And left from Cody Wyoming (airport pictured here), for 12 hours of flying to go through Salt Lake City, and Minneapolis, to get back to South Dakota for a wedding. More on that next time!
But Kelli had to say goodbye to the west.
Feng shui room in another RV in the group.
And she has one pimpin’ pad!!!
Visting Kalley’s motorhome…
Max and Riley would have gotten along well.
The motorcycle crew is always there.
Live music on the outside.
Inside Irma’s. It is also a hotel.
Cheers!
The people in Wyoming were the friendliest you could ever want to meet.
Vince and his furry pal, Riggs.
Back at Irma’s another night and these are all regulars.
The wildlife and countryside were reason enough to go.
Lots of stuff in the area to see and do.
One of 3, in Yellowstone. This is the highest.
Chillin’.
Some cascading falls off the highway.
Another view of the falls.
They were pretty high up.
A nice little spot.
Catching some waterfalls.
This was inside the visitors center at Old Faithful
It’s actually pretty accurate.
After walking around it had been enough time for Old Faithful to go off again. These are all people waiting for it.
No bears are getting into this trash can.
It was pretty cool just walking around.
Nice little hot tub.
Some of the water was a really pretty blue.
Apparently this is a problem there.
You’d just be walking and then they would seem to explode.
Good name.
Hard to believe that could take your skin right off.
A different formation.
Obviously named.
Geysers were bubbling all over.
Fun facts.
You kind of want to swim in it, don’t you?
Don’t fall in!
A few random geysers.
This is a geyser out of order. More on this later.
Most were named.
This one started bubbling right when they walked by.
You could walk all around the geysers but were warned not to step off the trail.
The sulfur smell was overwhelming but they got used to it.
Various springs.
That’s Old Faithful to the left.
I love the pic of the boy burning his feet. That’s what you get punk!
They headed through Yellowstone to get to Old Faithful.
Walking around Old Faithful.
Pop and Kelli had breakfast at Old Faithful, and you can sit and eat and watch it with a clear view.
In the heart of turquoise country and she bought this fake thing.
And then won’t go again for up to 2 hours.
It only erupts for about 30 seconds.
Tapering off.
Old Faithful in all its glory.
It was pretty incredible to see.
They did not have to wait 2 hours like these fools.
Right when we got there Old Faithful was going off.
They actually do try and predict it.
Interesting if you’re interested.
Sulfur springs were everywhere.
Fires burning in the distance, apparently a common thing in Yellowstone.
Man this guy was just walking down the road.
There is an elk back there somewhere.
If there’s a sign, then we’ll take a picture of it.
Right off the highway.
Gorgeous lake.
Chillin’ at Yellowstone.
The next morning it was off to Yellowstone National Park.
Probably cheaper buying gas for this car than the RV.
Coffee was $1.00 for 2 cups.
Stopping for gas at the local station and this guy ran out the door to greet us.
Tons of antelope out early in the morning.
It was a fun time.
Cassies, a local joint.
So they drove off to the next bar.
But that is the dam.
Anyhow, they were closing up shop.
The inside of the tunnel is carved out in stone.
This is how we ride.
Walking up to the dam itself.
The road goes right by it.
This is on the Shoshoni River.
It was cool to see.
They drove her out to the Buffalo Bill Dam and Reservoir.
Now we know.
She asked them why so many knives were for sale in the area. Who carries a knife?
If it ain’t a Harley, its not a motorcycle.
The bikers were a good time.
I think this was William Cody’s saddle.
She met up with the Black Widow biker gang.
Later that night she hit Irma’s, the bar that Buffalo Bill owned (named after his daughter).
The downtown area here made you feel like you were back in the Old West.
She enjoyed the local brews.
Kelli went off to find the local town and saloon.
It was a glorious day in Cody.
Arriving to Cody, Wyoming and they dropped Mom off at the hospital (diverticulitis).
Kelli found a spot selling sarsaparilla.
The landscape looked much as it had back in the day.
Indian graves.
Plaque on memorial.
Custer’s memorial.
More reading material.
Custer himself is actually buried in New York.
Close up grave.
The soldiers graves.
Visiting Custer’s Last Stand.
A view of one of the battles with the indians.
Read if interested.
