A Short Photo Report of My Daddy-Daughter Drive

After almost exactly five years, I am back in Salt Lake City. Here are a few of the sights I saw with my Dad as we drove across the country . . .

We set out in a pouring rain (thanks for the umbrella
to car service, Marcia!), we drove in and out of rain
storms all day. But the weather was absolutely perfect
for our first stop at the Kirtland Temple. Event highlight:
singing "The Spirit of God" with our tour group.

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.

There were so many ads for Wall Drug,
we figured we should stop in and see
if it lived up to the hype. Our verdict:
it doesn't. It is one big souvenir shop.
(I guess if you like that sort of thing . . .)
I much preferred the human skeleton
leading a dinosaur skeleton that we
saw somewhere on the roadside.
[Sorry, no picture available. Google it.]

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!)