Very Laid back day

Hey Dawson, Jasmine, Alia, and Owen-look what came with us on the trip! We use them everyday. We will use the binoculars tomorrow at Glacier National Park. Do you think we can see a bear?? The reading today in the grandkid photo book is- All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware. Thanks Tammy for the work in this. We love it!!
Tomorrw we are headed for Glacier National Park for the day. Possibly hiking etc. Will let you know tomorrow night. We have this same motel for tomorrow night too. We figured we may be a bit weary after a full day there.
We traveled by a lake for miles and miles. Was beautiful!
We felt we were surrounded by mountains
We saw more very pretty scenery from Livingston, Montana to Kalispell, MT.

Leaving Yellowstone

This was such a peaceful scene to leave Yellowstone. This was the sunset as we drove to Livingston, Montana where we are spending the night. Tomorrow will be mostly traveling- heading to Glacier National Park in Idaho.
We did picnicing today rather than eating out.This was at a picnic spot in Yellowstone
Old Faithful "spouted" right on time
We drove the Grand Teton Pass today. The scenery was just beautiful!
On the way to Yellowstone- a tunnel through the mountain

Tuesday-Absolutely beautiful

We checked into the motel in Cody, Wyoming, went to eat at Bubba's Barbeque and then went to a rodeo which was only a mile down the road from here. Really enjoyed it. We are ready to get a night's sleep. Tomorrow is Yellowstone day.
As we crawled the mountain, the road was winding from side to side and then we could look back at the road. Mel stated he wondered if we would see anything nicer! We have just begun!
We drove through Bighorn Natural Forest. It was so overwhelming--wow- is about what I can say. The elevation was 8900 and the temp was 69. When we got to 3500 elevation the temp was 92. Pictures just don't do justice.
We saw antelope as we drove along the road to Cody
This morning we had the oil changed in the car, and washed the car at this car wash

Pictures of the day

hey grandkids-this is a pairie dog. They were every where in this field. popping their heads out of their holes
Devil's Tower
On to Wyoming
When we were at Crazy Horse, they announced there will be an explosion in 10 minutes. This is the blast
Especially for the grandkids
We miss you, Dawson, Jasmine, Alia and Owen, and everyone else too
This picture is the one Dawson especially asked us to take for him.

Last day in South Dakota

I will do some typing tonight. The strength of the wireless is very low here. When I tried pictures, it kept kicking it off the net. I will try later, and if not, I will add more pics tomorrow. Today was a very good day, enjoying it all! Last night we went to the Passion Play which was good, but I told Mel I would like to see the Cherry Glade crew give their play in that setting. Wow! It was late till we got back to the motel, so we did not rush things this morning. We are 2 hrs behind all of you and I think our bodies are still with you. We got up about the same time, ate the Continental breakfast and then headed out. We visited Bear Country USA, Mt Rushmore, hiked the loop trail there, went to Crazy Horse and Devil's Tower and did a little hiking there. I called ahead and made reservation at a Smart Choice Motel (was an Econo Lodge) in Gillette, Wyoming for the night. We were so busy today that we forgot to eat!! ;0) When we got here to the motel, we found a Golden Corral and made fast tracks there. It was very good!! We sure enjoyed the driving again today. the sights we saw were so varied. We drove through Mt Rushmore National Forest--the mountains, pines,water falls, rocks--just so pretty!! Then driving to Wyoming we saw lots of flat plains again, lots and lots of round bales (Darwin we decided you would have many, many loads from 1 round in the field!!) Saw drills and pumps in alot of the fields, and trains loaded with lots of coal. The one engine had almost 1 mile of cars behing it loaded with coal. We passed a very large coal plant. We also noticed that all the ramps to get on and off the roads have cattle guards! We saw mule deer (we think) and lots of tumbleweed. At Devil's Tower, we walked back a trail through a whole field of pairie dogs. It was so interesting. It reminded us of playing that game where you have a hammer and hit the dog's head when it pops up. They sounded like they were talking to each other. ;0) We are so thankful for our GPS again and again. We trust to take some back roads and she will get us back to where we were!!
Tomorrow we will try to get the oil changed. We are 50 miles close to the time to change and Mel found a Penzoil place just down the road from here. We will also need to wash the car-bug splatters are bad. ;)

Update for Sunday

Hi there everyone!! I hope you are enjoying the pictures etc. Today I had a little trouble to get the laptop to recongize the camera and the wireless mouse. I don't know why--if it was the USB ports or what. I finally stopped and went and took a shower and then it worked! Maybe it was just me. I thought-well, I could still blog without pictures, but I love putting pics with it. Hopefully I can continue. After our stop at Wall Drug, I called ahead for a motel since we were getting close to Mt Rushmore area. It was good I did, as they say they fill up pretty fast towards evening. We are now 2 hrs behind you guys. We now have 4:05. We ate at a Ruby Tuesday about 1:30 (SD time) and then came to the motel. We are going to the Passion Play tonight. It starts at 8:00 (10:00 your time) It will be late till we get in, so I thought I would blog now. Driving through the Badlands almost made me feel like we are the only ones here!! Driving miles and miles, seeing very few buildings and just miles of fields. Occ seeing a few horses or beef cows-wondering who they belong to? I will get off and relax and read awhile before we need to leave. We hope Rich got to go home today!! Tomorrow we plan to go to Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse, possibly a Presidental Gardens and other points. Will chat later

