Wow! It’s been a crazy couple of months. My apologies for not keeping up on the blog. I’ll do a little back tracking and start with our vacation to Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone National Park back in July.
We left on the Thursday before the 4th of July and drove about 8 hours into the evening. The next morning, we made the rest of the way up to Rapid City where we planned to stay the next 2 nights to see the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse monuments. We spent a good portion of Friday in the car, but finally made our way to Mt. Rushmore around 2:00 pm so we could find a spot somewhere on the mountain to watch the fireworks. They are suppose to be some of the best fireworks in the US and we were stoked (ok, so maybe I was way more excited than the rest of the crew). We spent the afternoon walking around, enjoying the scenery, getting tons of pictures and finally settling on a spot in the parking lot we found to have an exceptional view of the president’s faces. Although it had been raining on and off all afternoon, things cleared up around 6:00pm, so we thought we were in the clear for some spectacular fireworks. Boy, were we mistaken. About 9:00, the fog snuck its way in out of nowhere and we couldn’t see 5 feet in front of us, let alone up the mountain. At 9:30, when the fireworks were suppose to start, the announcer came on and said they were going to do a test firework to check visibility. There was a loud boom and then red clouds and that was about it. That didn’t stop the crowd of 10,000+ from cheering like it was the best display they’d ever seen though. But, I guess if I’d been there since 7:00 am, I’d probably be screaming for them to light the damn things off too. So, after about another 20 min, the rest of the booms and red clouds displayed in the sky (I’m sure there were other colors, but red was the only one that was visible) and we slowly made our way back down the 2 mile hike to the car. The good news about the lackluster fireworks show, was that it was on Friday, the 3rd, so we had a chance at redemption on the 4th in Rapid City.
Saturday we went to the Black Hills and over to Crazy Horse Museum before heading back into town to watch the local fireworks show. It was a great night of lying in the park.
Sunday we made our way to Deadwood so we could see the historic town and learn a little history of our great nation. However, we couldn’t make it past the tourist shops and gambling to learn anything, so we propped ourselves at a table and laid out 20 bucks each. About 2 hours and 8 drinks later, D walked out of there up $7 while the rest of us pretended the cheap beer and wine was worth the $20 each. We spent the rest of the day driving through the mountains, around the mountains and up and down the GD mountains until we finally made it just East of Yellowstone. We stayed in Cody, Wyoming, where we rolled into town just when the Rodeo ended. It was quite a disappointment.
The next couple of days we spent inside Yellowstone Park and it was amazing. We saw our first grizzly bear after being in the park about 20 min. It was only about 30 yards off the road and it was just going about its business, not even worried about the 20 or so cars and 50 or so people that were gawking at it. We also saw tons of buffalo and elk. We saw a wolf and 4 other grizzly’s. DJ was actually the one that spotted a Grizzly before anyone else saw it and he caused the “Bear Jam.” That’s what happens when a bear is spotted. Everyone tries to pull over so they can see, but it just ends up stopping traffic. We also ran into several “Bison Jams” but they don’t officially call them “Bison Jams” in the park. We were just literally stopped because there was a buffalo in the road, just hanging out, doing his bison-thing. 
The next few days were a blur, we hiked, we went to Old Faithful, the Upper and Lower Falls and all around the park. We split the park up into quadrants and took on a new section each day ending with a lovely dinner at a new spot each day, then heading back to our room for some cocktails and cards.
On our last day, we drove down through the Grand Tetons and stopped in Jackson Hole for lunch. Talk about a beautiful city. That’s a place I’d love to go back in the winter time and do some skiing. It’s a great little town. Expensive, but great. After lunch, we made the rest of the way though the most boring 2-lane highway in Wyoming until 3 hours later we reached I80 and civilization. After another 4 hours, we stopped for the night in Laramie.
The next morning, we finished up the last leg of our trip and landing in Denver, where we met up with Ashley and went to a Rockies baseball game. Lauren and Tobin met us out after the game and after lots of alcohol, rain, lightening and games of shuffle board, we called it a night. The next day, we woke up to some major cravings for Chipotle and determination to find the original Chipotle, so after what felt like an hour drive and 8 Advil later, we devoured burritos like it was the last food on earth before heading to the airport to make our flight home.
All in all, it was a great trip filled with fun and endless entertainment. I would defiantly recommend taking a trip to Yellowstone for anyone. It really helped remind me out beautiful our world is right here in America.
