Chicago!

This city is so great. We had such an awesome day today... Sears
Tower, michigan ave, portillo's hot dogs, etc. I'll post more/better
pics when we get to Michigan. We really had a fantastic time here.

We just passed Madison and should get to Chicago late tonight...together we've driven over 700 miles today, we have another 150 to go.

Badlands!

We finally found a campground with wifi! In South Dakota! Who would've thought? So now I get to post lots of pictures, and from the camera instead of the iphone. Yessssss. The Badlands are awesome. It looks like dinosaurs should be roaming the earth at this very moment here. Also, we got stuck on a dirt road for like 40 miles, thanks to South Dakota. We got to see Bighorn sheep, buffalo, deer, wild turkeys, and tons of little prairie dogs.


Those little guys are pretty cute up close, I have to admit. There was some great hiking, and some absolutely breathtaking views. Thank goodness for the camelback backpack though, cause it gets pretty freaking hot out there midday.











A trail with a ladder! Cool!



Also, Marie and I are engaged now! Hooray! I think I caught her by surprise.



Has anyone heard of WALL DRUG before? We kept seeing dozens of signs for this place all over Wyoming and Utah, then even more when we got to South Dakota. Then we look on the map, and sure enough even the map has the place listed... they had us thoroughly interested. So we show up, and it's like the Las Vegas of South Dakota. It was originally a drug store in this middle-of-nowhere town, but then they started setting up signs on the highway for free ice water. After that they really took off, and now its like a national attraction. The place was ridiculous. It took up an entire street and several blocks, and was just loaded with tons of random cowboy crap to buy. Totally enjoyable, and if you're ever within a few hundred miles, you should divert and head their way. It's totally worth it, as can be seen by Marie riding a giant jackalope below:



Random.



Me checking out some $400 python-skin cowboy boots. There's no doubt that they're super f-ing awesome, but the question is - should I buy them?



So now, we stay the night here, and we're on to drive something stupid like 900+ miles tomorrow - but the destination is Chicago! Nice! We'll be there for a few days, then its on to the lake house in Michigan for a week or so. Solid!

Mount Rushmore

Amazing. All that needs to be said.

Crystal caverns

We found a really cool cave tour, with some of the biggest cave
crystals in the world. They are known as dogspar crystals... Or
something to that effect. Cool!

Reptile gardens!

So who would've thought there would be a reptile park in South Dakota?
We figured we had to check it out. Turns out the place was awesome. We
got to feed and pet a 128 year old turtle, see a bald eagle, and all
sorts of other cool animals. South Dakota = win.

Almost in South Dakota

Marie here...we woke up to heavy rain in Jackson. Bummer. We had to
forgo the Grand Tetons (we stopped at a lookout for a brief minute but
it was almost too foggy to see them) and have instead spent the day
driving through rain storms and Wyoming. A lot of NOTHING in Wyoming.
See the picture...over 500 miles of nothing. We'll be in South Dakota
soon, we're planning on staying at a motel in Rapid City tonight and
we will resume camping tomorrow when the rain is supposed to stop.
Tomorrow through Monday we'll be in the Black Hills and the Badlands,
should be sweet. We'll get to see Mt. Rushmore, hooray.

We'll keep posting whenever we get service. Love you all.

Wyoming!

OK, so we decided to head to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for the night. Beautiful drive, all back roads. Then we ate an an AMAZING restaurant called the "million dollar cowboy bar"... and they had the most incredible bar ever. Stuffed Bears, Mountain lions, bobcats, quails, and other random animals. Saddles as bar stools. I ate Buffalo ribs, Marie had chicken fried Elk steak. Almost impossible to describe, I'll let the pics do the talking.

On a totally unrelated note... we found out during our drive that the King of Pop has left us. A sad, sad day indeed. We honored MJ by rocking to Bad, Thriller, and Dangerous throughout the Wyoming drive. He will be missed.

More Updates coming as we get internet!

Utah!

Sorry for the late postings... there aren't too many wifi hotspots in logan, wyoming. Nor are there many in Utah.

Here are some pics from the wind caves, in Wasatch National Park, Utah. It was a 2 mile hike up the mountain, with almost 1000 feet of elevation. Needless to say, I did it with my shirt off and got nice and sunburned. The view from the top, however, was totally worth it.

Now, onto Wyoming!

Best road sign ever... "Drive hammered - get nailed"

Nice, Reno.

View from the tent

Night one, Lake Tahoe

One last San Francisco view...

Still hard to beleive we're leaving.

Last day in America - July 27th!

Last few days in San Francisco...

And it begins. The last few days here in SF, followed by a two week road trip. We'll be updating with pics.