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Mountain sunrise
Walk with the girls Started the day early to get a workout in as I spent my entire day in a car the day before. I woke the girls up to go for a walk with me in downtown Hill City, a sleepy little town with an exceptional view of mountains surrounding it. We did a 2 mile walk in fresh, crisp mountain air. It was so refreshing after a cramped car ride for 15 hours. Hannah and I ended working out 30 more minutes, then woke up the rest of our family. We got showered, dressed, and packed to leave, but needed to eat our free breakfast first. Every hotel on our journey except the cabin in Yellowstone has a pool, and free breakfast, which is great for our family.
Everyone was ready go to eat, but it was a packed house. No room in the inn to eat per se. We ate a hardy breakfast in our room and we were off again. The plan was to head straight to Yellowstone a 600-mile trek. The plan changed as we got closer to the crazy horse monument. We drove up and it was $28 to get in. I was incredibly resistant
Teddy bear town
Railroad museum to pay that much for max 30-minute stay at the monument, as we needed to stay on schedule. The park attendant looked us as we debated about turning around and stated, “My good deed for the day.” We received the park admission free, because of the kindness of one park attendant.
The monument if you are not aware is not finished and has been under construction for 70 years. The monument houses a Native American museum. The suffering and almost extermination of an entire culture cannot be expressed vividly enough by this monument. I hope they finish this monument in my lifetime.
We were off after the wonderful start to our day headed to Wyoming and Yellowstone. Along the way I would see animals in the pasture wondering what they were in a field or on the side of hill. They were antelope. Every time I see a new animal in the wild I get, so excited and celebrate loudly look kids a: insert animal here. Along the way poor Isabella began to cry because of her head, throat, and ears. She kept running a fever and I kept pumping her with ibuprofen or
Tylenol.
In the distant we thought we were seeing Mountains or a mirage. As I drove closer it was not a mirage. The mountains were beautiful and enormous. I got to view them from the back seat with my baby girl cuddled up next to me as she was still not feeling well.
We got up to what we thought was the top of the mountain and the view was amazing. You could see for miles the beautiful Wyoming landscape. As we climbed higher into the mountain on highway 14, I saw signs that said watch for Big horn crossing. I was so disappointed we did not see one sheep. We made it through the treacherous mountain pass to the town of Cody.
Cody Wyoming is a real life wild west type of town, with a rodeo area as you leave town. We ate in Cody. Devin tried Bison for the first time. He was not impressed. My steak was chewy and potatoes cold. After another hour in the car we made it to our cabin. It was a real cabin with no cell service, Wi-Fi, or a TV. After a
Finished crazy horse
This is what the monument will look like. Under construction since 1948 tour and warning from the grounds keeper about wildlife including bears we took off for Yellowstone 12 minutes away.
The park was brimming with wildlife. We entered and we immediately greeted by a Bison at the park entrance. We drove through the mountains of the east entrance to the park. There was a beautiful lake and some small waterfalls off the sheer cliffs. As we got closer to the lake we saw more Bison, lots of Bison. There was even a bison right next to our window walking on the road. After a while Bison became boring and we wanted to see the next animal. Just as I thought this elk began to appear. We drove up to canyon falls. We saw a beautiful waterfall and then the multiple hot springs. The kids thought Issac was passing gas, but it was the Sulfur of Yellowstone. One of the springs was called mud volcano. All the features had interesting colors, odors, and beauty to them. After 1.5 hours driving through the park and getting out to take in the absolute beauty of nature we turned back towards our cabin.
Tim wished very loudly to see
Open roads
These are roads to Wyoming a bear and at this point it was granted. A black bear was running down in the ravine there were multiple spectators out, we were not one of them. I like to see my wild bears from a distance. As we left the park the side of the mountain housed a moose and buffalo just wandering down the road to our cabin. Without the convenience of a cell signal the kids crashed out as soon as we got back. Good thing another long drive awaited us.
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