• Very happy with our accommodations.  Followed the lead of a local Indian woman who suggested a hike-the Notch-ladder and all to a great view. So we did it.  Glenda brought her mega binoculars which proved to be useful later.

home sweet home

intrepid hikers

photo taken with a wide angle lens?

• Glenda made me do it.  So queer…we had to go to the ranger station and get our National Parks Passports stamped with the date and the official park stamp.  Cringe factor: off the charts for this sophisticated Jersey girl 🙂  See the picture below. Does anyone recognize the body part from: Royal Pains, Blue Bloods, Pan Am or Law and Order SVU??

Hint: this body part is a member of SAG and AFTRA

Glenda, uncontrollably laughing while preparing to stamp

• Since we conquered the first hike so easily we decided to go for the big girl hike “Medicine Root Loop”.  This was where we encountered Big Horn Sheep (which, frankly, look more like goats if you ask me..but then again I am not the best on animal identification).  Fortunately girl scout Glenda had the mega binoculars at the ready because I was sure they were a pack of hikers all dressed alike on some kind guided tour/hike.  When she zoomed in..surprise!!!  a herd of animals!!

little ones

back end

• Having been overcome by too much nature, we had a hankering for a tacky tourist opportunity.  On we went to Wall, SD home of Wall Drug-renowned worldwide apparently for offering free ice water and five cent coffee to all comers.

home of SD kitsch

• On the way to Wall here is who we met: ..who knew these prairie dogs squeak just like fresh Wisconsin cheese curds??

Priscilla the Prairie Dog

Jersey Junction

Another resolute failure on the Jersey front.  Honey, there are just no people out here!!

Theme of the Day: A walk in the park (not like any park we have back at home)

Next up: Mount Rushmore, Custer, SD

• Left beautiful Badlands.  At checkout, Glenda was inspired to purchase 2 50-cent plastic bison for healing and courage…plus we were hoping to see a real one soon.  A crowd gathered at the desk for this photo shoot: complete with Badlands mouse pad as a back drop!

• Rapid City, SD and the streets are lined with bronze presidents. Can you guess who they are?

Ronald Reagan

Jimmy Carter

Jefferson

Andrew Johnson

Millard Filmore

William Henry Harrison

•  And more presidents – Mount Rushmore – what a sight! We learned its story and how the whole thing was carved (90% using dynamite), the funding, who worked on it, everything. We loved it! Natch, our visit included the ritual commemorative stamping of the passport.

Stamping

NJ – 3rd State Admitted to the Union – Yay!

Teddy

George’s nostrils

Abe

Tom’s nostrils

• On to Wind Cave. Much to Glenda’s chagrin, we were too late to get our stamps however all was not lost. The animal viewing and identification was fantastic. Pronghorn antelope, steers, turkeys, prairie dogs, and a herd of buffalo.

 Jersey Junction

To make up for our previous failures today we bring you two Jersey Junctions.  Up first our Badlands breakfast waitress-never been to New Jersey but what came to her mind first?  She said “the Jersey drawl” and she proceeded to give us a taste of the “Jersey drawl” including Joizee, cawfee. “even though i’m from Podunk, I know my accents!!”.  Her Jersey accent was spot on.  Further probed, she admitted to hearing about Jersey shore the show, not the beaches–is she Snooki or Snickers??

Jersey Junction 2: Dinner at the local bar/restaurant in Custer, SD.  We met a young couple from MN.  First things first, they drank bloody marys with pickles instead of celery and salt on the rim like margaritas.  Do we do that in Jersey?  Neither of them had ever been to NJ but they too mentioned Jersey Shore..the show…not the beaches..ugh!!  How can we counter that perception??  Glenda pulled a good one out of her facts hat – Jersey is the home of M&M’s (first made in Newark, NJ).  Our couple was impressed as they had been munching on them as they drove across South Dakota.  Yay red M&M’s!!

 

Theme of the Day: Presidents!!

Up next: Wyoming

 

• Crazy Horse mountain carving.  The Lakota chiefs hired a Polish Bostonian to create a mountain sculpture of Crazy Horse.  The work started in 1947 and is ongoing today.  It is much bigger than Mt. Rushmore and totally privately funded so still being carved under the direction of the original artist’s children.  Another amazing South Dakota site!