What part of this-is-RV-parking-only don’t you understand. All these cars were made to move. Ha!
That’s the trail we hiked.
Parting shot.
Hiking around the tower and through the woods.
Its a pretty cool structure.
Backside of tower has more of a sloping side.
The rock structure with climbers on it.
Anyhow, Devil’s Tower.
They hiked all around the tower.
More fun facts.
People actually climb it.
Posing with Devil’s Tower in Wyoming.
This one was more of a hike.
There was a walking tour here as well.
Pretty tall.
Some history.
Pretty hard to park a 40 foot vehicle towing an SUV.
Pop did an amazing parking job here.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind was filmed here.
Read if interested.
View on the way in.
Pop is always dirty.
The RV group travels in style.
Sunsets and sunrises were gorgeous.
Leaving the cave from the highway and this guy was hanging out.
This was the original cave hole that was used to explore the cave.
The boxwork resembled spiderwebs in places.
They went 200 feet underground.
Lots of steps.
The crystals formed were cool to see.
Chillin’ in the cave.
She is laughing because he took a million pictures in the cave.
Frost work is the other.
Boxwork is one.
The cave has 2 formations.
No water means no stalagmites or stalactites. Also, no critters.
This is a dry cave.
Some places were big, but others were very tight.
One day Kelli and Pop went to Wind Cave National Park in SD.
It was kind of neat to see what ruled the earth back in the day.
The site was pretty big.
They were pretty big beasts.
Mammoth bones.
They still are working on the site daily.
Everywhere we went there was audio to listen to.
At the mammoth site, you can see the actual animal bones still in the ground.
One day Kelli and Pop went to the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD.
The campground we stayed at in South Dakota.
At the campsite there were tons of bluebirds.
Veterans were asked to come down and be acknowledged. Smitty is 4th from right.
Mt. Rushmore lit up.
Smitty and his wife.
The RV guys at Mt. Rushmore for the evening presentation.
Kelli’s hiking shoes came in very handy on this trip.
Belle really wanted to come with for that.
Mt. Rushmore has an evening presentation every night.
Picnicking at the campground.
Rita made us grape leaves one night.
Belle did not love this cat.
Rita, the lady who owns this RV, keeps 2 cats and this dog in hers.
Every RV person has some sort of pet.
She was very excited for her free rock.
Interesting that no one really knows what Crazy Horse looks like.
For your reading pleasure.
View from front.
What the finished product would look like.
Still kinda cool to see.
But the creators don’t want to use any government funding.
If finished it will be the biggest carving ever.
they probably will not ever get it completed in this lifetime.
While an interesting endeavor…
The Crazy Horse monument isn’t too far away from Mt. Rushmore.
Enjoying chili. Buffalo chili of course.
So this father with 4 kids had them pose exactly like the monument. Tons of people took pics of this.
These were masks created so the builders would be correct in making the faces to the right scale.
…you can visit the sculptor’s studio.
There was a walking tour all around the monument.
…and gazing toward where Jefferson is looking…
and seeing the pavilion area on the other side..
After going around the front of the monument…
Close up of George. They actually had to redo him when they first started.
Not one death occurred during the creation of Mt. Rushmore.
the rubble leading up.
You could get pretty close up.
There were all sorts of areas to capture interesting shots.
The walking tour was pretty cool.
Supposedly these trees in the Black Hills smell like vanilla.
They did the informative audio tour.
Another shot.
Some people don’t like the rubble at the base, but advocates say to consider it as an arrow leading your eyes up to the faces.
It’s amazing that this was created.
They spent a lot of time there.
Arriving on the scene.
Just some different shots…
View from right when you walk in.
Do you know your presidents?
The scenic drive to Mt. Rushmore.
Close up burro.
Close up antelope.
Close up prairie dog.
Buffalo meat is available everywhere.
Guess I know where they’re off to next.
Kelli left lunch and swung into this winery for some tasty wines.
Gorgonzola and walnut toast.
Hangin’ with the RV peeps.
Kelli loved this beer.
Our very friendly waitress.
Perusing the local fare.
Lunch at a real lunch place.
Okay, back to the restaurant.
View of the park.
Also prairie dogs.
This is definitely the home where the buffalo roam.
