Headed West - Finally!

 Our trials didn't end when Mark got to Atlanta.  We had hoped to leave early the next morning, but packing the Forester became a huge challenge.  It quickly went from "how do we best pack all this stuff" to "ok, what can we leave behind?"  Luke's toddler air mattress - out!  Sleeping bag - out!  Container of non-perishable food - out!  And the list went on.  Finally we were packed, the Cruiser was ready for storage and we were off.
We rolled into Kentucky much later than planned, so we decided to head West on Friday instead of Thursday.  Friday morning came and we noticed we had a nail in the front tire and a pretty good chip in the windshield.  Into town we headed for repairs.  This is where the hard times end and the good ones begin.  

Mt. Rushmore

Even though we got a late start, we were finally headed West.  We rolled through St. Louis around 7:00 pm and pressed forward.  We had exactly one week to get to Seattle to drop the car off at the barge, and we planned to see as much of this country as we could in that time.  We drove that first night till almost 2:00 am to make up for the late start.  On day 2 we made a spur of the moment decision to continue North into South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore.  After breakfast on Day 3 we continued to Mt. Rushmore for some sight-seeing, hiking and biking.  We were disappointed to find that there were no trails!  Although Mt. Rushmore itself was pretty amazing, we only spent 30 minutes at the monument.  We snapped our pictures, bought our magnet and loaded everybody up back into the car.  

Devils Tower

Our next            destination was Yellowstone National Park.  On the way however, we spotted signs for Devils Tower National Monument and decided "what the heck, the detour might be fun."  Devils Tower, the first national monument, was very impressive.  Unfortunately though, the kids both fell asleep on the way there, so rather than disturb a very peaceful nap, Mark drove in circles while I snapped my pictures and bought another magnet.  

Mammoth Hot Springs

We drove all day and stayed at a little motel 2 miles from the East entrance of Yellowstone.  Day 4 we took our time driving through the park to our campsite near the West entrance.  Yellowstone is breath taking to say the least!  We drove well under the speed limit in order not to miss a thing.  Bison were everywhere.  To add to that list we saw numerous elk, 2 bears, a fox, a bald eagle and a moose.  We arrived at our campsite, set up camp, then got back into the car and continued exploring.  That night got down to 35 degrees.  Mark, Luke and Gianna all slept great.  I got cold and once awake all I could think about were bears and I could swear I heard something big stomping around our tent.

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Lower Falls at Grand Canyon

Old Faithful

Day 5 was another awesome day.  We saw the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and Mammoth Hot Springs.  That night snow was in the forecast and temps in the 20s, so even though we paid for 2 nights of camping, we packed up and headed to West Yellowstone, Montana.

Sure enough, the next morning a blanket of snow covered everything.  Two days was no where near enough time to see all we wanted to see in Yellowstone.  We will certainly return one day, but as for today we continue on to Seattle.