Sunday in South Dakota

This is my duty when the day is nearly over, and Mel highlights the maps of where we were. Then we plan the next day.
Meet squaw Gloria and the papoose
Meet Cheif Elroy
Friends can be made anywhere!
Especially for the grandkids. Isn't grandpa brave!!
This picture is especially for Dawson, Jasmine, Alia, & Owen.
We stopped at a place called Wall Drug. It was a very quaint little town with a large place with all sorts of stuff. It almost reminded me of the Red Barn in Florida. We endedup eating a wonderful snack at a Dairy Queen!!
The motel we spent the night at in Kimble, SD. It was very small, but one of the cleanest I have stayed in. It was run by an elderly couple. They also provided a super start breakfast. We talked to several nice people as we ate. The one gal had a blouse on almost like mine and that made us talk. :0) We told them about the Passion Play and they said they may do that too.
Some hollyhocks that were very pretty at a service plaza. I enjoyed even that beauty in the small flowers!

Day #2- Still heading West

Now we are in SD. We stopped for the night in Kimble, SD at a Super 8 Motel. It is run by an older couple. It is a very quiet area. We walked to a truck stop across the road for a light supper. I had a loaded baked potatoe (mom, it was sooo good) and guess what Mel had..Sure enough, a burger. We ate a good meal at about 3:00 this pm. We did some walking this eve for exercise. Tomorrow we plan to get to the Black Hills and attend the Passion Play in the eve.
Further west-all the way through Minnesota
Turbines at the Mississippi River
House boat vacation- personal jet ski and all
We stopped at the Mississippi River Locks and watched the locks work and left some vacation house boats through. Very interesting. I wonder how much those house boats are- hot tubs and everything on it!

Today was another day of "hitting" it to get there. We left this morn at 7:15 am and were on 90 west the whole day. There were no tolls today at all. A lady told us that Illinois is really bad for tolls, which we said amen to. Wonderful driving--real flat and long--- I set the cruise at 72 (speed limit was 70) and did not touch the brake or throttle for approx 1 hr! Traffic was very light. Alot of motorcycles!!This is the Mississippi when we crossed over.

Oops! Posted before done

OOps!!! I hit publish and was not done yet!! We loaded up this morn and were on the road by 6:15. It was very pretty going to Somerset, with the fog and the sun coming through.We stopped and got a coupon for the motel tonight and they even gave us 10% off the meal if we ate in the family restaurant here. It was very good--I had chicken stir fry and Mel had a chicken tender dinner. Very good and filling for $16.00!!We haved already felt blessed by good prices. We were a little taken back by some of the tolls we needed to pay! What do they do with all those? It was only 80 cents here and then a little later $1.60 etc. We were on 90. Tomorrow we will head out towards the Back Hills, SD. ARe not sure how far we will go. I will try to blog more tomorrow eve. Hey Doug, are you proud of me?? I managed to do this with their password etc. God sees us here as well as you all there!!

We are on our way

We made it to Beloit, WI. We wanted to get past Chicago today. The traffic was pretty heavy around Chicago, but the GPS sure did her duty very well!! We split up the driving and enjoyed the Southern Gospel Music by satellite radio. We laughed at how much we appreciate the technology anymore! The weather was very pretty.

Countdown !!!!

Wow! Only 4 days left to go. We have alot of things to finish up before leaving. I think we are getting there. Someone is staying at the house and taking care of things. Doug will take care if the yard. Will see ya later.

Youth going to Canada

Prayer as a group
Prayer as a group before loading the bus.
Anthony giving the final instructions and getting the passports all in order.
Parents watching as their teenagers are loaded and ready to leave,
Family and friends waving as the bus is leaving,

More choral camp retreat pictures

This was our group of counselors. We were having a hymn sing. The 4 part singing was beautiful!!

This was taken as we were all bowling in Mechanisburg.

This bunch of boys were doing push ups all together!! I got it just as they were on the way down.
Some of them picked wild flowers on their hike and fixed up their hair.

Choral Camp Counslor Retreat

Mel had a map there to "highlight" our planned journey. He had alot of suggestions from Al from Ohio and also from Niki from Delaware since they had been out west before with family.
We were host couple at the Counslor retreat at Choral Camp at RBC this past weekend. On Fri eve we had a banquet and then Sat we took them to a park for a day of relaxation. It rained-poured for a while then cleared. We relaxed at a pavilion while it rained. Some were singing, some were playing games, others were just hanging out, some were reading, some were coloring. We had about 65 kids there for the weekend. We were blessed, a bit stressed at times, but all in all, had a good weekend.

Legos

Dawson showing everyone how he built the various items. The little program they presented was interesting.
Dawson really enjoyed going to "lego camp" this week. They built all sorts of things. Here he is showing one of his and his partner's creations. It is amazing what all they can make legos do with gears, pulleys and motors.