The Badlands

Taking a panoramic pic from an overlook in the national park.

Chimney Rock by Zane

Chimney Rock photo by Zane from the truck back seat.

We are not in Idaho anymore...

Lunch in Thermopolis, Wy

Nick and the older 2 boys briefly jumped in the free hot springs pool at the state park here - the sign on the hillside points to where the hot springs originated.

Gering, Nebraska .... $1 sliders at the Union Bar. Note helmet on side of building. We are in Husker territory now.

Pics with Buffalo Bill

Western Art museum

Nick's favorite museum section in Cody was this one. I can apparently only post 4 pics at a time, so this in only a small sampling of the many pics he took there this morning.

Raptors

At the museum we saw a very informative presentation with a golden eagle and owl (and were entertained by a brave a foolish bunny foraging nearbye).

Cody museum

The Buffalo Bill Center of the West is a world-class Smithsonian-affiliated collection, and thankfully the tickets covered 2 days. We spent several hours exploring its 5 museums Tuesday afternoon, then again for a bit on Wednesday morning before we left Cody. The new firearms museum just had a grand reopening after a remodel a few days ago, and was even more impressive than Nick remembers from when he was a kid.

Horseback riding in Cody

Last night we stayed in a very dated 3-room condo that a hotel in another part of town rented out. On the positive side there were beds for all 8 of us, a (sticky) kitchen, and the main hotel had a pool -an absolute requirement for Zane - and offered nightly horse rides. Another unusual hotel amenity for sure.

Yellowstone to Cody

After leaving Yellowstone and lunch in Cooke City we drove the spectacular Chief Joseph highway to Cody. There is a beautiful lookout, that also marks part of the journey when the Nez Perce tribe attempted to flee to Canada.

Calcite Springs

This was a favorite jaunt we took during our brief drive through Yellowstone, which offered a dramatic view of a deep gorge.

Bison

We broke park rules - you are supposed to stay 100 yds away from bears, but I could have almost smacked the black bear with the truck door.
We also had a bison thunder across the road in front of us during a rain shower, which was exciting to watch.

Wildlife

We had a black bear wander right by our truck, and saw herd of bison in the Lamar Valley.

Livingston to Yellowstone

It must get cold in Montana - I've never seen a hotel advertise this as an amenity before!
This morning we drove an hour south of Livingston to the north Yellowstone entrance, and I hopped out to take a pic of the line of cars waiting to pay $35 each to enter the park. We only spent a few hours traversing the northeast corner of Yellowstone with intermittent thundershowers and hail, so we avoided much of the crowds. It also meant we missed seeing Old Faithful and other geysers (guess we will need to return someday!).