Day 9 and on…

We left Cody, WY by way of Montana and after traveling some dirt roads and apparent back-roads, we finally joined the interstate again and made good time through Idaho and then on into Washington where we unpacked for our last week in the lower 48.

We spent the last few days in the lower 48 in Seattle. We went to a 3D movie, showed the kids the space needle, explored the Market and the 1st Starbucks (a highlight for us avid coffee drinkers)

We also explored the Boeing Factory outside of Seattle, explored the waterfront, and drove by the Seahawks Stadium several times. After about a week in Seattle, we left and headed North to Bellingham, Washington and towards the Alaska Marine Highway (aka Alaska Ferry).

Day 7-8

We spent the next couple of days in Cody, WY. We explored the Buffalo Bill Historical museum and firearm museum, ate in Buffalo Bills old restaurant and hotel the Irma, got all dudded up in cowboy gear, and explored the Buffalo Bill/Cody Dam.

We had a fun few days, despite the never-ending rain fall (which apparently never happens unless we are in Wyoming, lol). However, our exit from Cody did not go as hoped since we where barred from our next destination, Yellowstone, due to record snowfall and threats of avalanche. So, we left Cody after that last day and detoured around.

Day 6: A Summer Surprise

We left Mt. Rushmore and headed into Wyoming bright and early. Soon after passing into Wyoming, our route took us into the Big Horn National Forest. As we began an ascent up the mountain range of Big Horn, we where barraged with…Snowflakes! It was snowing in June! We climbed trough hairpin turns and sheer drop-offs playing "duck, duck, goose" with the salt truck most of the way to the summit. My family was delighted and even bailed from the car a few times to dance in the snow and check out the views…

After the summit, we began our descent and ended up hiking, checking out waterfalls, and anything else that caught our eye as we made our way to our night's destination of Cody, WY. After descending the mountain, the terrain turned more desert-like and we entered Cody rather late in the day. We ended the day eating at a Roadhouse, named Cassie's General Store that was famed to be a former "House of Ill Repute" (or a whorehouse for short). We retired that night to a wood paneled hotel room that had a horse farm in the back and rested up for the next couple of days.

Alaska Bound: Days 4-5

Mount Rushmore:

We spent all the next two days of our adventure at a national landmark…Mount Rushmore. We wanted our children to fully remember this portion of the trip, so we headed into the park and spent hours exploring. We then returned that night to watch the "lighting" of Mt. Rushmore which was a breathtaking and spectacular sight to behold. My husband was even honored to be asked to help retire the colors. 

We spent the next day exploring around Mt. Rushmore and even did a little hiking on the trails around the park. Our time in Mt. Rushmore was well spent and we retired that night to ready for our next adventure.

Day 3

We left Missouri rested and ready for our next adventures. We traveled through Iowa (and some very scary looking bridge-art work) and onto South Dakota. South Dakota seems to be one of  the longest states we traveled through. Miles an miles of hilly flatness broken up by occasional hand-painted signs advertising a place called Wall Drug. Literally miles and miles interspersed with these signs. Often, accompanying these signs was a completely random item…like an old fire truck or dinosaur skeleton.

To break up the miles we detoured a little off the road to see the "Corn Palace". Not being much of a agricultural guru, I wasn't too impressed with the auditorium filled with corn. But, it was nice to stretch the legs and kind of cool in retrospect.

From the Corn Palace, we hit the road and moved on to see what exactly was Wall Drug. We worried a little about reaching it before it closed, but we realized as we traveled that we where chasing the sun and time was flipping back as we traveled (new timezones). We made it in plenty of time and even enjoy dinner in the little throw-back to the Wild West little town. We left Wall Drug a little less road-weary and headed on to our hotel in Mt. Rushmore. We checked into our tiny room and called an end to day three.