As we turned our journey eastward, my mind began to count
down the days remaining on our summer adventure, realizing we had to stay on a
pretty focused course to return by our deadline. We carefully calculated how we
would divide up the miles, map out which states we would travel through and
most importantly what National Parks and important sights we had yet to see.
The northern states have so much new landscape to see, beauty to behold, and
mountains to climb! I’ve always dreamed of seeing this area of the country but have
never even had an occasion to even fly into any part of it.
Our planned route was to take us through Washington, with a
camping stop at Ike Kinswa State Park, then on to Mt. Rainier National Park,
and a stay in western WA where Mark did some needed work on truck
electrical/lighting issues and replaced a couple of fuses. The next day brought
us to a pass through Idaho to Montana, stopping at a lovely private campground
along the Clark Fork River in Clinton, MT. This would bring us to where we
could drive the next day to Gardiner, WY and be able to see Yellowstone
National Park and Grand Teton National Park (taking a plethora of pictures) for
the next day and a half which also included a long trek across WY for our next
stop in Lusk, WY. There, a small but delightful private campground, called BJs
was a welcome place to rest after almost 500 miles of driving. BJ runs her
campground like it was her home…decorations, and extra touches that was a nice
treat from some of the more sterile campgrounds we’ve been to. Even the
bathrooms and showers felt like home! When we made the reservation, she only
took my first name (most require a credit card) and said if we were going to be
late to call her as many of her campers are older and go to bed early! About 20
miles out we got a call from BJ to see how we were doing and our ETA. She told
us to take our time and watch for deer! Her 18-site campground was as neat as a
pin and I only regret we didn’t have time to really explore this sleepy little
town the next day.
Washington State & Mt. Rainier National Park-
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| Decisions...decisions! It's time to head east again! |
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| Mt. Rainier National Park South East Entrance |
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| Just a peek at the peaks... |
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| and it's river gorges! |
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| Size & time perspectives |
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| The beauty in small contrasts. |
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| First sighting of Mt. Rainier |
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| We came and we saw! |
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| Incredible view of this giant! |
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| Changes in the midday sky! |
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| We learned to take time to stop and view! |
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| You never get tired of this view! |
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| National Historical Site stop |
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| Wanting to stop and fly fish! |
Idaho Pass through (short and oh-so sweet)-
Montana is appropriately named-
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| Mountain Views |
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| And still more mountain views |
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| passing views |
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| I loved the old barns and buildings |
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| Montana campsite sunset! |
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| A little Montana humor "used cow lot" at a cattle auction |
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| Wild Horses Monument |
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| Panoramic view opposite Wild Horses Monument...enough to take your breath away! |
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| My, oh my... |
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| Oh my... |
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| Oh my! |
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| I'm in love with contrasts in landscapes! |
The varied views of incredible Yellowstone National Park-
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| Gardiner, MT-Entrance Gate area under renovation |
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| Elk party! |
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| A beautifully majestic animal! |
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| Grazing and indifferent to our presence! |
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Why did the Buffalo cross the road?
Because all traffic was stopped for photo-ops! |
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| Hot springs are evident all around |
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| Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone |
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| We almost missed Old Faithful! |
Grand Teton National Park-
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| This connects Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks |
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| Grand Tetons up ahead! |
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| Rainy day didn't take away from their beauty! |
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We only had time to see them from this distance.
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Leaving WY the next morning, we headed for beautiful South Dakota to
visit Crazy Horse Monument, Mt. Rushmore National Park and then added a last
minute stop and tour at Wind Cave National Park just a few miles off our
scheduled route for that day. What a delight is was to climb down and tour this
unique network of caves that I never knew existed (see pictures). It was well
worth the extra 3 hours added to our long travel plan that day. Within a short
distance we were able to also visit the Crazy Horse Monument and then to Mt.
Rushmore National Park. On top of this busy park day we planned to drive across
the state of South Dakota to stay in a hotel in Sioux Falls. This long day of
sightseeing and travel allowed us to plan to stop, attend church and visit our
friends and former pastor, the Walzaks, in Mountain Lake, MN. This Sunday
deadline in MN would allow us to then slow our pace for the remaining week of
our vacation travels.
Wind Cave National Park-
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| This park is worth the stop, so glad we did! |
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| Beautiful rock & mineral forms throughout |
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Natural entrance to the miles of caves below
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| A refreshing 54 degrees in the caves |
Crazy Horse Monument-
Mt. Rushmore National Monument-
The beauty and simplicity of South Dakota & Wyoming landscapes-
Once again, we had a sweet reunion with some old friends! I
always enjoy visiting other churches, especially when you get to see some
familiar faces! Afterwards we followed our hosts through the small town of
Mountain Lake, to their lovely home where a big crockpot of pasta sauce was
waiting along with a famous “Walzak salad” and crusty garlic bread! It was great fun sitting around with the
family, meeting the new sons in-laws and extended family, while we talked about
and remembered different stories from the past. I reminded them how much we were especially enjoying the socialization after spending hours, days and miles, just the two of us in the cab of the truck, for
weeks at a time. We said our good-byes and headed to Rochester, MN to a
campground for the night, ready to begin our last week of this wonderful 6-week
journey.
Great times & great food with the Walzak family-
All of the beauty and incredible sights we took in from
Washington to MN are really almost more than my mind and heart could, at times,
process. I found myself at times holding my breath or letting out huge sighs,
or gasps, as we would approach various vistas and scenery along our travels. I
have taken tons of pictures, usually from the right side of the truck, using
both my phone and camera, depending on the moment. Some sights require a
panoramic photo to capture the magnitude of the visual splendor. I’m getting
pretty good at taking pictures for a moving vehicle and Mark is getting better
and responding to my plead to “pull over for a picture!” I think the rest of this blog post will be
dedicated to photos & captions of our rich experiences from this part of
the country. I know they say that a picture is worth a thousand words… but in
my mind it is more realistic to say that many of the views and vistas I’ve
seen, there are not enough words to describe! Enjoy!
Up next: Our final leg: Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, & finally New York toward home!
