Horseback Riding in the Grand Teton Mountains

Our group shot half way into our ride.

For our Horseback riding in the Grand Tetons, we used Teton Horseback Adventures, a group just outside the national park. It is a family run outfit and our 15 year-old guide, Chelsea, had been leading tours since she was 11. We had a great 2 hour ride and would recommend them to anyone going to the area.

Conor forging the river.

We had a great time riding horses in the Teton National Forest. For 2 hours we enjoyed the beauty of the area the old fashion way.

Here is one of three moose we saw on our horseback adventure.

Our last day in the Grand Teton NP

Well, according to our schedule, we should be in Yellowstone National Park right now, but we had a change in plans. It seems that we need new brakes on the RV because of all of the mountains we have traveled, so it is in the shop and we spent the morning horse back riding in the Teton National Forest (more about that later along with pictures). As you can see from Sara's post, the kids didn't mind the change too much!

From the Front Page of the Rutland Herald

Hot Dog Boat - Thea Clark does her best to keep four dogs on her boat (only three pictured), but they found the water more appealing at the Chittenden Resevoir on a very hot Sunday afternoon in Chittenden.



It look like Honey and Rosie are having the times of their lives in Vermont with the Clarks. I hope they want to come home in September!

Grand Tetons

We have three days in the Grand Teton National Park, but only could get 2 days at the Colter Bay RV Park. When we arrived, we were surprised how tightly packed the RVs are here. The sites do have full hook-ups and there is a lot of trees to shade us. Our third day we moved to a campsite without hook-ups.

Our first day here was Sunday, so after great showers we were off to a small log cabin of a church about 10 miles away.

We followed that with a afternoon hike that started with a short boat cruise, a steep climb up the side of a mountain and then a path into the mountains. Other people reported seeing bears and moose, but not us this time. We�ll keep trying.

Hiking in the back woods.

Keegan is always looking to live the wildlife.

Off to Wyoming

Driving through the mountains we saw snow still not melted from the winter - so of course we stopped for a picture and a snowball fight.

Devil's Tower National Monument

Leaving South Dakota, we stopped for breakfast in Deadwood and the kids saw their first casino (wait until they see Vegas!). Our first stop was the Devil Tower National Monument made even more famous in �Close Encounters of the Third Kind�. We hiked around the structure while the kids climbed on the rocks.

Wind Cave National Park

The kids had such a fun time at the Jewell Cave NP that we also stopped at the other cave system in the area - Wind Cave National Park. While Patrick and Michelle stayed at the campsite to hike, the rest of us saw lots of wildlife on the way to the cave. They did not offer the lantern tour, so we took the regular tour and it was not as spectacular as the last cave visit.

Custer State Park, SD

Our next stop was a lovely campsite right along a babbling stream at Center Lake Campground in Custer State Park. Custer is known for its wildlife, especially for its buffalo of which we saw plenty. That night we went for dinner in the park at The State Game Lodge which served as the summer White House for Calvin Coolidge. Michelle ordered Elk chop and Sara and I both had buffalo.

As we were leaving Suster State Park, one was right along side the road and Conor took some close up shots.

A busy day in the Black Hills of South Dakota

Today we visited three major attractions: Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial and Jewell Cave National Park.

Mt Rushmore

We started our day by driving about 8 miles to Mt Rushmore from our campground. By getting there early, we beat most of the crowds. The view and story of the memorial is impressive and we enjoyed the park. Michelle and the kids took a trail to see more of the mountain while I found a place to log into the Internet. Unfortunately the slow speeds meant I spent more of the morning waiting for my email to download. I did get the opportunity to post a few more photos to the blog. Keegan participated in a Junior Ranger educational program and received a badge for his efforts. After a quick lunch at the visitor center, we were off to the next stop.

Sometimes you have to go to the top of a national treasure to get an Internet connection - even if it is 14.4 dialup!

See if you can guess where we are now? If you said Mt Rushmore - you are correct!

Crazy Horse Mountain

A few miles from our campground they are building another memorial similar to Mt Rushmore. Carved out of the granite face of a mountain, this is a statue of Chief Crazy Horse and is dedicated to all native Americans. Currently only the face is complete. When completed this statue will be the largest in the world. The four presidents of Mt Rushmore are the size of the great chief’s head alone. The monument also has a wonderful Indian museum and we watched an authentic war dance (just wait until our dance class starts up again in the fall!)

Down the road from Mt Rushmore is another monument being created dedicated to Crazy Horse.

Jewell Cave National Park

Our last stop for the day was Jewell Cave National Park. This cave system is currently the third largest in the world at 132.87 miles long and counting. They continue to explore the caves and expect it to become the second largest cave system later this summer.

We took a lantern tour of the caves. Descending more than six stories underground with only kerosene lanterns to light the way, we climbed down into the caves the same way the visitors from the 1940’s would have experienced the occasion. While it was a tight squeeze in some places, the highlight was blowing out all of the lamps and sitting in the dark for a few minutes and listening to the park ranger tell the story of the caves exploration. Michelle opted for a shorter, less confining tour of the Jewell Caves and met us at the top when our tour was over.

Rafter J Bar Ranch Campground

During our visit to the Black Hills, we stayed at the Rafter J Bar Ranch Campground. Recommended to us by our veteran camper neighbors, Rob and Betsy Richards, we had a lovely shaded site with both electric and water hookups. The kids enjoyed swimming in the pool and playing with friends they met walking the grounds. Everyone seems friendly and the campground store has good ice cream.

