My New Ride

Just love my new ride!!!

Well we are home & enjoying all the fun activities here at MOSN. Maybe a few to many activities. Just a small sample below:

Went to Disney!!

A progressive party!

A visit with Santa.

John had a visit with his brother & sister.

John even got out of the house for a party with his brother.

On Our Way Home

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Well we are on our way home. Right now we are in Lake Texoma. What a park! It even has a paintball course. Imagine that! Picture John & I doing that...funny!
The above map shows our route from Washington State. Click on the bubbles to see the stops. You can move the map around & magnify it also. The map below was the beginning of our trip from Florida to Washington.


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South Dakota

The Badlands
Land of Stone & Light

The Badlands stretches 60 miles from Kadoka west towards the town of Scenic. Wind, rain, and freeze/thaw action have gradually worn down the badlands.

While staying in the Badlands, I went to a ranger talk about the stars. It was the best ranger talk I have ever gone to. Large telescopes were set up to view the stars & planets. The ranger said here in the Badlands is the darkest skies in the USA. When visiting, take time to go to the talk about the stars, it will be well worth it.

The Road to the Wind Cave-16A
Check out this tunnel we went through. The bus just fits through the tunnel. At the entrance it tells you to sound your horn to warn drivers on the other side. It is a two way tunnel. OH NO!!

Mount Rushmore

On the way back from Mt. Rushmore, we saw 2 mountain goats just hanging out on the side of highway 16.


Jewel Cave National Monument

Looks like the map of the US.

Jewel Cave was discovered about 1900.

It became a National Monument in 1908.

It is the second longest cave in the World.

Jewel Cave has Calcite crystal, dogtooth spar & nailhead spar which makes this cave different from most caves. Nearly all the of the cave chambers display collections of calcite crystals. When the light hits it...it looks sparkly. I liked this cave the best out of the caves we have gone in. John prefers Carlsbad Cavern the best so far.

Deadwood, SD
Today we spent the day in Deadwood & Sturgis. The town of Deadwood is a national landmark in 1964. It was the first community designated a National Historic Landmark. Deadwood got its name because of the dead timber on the surrounding hills. It was established in 1876.

Mt. Moriah Cemetery-Wild Bill (James Butler Hickok)& Calamity Jane (Martha Jane Burke)were both buried here. Her dying wish was to be buried next to Wild Bill.

Around Jane's monument are little trinkets left by mourners...coins, flowers and liquor bottles. John & I left a trinket too. (You'll have to guess what it is)

If you watched the Deadwood series on HBO, you have heard of this name. Seth Bullock was the first sheriff of Deadwood. Seth & his partner arrived in Deadwood the day before Wild Bill was murdered.

Gambling ended in Deadwood officially in 1947. Gaming resumed in 1989. Prostitution establishments closed during the years of 1950-1960. (look closely & you can see the prostitutes in the windows upstairs)

Wild Bill was murdered Aug. 2, 1876 at the No. 10 Saloon.

Calamity Jane & Bill arrived in 1876.

Crazy Horse

Crazy horse looks the same as it did 4 years ago when we were here.

Wind Cave, South Dakota

A strong wind blows through this cave...hence its name...Wind Cave. The wind is created by differences between atmospheric pressure in the cave & outside the cave. You can still feel the wind by the entrance of the cave.

This picture is the most prominent feature in the cave...Box work. It is a thin honey comb shape structure.

We had to do some ducking as we traveled through the cave. It was a very interesting and different than other caves we have explored.

Outside of the cave in the park, you can enjoy the wildlife. While we drove through we saw a coyote hunting the prairie dogs. The prairie dogs barked out a warning. It sounded like a lot of screeching. The coyote didn't find any prairie dogs as we were watching....maybe later he found some food. We saw several herds of prong horns and buffaloes.

Wildlife @ Wind Cave National Park

A Few Waterfalls in Glacier NP

Wildlife Adventure @ Glacier

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND

This National park honors Theodore Roosevelt. This was his first cabin (Maltese Cross Cabin) in the badlands of North Dakota. It wasn't up to his standards & he had a second cabin built in a different area in the bad lands. It was called the Elkhorn ranch.


A quote from Theodore Roosevelt "I never would have been President if it had not been for my experiences in North Dakota."

Prairie dogs have their own villages. They are very common in the park. You can hear them bark, more like a screech when you approach them.

Roosevelt came to the North Dakota badlands to bag a buffalo. When he arrived the herds of buffalo were vanishing. He fell in love with the area and conservation became one of Roosevelt's major concerns.

John got a new toy. Next time we see a grizzly bear we will be ready for a real close up.

Wild horses were plentiful. We enjoyed watching them. Although I don't think they liked it too much.

Glacier National Park, MT

We really enjoyed our stay in Glacier
National Park. Although we had too few days with good weather.

http://www.nps.gov/glac



The views were awesome.

We arrived in the park in the rain. We didn't want to sit around, so we took the shuttle up to Logans Pass then onto St. Mary. It was so cold at Logans Pass. The fog was so heavy, hanging over the mountains, we couldn't even enjoy the views.

As the fog lifted we were amazed at the beautiful views.

There are four entrances to Glacier National Park. The two main entrances are at West Glacier (west entrance) & St. Mary (east entrance). Also on the east side there are 2 more entrances: Two Medicine entrance (East Glacier) & Many Glacier (aprx. 5 miles above St. Mary). From the east side of Glacier you can also travel north to Waterton NP in Alberta Canada (Aprx. 45 miles).

In Many Glacier area we were fortunate enough to see Grizzly bears. We visited Many Glacier area three times & each time we saw grizzlies. Each time they were further away. But we were able to watch at a close distance with our binoculars. The last time we saw a mother & her cubs. We have pictures but they kind of look like specks on the side of the mountain.

On the way up to Logans pass we met up with two mountain goats. We caught them scaling the walls, which was awesome to watch.

Also at Logans pass we saw a herd of long horn sheep. Lucky us. It was our day for viewing wild life.

I took a short hike up to the waterfall.

This is a view of a waterfall on the Going to the Sun Highway.

Looks like this hike took a toll on someone or should I say someones. Well, where is your walking stick John?

You just can't beat the views of this park.

Our traveling companions have now left us. They are heading home west to Simi Valley, CA and we are heading east to Fl. Hope to see you guys soon. Enjoy your trip home & be safe!

We also went up to Canada to see Waterton. It was a nice park, but we really enjoyed the park in the USA far more than the Canadian side.

When you travel to Glacier National Park & you want to see grizzlies, go to Many Glacier around the end of August the beginning of September. I have been told that is the best time for viewing grizzlies. If we ever return to Glacier, we plan on staying in Many Glacier as this was our favorite park of the park. Just before we left we had rain & fog again. As the fog lifted this time there was fresh snow on the mountains.