SOUTH DAKOTA: June 30 (Day 39)

We awoke in Thermopolis, WY after driving across half of the state. We ended up crashing at a hotel for the first time on the trip. We figured the good night's sleep would be well worth it after a couple nights of sleeping in the car and dodging campsite fees. But the main selling point was the Natural Hot Spring jacuzzi the hotel boasted. (Nate had been talking about finding a hot spring the entire trip).

After some much needed R&R we headed off across Wyoming and into South Dakota.

Just a few miles of I-90 in the western end of the state was the famed Mount Rushmore. We moseyed on up there only to find a $10 fee to see what we could already see from the parking lot, so I snapped a picture and moved along.




Sheep


Heading east, we were back in prairie land. The people of South Dakota need to attract tourists somehow, and since its pretty boring they really have to go out of their way. Case and Point: Wall Drug Store. We started seeing signs half way through Wyoming. They really laid it on thick, posting more billboards than we could shake a stick at. Here's a bunch we saw within just a couple miles:









It litterally went on like this for a hundred miles. They were really trying hard to get us to come, especially with the free coffee and donuts for honymooner's ad. So we went for it, just to check out the scene.


At first we weren't really into it. Looked like just another big store from the outside


But then we found a real dinosaur!


And a talking bison.


And some jackalopes.


And a jackalope possibly larger than "The World's Largest Jackalope" which we just saw yesterday.


And an Actual-Size replica of Mount Rushmore. Why did we do a cross country road trip when all we had to do was stop in Wall Drug, SD?


Nate was so excited that I couldn't get him to leave.

Eventually I managed to get Nate back to the car and we continued our trek eastward through South Dakota.

Next stop was The Badlands. A pretty cool national park. The rock formations were very similar to that of Monument Rock in Kansas. These went on for miles and miles, however. It was pretty cool to see, but at this point we have been totally National-Park'ed out, so we just drove through pretty quick.







Saw some wildlife, too.



All in all, South Dakota was pretty fun. Not quite as epic as Kansas, but I think I'll stop referring to it as "The Second Best Dakoka in America"

YELLOWSTONE and GRAND TETONS: June 29 (Day 38)

I woke up right as the sun started lighting up the sky. After packing up I found out it was 5:30 AM, the earliest we have been up all trip. We both later regretted our decision, as we both succumbed to midday naps in the middle of our National Park conquests.

We took a short drive to see Big Sky a well known ski resort in Western Montana.

We ate a quick breakfast the headed on to Wyoming's National Parks.

YELLOWSTONE

Yellowstone is covered in boiling hot springs and geysers just like this.



Bacteria Mat





Old Faithful


Nate was less than impressed


Pretty SCENE


We get it Nate, your not that impressed.

We headed out of Yellowstone to the Grand Tetons, but not before checking out the gift shop.


GRAND TETONS

Our next stop was the Grand Tetons, just south of Yellowstone and home to Jackson Hole, WY. The mountains are pretty impressive.






Traveling around all the National Parks, we were amazed at the amount of people who felt the need to videotape static landscapes. I don't get this. It seems as though one picture would suffice, but instead they have to bore their families with video clips of scenery they could convey much better with a picture.


Like father


Like son

We then took a boat across Jenny Lake and hiked up Cascade Canyon.





Up there we saw a few Marmots




And a Moose.


And the World's Largest Jackalope.

COEUR D'ALENE: June 28 (Day 37)

The evening before, while still in Govy, Nate and his interweb savvy found some nice rock climbing in a little place called Coeur D'Alene, Idaho just past Spokane. It was filled with short 5.8-5.10 sport climbs, exactly what we were looking for to get some more climbing in on the trip.

After several long hours of night driving through the Great State of Washington we stopped at a roadside rest stop near Spokane, WA. Sleeping in a car full of crap is about as comfortable as it sounds. I awoke with a kink in my neck but ready to keep on moving.

We made our way to Q'emilin Park and made a short hike to the Post Wall where we posted up for the next few hours.



The climbing there was perfect for us. Short, easy routes with large holds and big overhangs.

I led this route, my first 5.9 lead of the trip. A nice juggy overhang followed by an easy slab to the top.


Nate was into it.

After doing a few climbs and meeting some locals we headed out of Post Wall for lunch and a much needed river bath. We got out of Coeur D'Alene and moved on to Montana, were we planned on spending the night.

After several more hours of driving, we stopped in Butte, MT for some old fashioned fast food, Montana Style.



The menu was pretty zany.


Apparently this guy had the same hairstylist as the Bonanza Freeze model.

After stuffing ourselves with deep-fried delicacies we kept going as far as we could. We ended up making it to a campground just short of Big Sky, MT. We rolled up around 11:00 at night and decided to sleep under the stars with no tent. The next morning we would get up with the sun and get out so we wouldn't have to pay to camp. So we saddled up, bear mace in hand and fell asleep to the sounds of mountain streams.