In front of the Grand Canyon of th Yellowstone with the lower falls

Bridger in front of his namesake mountains

On the way up Mount Washburn. The distant mountains in the background are the Tetons, at least 60 miles away.

Relaxing on a rock in front of the Grand Teton

Ansley with a Lewis, Clark and Seaman at Sioux Falls

On a hike in the Badlands

Never climbed a ladder like this before!

Home

Hey, everybody!

Luke here. We got home safely last night at close to nine. Our next-door-neighbors, the Coxes, were waiting for us on our front porch! Fun, huh? We had a great time for about an hour and a half to two hours, and then we all went to bed.

Home at last! Kind of hard to believe, but we're home. It feels great to relax after a long trip.....NOT! We still have to clean up the tent. That thing can get so stinking muddy... oh well.

Well, I'm going to let everybody else type now. Have fun!

Luke

Hi Guys,
My favorite things on the trip were horseback riding in Glacier and getting to see all the cool animals. We got to see mountain goats, bighorn sheep, elk, a bear, a pika, a marmot, ground squirrels, lots of prairie dogs, bison in 3 states, pronghorn antelopes, and ospreys.
I'm looking forward to seeing you soon now that I am home!
Ansley

I really like all that we did and it was alot of fun. I enjoyed the hiking and watching the wildlife. I got to wade in some mountain streams and throw rocks in Glacier. They have alot of smooth rocks.
Case

The trip was great. The hikes and views were awseome. I'm glad to be home but I do miss Yellowstone, Glacier, and everything else.
Bridger

Well, we did it. We ended up camping for about 2 weeks and everyone did well. Thankfully we had no major tent catastrophes. It was good to get back to Montana, I really enjoy it there and love being in the outdoors. Hopefully we made some good family memories. Thanks for keeping up with us and the comments and the prayers. I thought that I would post a few more of our favorite pictures that did not make it into the blog before. Sue may add 1 more post.

Russ

Indiana Dunes and Lake Michigan

Hey, everybody!

Luke here. Yesterday we went to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore on Lake Michigan. It was amazing to see how BIG it is. After all, we'd never gone to a Great Lake before. It was like looking at an ocean; we couldn't see the other side, even with Dad's birdwatching binoculars. Another surprising thing was how HUGE the Indiana Dunes are. In the first picture, you can get a general idea of how big they are. (Those little specks in about the middle of the picture are us. Click on the picture to enlarge.) We were going to wade a little, but the water was FREEEEEEEZING!!!!!! I just felt sorry for all the people with swimming suits on!

Well, we should be home today! :-) Hard to believe that after all this time on the road we'll get to relax, without all the soreness from long car rides!


Well, I'll write later!

Luke

Waterpark Fun!!!!!

Hey, everybody!

Luke here. Yesterday, Dad took us to this place called Wilderness Lodge. It's, like, the most incredible hotel EVER!!!!!!!!! It has the biggest indoor waterpark in the world, not to mention all of the outdoor elements. They have the only water half pipe that I know of, and a huge whirlpool ride, and an indoor wave pool, AND over a dozen different slides and multiple lazy rivers!

Well, after having fun with that on Thursday night and Friday morning, we hit the road again. We got to a hotel near Lake Michigan and spent the night, and today we should be going to Indiana Dunes and seeing Lake Michigan. Should be fun.

Oh, by the way. In the last post, someone asked who "the boy in the cowboy hat" was. Well, as it turns out, Ansley decided to buy a cowgirl hat in Montana as a souvenier, and has barely taken it off since. I guess in that picture she kinda looks like a boy. ;-) Sorry for the mix-up.

Well, I'll try to write later!

Luke

North Dakota

Hey, everybody!

After Glacier, we started heading for home. We stopped in Billings, Montana, where we visited some of Mom and Dad's friends, Jay and Catherine Conner, from their Montana days. Just a short way from Billings, we stopped at Pompey's Pillar. This is a big pillar of rock, containing the only physical evidence of the Lewis and Clark trip-- William Clark's signature and date carved into the rock. (Click on the second picture from the top to get a better view.)

Just inside the North Dakota border is Theodore Roosevelt National Park. This area in the badlands of North Dakota was beautiful in its raw, undeveloped state, and was brimming with life, including bison, wild horses, and prairie dogs. Lots and lots and lots and LOTS of prairie dogs. Ansley and Mom loved these cute little.... barking rodents.

After this, we drove awhile through North Dakota. Talk about flat! Bridger saw the wheat fields and said, "Let's just build a hundred soccer fields!" Ha, ha. He also mentions how he wants to compulsively throw his frisbee just to see how far it will go. Mom and Dad say that they met a friend in Montana who was from ND. He said that he was fourteen before he realized that it doesn't really snow sideways; only in ND. When you see how flat it is and how far you can see, this isn't very surprising.

That's all for now. I'll write later!

Luke

Glacier National Park

Hey, everybody!

Luke here. After Yellowstone, we got to stay at a HOTEL!!!!!! After the freezing night temperatures and limited showers, we felt spoiled rotten. Showers, laundry, a pool, and billiards- what more could you want out of life?!

After that brief respite, it was back in a tent for our stay at Glacier National Park. Funny how a place like Glacier can be 20 degrees warmer than Yellowstone, huh? (Apparently, Yellowstone is having unseasonably cold temperatures, while Glacier is having unseasonably warm.)

Well, I guess I'd better let someone else write some. I'll write later.

Luke

P.S. We read the comments about wanting more pictures with Mom in them, so we tried to put one on today. However, there were technical difficulties, and after several minutes of messing with that one picture, we decided to try again later. Sorry!

I got a neat hat and sweatshirt at Glacier. We got a buffalo burger after driving through the park that was really good. I also like riding a horse for the first time.

Case

We hiked to Hidden Lake high up in the mountains and saw alot of mountain goats and even some bighorn sheep. The mountain goats would not even get off the trail and we had to hike around them. Then we got to go horseback riding and I had a horse named Simon. We got to ride across a bridge and see some waterfalls. This was my favorite thing to do in Glacier. I miss you everybody and will see you real soon. Molly, the hikes were hard and cold at times but they were fun.

Ansley

We hiked to a lake called Lake Avalanche. It was a 4 mile round trip so it was a bit long but not too hard. When we got to the lake we skipped some rocks and Dad taught me how to fly fish a little bit. The water was turquoise and it sparkled. The lake was pretty big and had three waterfalls flowing into it. On the return hike we climbed up into a big hollow tree. Ansley really liked the tree.

Bridger