Fun in Duluth

The next day Chris showed us around his place. These are some beautiful trees behind his house.

Chris and his two awesome kids.

We went into Duluth for dinner and some shopping. I got some beautiful snake skins and beads. Here's david in a moose chair:

Our First Night in Duluth, Minnesota

After camping outside of the Badlands we got on the road to our next location: Duluth, Minnesota. Between the Badlands and Minneapolis there is really nothing to see or do but tourist traps. We thankfully only got stuck

 in one:

The nothingness between the Badlands and Minneapolis

All wood car

A White Subaru! I guess we were on the right path!

We finally reached Minneapolis and slept in a hotel. The next morning we went to breakfast in the Mall of America (thats the only way David could get me to go in it!) and the Art Meuseam (they have a wonderful outdoor sculpture exhibit thats free!

And then we got back on the road to Duluth:

Yay! Finally in Minnesota!

We got into Duluth in the early evening. It was very wet outside. David's friend decided the first thing we needed to do was have a very BIG fire:

Yes we used that whole container of gas.

Two Thumbs up for the Big Fire!!

We sat out by the fire until late when David brought out a surprise midnight snack:

Avery: What is that?!?
David: A Bacon Donut!
Avery: Where did you get that from?!?
David: A Gas Station!
Avery: I'm Definitely NOT okay with THAT!

.... ( I tried it). I mean how could I not try it. I'm always telling David that he should try some strange food because he might like it. Did I like it? Well it wasn't terrible but I'm still not okay with it - its more about having too many things that are really bad for you.

Badlands National Park

We drove out to the Badlands National Park the next day. We drove in through the back entrance along Sage Creek Road - a gravel roads running along picturesque farmland:

And then we hit the badlands:

 

We drove through prairie dog town, Pinnacles Overlook and Yellow Mounds Overlook.

And then hiked up into Castle Trail:

We stopped and ate dinner and hiked around big badlands overlook for sunset:

Custer, South Dakota

We drove through crazy twisty roads over Dead Indian Hill and down to Cody, Wyoming and straight east to Custer, South Dakota.

A little discerning when it looks like a kid's been scribbling on you GPS screen! 

Looking down on what we just drove up.

   

Calcite Crystals in Jewel Cave

 In Custer we went to Jewel Cave, Crazy Horse, and Mt. Rushmore. Jewel Cave had some interesting rock formations. Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse are exactly what you would expect - expensive and very big gift shops. At Crazy Horse we were getting ready to get in our car and leave when a woman came running out of the museam screaming: "Man with the white subaru!" David and I looked at each other over the hood of David's white Subaru and turned to talk to her. She told us that she was so happy that we were there because every time she sees a white Subaru it means that she is on the right path. We were very happy for her but felt a bit strange and decided to head back to our hotel.  The next day we went to Wind Cave.

Boxwork in Wind Cave

Last Morning in Yellowstone

The next morning we got up and drove back into Yellowstone for another little hike. The sun was out and really reflecting off our windshield when we saw some very tall legs walking towards us on the road. As we drove closer we realized it was a mother moose with her baby! We quickly pulled over and watched her lead her baby into the woods. 

Our hike was nice but we didn't run into any other animals. We left Yellowstone early that morning to push on to the Badlands. We found three moose on our way out of the park.

America's Serengeti

 We found a great little motel just outside the park on Grizzly Bear Road called Grizzly Lodge. We hoped that this would give us good luck for spotting a grizzly!

We napped, ate dinner next door at the Log Cabin Cafe (the best place we had eaten at all week!).  At dusk we drove back in to do some more animal watching (crossing our fingers for a grizzly sighting!) We saw lots of bison:

We drove along the Lamar Valley spotting with our binoculars for hours and were about to give up when we spotted an animal coming out of the woods. Finally! A Grizzly Bear! Even from a distance you can see how strong it was. The buffalo started going nuts and stampeding down the whole valley. Our trip to Yellowstone was complete!

Yes that tiny blob is the bear - it was very far away!

Those tiny ants in the background are buffalo running away from the bear.