On the hunt for yuppies...we found bikes

Saturday morning we went downtown West Yellowstone to the shops and when we were finished we saw the line of cars waiting at the enterance to the park stretching for miles. We decided that no one needed to get stabbed today and that we would just loop down through Idaho to get to Jackson. We drove past Lion Head mountain and into Island Falls where everyone had a fourwheeler in, behind, or on their truck somehow. With the help of wanda we discovered highway 32, awesome road, feels like being on a ride with all the hills, turns and drop offs. We also got our first look at potato fields and the Grand Tetons.







We drove into Wyoming through a sweet pass that put the Mt. Washington auto road to shame. With its multiple gates, avalanche warning areas, pull offs to put your chains on, 12 different radio stations for weather info, and dire warnings about runaway trucks, it was the best mountain road yet. Saddly when we started down the other sided we began to enter the town to Wilson and saw the infestation of bikers, pedal bikes mind you. I did not know it at the time just how much worse it would get over the next few days.
-Marc

We started our day off in Moose, Wy visiting an old roomate of mine who worked at the Triple X Dude Ranch. The ranch had an amazing view of the mountains. It offered float trips, hunting trips, day and night trips on horseback and places to stay. My friend was part of the kitchen staff so everyone got along well, while we sat drinking on one of the porches in aderondack chairs looking at the mountains and getting burned. We ended the day going to the closest KOA, three hours away in Mount Pelier, Idaho. This was the absolute cutest campground out in the middle of nowhere. Literally, when the radio scans for a station for about 20+ minutes, its a bad sign.

Sunday, we spent the day and night with our friend Erica and her 7 week year old, Mason. He was the cutest, most well behaved newborn I have ever seen. We got a custom local driving tour around Jackson, to the ski resorts, the local Snake River Brewery and of course, the antler arches downtown. Marc got to sit in the back seat (the only place he could fit in a BMW) with Mason, looking the most uncomfortable I have ever seen him. I have now learned to trust a man when he says he is not a baby person.

And unfortunately the internet access here cant handle pictures so I will have to put them up at a later date..

There are no bears in this park...

Yellowstone Park is like a big zoo that you drive through and the passenger stays on the lookout for animals in the wild. But this big zoo has a great view, lots of snow at the top, and I'm pretty sure you dont get your money back at the end if you dont see any animals. Personally, from the passenger standpoint, I would prefer the zoo. At least at the zoo, the bathrooms are handy and it is alot less work to walk to the next exibit than to scan the forest for hours upon end looking for a moving creature. It is a few days later, and I could be driving through New York City right now and I would still be scanning my surroundings from the car looking for a moving ball of a fur that could potentially be a bear!

We did end up seeing a bunch of animals though. We caught the tail end of a grizzly bear and a black bear cub. We also saw a mother black bear and her two cubs, but the pictures were not that good. We saw buffalo galore and then read about a spanish woman being 'gored' by a buffalo the previous morning in the park. We saw a fox, a coyote, a bald eagle and elk and a whole bunch of deer.

We have discovered that the brakes on the car work quite well as it is custom for people to just stop in the middle of the road, they like to do this if possible in the middle of corners or when there is no room to go around them. The park has some great views and lots of geyser activity, which just leads me to belive that the giant volcano under the park will explode sometime soon, so with that in mind we are heading to Jackson.

Day of rest

Today we did nothing but sit in the sun, drink and read. It was fabulous

Longest Drive Ever

Today, we set out for for West Yellowstone and a drive across the top of Wyoming. It took forever. The eastern part of Wyoming is scrubland and hills and cows. It also has an abundance of railroad tracks and untill we got back on Interstate 90 it felt like we might see someone shooting a western movie at any time.

What we have discovered is that the car is a bug killing machine and is helping erica wage war against all bugs. By the end of the day we devolop a nice coating of bug spots all over the front, hood, windshield, cargo box and mirrors. So if you are an Entomologist and are looking for some slightly used subjects, we have collected quite a few.

Halfway through Wyoming we hit Bighorn National Forest and took a step switchback road with amazing views of the valley below.

After another drive across rolling cattle grazing land we made it into Cody and through a tunnel to Buffalo Bill state park and the dam.

Then it was into the East enterance of Yellowstone and a two and a half hour through the park after already driving 10 hours and the constant swearing at the packed roads and the 45 mph speed limit. If you did not know yellowstone lake is big and when you are trying to beat the sunset to go set up a tent the lake magicly expands. Also who does road construction in a national park during the summer. Not helpful. There is also the issue of what to do at the enterance of national parks, for some reason people seem surprized that they have to pay and then take the rest of the day tring to reach under the rear seat and find change so they can pay in pennies. The park rangers seem to take this in stride becasue the longer their line the more they laugh on the inside at us for them having to wear a gigantic hat to work everyday.

Black Hills of South Dakota

We have been in Custer, South Dakota since Sunday and its been great. The weather has been in the mid 80s with an amazing breeze with cloudless blue skies (look at the pics!). Unfortunately, our nights get down to low 50s as soon as the sun goes down, therefore we need to invest in another blanket!

