Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Osburn, ID

We arrived in Osburn after a nice drive from Yellowstone. Lookout Pass on 90 west was a little steep, but we made it over. The RV park was very nice. We would definitely return! We decided to ride our bikes on the Coeur D' Alene trail over to The town of Wallace. Wallace is an old mining town with an interesting history. The picturw below was taken on the trail between Osburn and Wallace.




Thursday, June 21, 2012

Yellowstone National Park

We arrived in Gardiner, MT on June 14th. We decided to stay a week in order to explore Yellowstone and the five main areas. On the first day we explored the area around Mammoth Hot Springs. This area is the lowest elevation and therefore the warmest and closest to our campsite. I am posting a few pictures of this area below.





The second day we explored an area called Tower-Roosevelt. The road to Tower Fall was steep and winding. We stopped to view a petrified tree and spotted some bear cubs. Below I am posting a picture of the Yellowstone River.



Our third day we decided to ride to Old Faithful. This area is the highest in the park and the weather was dramatically different 2000 ft above Mammoth Springs. Old Faithful was smaller than I thought. Here is a picture.



On the last day we visited the park we drove the whole loop to see any areas we missed the first three days. The Midway Geyser Basin near Old Faithful was my favorite part of the park. At this location I was able to view the Grand Prismatic Spring. See below.



Here is a picture of a different spring at the same location.



The Yellowstone Grand Canyon was probably my second favorite area of the park. Below is a picture of the fall and canyon.





Finally, I enjoyed viewing the wildlife in the park. Here is a bison and a valley.



















Monday, June 18, 2012

Wall, SD



We arrived in Wall after a very windy drive. The truck was getting about 5mpg because of the strong headwind. The RV park was one block from Wall Drug and just outside the entrance to the Badlands, which was a great location. I got a lot of pictures in the Badlands. I will post a few pictures below.









Thursday, June 14, 2012

Shubert, Nebraska

We made it to Indian Cave State Park after a very windy drive across miles of farmland. We arrived on Saturday night, but by Sunday morning there were very few people camping at the park. The first night I saw a deer, an owl, a bat and lots of fireflies outside the camper. There is a historic town called St. Deroin in the park. One of the buildings in the town is an old one room brick school which was built in the 1800's. I have posted a few pictures of the school below.





After visiting St. Deroin, we headed to the indian cave. Despite years of people defacing the cave by carving initials into the walls, a few petroglyphs remain. Below are pictures of the cave and one of the glyphs.





I enjoyed visiting the park, but I doubt we would drive that far off of the interstate to return.

Piedmont, Missouri

Missouri is a very beautiful and very clean state. One of my favorite things about the area we visited is the rolling, golden hills. Below is a picture.



After a ride through the countryside, we went back to camp and took the kayaks onto Clearwater Lake. We found a small cove with steps leading up to a stone bench built into the side of a hill. Here is a picture of me on the stone ramp.



Piedmont Park was worth the long drive through small, winding roads.




Monday, June 11, 2012

Jasper, Alabama

We arrived at Clear Creek Camp on June 5th. The next morning we took a motorcycle ride to Natural Bridge Park.




There is a natural rock formation that looks like an indian. Here is a picture:



Here is a picture of the natural bridge:




Here is a picture of the cavern underneath the natural bridge:



After our scenic ride, we headed back to camp and then went kayaking on the Lewis Smith lake. We encountered very few people around our site or on the lake. It was very beautiful and peaceful! The weather was gorgeous and we had a great time in Jasper, Alabama!