Winding down!

Blue Lupine - grows in abundance in the higher elevations.

May be very familiar shot. This is the Lower Falls in Yellowstone. It is the most photographed scene in Yellowstone.

Mount Rushmore in the evening. Very awe inspiring. Seems somewhat unrealistic when you are there. Something that you have seen for years and never thought you would have the opportunity to see in person.

Rick, Stephen and Melissa in the snow at the base of Avalanche Cliff in Eastern Yellowstone!

Missy and Missy after a very fun weekend. Little Missy was very sad to see big Missy leave!! We all were!

Auntie Missy came with us to Yellowstone, as I stated before. We walked all through the Mammoth Hot Springs area. Very spectacular despite the fact that is was a "dry" year. That night we came back and made dinner followed by smores! This was our first smore episode of the trip! We have actually eaten very well and kept the junk to a minimum - I even think I have dropped a couple of pounds!! Sunday morning we just hung out with Marissa and she left around 12. We were all sad to see her go and camp was very quiet after she left. Melissa retreated to the camper for a while to cry and think about Auntie Missy. She slept with her pillow that night!

Monday we packed up and headed for East Yellowstone and out of the park. We felt that East Yellowstone was the most beautiful of the areas that we explored. I think I talked about our trip thru the Bighorns in my "Reflections" message.

Rick and Melissa enjoyed their trail ride. Rick was a little sore as he has never been on a horse before. We headed over to Wind Cave NP that afternoon. Spent a couple of hours 200-300 feet below the surface touring the cave. The tour was 1/2 mile while the explored part of the cave is 125 miles. They have no idea how far it actually goes. It is the 4th largest cave in the world. Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is #1.

Then we made our way to Mount Rushmore. We spent a couple of hours looking around before the lighting ceremony. Ronica - it was named Mt. Rushmore before they decided on the location. Tin was discovered in Keystone in the late 1800's. The company from NY sent their attorney to find out all he could about the area. A local took him around and answered all of his questions. Apparently, he was relentless in his questioning and the guide got very tired of him. When he asked, "What is the name of that mountian?" The guide said, "Well, I guess we'll just name it after you!" So, unofficially, it was Mount Rushmore(attorney's last name) until 1930 when it became official. When they decided to start work on the sculpture, they wrote to him and asked if he would like to make a donation. He donated $5000 and became the largest private donor to the project! Probably way more info than you wanted!!!!

The lighting ceremony was very emotional. They had a ranger program, a movie, some music and then a flag ceremony after the mountain was illuminated. They asked all active military and all veterans to come up front. They passed the flag from person to person! There had to be 200 military folks up there!

Packed up the camper for the last time on the trip this morning and headed out. Very mixed emotions! We made it as far as Sioux City, SD. These midwest states are quite large!! We may stop in Springfield. IL tomorrow and check out the Lincoln Librabry, etc. Melissa said she wanted to do this early on. Now she says she feels satisfied with seeing everything about Lincoln last night. So, we'll play it by ear. Now that we are on the way home, I think everyone is ready to be done driving. Almost 5,000 miles so far.

Will probably do one last post after we get home. I hope you guys have enjoyed reading about the trip as much as we have enjoyed sharing it!