom and Dad enjoyed it as much as Jay did.

Family pic in front of Crazy Horse. We were very impressed by this, and liked it better than Mount Rushmore. The man who took this picture for us ended up talking to us for 20 minutes about the area, Kevin Costner and the filming of "Dances with Wolves." We have concluded that the people of SD are very proud of that movie. There are props everywhere and everyone knows someone who was involved in the filming.

Family pic at Mount Rushmore

We did the Needles Drive. It was one of the most beautiful drives of our vacation. there are caves you drive through that are only the size of one car so you have to honk before entering to let others know you are coming. Mount Rushmore is in the distance beyond this one.

The Needles

We returned to the Badlands. They are so good, we couldn't stay away! Unfortunately, it was the hottest day. It hit 100 degrees! We got the last electrical site at the campground (thank God for A/C) and a crazy lady tried to take it from us...but the camp host was a gnarly dude who rode his Harley around to check on people. He said she'd have to get past him to take it from us. Good thing we made fast friends with him!

Our little navigator led us back to Wisconsin.