We started off the day with horseback riding at the Rafter J Ranch (thanks again to the Grimes for recommending this campground...it is great!). Emma, Rachel and I went...they didn't have enough horses for Shawn to go so he stayed back. Rachel didn't want to wear a helmet because it would mess up her hair. However, I kept having visions of Christopher Reeve, so I made her wear it. It was a nice way to see part of the National Forrest and we enjoyed it. After horseback riding, we headed to Mt. Rushmore. It was very impressive. We took the walking [View Full Entry]

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Wow, what a day, what a day, it felt like the day and road would never end. We pulled out of Cody, Wy. at 10:00 am and took a “short cut” (from Amy’s Badin friend) and ended in the small town of population…….and I am not lying 100, salute. After getting back to the “highway” we started to go up hill, I should say up mountain. The Big Horn Mountains, top out at 13,000 plus feet, I think we were driving at 10,000 feet. It took us about 2 hours to get through the Big Horn Mountain average speed about 25-30 [View Full Entry]

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Rachel's Blog the day started off by me and emma sleeping untill 10:30. then we went down to jackson hole. dad finally got his sweatshirt!!!!! yea dad!!!! difficult emma took 15 minutes getting a drink from the pepsi maachine. i got a new t-shirt. emma couldnt find one that she liked. we went into this one shop, there was stuffed animals(ones that were once alive) every where!!!!! there was some racoons in canoos!!!! buffalo, bears and there was the best thing ever there, it was............... BIG FOOT!!!!!!!!!!! yes big foot was there. i have a picture of him....... but..... i cant [View Full Entry]

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Today was our day to do nothing, which we all desperately needed! Amy went to the pool and read a book, Rachel and Emma layed in the camper and watched t.v. all day, and Shawn went shopping for a knife and a new truck. He got the knife and instead of a new truck, got the oil changed and the truck washed, much cheaper. It was a nice relaxing day. I had an "it's a small world" moment at the campsite. I was wearing a Bengals tshirt, and a guy who worked at the campground said he was from Cincinnati. After [View Full Entry]

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Wow talk about mountains, the Tetons are huge, (thats what she said). We were amazed how tall and impressive the mountain chain was. We went to Jenny Lake (we couldnt't stop pronouncing it like Forest Gump), took a boat across the lake to hike up to see hidden falls and inspiration point. Amy made a point of not telling the girls what to do or not to do, and if they died it was their own fault (tough love). Along the way Emma made a new friend. The hikes are getting easier or we are just getting use to the elavations [View Full Entry]

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Starkey's are back, back again.................. It sure is tough not having internet or cell phone service at some campgrounds......it is almost like roughing it. The next 3 enteries are posted as the days unfolded. Today we left Gardiner, Mt and headed south for Flagg Ranch, Wy. Flagg Ranch is just south of Yellowstone, and north of Grand Teton National Park. It's also known as "a dead zone!" On our way south we stopped in Yellowstone at the mud pots, and some geysers. Outside setting up for some 1st Amendments rights protest was this guy (see pic), if you can see the [View Full Entry]

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After yesterdays' marathon hiking day we decided to take it easy today. The girls slept till 10:00 am, and enjoyed a morning of just hanging out. We did go whitewater rafting on the Garder River for an 8 mile ride. It was alot of fun, it was rated at a class 2-3 rapids, just right for their first time. They think they want to goto the Upper Gulley next year, we shall see. We forgot to add to our blog from yesterday the big storm that came into Gardner. It was very cool to watch the storm come over the mountains [View Full Entry]

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Entering the Yellowstone Park, it was as if someone said "que the eagle" and with that an American Bald Eagle came flying down the Gardiner River, very cool! Blog from Emma: Yesterday we went to Mammoth Hot Springs. It was neat you could see steam coming from the springs and small waterfalls. The smell was horriable. :-( It smelled like boiled egg salad sandwiches that my mom makes). The water temputare was over 212 degrees farenhight! Right after that we went to Tower Falls. There we had lunch and then went on a hike to see Tower falls. We got to [View Full Entry]

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Blog from Rachel: We got up early and left Glacier for our 7 hour drive to Yellowstone. We broke up the trip by stopping in the city of Missoula to visit the University of Montana, home of the fighting grizzlie bears…the 1995 and 2001 division 1-AA champions in football. We all got Montana Griz sweatshirts…… except for dad!!!!!! He regrets his decision greatly. It’s a very nice campus except for the fact that it is haunted. I bought a book about Montana ghost stories and many of them take place on the University of Montana campus. There are many rooms and [View Full Entry]

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Today we were able to take advantage of the park buses to drive to Logan Pass so we could hike from the pass to Hidden Lake. Not having to drive on Going to the Sun Road with the construction was very welcomed. With water and sweatshirts we ventured up to Logan Pass. It was a good thing Amy reminded the girls to take their sweatshirts since there were still acres of snow several feet thick in most areas of the hike. It is amazing how some people dress to go for a hike in the snow (incredible since it is July), [View Full Entry]

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