Flowers on the Kirtland Temple grounds. |
My Dad, an excellent road trip companion. |
I don't remember which city this is, but we spent most of day 1 driving and made it from Sterling, VA to the west side of Chicago, IL. |
In Chicago, we arrived at the hotel late. Luckily, the hotel gave out free popcorn, which hit the spot as far as dinner was concerned. |
Lucky mileage day on the odometer. |
On day 2, we got on I-90, cut the corner of Wisconsin, drove through Minnesota, and crossed most of South Dakota. |
The Mississippi River is big, even way up north on the Wisconsin / Minnesota border. |
The falls that give Sioux Falls, SD its name. |
The Great Plains are very green, even in the middle of summer. |
We started day 3 at Badlands National Park. |
The rocks were beautiful. (I like rocks.) But what surprised me most was how green everything else was. |
This is a photo from my favorite spot in the park, a little windy hill with a 360 degree view where you can see the green plains stretching off in one direction, and the badlands laid out in another. |
Next we did Mount Rushmore . . . |
. . . where we had ice cream for lunch. Yum. |
Then it was on to Wyoming. |
So neat. |
I very much prefer the traditional names for it, though. |
Around the base of the tower. |
We walked around the whole thing, taking lots of pictures. (It was a little more than a mile.) |
This was a really pretty canyon we drove down on our way through Wyoming. |
We spent the night in Cody, WY. |
On day 4 we headed into Yellowstone via the East Entrance. |
I love how they made the sign the same color as the lake. |
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. |
Warning, Sasquatch sightings. (Dad pointed out how very official these signs looked.) |
A petrified tree. Dad and I wondered why it was so lonely (as opposed to a petrified forest of trees). |
When you are in Yellowstone and you have a chance to hug a bear, you hug a bear. |
And then there were elk. |
Mammoth Hot Springs. |
Dad and his (awesome) red shoes at Mammoth Hot Springs. |
This one is trying to be a picture of a bear. |
After heading around the north part of the Yellowstone loop, we went out the West Entrance (Exit) and took a detour to Mesa Falls in Idaho. This is the Upper falls. |
Gotta love a snow pole. |
This is Lower Mesa Falls. |
We spent our last night at Julie's in Rexburg, ID. The next morning we got up and headed south, but we had to stop for gas one last time. |
We pulled into Salt Lake City around noon on day 5. Then we took the rest of the day off. (Thanks for a great trip, Dad!) |