Day 20 &21  Yellowstone NP, 4 Buffalo, 2 Eagles, 2 Moose and 1 Squirrel

We drove to Yellowstone National Park from Cody, WY, expecting to see  a lot of wildlife. Over 2 days we saw only 4 lone buffalo, 2 Eagles, 2 mangy Moose, and 1 squirrel. The views were great and we got to see Old Faithful blow her top. We did not realize how much of the park had burned. As a result of the Burns you could see many vistas that you could not have seen before. I got my passport stamped at 6 ranger stations..

At the Yellowstone River

Video of Old Faithful

10 feet from our truck

Jackie at Mammoth Springs

Old Faithful ready to blow

Day 21 Drove through Teton National Park after leaving Yellowstone. The mountains are a spectacular site. The guy who named these mountains must have been drunk according to Jackie. They don't look like a woman's mammies at all. At least not on this planet.

Day 19  Buffalo Bill's Center of the West

Spent most of the day at the Buffalo Bill's Center of the West. It is 4 museums and at least 4 other attractions all concerning the old west, Indian Culture, Western Arts and of course Buffalo Bills life.

Pony Express Rider

Indian Chief

Too Much Walking

Tomorrow we drive to the east entrance of Yellowstone National Park and through the upper Yellowstone to the west entrance and camp there for 1 night then it is back through the lower Yellowstone loop to the The Tetons National Park and into Idaho.

Day 18 The Drive to Cody, WY

We left Devils Tower for Sundance to attend a church service there and met some very friendly folks who invited us to there annual get together after the service. We could not stay but we have found that these westerners are very friendly folks. It seems like everyone we meet is interested in our travel stories and share their own stories with us.. We left Sundance later than we had planned and headed for Cody, WY. about 300 miles, half highway with a 80MPH speed limit and half scenic drives with a 35MPH speed limit. We past one of the largest open pit coal mines in the country. We captured a lot of the scenic drive on our dash cam. The videos are too large to post but I will put together the videos from the truc cam and post them on a web page or YouTube. We arrived in Cody about 5:30 PM and had a quick dinner before going to the daily Cody Rodeo from 8:00 to 10:00 PM.

Open Pit Coal Mine along the I-90. The are taking down an entire mountain to get to it.

Tomorrow it is a day in Cody at Buffalo Boll's Center of the West Museum.

Day 17 Devils Tower and Sundance, Wyoming

Short trip to Sundance, WY from Deadwood, SD this morning. Then another short drive to Devils Tower National Monument. The our 1st National Monument under Teddy Roosevelt. The Sundance Kid was jailed in Sundance, WY and picked it as his namesake. Not much else ever happened here. It is not where the Sundance Film Festival is held. After Sundance we drove across the High Plains for 30 miles to Devils Tower. A really impressive rock. Prairie dogs everywhere on the way up to the tower. Spending the night in a camp at the base of the tower and leaving first thing in the morning for Cody, WY and Buffalo Bill's West and Rodeo. Watching Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind at camp this evening. Who knew what else would they show? Just sayin'.

Statue of The Sundance Kid.

Devils Tower National Monument

Prairie Dogs everywhere you look. Cute little buggers.

Camp at the base of Devils Tower

Day 16  A Day off.

We relaxed in camp all day today. Tomorrow we leave for Sundance, Wyoming and Devils Tower.

Day 15 Deadwood

We spent the afternoon in Deadwood. This is where Wild Bill Hickok was killed and Calamity Jane lived. Deadwood is where the Black Hills Gold rush started and which lead to the battle at the little Big Horn where Custer was killed. It was the site of the largest gold mine in the country and the second largest in the world.

  It's main attraction nowadays is the gambling casinos. The town is slowly being restored and the entire town is a registered national historic place. It is about 15 miles from Sturgis, where the annual motorcycle rally draws the largest motorcyclists in the world. I took a lot of pictures. Here is just a sample of the pictures.

Main Street Deadwood, SD

Salon where Wild Bill was shot

Seth Bullock's Hotel

Wild Bill's Grave site

Calamity Jane's Grave site

Day 14 A tour of the Black Hills scenic drives

Today we drove 2 of the scenic drives here in the Black Hills of So. Dakota. The Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway and the deadwood to Stergis scenic drive. It took 3 hours and we saw 1000 foot cliffs, lakes and granite mountains. I took a video the whole way but it will take me a while to combine all the segments. I'll post the link to the video but be warned it is3 hours long.

Campsite in Deadwood

Map of The Black Hills

More pics to come!