I'm working on the pictures and will post more and more I hope you enjoy them. I know we enjoyed making them...!!!

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Home....

We arrived today around 3:30 /4:00 or so. Karl had 3 welcome home banners and some balloons as well : ) I do believe we will need some debriefing time, a few days or so to get used to being home and not always on the move. The best part of the trip for me was Glacier National Park. The kids liked Moab the best and Susan liked Point Arena the best. Although there is a lot of driving involved in a trip like this it is all forgotten as soon as you get to your destination where ever it may be.

Thanks to everyone who read this blog. I hope it was fun to read as I sure did enjoy writing it. It will serve as a great journal for our trip across the America 2009!

pics

Winding down....

We are almost home! Should be there tomorrow late after noon or so. We have all had a great time and would do it again in a heartbeat. I could not upload the pictures from Custer Park or from Badlands or Wall Drug (which SUCKED!!!) as my flash drive is full. However Clara found something in South Dakota at the motel...he was cute, well behaved and very polite....but he had a home in North Dakota....tha night before we left he came to the pool to hang out with Clara and came back to our room and waited for Clara to change then he invited Clara up to play cards with he and his parents' and his little cousin then Clara invited him down to our room to play more cards. I was on the computer while Clara, Drew (his name is Drew) Susan and Karl played cards...we were all laughing. He didn't want to leave, he kept saying 'one more game'. Finally he left around 11:30, but not before we took a couple of mug shots. The next morning while we were packing up he came down to say goodbye and to offer to bring out our bags!!!! I'm telling you this guy was a keeper Clara!!!!! Mitchel has some competition...!!!!

An Arch

Explanation...

As for the title of the previous post?....We went to Custer National Forest and it cost $10 per carload it consists of thousands of acres and tons of visible and interactive wildlife. We went to Mt. Rushmore and it cost $10 per vehicle and it has a museum, restaurant, gift store, amphitheater and a finished sculpture consisting of 4 presidents. Then we went to the Crazy Horse sculpture. An unfinished sculpture which is visible for free as you drive up the driveway and it cost $27 per carload!!???!?!?!?!? I wanted to ask the lady why would we pay $27 to see Crazy Horse when we just drove up the driveway and saw it for free?...very strange. Needless to say we didn't go in and the look that women gave us....WOW

$27 for an unfinished carving?!

Today we went to Custer National Park and to Mt. Rushmore. Custer Nat. Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota is very nice. There is a wildlife road that we took and we saw quite a few different 'specimen'. The first little cutie we saw was a prairie dog. They are very cute and curious little things. They dig their little holes and dirt is flying. Then they peak up to see if we are still there....so cute...we are bringing one home!!! NOT Then we saw plenty of Antelope. There are plenty of them and they are skiddish of tourists which is nice to see. Then we saw an Elk. They are very big and regal looking. At first we thought it was a deer (which we also saw but didn't take a pic of) but when it started running and we were able to see the whole animal we knew it was an Elk. The next animal to be spotted was buffalo...lots of them. Buffalo sleeping, buffalo walking, buffalo nursing, buffalo fighting, buffalo humping, buffalo courting, buffalo grunting...you get the picture. They were everywhere. By the road, in the prarie, in the parking lot...everywhere! Then we saw wild burro...they were COOL!!! They come right up to the car
if you stay in it and have food. We naturally got out to greet them and feed them. They were
so sweet and gentle. And naturally we saw horses...



After seeing all the wildlife we headed to Mt. Rushmore up this really winding mountainous road. It was very pretty but the really neat thing about it was that we had to go through granite tunnels. They were single lane and very thick. Karl you would've loved them. Then finally Mt. Rushmore. There were a lot of people. The mountain or carving was exactly what I thought. Beautiful. But the surrounding or the presentation was nothing what I expected. There is a very long very nice granite walkway which is flanked by granite buildings and then farther up the walkway is flanked by granite columns each one holding four flags and each flag is a state flag. As you walk up the aforementioned (wow!) walkway the sculpture is in the center view and naturally you get closer and closer. At the end of the walkway there is a very nice, large granite landing with stone wall and amphitheater below....

