Pheasants

Travel Itinerary
Pierre, SD to Minneapolis, MN via 212E
392 Miles, 7 Hours


Adventures!
Well, it's finally happening.  We're on our way back, and the scenery is becoming more and more like home.  That is, there are hundreds and hundreds of miles of farms.  The days of distant mountains, interesting landscape, and scenic routes are over.  However, the days of totally and completely awesome metropolitan areas is just about back.


Not a whole lot to say about South Dakota...
They do have pheasants, which are pretty cool.  We didn't take any pictures of live ones, although there is no shortage on the side of the highway.  We did, however, take a picture of this statue.

Probably back to Chicago tomorrow.

Marissa

Thomas Jefferson, etc.

Travel Itinerary
Casper, WY to Devil's Tower National Monument via 50N
Devil's Tower, WY to Mount Rushmore, SD via 90E
Mount Rushmore, SD to Pierre, SD via 90E
510 Miles, 9 Hours


Adventures!
Devil's Tower

Oh yeah, totally the same place.  I was there.  I guess the aliens moved since 1977.

Well, there it is.

I can't really blame the Lakota for being a little upset about this.  I don't exactly think it was necessary to carve a bunch of faces on an already beautiful landscape.  I know, it's hard to hate on some of my favorite presidents, especially T.J.

Still... when you keep in mind the fact that the guy that sculpted it was a reported KKK member, it doesn't look good.

Marissa

Casper the Boring Ghost

We spent the day in Casper, WY writing our blogs and sitting around the Starbucks.  We basically wasted time until it was cool enough to spend the rest of the evening watching movies in the car.  Casper isn't particularly interesting.  In fact, Wyoming doesn't have a whole lot going on in general in terms of urban centers.  No offense intended to it's residents, the natural sights are quite amazing.  


Since that post was about as boring as our time spent in Casper, here's a video.

Marissa

Wind River

Travel Itinerary

Cody, WY to Dubois, WY via 120E

Dubois, WY to Casper, WY via 26E

7 Hours, 400 Miles

Adventures!

It was an out and back route, we wanted to explore the Wind River Range Area.  Definitely worth it.

I bet you can't guess what Adam wants to climb.

I wasn't quite so daring.

A pronghorn! Not sure if he really needed to go, or if we scared the pee out of him.

Marissa

April Showers Bring May Blizzards

Travel Itinerary

Bozeman, MT to Yellowstone National Park via 90E & 89S

Yellowstone to Cody, WY via 20E

4.5 Hours, 250 Miles

Adventures!

Yellowstone was amazing.  Big surprise.  The natural sights were awesome, but the highlight was probably the wildlife.  It is everywhere, and you are right in the middle of it.

Mammoth Falls

A Coyote!

Hot Springs and Geysers

These signs were all over, apparently people die by boiling water.  I'm pretty sure that's the worst way to die.  I'd probably prefer death by bear attack.  At least they go for your vital organs first.

Bison!

They honestly didn't seem to care in the slightest that they were laying down in a blizzard.

Old Faithful

Grizzly Bear!

I got pretty close to this one.  He didn't seem to mind too much, but I tried to keep some distance because these things will kill you in a violent bludgeoning sort of way. 

Who me? Why thank you, I am majestic.

Oh hey giant purple bison, you surprised me there.

Do not be fooled, we wasn't showing off he was asking us to get the heck away.

I thanked him for the pictures and reminded him kindly that I don't eat birds.  I feel like they appreciate that.

 Ah! The giant purple bison is back! Run!

Dude, I totally have the right of way here.

They were running around and playing with each other. It was super cute in the way that giant fast animals who have the ability to kill you are cute.

I'm glad we were there out of season.  It was still very pretty, there were very few people, and the animals were out.  I highly recommend visiting Yellowstone if you ever have the chance.


Marissa