Howard Road Trip

Hey everyone! Hayley's baaaack! Once you're done celebrating, you can read the latest blog. Today it seemed like a pleasant day, and Marina and I had rented sand bikes (You know the ones that are like tricycles and are low to the ground), then the thunderstorm came in. It POURED rain for about a half hour, then suddenly stopped (and so did the lightning and thunder) and was probably about 80 degrees at least and sunny. I thought that was odd, but I guess it's normal for South Dakota. We didn't do much today, so we called it our 'lazy day'. We hit the road tommorrow for Nebraska, but we might have to change plans because of Linda. Anyway, I'll see y'all later (ahhh! I'm talking like a country person!
From
The great, amazing, fantastic, and totally awesome Hayley (I guess you could call me Hay-Hay if you absolutely feel the need to give me a nickname)

The freeway was not pink east of Sheridan for a while, but then between Buffalo and Gillette it turned pink once again. The soil/rock in northeastern Wyoming is very red, so maybe local gravel just turns out pinkish.

We drove through Bear Country USA yesterday afternoon. It really was awesome. We'll post pictures if we can. You drive through various "animal areas" going very slowly - 10 mph max. In the elk/reindeer area, this reindeer with enormous antlers came right up to the car and started rubbing them against the side of the car! The most impressive area was the bear area. There were a couple dozen black and grizzly bears! In this area, they do not allow you to open your car window to snap photos - duh! Anyway, these bears have been raised on site (it's the largest private collection of black bears in the world), so they are relatively tame (I wouldn't try to pet one, though...)One black bear butted up against our rear bumper and stratched his rump on it! The animals roam freely in natural environments - it was way better than a zoo. Then they had an area of baby animals, where we saw the cutest little cougar cub!

Last night we saw the lighting of Mt. Rushmore - very impressive. We toured the Borglum (sculptor of the monument) museum, hiked up a trail to get closer to the stone heads, etc.

Today we had a real midwestern thunderstorm. It went from clear skies and very warm outside to torrential rain, major lightning and thunder, etc. Heavier rain even than in Oregon. (People here have been asking us how to pronounce Oregon - they ask if it's Or-ee-gone).

This blog site seems not to want us to post many more pictures, and I'm trying to find a way around it. If we can't do it on the blog, I'll email them if you wish.

We had some very sad news today. Gordon's sister, Linda, died this morning in Durango from complications related to the chemotherapy she was receiving to treat her lymphoma cancer. She developed pneumonia and couldn't overcome it due to her low white cell count and overall weakness. She was only 44 and leaves behind her husband and 2 young daughters, ages 6 and 9. We may change out itinerary to go to Durango to be with Linda's family and Gordon's parents.

ESH

Hello, everyone! Today started out with breakfast at a very nice hotel in Sheridan Wyoming, and then we hit the road. After a medium legnth drive, we stopped at Bear Country USA. This was by far the coolest place we have been to. It is a place where u drive through and see different animals along the way. There were Grizzly Bears, Black Bears, Bighorn Sheep, Linxes... I can't even remember them all. We will post pictures later. I think that the best animal was this cute baby cougar playing in the grass. And probably the most memorable part was when a raindeer was literally touching the car. Its antlers were HUGE! Then we checked into our little cabin near Mt Rushmore and went to see Mt Rushmore. They lit the mountain up and 9:00 and it was amazing! So now we are back in the cabin, about to get ready for bed. Bye for now!
Hayley (aka Hay Hay)