White Water on the Colorado River!!!

On Tuesday we (Me, Clara and Karl) went whitewater rafting on the Colorado River. Even though the water level is down we were still able to go through class 3 and 4+ rapids!! It was, as you can guess, AWESOME!!!!! Some of the names of the rapids were, Skull, Sock-it-to-Me, Last Chance, Staircase etc. The guide whose name was Izzy said Skull got it's name because the person that went down it first found a skeleton and decided to throw the femur bone in and from then on the rapid was called 'Skull'.....true? I don't know but it made a good story at the time. They were a lot of fun.

On the first rapid, which I think he said was a class 3 the passengers are allowed to 'swim' down. There was one guy who went and I went as well. It is a somewhat scary experience because you actually go through the water not up and over it. So the water pelts you in the face and I lost my breadth at first. They also tell you to go down feet first which I did but then I thought it would be better to turn around and go back first...no...so I turned back around and dealt with it. Even the guy that did it said it was a little scary....

I do not have any pictures to share as I had to buy a waterproof 1-time-use camera and have not gotten them developed yet.

Today, July 23 we arrived in South Dakota in the town of Custer. Wow what a busy town. On this entire trip we have not had a problem getting a room until we arrived here. It also seems to be the most touristy place we have been. We got a room for the next 2 nights, but we had to go to a few places first. Each stop was lower on the totem pole if you know what I mean but it will do for a place to sleep.






Our drive through Wyoming was very pretty like most states have been except Nevada that was nothing but dessert unless you were in the city...yuk. We were in what is called the high planes. There were plenty of farms but also plenty of wild areas. We saw buffalo and antelopes. We also drove through Colorado on our way here. In my opinion the two prettiest states that we saw were Colorado and Wyoming. Just beautiful. In Colorado we had to go over and sometimes through the Rocky Mountains which made Susan very nervous. She just doesn't do well with heights. The scenery was amazing and we passed quite a few ski resorts including Aspen and Vail. We made a couple of stops 1st at a wonderful memorial for the Vietnam vets and the other was a scenic over look where we made a couple of friends and of course Sue gave them some bread because I am sure none of the other 100's of tourists feed them...: )

So tomorrow we will go to to Mt. Rushmore and to see any other sites that are around. Then Saturday we will do the Badlands and Wall Drugs before heading home. The kids and I are looking forward to getting home and seeing you Karl! It has been an extremely exciting trip that would have been even better if you were here. . . .Thank you for being an incredible husband and father. We love and miss you a lot xoxo : )

Arches National Park

Our first full day in Moab we went to the outfitters and booked a sunset Hummer tour and a guided whitewater rafting trip, Westwater Rafting. So with the trips booked for the second day we were free to visit Arches. Wow! Yet another beautiful place. The rock formations are unbelievable. Some of them sit so precariously that it is a wonder they don't just come tumbling down right in front of your eyes!! But over time they do erode and tumble down....the thermometer in the car topped out at 104 degrees...'but it is a dry heat' ....or more specifically like being in an oven! Yeah it's dry allright!....the heat really was too much to bear. The parts that we did see were amazing.

Tonight (Tuesday, July 21) I went into the park by myself to catch the sunset up at double arch. I missed it but hiked in anyway while it was still light. I never made it to the arch. It was getting dark and I was all alone so I turned back. As I was walking back it was getting very dark. I have a little flashlight that Karl put on my keyring. I wound that sucker up and started walking briskly out of the canyon. The darker it got the more I started thinking about how the headline in the paper would read..."Unprepared hiker killed by mountain lion" or similar. I started looking at shadows funny. Everything became suspicious 'what was that?', 'was that there before?' , ' what? wait is something/one behind me?' I began to really freak myself out! So I started running. Then I started thinking that maybe I sounded like prey to some creature. So I stopped running and continued walking....briskly. It was still 87 degrees at 10:00pm...I'm hot...I forgot my water...jerk.....I keep winding my flashlight until I hear voices and see lights from the parking area....okay, okay I'm good. Shut the light off....don't want to seem like a scared unprepared hiker out to take pictures...chill out relax. What the HELL is that smell? Oh I'm good now...I can smell the outhouses. Yep I'm safe back in the parking lot...jump in and head home....phew! That was a little scary...

