The Grand Tetons/Jackson Hole

The Grand Tetons

Campground view: good thing for the view. 

Papoo's great adventure!

"There's bears out there!" (Said in my best grandpa Simpson voice.) 

Field beside our campsite in Teton National Forest. 

We had to get here at 9:30am to get a good spot but we did it! The lake is through those trees. 

A long car ride across Wyoming to the Grand Tetons

View at Jackson Lake before dinner, around 8:30pm.

At the restaurant, look for the view behind Andy out the window. 

Best bruschetta ever at the Signal Mountain Lodge. Good elk and beef stew too. 

Little Lewis and Clark tidbits in the menu. 

The Black Hills Institute in Hill City and Mount Rushmore

Pics of the old trains and dinosaur museum still to come.

In the parking lot

Ecstatic selfie! Doesn't it look tiny? I think I expected the faces to go from the top of the mountain to the ground below. 60' is nothing to sneeze at. 14 years to completion. 

Sitting in the risers at the top of the amphitheater. The stage in the middle below is where the park ranger did her talk and showed the 20 minute movie before the illumination. Poor girl...it was her first night and her speech was somewhat painful. Been there, just not with so many people in the audience. 

My Bella and me

There was a big "Jefferson and ice cream" campaign of sorts in the VC there. Long lines for what they claimed was TJs vanilla ice cream. I was going to buy a tee but they were out of my size. When I told the girl I had worked there 6 years, she gave me a nice color copy of his vanilla ice cream recipe. :) 

Veterans and active duty members of the military are invited to come down to lower and fold the flag. If I had known I advance I would have taken Kenny down in a wheelchair (likely kicking and screaming) so he could help too. 

My favorite view. 

A Busy Sunday

A tense game of Zeus on the Loose before starting our day. (Through those trees is where I took yesterday's panoramic.) 

Once we headed off, we visited the Crazy Horse Monument. Pics later. 

Finally, BUFFALOS!!! We had seen a bighorn sheep in the Badlands, a wolf walking near the road just outside the Badlands, and lots of Jackrabbits and Prairie Dogs. Here at Custer National Park, we finally got to add buffalo, antelope, white-tailed deer, and burros to our list. I *may* have fed a burro some carrots by hand out the RV window and Ben *may * have thrown a few Cheetos to the prairie dogs. At least I wasn't the family that got out of their car to snuggle and take selfies with the white burro. 

After leaving the Park, we headed to the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, which was very cool. More pics on the other camera later. I do have this one of Bella waiting for our tour to begin. 

Rapid City, Bear Country

So many bears I lost count! Some just paced back and forth across the road and you had to wait your turn to make a break for it. Not an easy thing to do in a 30 foot RV. LOTS more pictures on the good camera when we get home. Video of 7 grizzly bears Cubs playing. 

This is Tink. He is 16 years old and 1,200 pounds. He would turn around when Andy called his name. This is him cleaning his paws. He liked blowing bubbles too. The ranger who kindly drive my parents around in the golf cart, giving them a personal tour, tried feeding him dog biscuits. He wasn't interested. 

View at our campground. My back is to the pool and shop. Our site is behind the tallest stand of trees at the top of a hill. Nice walking paths here at the Rafter J. 

Badlands campground

Designing her dream house while waiting for dinner. 

I love the picnic table shades around here. 

Papoo & Andy with a pretty nice view. 

I love love love this book! I've told this story so many times at Monticello. It's really cute and even gets into Charles Wilson Peale being the recipient of the Barking Squirrel. The only inaccuracy I found was that Lewis and Clark began with 4 magpies and all 4 made it to Jefferson. Only 1 survived in reality. Ah well. Minor details.