newness

So my SIL doesn't want to read the sadness that is the previous post so I will tell you all what I have been doing on my summer vacation.

SIL and I went on a road trip in the last week of June to several places. We left home at 630pm on a Friday and she drove all night and day until we made it to Jackson Hole in the Tetons. We set up camp(it was cloudy and raining) and we went and explored the Yellowstone area all over again. I really love that place. We also stopped at Earthquake Ridge National Monument. After staying the night here on Saturday.(huge storm) We packed up early the next morning and headed to the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park. This place is so beautiful. It's nestled up on this ridge/plateau so you don't even realize it's there. It is this very very deep canyon in Colorado that is only 1/2 miles across at the widest point but 1/2 mile deep. The campground is amazing and there is no light pollution so the stars were amazingly bright. I had a hard time picking out constellations and I am usually decent about that. We hiked around this area and had a fine time. Monday morning came quickly and we headed out towards the Great Sand Dunes in eastern Colorado. If you get a chance to go....do it. This place is amazing. Huge dunes 700ft up and you can climb to the very top. SIL and I didn't only because the sand was very loose and very hot. We did climb up one dune and felt pretty good about that. There is also a nice small stream that runs along the edge. Great place to play on such a hot day. We then headed towards Colorado Spring to set up our camp for the night.

Tuesday: We were going to go up to Pike's Peak on the cog railway out of Manitu Springs. We arrived in Colorado Springs and decided to check out the Garden of the Gods. This place is unreal! Huge red rock monoliths rising out of the ground. I recommend this place to visit as well. Tuesday arrived and we headed to the train to head up to Pike's Peak. It is a 14, 115 ft tall mountain. You can hike, drive or take a train to the top. We took the train. We had also planned to hike to the bottom. Didn't work out as parts of the peak were still under several ft of snow. Let me tell you, the view is amazing at the height. The weather was amazing and clear so you could see several states. SIL got a little bit of rocky mt high! I was doing okay. We finished up there and just walked around Manitu Springs and headed for the motel.

Wednesday: We took off for Rocky Mountain National Park. This place is amazing. Just go! We explored it for several hours until the huge lightening storm came in. Then we hightailed it out of there! When we came out of the park into Estes Park, there were elk everywhere! There had to be at the very least 100 elk just wandering in and about this town. Like it was nothing! It was then time to start heading to Nebraska. We were going to check out Chimney Rock and Scott's bluff. We were headed toward Bayard, Nebraska. Don't ever ever never ever stop in this town! When the SIL and I headed toward this state park to camp in this town, we couldn't find it so we stopped and asked. The local's refer to it as the "pits" and that is what it looked like! We had to drive along the railroad tracks, pass by 2 horrid trailer parks(the kind that breeds horror movie villains) and a rundown gas station. To top it off when we got to the pits to get our camping pass I noticted a clipping on the message board waring about two level 3 sex offenders who were transients in the area. UMM no thank you! So off to the only motel in town to be scared off by the 400 year old lady with the leather skin in a pink mumu with a beehive, chain smoking and dragging off this cigarette. Glaring at us! Off to the next town...Bridgeport. This is a good town. Stay here.

Thursday: We spent the day checking out chimney rock and Scott's bluff and then we headed north into South Dakota through the Badlands. This place is amazing as well. We eventually made it towards the Wind caves and Mt. Rushmore. Not bad in one day we must say. These are all awesome places you must visit. The Wind cave especially was neat. We camped outside of Keystone, South Dakota.

Friday: We headed outwards Devils Tower, where during the month of June they ask you not to climb the tower out of respect for the Native Americans who view the tower as holy. Most people follow this rule and don't climb during this time. However, we did pass by a group of people in full climbing gear where my SIL remarks, "It must be nice to to have respect for people", or something to that effect. After Devil's tower we headed north to Little big horn battlefield in Montana. This place just confirms that fact that Custer was the biggest dumbass in the world. Done with this place we headed out towards Butte, Montana, where we tanked for the night.

Saturday: We just drove and drove and drove and drove till we got home. And it felt GOOD!

All in all...Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota.

Earthquake Ridge, Yellowstone, Tetons, Black Canyon, Great Sand Dunes, Garden of the Gods, Pike's Peak, Rocky Mountain, Chimney Rock, Scott's Bluff, Wind Caves, Mt. Rushmore, Devil's Tower, Little Big horn Battlefield.

We like road trippin'!