Okay, enough of the burros.
They were pretty cute.
They loved being pet and fed.
Also, very friendly burros.
Pronghorns and elks hang out here as well.
There were tons of motorcyclists.
The car is in the pic to show size scale.
Kelli picked up a guide book at every stop.
Who would mess with this guy anyway.
They get right up on your car. Buffalo don’t care.
Home to hundreds of buffalo.
Visiting Custer State Park.
So one night Pop left a candy bar on the counter, it melted and fell and got in the carpet. Tee hee.
Free water is kinda their thing.
and this.
It’s this cool little mall with little shops and then, stuff like this.
The downtown area is known for Wall Drug Store.
The town of Wall, SD.
For your reading pleasure.
Hundreds of them all in this one spot.
There is a lot of wild life there. Prairie dogs run rampant.
You kinda feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere.
It was pretty cool to see.
Meeting up with another couple from the RV group, and they took them on a detour through The Badlands.
You can just park and walk around.
View from side of road.
Dogs only allowed on a 6 foot leash because of rattlesnakes.
We took a detour and entered the Badlands, it’s this area of cliffs and rocks.
I can’t really think of anything better to do with all that corn.
Close up shot.
They redo the outside with a different theme every summer.
The entire thing is made out of….well, corn.
Downtown Mitchell, SD.
I bet you never knew such a place existed.
They took a detour to The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota.
May as well just make a building out of it.
Pretty though.
So I took a picture.
It’s close to the headwaters, so it’s not very wide.
This is a Mississippi River but I have no idea where…
Belle was happy to steal the couch.
Mom sat up in the front seat for a while.
It was gorgeous, but time to move to the next spot.
Smitty’s house where the RV was parked for a few nights.
Group shot.
They met friends of my parents from years ago.
Antipasto shared by all.
A great local pizza joint in Joliet, IL.
Mom went spray tanning one day. My that’s a nice tan on the bottom of your foot.
After crazy times in Chicago it was back to the RV in Joliet. This is Smitty, they camped at his pad.
The guy on left was on the main stage show.
If you haven’t seen 2nd City I highly recommend it.
A good night was had by all.
Hangin’ with the dudes.
Feelin’ good.
Afterwards they had drinks with the cast.
Nicole had a friend acting that night. They had a blast.
Enjoying the local beverages.
Nicole thinks of fun things to do. Here they are at 2nd City Improv club.
The Sears Tower from the road.
It was a fantastic day!
Workin’ the grill.
A few grills are set up for the use of the owners.
They decided to have a cookout on the beach.
This is Nicole’s friend. The kitchen is a tight squeeze.
Pebble stuck in the board.
They drank sangria and chilled.
These surfers were out there all day.
and attempted to get a tan.
They set up camp…
View looking toward the left.
It was gorgeous, but the water was pretty nippy.
Nicole has friends that have a private beach on Lake Michigan. This is the view straight out from their place.
Walking around a farmers market.
Love this house in the neighborhood.
Kelli’s afternoon trip to Chicago turned into 3 days. One day they took a meditation class.
Fiona, still kickin’.
They used to work at Mrs. Simpsons restaurant in DC together back in the day.
Nicole is a great bartender. Its how they know each other.
2 of Nicole’s friends saw us sitting outside and joined us for after dinner drinks.
Twice baked potato.
Scallops. Yum.
The best blue cheese salad.
The lovely Nicole.
One of Kelli’s favorite stores was across the street from the restaurant.
They shared everything (so they could afford to eat there).
Out to dinner at Hugo’s Frog Bar & Fishhouse.
The windy city! She met her friend Nicole out in Chicago while the RV and my parents stayed camped in Joliet.
They drank a few while there, and then Kelli headed off to….
A raspberry beer with sparkle. Yum.
A very delicious local ale.
They had a blast sipping on the local brews. Cheers Mary!
In Fort Wayne, Indiana Kelli had a friend take her to a local beer bar.
Parking for the day and mom decided to clean the windows in her curlers.
Belle came along for the ride.
My mom relaxed on her sofa most of the way, and Kelli relaxed on hers which was directly across.
Mom made Kelli a great sandwich.
The trip out west started with Kelli leaving from my parents house.