by kenny

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by kenny

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by laura beth

It's been forever since I made a Happy Friday Post. Yesterday my friend Ben posted a similar video on Facebook. I laughed so hard that wasted the afternoon watching most of the literal music videos (some clever guy has changed the song lyrics to match what's going on in the video) that Youtube has to offer. For the next several Fridays I will be posting my favorites. This one was Kenny's favorite.

Daydream Believer by The Monkees-literal video version (2:45)

by laura beth

So... Yellowstone. Yellowstone is amazing. All kinds of beautiful. All kinds of wildlife. All kinds of unique geological areas.

When we were near Custer State Park in South Dakota we weren't sure if we should go there or not. Bison are abundant at Custer and we wanted to see that, but ultimately we decided to pass and hopefully see bison in Yellowstone. That decision worked out well as we saw lots of bison pretty early on. So many that it us quite a while to get to our first stop in the park because traffic had stopped due to so many bison on the road. We almost got sick of seeing bison.

We stopped at the hot springs and marveled out all the various colors they produced (The textures and colors are really, really incredible-Laura). We went both high and low all through Yellowstone. The lake was beautiful. The landscape was gorgeous. The waterfalls were abundant. All that you would expect. It was crowded with traffic in parts, but we didn't mind as it was nice to take it in slowly. Whenever there was a lot of traffic you knew there was some sort of wildlife up ahead. Elk, bison, bear, moose, coyote (which some people thought were wolves), bighorn sheep , etc.

On our third and last day in the park we headed to Old Faithful. I love old faithful. It brings back memories of that trip when Laura, my cousin James, and I went on a crazy spring break trip in 2000 that involved two breakdowns and two weeks stuck in Fort Benton, Montana. It culminated with a photo of the three of us and our cardboard cut out of Princess Leia in the snow with Old Faithful going off in the background. This time the weather was great and we grilled bratwurst while we waited. Perfect.
After leaving Yellowstone we headed to Grand Teton National Park. The Tetons are spectacular, but I was a little disappointed as I didn't know you don't drive through any part of them. The road and the mountain is separated by a river and you see them from a distance. There are trails for hiking and horseback though. Personally, I favor the Big Horn Mountains.

We made it into Idaho and ate at this restaurant/gas station where all the seats are made to look like little covered wagons. We finished the night by taking the motorhome to a drive-in movie theater. So great! The only condition was that we park in the back. We had snacks and beer and watched Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince followed up by My Sister's Keeper. I hope to do this many more times.

by kenny

Devils Tower! Wow! Devils Tower had us at "Hello"! We immediately compared this reaction with our reaction of seeing Mount Rushmore which was utter disappointment. Mount Rushmore is revered as an awe-inspiring achievement of man, and then you look at Devils Tower, which is not man made, yet will take your breath away.

The landscape driving towards the tower is pretty flat. In the distance you see what looks like a giant shark fin. Even from so far away it is just absolutely incredible.

Devils Tower is called Mato Tipila (which means Bear lodge) by the Lakota. In 1906 it was declared America's first national Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt. As with most National Monuments it is not without controversy. The tower is a sacred side for the Lakota, so justifiably they don't like people climbing on it. And they do, lots of them. A compromise of sorts has been made where climbers voluntarily do not climb the month of June when the Lakota are practicing various religious rituals at the tower. However, their are still a few A-hole climbers that do anyway. Jerks! How pissed would religious communities be if climbers climbed the dome of the rock or its equivalent?

How Devils Tower was formed (1:47)


The Lakota have a different story.
A group of boys or a group of girls were out in the countryside when a bear or a bear like animal with massive claws started chasing the group. The group cried out to the Great Spirit who hears their prayers and from beneath their trembling feet raises up the tower. The creature has not yet given up and continues the pursuit. He tries and tries to no avail and ends up clawing the mountain into the shape it is now. He finally gives up goes to rest in the east where is his body forms teh nearby Bear Butte.


Which one do I believe? All I know is this means something!

Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Mashed Potato Scene (2:53)


From Devils Tower we took of towards Yellowstone National Park, but first we had to go over the Big Horn Mountains. The Big Horn Mountains are not as tall as the Tetons, but you don't literally go over over the Tetons. You do get to go over the Bighorns. There is a fork in the road and a map offering two different routes. Both beautiful, both go over the mountains, but one at a goes higher and at a steeper grade than the other. It warned that going so high up means when you go down the mountain you will have to go down a much steeper incline. We probably shouldn't have decided to take that route, but we have a smaller motorhome and felt adventurous. It will be ok? Right?

Highway 14 will take you pretty close to the top and it is beautiful up there. Panoramic views, alpine wild flowers, forest groves, stunning rock formations, moose, eagles, snow in July, and tranquility. It may have been the most scenic of the scenic routes we have been on. Then we headed down. Slowly. Or as slow as our big vehicle will let us. By the time we were down the mountain we were way behind schedule. We made it to our RV Park after 10pm, but still in time to grab a drink and enjoy karoke by the locals.

What a great day.

Photo Tribute to the Big Horns(4:05)