We left on the Thursday before the 4th of July and drove about 8 hours into the evening. The next morning, we made the rest of the way up to Rapid City where we planned to stay the next 2 nights to see the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse monuments. We spent a good portion of Friday in the car, but finally made our way to Mt. Rushmore around 2:00 pm so we could find a spot somewhere on the mountain to watch the fireworks. They are suppose to be some of the best fireworks in the US and we were stoked (ok, so maybe I was way more excited than the rest of the crew). We spent the afternoon walking around, enjoying the scenery, getting tons of pictures and finally settling on a spot in the parking lot we found to have an exceptional view of the president’s faces. Although it had been raining on and off all afternoon, things cleared up around 6:00pm, so we thought we were in the clear for some spectacular fireworks. Boy, were we mistaken. About 9:00, the fog snuck its way in out of nowhere and we couldn’t see 5 feet in front of us, let alone up the mountain. At 9:30, when the fireworks were suppose to start, the announcer came on and said they were going to do a test firework to check visibility. There was a loud boom and then red clouds and that was about it. That didn’t stop the crowd of 10,000+ from cheering like it was the best display they’d ever seen though. But, I guess if I’d been there since 7:00 am, I’d probably be screaming for them to light the damn things off too. So, after about another 20 min, the rest of the booms and red clouds displayed in the sky (I’m sure there were other colors, but red was the only one that was visible) and we slowly made our way back down the 2 mile hike to the car. The good news about the lackluster fireworks show, was that it was on Friday, the 3rd, so we had a chance at redemption on the 4th in Rapid City.Saturday we went to the Black Hills and over to Crazy Horse Museum before heading back into town to watch the local fireworks show. It was a great night of lying in the park.
Sunday we made our way to Deadwood so we could see the historic town and learn a little history of our great nation. However, we couldn’t make it past the tourist shops and gambling to learn anything, so we propped ourselves at a table and laid out 20 bucks each. About 2 hours and 8 drinks later, D walked out of there up $7 while the rest of us pretended the cheap beer and wine was worth the $20 each. We spent the rest of the day driving through the mountains, around the mountains and up and down the GD mountains until we finally made it just East of Yellowstone. We stayed in Cody, Wyoming, where we rolled into town just when the Rodeo ended. It was quite a disappointment.
The next couple of days we spent inside Yellowstone Park and it was amazing. We saw our first grizzly bear after being in the park about 20 min. It was only about 30 yards off the road and it was just going about its business, not even worried about the 20 or so cars and 50 or so people that were gawking at it. We also saw tons of buffalo and elk. We saw a wolf and 4 other grizzly’s. DJ was actually the one that spotted a Grizzly before anyone else saw it and he caused the “Bear Jam.” That’s what happens when a bear is spotted. Everyone tries to pull over so they can see, but it just ends up stopping traffic. We also ran into several “Bison Jams” but they don’t officially call them “Bison Jams” in the park. We were just literally stopped because there was a buffalo in the road, just hanging out, doing his bison-thing. 
The next few days were a blur, we hiked, we went to Old Faithful, the Upper and Lower Falls and all around the park. We split the park up into quadrants and took on a new section each day ending with a lovely dinner at a new spot each day, then heading back to our room for some cocktails and cards.
On our last day, we drove down through the Grand Tetons and stopped in Jackson Hole for lunch. Talk about a beautiful city. That’s a place I’d love to go back in the winter time and do some skiing. It’s a great little town. Expensive, but great. After lunch, we made the rest of the way though the most boring 2-lane highway in Wyoming until 3 hours later we reached I80 and civilization. After another 4 hours, we stopped for the night in Laramie.
The next morning, we finished up the last leg of our trip and landing in Denver, where we met up with Ashley and went to a Rockies baseball game. Lauren and Tobin met us out after the game and after lots of alcohol, rain, lightening and games of shuffle board, we called it a night. The next day, we woke up to some major cravings for Chipotle and determination to find the original Chipotle, so after what felt like an hour drive and 8 Advil later, we devoured burritos like it was the last food on earth before heading to the airport to make our flight home.
All in all, it was a great trip filled with fun and endless entertainment. I would defiantly recommend taking a trip to Yellowstone for anyone. It really helped remind me out beautiful our world is right here in America.
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