Crazy Horse Sculpture Model

Crazy Horse Mountain Carving

• Random observation – loved the mixture of names of Crazy Horse Scholarship recipients – David Strickland, Regina Still Smoking, Ruth Afraid of Bear, Theresa Brewer, Maxine Broken Nose, Jerilyn Chasing Hawk, and Leo Her Many Horses. Also loved this real place – Crazy Woman Creek!
• On our way to Wyoming we first stopped at Jewel Cave National Park and—yes–another stamp!!!  We opted to forego the spelunking and even skipped the hour and a half tour deep underground into the cave full of stalactites and stalagmites (we just wanted to say those words out loud).  But we watched the video and jewel-like it was!
• Spontaneous decision along route 16 to head to Devils Tower a national monument and —-yes—-another stamp!!!  A most unusual rock tower with a lot of Indian folklore, a sacred Indian site with a fun tale of its origins.

Devils Tower

Jersey Junction

Two today:

At a rest stop in Bumbleroot, Wyoming (seriously, we have no idea what the real name of the town was), Sue spotted a fellow Jersey vehicle.  Seeing as how we were the only other people/vehicle in the rest area, we approached them.  Yay Jersey!!!  They were from Pennington and on a similar cross country trip with their dog, Dora.  They were great to talk to.  They were worried about their Obama bumper sticker.  We all agreed it would be fine until Texas.

On the way out of Devils Tower, we were instructed to stop and wait for the Pilot Car.  What??  While waiting, we chatted up the nice young Wyoming road worker.  He let us know that he had never been to NJ because “it’s a zoo there, isn’t it?”  So we offered him peanut butter and wheat thins which he happily accepted.  The Pilot Car arrived and escorted us up past the landslide road repair and off we went.

Theme of the Day: Indian stuff

Up next: Yellowstone National Park

Another random animal crossing the road (we think it’s a Mule Deer)

• It takes us 3 hours to get out each morning no matter how hard we try or how we change our routine. It’s 3 hours. We must accept it. Ok – 3 hours later – we left on the long road to Yellowstone. First up – incredible scenery and up and over a mountain. 8,500 feet or so, winding switchbacks and heading into Big Horn National Forest.

• Morning: geyser trail. Saw Old Faithful erupt, then got our 5th park stamp. Woot, woot! Headed out on a boardwalk trail passing many different geysers,hot springs, pools and other thermal features. The earth is bubbling, burbling, boiling, belching, spitting, spouting, spritzing, and steaming. We learned that you have to stay on the boardwalk because you can fall into these thermal pits and boil to death! The geysers fill up, roar, bubble, spout and then drain. The pools are multi-colored with vibrant blues, oranges, greens and yellows. Some are mud pits with boiling mud baths and some are dry steam vents that vented like the NYC subway.

Old Faithful

Bacteria Mat (this is what it really said on the sign)

Mud Pots

• After a picnic lunch, we viewed the Yellowstone canyon and falls. The Lower Falls are apparently twice as high, but much narrower than, Niagara. The canyon was impressive, huge and yellow.

The Lower Falls

Yellow stone in Yellowstone (actually, it’s gray stone with mineral deposits on it)

Us with yellow stone

• Finally, on our way back to the lodge, we drove through the river valley part of Yellowstone. This meant more animal sightings. We saw the now mundane bison and a couple of new animals: wolf and fox. We looked desperately for a bear but no success yet – maybe tomorrow. Saw the elk and his harem again, too.

Wolf

Bull

Jersey Junction

So we saw a Jersey car parked next to us at breakfast this morning. It was packed to the gills with all kinds of stuff, in every seat, in every crevice of the car. Plus, there was a box on the top and one on the back bumper. We went over to investigate, thinking this might be our junction. But when we looked closer, we saw the top of a guy’s head peaking out from under stuff, still asleep. We screamed and ran away. Hmmm – maybe not the time to talk about Jersey.

Theme of the Day: The 5 Senses

We saw the vibrant colored pools, heard the gurgling geysers, felt the steam give us facials, smelled the rotten-egg smell of sulphur from the geysers, and tasted elk meat. All good.

Up Next: Jackson, WY