We're Still Not There Yet: Day 7: Wall, SD to Yellowstone

Good afternoon from Montana! We've been remiss in our posting because of the lack of internet connectivity in Yellowstone National Park (not necessarily a bad thing!) So, I'll do my best to update the previous days, since technically it's Day 9, but we'll go back and review the last few days. Bottom line: Yellowstone rocks and we need to spend a week or two there next time!

The morning of Day 7 (Sunday, July 3, incidentally our 7th anniversary!) began after a rather difficult night's sleep. We finally went to bed Saturday night after a crazy storm had come through our area, forcing us to our vehicles to ride it out. Thankfully the really heavy stuff hit us (we had been in a tornado watch for the afternoon and evening), but we still were treated to some loud thunder and crazy lightning. The best part was definitely the full rainbow that painted the sky, slowly turning into a double rainbow! It was incredible. After we finally fell asleep, though, the good times started with the screeching trains outside our campsite throughout the night. Jim's training in sleeping well in hotels in downtown Manhattan really paid off, though, since he didn't even wake up. Amazing.

On the way out of South Dakota we stopped at Mount Rushmore which, while impressive to see, especially on the July 4th weekend, we were unimpressed with the rip-you-off nature of the parking and concession area. Boooo! So, that ended up slowing us down for a bit and making me a little grumpy at "donating" $11 to the non-profit hoo-ha of Mt. Rushmore. The bathrooms were lovely.

The road to Yellowstone was long but beautiful! We ate dinner in the mountains of Wyoming at the Elk View Inn. I did not get the Elk burger, but was tempted. We were treated to a gorgeous sunset over the plains in Wyoming. We stopped in Cody (the last city before Yellowstone) to get groceries and more ice for the coolers (no mini-fridges in the cabins!) We had a lot of sleepy people as we finally made it to the gate at Yellowstone sometime around 11:30 p.m. Jim was piloting, Betsy was co-piloting, and I was keeping the kids happy in the back while trying to stay awake (sort of). I was bummed we arrived after dark, but it was kind of neat to wind through the park and try to avoid any potential wildlife darting out into the street. We saw some neat rock formations on the side that, whoops! not rock! It's SNOW!