Today the kids and I rafted down the Colorado River!!!! We went down class 2, 3, and 4+ rapids! It was yet another wonderful thing to do. We got soaked! Clara almost fell out of the boat. I almost fell out! It was awesome! The pictures I got are on a disposable waterproof camera so I cannot post any. But trust me the scenery was beautiful and the rapids were a LOT of fun. Every now and then the guides would let us out of the raft to swim. So the three of us were floating down the Colorado River together!!!!! PRICELESS

Hell's Revenge!

Tonight Me, Clara and Karl took a sunset tour in a Hummer. It is one of the many guided adventures offered in Moab. It was fantastic!! The kids had the choice of renting a jeep or doing a Hummer tour. (I wanted to rent the Jeep and check out the trails on our own.) The kids chose the Hummer and it was a GREAT choice. We just got back and we had the BEST time. The guide that we had was the renegade guide of the group. He would take the harder or 'crazier' route, which the kids loved! We were unable to go up the well known 'Lion's Back' trail as a new person owns it and has declined access to it. But that was okay because the trail we were able to get on was awsome. They showed us some fossilized dinosaur tracks and we had some cheese and crackers at the top while watching the sunset....

The Hummers the guides use seat 9 passenger that includes 1 in the passenger seat. The cool thing about our Hummer is that it had no doors and no top! Yippee!

This thing could go ANYWHERE and we did not have to air down. Unlike at home wheeling here is almost 100% on the rocks and the tires grab extremely well. On the way up the mountain Clara and Karl were in the middle seat which is up higher than the other seats by about 8 inches. But on the way back the three of us were able to sit in the 'jump seat' in the back which is about 1 1/2 feet above everyone else and you really feel the bumps and turns back there. The guide was telling us all sorts of stuff and driving up a really steep hill at the same time when he completely stopped on the hill and then just let go of the brakes and we quickly rolled straight back down the hill. I leaned forward and yelled 'OH SHIT!!!!!' Then everyone started laughing. The kids and I were laughing so hard!!!!

We had THE BEST TIME!!!!!

Moab etc...

Today we made it to Moab! We are staying in the 'Archway Inn'. Nice place, big room and free full breakfast, pool, and gym. But I'm getting ahead of myself.... So it was a lot of driving today but the good part was that we were through Nevada. How people live there is beyond me. As Clara put it it's nothing but shrub, shrub, sand, shrub, sand, sand, shrub etc. Unless of course you are in Reno or Las Vegas which is not the direction of our vacation. Anyway as we were driving we passed this entrance to a farm. It is hundreds of antlers! At first Clara and I thought he had killed all of the dear/antelope but then we realized they were probably all sheds from the animals. Anyway this guy makes things out of the antlers. Kind of cool if that is what you are into but the thing is he is out in the middle of NOWHERE!!!

I was the driver for the time that we were going through the mountains in Utah and they were beautiful (seems to be the theme for this trip : ) ). No one was taking any pictures so I grabbed my camera and started clicking out the window while I was driving. Well as it turns out I was driving Susan crazy. It seems she didn't like it when we were going down a 6% grade with s turns and the driver was taking pictures. If you look closely at this picture there is a yellow sign hanging over the highway that says something like 'runaway truck ramp 1/2mile' ....As soon as Sue let out a huge sigh I knew it was a good time to put the camera away and pay attention to driving...

We did stop at a 'scenic view' area. It was, you guessed it, beautiful!

The rocks were so soft that people had carved their names in them and I the holes in the side were worn by the wind or water or even animals.

Moab is beautiful as well and very close to Arches National Park and Canyon Lands National Park too. We are here for a couple of days. Karl wants to ride the rapids, Clara wants to ride , I want to rent a jeep or a quad or a mountain bike, and Susan want to stay on flat ground...(zzzz) -_-"