The campground is nice, with alot of people from everywhere but here. We even have a group of polygamists who speed walk daily and think that they are bringing bonnets back in style... I'm tempted because the floral pattern is catchy, but Marc wont allow it. Cohen has been deemed 'furocious' by everyone and we have noone within 5 campsites around us. He has scared all children back to their parents. Since we have been here, we have only seen one dog his size, a really fat yellow lab. Apparently, small dogs are the new trend, because everyone has them. Cohen still has not realized they are not stuffed animals yet. He has also learned to enjoy peeing on a new plant species: the Ponderosa Pine. He now owns Custer, South Dakota. Mt. Rushmore was a amazing, we got up close and personal with the presidents and got to see the behind the scene from the sculpting. Through the park we were engaged in a battle of seniors riding their Rascals, but we managed to meneuver around them by an ingenious strategy: the stairs.

Crazyhorse monument is definetly 'in the making'. Their website said we could bring dogs into the park, but when we got to the doors they said you had to carry the dog! We contemplated the situation, but decided against carrying 73 lbs around. Inside there was quite a bit of Indian history, and Cohen barked at the horse statue outside.

The most exciting part of Custer has been the State Park, however. It has scenic drives that put the kangamangus to shame!! At one part, we were crossing a bridge and started critizing some people for walking their donkeys, only to find out they were wild burros blocking the road! They started sticking their heads in the windows that Marc refused to close! They were fat, mangy things, but were fun. We then did a wildlife loop through the park and saw pronghorns, elk, more burros and buffalo. The drive had crazy hairpin turns and rock tunnels we had to drive through. We both received our first one arm sunburns after driving all day.

We head to Wyoming tomorrow, supposed to be some more nice weather. I plan to switch my seat in the car so I can work on my "tan"... one arm at a time.

Wall Drug

You think Geico spends too much money on marketing? Wait until you drive through SD and for 399 exits you see signs for Wall Drug; a store/restaurant/attraction in Wall, South Dakota.

Today we drove across the rest of South Dakota and into Badlands National Park, which was amazing. It was a scenic drive with various places to pull off and take pictures, climb up the rocks and hike. We saw elk, prairie dogs and mountain goats along with an amazing view.

The rest of the drive wasnt bad with tons of attractions and signs on the side of the road to keep us entertained. They have the Flinstones campground here, along with Reptile Kingdom. We are staying in Custer South Dakota at an amazing campground. The weather was perfect this afternoon to set up. 80 with a GREAT breeze to allow for our tent to dry out.

Unfortunately, however, Cohen, the dog you all know to love as a timid friendly, mute puppy is working on getting us kicked out! It all started with us bringing him to the 'dog walk' where 'good dogs' are allowed off leashed. Its a barely fenced in area at the side of the camp. When I turned to pick up his business tonight he decided to take off and go play with the children on the large inflatables. Good thing he was distracted by these, however, by no other than a jack rabbit running across the feild, which he took off in persuit after. This led me to run through campsites through the grounds, finally catching him just in time for the 'grounds keeper' to catch up on his golf cart and inform me that he is not to be seen off leash again, and if he is ever successful with a rabbit, we will owe a lovely $200. And of course, if this is not enough, whenever it is dark and he sees a shadow, he transforms into Cujo, which of course is not allowed either.

Off to explore CrazyHorse and Mt. Rushmore in the morning... cant wait for a peaceful, dry sleep tonight.

Oh yeah, we hit 2000+ miles today!!!

86 power lines -- sub windmills

No, Ladies and Gentlemen, your eyes are not deceiving you. This is an Amish horse and buggy that you are looking at. One of our pit stops ended up being the Amish Store, where we got gas and Marc cured his chocolate craving with homemade Amish chocolate candies, and we happened to run into this vehicle on the way off the exit!!

After leaving Chicago on our day 4, we drove through Wisconsin, which was quite boring and onto Minnesota, which we have now dubbed the 'windmill state'. Marc has always had a problem with ugly powerlines and now we have found the solution: gigantic windmills all over the feilds. The state was covered with them and spread out for miles and miles. We googled them to find out what they were for and came up with a bunch of hate sites for them.

After this we entered South Dakota, newly dubbed, 'the billboard state' and this is where our luck, which we never had in the first place, got bad. We stayed in Sioux Falls at our first KOA campground. Although we set up camp in a record time of 15 minutes, we were conveniently placed between the children's playground and pool, two WT families who put my WT bingo board to shame, and 3 tents full of Jehovah Witnesses. For those who know us, enough said!!

We woke up this morning to the JWs packing up at 5am and rain dripping into our tent! The rain soon began to dump in buckets and we had to throw our tent in a trash bag and pack up as soon as possible!! It was then when I spoke the words: 'Marc, I want to go home'.

1000+ miles and counting...

I'll make this quick: there is no reason to give Pennsylvania lake front property, Ohio is flat with crazy 3 trailer long tractor trailer trucks, the only advantage Indiana has over Ohio is the higher speed limit, and Chicago has ALOT of traffic.