The one thing the campground needs to improve is its Internet access – it has none! Luckily on our way home from the Jewell Cave we found the Songbird Café & Gallery in Custer. While its about 14 miles from the campground, it offers Wi-Fi (wireless Internet access) I was able to download my email and upload photos to this blog, but I’m still having problems sending email.

Patrick living on the edge.

Conor and the backdrop of the Badlands National Park.

Keegan on top of the world! If you look closely, Sara is on her way up.

Badlands National Park

Yesterday and today we spent time in the Badlands National park. It is like nothing I have ever experienced before. One minute you’re cruising down I-90 and all you see is flat green fields. A turn to the left and you enter another world that looks like a moonscape more than anything. Time has eroded the land and left wonderful outcroppings and layered mountains of what looks like wet sand used to build sand castles. We stayed at Cedar Pass Campground inside the park. We took a 30 mile sunset drive to look at the wildlife and the views. Shopping and dinner followed at the famed Wall Drug.

In the morning Keegan and Michelle were the first up and took a quick walk. A short time later, a got a call on the radio and they were on the top of a good sized outcropping waving back at me.

After a few more hours at the Badlands, including a ranger talk on the plethora of fossils found in the area, a trip to a prairie dog town and we were off to our next stop near Mt Rushmore.

Our visit to the famed Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. Luckily it was a quick visit.

Computer connections

One of the most frustrating aspects of the trip to date has been the lack of an Internet connection. I bought a new modem from Verizon that allows be to connect to the Internet from anywhere. Unfortunately, most of the places we have stayed, coverage was not available. That is why many of these posting have been written along the way but posted in bunches.

Visiting the Cousins in Rochester MN, Our first stop.

Passing through Chicago

Our first day of driving saw us put almost 800 Mlles between us and
Simsbury before we spent the night at a rest area along I-90 just shy
of Elkheart, Indiana.  I was up by 5 and we were on the road before anyone
else was awake. Once through Chicago (about 8:00 am) we stopped for a
quick breakfast in the RV of cereal, fruit and a Diet Coke.  Michelle
made coffee for the first time in a manual coffee pot on the stove.

Right now we are driving down the road with Michelle at the wheel.  It's
tough to type when the RV is moving, but I wanted to see if the Internet
connection works while we are moving (if you are reading this then the
answer is yes!).

And we are off on our Summer adventure...

Patrick and the U-15 CT State Cup. Simsbury beat Wethersfield 1-0. Patrick and his team played a great game and won the state championship. Now we leave tomorrow morning!

Getting close

Today is the kid’s last day of school. Conor will be moving to the high school next year and Sara leaves Central and will be at Henry James. Today was suppose to be power packing day and getting the RV all ready to go on the trip. Instead, I spent 4 ½ hours talking to a Microsoft rep in India trying to fix a problem with my computer. Ultimately, it did not work and I had to reinstall Windows (which means that all of the programs and data of my computer have to be reinstalled as well). So we’re a little behind in the packing.

The kids also have a lot to do. Sara has an end of year party for soccer team, Liam and Kerry Clark are in town to pick up Rosie and Honey for the summer and everyone want to go to the St Mary’s Carnival another night.

It’s going to be another long night getting ready.

The first change to our agenda

They say the only constant is change. After months of planning with the
departure date of June 18th, We not may be changing our plans.

Patrick's U-15 travel Soccer team today won the semi-final game of the
Connecticut Cup State Tournament in double overtime. The team was down
3-1 against a strong South Windsor team but fought back to a 3-3 tie
with 6 seconds left in regulation. Halfway through the second sudden
death playoff a Simsbury player got a head on the ball and scored the
winning goal!

The Final game will be played against a very strong Wethersfield team an
hour after we planned on leaving. Since the team has not won a game
Patrick has missed and has won every game this season that he has played
in (some say it's coincidence, others that voodoo is involved), we think
its important that we show up to support the team.

So we'll stay for the game and if they loose, we hit the road. If they
win, we might stick around for the night and party, then leave on the 19th.

A place to stay on the road...

This is our new home for the summer. Can six live together in 31 feet for 10 weeks? We'll see!

Plans for the Summer

If your wondering where we are during the summer, here is an overview of our summer travels. Of course this is subject to change as we go, but it gives you a good idea what's ahead for us.


DAY 1 Saturday, June 18 - Depart West Simsbury, CT

DAY 6 Thursday, June 23 - Custer State Park, SD

DAY 9 Sunday, June 26 - Grand Teton National Park

DAY 13 Thursday, June 30 - Yellowstone National Park

DAY 15 Saturday, July 02 - Glacier National Park

DAY 19 Wednesday, July 08 - Calgary Stampeed

DAY 23 Sunday, July 10 - Banff and Jasper National Parks

DAY 29 Saturday, July 16 - Olympic National Park - New Harry Potter Avaiable

DAY 34 Thursday, July 21 - Napa Valley

DAY 36 Saturday, July 23 - Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks

DAY 39 Tuesday, July 26 - Santa Barbara

DAY 41 Thursday, July 28 - San Diego

DAY 43 Saturday, July 30 - Las Vegas

DAY 47 Wednesday, August 03 - Lake Powell

DAY 51 Sunday, August 07 - Zion National Park

DAY 54 Wednesday, August 10 - Bryce Canyon National Park

DAY 57 Saturday, August 13 - Arches National Park

DAY 62 Thursday, August 18 - Santa Fe

DAY 66 Monday, August 22 - Graceland and Nashville TN

DAY 68 Wednesday, August 24 - Hockessin

DAY 70 Friday, August 26 - Simsbury, CT