The Great Mount Rainier.......

Today we drove almost 6 hours from Coeur D’Alene Idaho to Mount Rainier. On the way we stopped at a scenic view in Washington. It was very interesting, not at all how I expected Washington to look. It had a desert look and feel, with a big river running through it. Quite beautiful but very different from what I imagined. Jacob and Michael tried really hard to catch one of the little brown lizards but had no luck.

As we got closer to Mount Rainier it started looking more like a forest. The trees got very tall and the mountains high. The park is huge; it took us almost an hour to drive up to the visitor center. We were all a little disappointed because the mountain was hiding her face today. Even though we didn’t get to see the mountain we still saw lots of beautiful things. The surrounding mountains were gorgeous, as were all the wild flowers. Jacob and I took a little hike up by a small creek waterfall. Then Jacob, Michael and I took another short hike by the reflection lakes. That makes me hope that we can see the mountain tomorrow before we leave. So I can get a picture of the mountain and it reflection. All we could see today was fog and clouds. We did visit the visitor center to get Junior Ranger books and a few souvenirs :) I hope to have internet access so I can post this blog!!

 Yes...this is Washington State!!!

 A beautiful mountain...but NOT Rainier!!!

 Jacob and Michael bought Slingshots.

 A really cool flower

 This picture makes me happy...it looks "Seussish"

 Banana Slug we found by a creek.

Well, couldn't get on line yesterday to post this so here it is today. Hopefully later I will be able to get the pictures I took today online and let you know if we got to actually see the mountain today and not just clouds again :)

Montana Grizzly Encounter

This morning we stopped by the Montana Grizzly Encounter.  Lucy was out when we got there.  She was rescued from Alaska.  She is still just a baby, a 200 pound baby, but still a baby.  She spent a lot of time in the water.   Jake and Maggi came out right before we left.  We got to watch them find their food and play with each other.  Bill, one of the caretakers of the place spent a lot of time talking with us.  He has been there since the beginning of the Encounter.  Jacob of course was disappointed that we didn't get to see Brutus but we just didn't have the time to stay until it was his turn to come out. 

 

Theodore Roosevelt...take two!

We spent the morning exploring the other side of the park. We took a hike up Buck Hill. The climb was a little steep but it was so worth getting to the top. You could see a 360 degrees view of the park. It was super windy at the top, the boys loved it!! They climbed on rocks and jumped into the wind.

We also saw some of the parks feral horses, but it was from very far away. I was really hoping to see some up close but that wasn't to be. We did get to see some buffalo up close today. Jacob and Michael earned their first Junior Ranger badge of the trip. They always get lots of attention when they wear their vests.

We left the park after a picnic lunch and drove 6 hours to Bozeman Montana.

Top of Buck Hill.

Feral horses...wish we could have gotten closer.

The swearing in :)

Theodore Roosevelt National Park....

We woke up this morning in St. Cloud Minnesota.  We really didn't get to see much, but there were lots of really pretty lakes and ponds along the interstate.  I guess that is why they call it "Land of 10,000 lakes!!  We drove 8 hours and made good time because we didn't even stop for lunch, we just ate sandwiches from the cooler.  I wanted to get to Theodore National Park before the visitor center closed for the day and I was pushing us hard!!  When we were 15 minutes away I realized the we had driven into mountain time....we had and extra hour!!!!  So we got to see some of the park today before it got dark :)  And even a little after it got dark.  I took Jacob and Michael to a Ranger Program at the campground.  They have to go to a ranger lead program to earn their Junior Ranger Badges.  They had a good time and got to help the Ranger act out a couple of things.  The prairie dogs are very cute.  They let me get kind of close to take pictures!!  Not as close as it looks in the pictures though, I was using a zoom lens.  We will see the other side of the park tomorrow and the boys will get their badges then we will head to Bozeman Montana.

 

Anthony's 16th birthday.....

 

We woke up in LaFayette Indiana this morning.  We had breakfast at the hotel then got in the car for a day of driving.  We drove up to the west side of Chicago and stopped at Guitar Center to let Anthony look at the banjos.  They didn't have any traditional banjos so he is just going to have to order one.  Then we went to Lou Malnatti's Pizza for Chicago style pizza.  It was really good!!!  The waitress overheard that it was Anthony's birthday and brought him ice cream.  After lunch we got in the van for 6 1/2 more hours of driving, up through Wisconsin and into Minnesota.  We tried to stop in Minneapolis at a place we saw on Diner, Drive-ins and Dives but we didn't find it.  I kept driving and David got on Google and found a family restaurant that turned out to be quite good.  Anthony David and Michael all got the french toast, it was highly recommended on Google.  I got veggie cheese steak soup, it was really good.  When we got to the hotel I made him Oreos with 16's on them.  Its kind of a tradition with us to have a cake with your age on it so I had to find some way to do that!!   Going to bed soon, got another LONG day of Driving tomorrow.  But after that we should start seeing cool things!!!!