After being stuck in our first traffic jam for over an hour today (caused by a winnebago who had broken down in not one lane, but managed to place themselves diagonal in two; which of course, Marc blamed on the fact that it was a woman driver!) we are now finally in the sketchiest motel room EVER. Our weather forecast for tonight is as follows: A few evening thunderstorms, some severe; storms can bring downpours, large hail and damaging winds. Unfortunately, this may be the first time that the weatherman was actually right! Hence the opting out of the tent option.

After a LONG drive today, we are spending the night re-routing our trip to meet up with some people and getting up early tomorrow for another long drive to Sioux Falls in the morning.

Seven states down... so many more to go!

Niagara Falls: wet

Niagara Falls is officially to blame for the downward spiral of Cohen's self confidence. Unlike NH, where he is stopped every five minutes to be pet, where he responds by licking back all visitors, every shape and size, in NY he is ignored, shunned and even ran away from. I understand the diversity that we do not experience in our every day life in NH, but do these cultural diverse people really think a small black dog as the devil? People looked away, ran away, mothers threw themselves in front of their children to act as a sheild. Cohen looked up at every group of people, wagging his tail, expecting to greet them and was unfortunately let down each time. I suppose this is what eventually led him to act as a 'baby eater' when he attempted to bark in the face of the small muslim child being pushed in her stroller... she had a towel on her head, he didnt know any better! We did, however, meet a very friendly southern hippy lesbian couple, who took multiple pictures of Cohen, like he was their own. Very strange.

Ranting aside, Niagara Falls was beautiful... wet, but quite a site! And although we were the only ones there with a dog at our side, it worked well for us. We got to see everything, without going on any of the overpriced attractions for only $10!! And although it was raining, we got some great pictures. As you can see, their safety railing was not doing it's job when Marc leaned on it and it came apart!! You would think that of all things in this particular state parks, the railings would be up to par!

From there, we went to visit Old Fort Niagara, where we explored the old buildings and bunkers. Unfortunately, because of the rain, there were not many visitors, so all of the actors were in uniform, but didnt stop to talk to us, and were working instead. It took alot for Marc to not yell at them to get into character because he was a paying customer! But from the cannons aimed at Canada to the amazing view of Lake Ontario, it was worth walking around with Marc doing the commentary from the brochure we snagged.

Thankfully, tonight is our final night in NY. Niagara Falls is not the town I expected. It seems very rundown and although we are staying on 'the strip', we still have to drive about 15 minutes to get to a decent place to eat. We actually walked into a 'steak restaurant' tonight, only to walk quickly out when we found it was a 'fast food steak restaurant' with steak value meals! We are ready to say goodbye to the surplus of powerlines, the endless stop lights and the bizarre looking people in pajama pants at the bus stops.

Off to Chicago tomorrow!!

Day 1: NH-NY

Right on time, 8am this morning we hit the road, driving from NH through Vermont and to our destination: Niagara Falls, New York. So far, I beleive our packing went pretty well. We barely fit everything into the car (my one bag of clothes quickly grew to 3 overnight once I included shoes and hair supplies). Our only mistake being that we packed all of our food and snacks in the very back of the hatchback under all of our bags -- not within easy reach which would have been the sensible thing to do!


Although we have not yet seen any spectactular Falls this town is known for yet, the rain is sure falling hard enough for us to be staying in a Hotel for 2 nights (me: "YES!") This leads us to Cohen's first elevator ride; I have never seen him cock his head at the ground so many times! The drive wasnt bad although Marc is very frustrated with the stable NY state speed limit which remained 55 although the highway grew to become 4 lanes and the EXTREME amount of staties that patrolled it. We took an hour break in the middle of the day and stopped in Albany to take Cohen on a walk along the Hudson river. The park had a great pedestrian bridge that crossed the highway. We were very quickly invaded by lunch hour power walkers whom took over the sidewalks chatting about how many calories they consume daily and men doing yoga within the trees in their business suits. No lie, they bowed to the trees when they were done. Needless to say, the dog park contained no friends for Cohen, other than the geese that Marc tried to persuade him to capture for our lunch.

Niagara Falls welcomed us with an absurd amount of power lines and Wanda (whom you will all know very well, for she is our trusty GPS) was sure to take us to through to take us through the Detroit-esque Ghettos (she never fails to amuse us), fyi -- dont ever take the busses here!! But we are safe and dry and ready for a full day ahead of us tomorrow, suited head to toe in rain gear!

Gearin' up!!

Hey All!

Its the eve of our launch date and we are finishing packing up the car. I am waiting for the moment when Marc finds out just how heavy my 1 'hockey bag' of clothes is!!! (Hey, fitting it all in one bag was an accomplishment for me!) This is the moment when I become anxious just knowing that I am going to forget something... Lets see, wine... check, tent... check, dog.... check. Okay, we are ready to go!!!

Everyone wish us luck... this journey starts in less than 24 hours!!!!