Day 11-17: South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah

Day 11: Badlands, South Dakota

This is the Badlands. The rock formations were made when Pangea came apart and an ocean filled this area in South Dakota. Now that the ocean is gone, we have these rocks and some fossils of sea creatures.



above: Bison roam the land like cows roam California





Day 12: Mount Rushmore, SD

here we are at mt. rushmore, and wow those heads are huge and very very detailed. the pictures may not give them justice.







Day 13: Driving to Yellowstone

here are some photos of us driving into Yellowstone National Park.








Day 14: Yellowstone National Park (Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Upper and Lower Falls)

i have no idea why this is underlined... i can't get rid of it. Brian's computer is retarded. anyways here we are at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Fun fact: Lower Falls is twice as large as Niagra Falls. check out the pix.








Day 15: Yellowstone National Park (Avalanche Peak)

We were not prepared for this, but we did it anyways. Avalanche Peak involved a 1400 ft climb. I forget the total elevation, but make no mistake it was pretty darn high. 3 hr climb to the top in the snow and a 1.5 hr descent (we slid down!)







Day 16: Yellowstone National Park (Old Faithful, West Thumb Geyser Basin)

Took an easier day today and did some touristy things. We saw some of the more popular things to look at like Old Faithful, West Thumb, and Morning Glory Pool (which kind of sucked).


above: West Thumb. the biggest coolest natural hot spring we saw in the park.

above: a deer

above: morning glory pool

above: old faithful



Day 17: Salt Lake City, Utah

This is a very nice looking town. Most of the downtown is clean and looks new (possibly because they just hosted the winter Olympics). I had a beer in the Mormon capital, but here is a fun fact: all of the alcohol content is lower in Salt Lake City than in other parts of the United States.

Here are some photos:


above: statues of John Stockton and Karl Malone in front of Energy Solutions Arena (home of the Utah Jazz)


above: State Capital building. we played football on the endless grass surrounding this nice building.