Happy Fourth!

For all the little boys out there reading the blog... you know who you are. Fred says hi from clifton park ny, last day before we arrive home in CT. Wishing you all a happy 4th and enjoying some more fireworks.

Mt Rush

There is really not to much to see, and the $10 parking fee is not worth it. They have built up the visitor area to the point where the Mt. no longer looks spectacular. In fact the heads seem much smaller, but this could also be a result of my having grown since last I saw them. I remember a path that sort of went around the base of the mountain, but it was no longer there. It is one big viewing terrace. Which is beautiful, I can give them that much, but really takes away from the Mt itself.

We kept driving, and dropped by Crazy Horse, Which cost $10 a person. Kept Driving...

The Badlands were so beautiful at sunset... and we kept driving...

In fact Driving was what we did the rest of the trip.

Frosty morning

Thursday morning we woke up bitterly cold and decided to head out, without reception our phones were off and we didn't know what time it was until we were in the car. 5:30am, fitting that we arrived and left the park at the exact sametime just two days later.
The plan was to drive to Rushmore and find a place to stay...but...

Old FaithfullThis

This trustworthy attraction was a lot of fun to watch. The enjoyment was increased all the more when we had the pleasure of meeting some neighboring viewers. The was a youngman next to Bev who was on a road trip of his own, coming from ohio and heading to the california coast. We found common ground when we realized for the first time on our similar but somewhat oppisite trips, our phones had reception. After turning them on the merry ding, ding, ding multiplied times ten told us we indeed were loved and missed. The joy of voicemail and text messages.
The even younger fellow on my left was traveling from OK and while he wasn't as talkitive as the ohio man he did get real close to myside. His mom informed me "he really likes girls", oh dear they might have some trouble in a few years.
The show was worth it and on the way out we passed our friend from ohio who had pulled over just outside the exhibit to make those last few phone calls before the park cut off his reception again.

Finding a camp site

So this blog is a tribute to campgrounds everywhere, but will focus in on yellowstone.
This is the truth about finding a campsite without a reservation. It is not easy, unless you pick up on the swing of the camping scene.
Things to know:
Campgrounds that except reservations are not worth your time if you didn't make one, or if you are in an area that is touristy.
Look for first come first serve sites, if you want to be free of reservations.
Double check and make sure they are really first come first serve, before you set up the tent.
Get there early, people who are road trippers usually head out early, so the sites are open before the checkout time... other people will be all over the sites so you have to be just as aggressive.

The yellowstone story.
We got in super early, and went to the campgrounds that said there were opensites. Mistake one: I forgot to check and see if it was a first come first serve grounds. Hey, it was really early and we were both exhuasted. Second mistake, we found an empty site as the late arrivals instructions stated... and set up the tent. It wasn't until later that I figured out that by late arrivals they were thinking of people getting in at night and leaving when we had arrived. The end result we had to take the tent back down because the site we had found empty was acctually reserved for that night. It was still early when we discovered this and redirected to a real first come first serve site we were able to find a great spot, which was free the first night. This was not a fantastic gimic of the park to draw in campers, they just had no water at the site. We didn't complain, two full days and two nights at yellowstone for $6. Well that and the annual pass. With the site found we were able to enjoy all the beauty of the park.

One more suggestion, while it is a little out of the way the site we stayed at was the Lewis Lake site. It is in the southern part of the park, and if you get there later it seemed to fill up slower then the others.

Yellowstone

We just pulled into Yellowstone Park, at 4am. Watched a little sunrise and saw a family of buffalo. Now we passed a few elk. Fun, off to find a campsite.

The redwoods are giant, and the ocean is cold. We are driving to Yellowstone! More details later.