Day 3: On the road - From the Great Plains to the Rockies

After an exhilarating and exhuasting day at Mount Rushmore, we set up camp at our first campsite, which was nestled in a little valley just a few miles from the monument. It was a quaint spot, with a babbling brook running alongside it,

red gazebos with picnic tables underneath them at each site, green grass covering

the entire area, and the Black Hills Express tourist train tracks just across the road.

We all collapsed for a nap in the tent and then sat at the edge of the campsite in the afternoon sun, reading, writing postcards, and waving to the passengers in the Black Hills train. We were very excited that on our first attempts, we did NOT break the tent and we did NOT blow up the campsite while setting up the Coleman!

For our camping dinners so far, we've had some excellent Mountain House meals. For those of you who have not yet experienced these wonders of modern science, you simply pour boiling water into the bag (as seen below), let it sit for about 10 minutes, and voila! You have an excellent and filling meal. Well, maybe excellent is a stretch. You have an edible and filling meal!

The next morning, after making some oatmeal breakfast and coffee (Parm loves her coffee) and stopping to pick up some goods at the grocery store (and I got a much-needed Starbucks Chai Frappucino), we set off on a 9-hour drive to Yellowstone.

The unanimous best moment of the day was when the mountains came up across the horizon.

Along the way, we had some fun adventures. For example, Emmie asked me to make her an open-faced PB&J sandwich. I'm not a huge peanut butter fan, so am not an experienced PB&J-maker. I thought that the more peanut butter and jelly you put on the sandwich, the better. So I piled on both the P and the J. Turns out there was too much J. Parm had to scrape it off the sides so that Emmie could eat it while driving. I am now banned from making PB&J sandwiches. I stand by my original logic that more toppings = a better sandwich.

We also stopped at a Subway/gas station/Post Office/Little Bighorn museum along the way and had a wall-sit competition while we were waiting outside the restroom. Emmie would like me to mention that she won, but only because I was next in line for the restroom.

At about 5pm, we arrived in Mammoth, which is at the North entrance of the park, and walked over to the visitor center. We were greeted right away with some up-close wildlife action.

After talking with one of the rangers, we decided to camp at the Norris campground, which was one of the warmer sites that was supposed to only have lows in the 30s that night. Thanks to our bomb sleeping bags, were are well-equipped for braving the elements.

On our way to the campground, we caught our first glimpses of the park and were struck with awe. The pine trees cling to both the rolling hills and the precipitous cliffs, steam from geysers spot the basins, and wildlife spots the majestic scenery. So far, we've seen a young grizzly bear, elk, a wolf, a pelican, bison and chipmunks.

Once we arrived and found the perfect spot (we had a little Goldie Locks complex about finding the perfect spot, and by we, I mean me), we set up the tent and table in record time. Low and behold, it turns out that the campsite next to us was occupied by THREE STRAPPING YOUNG MEN! I think I deserve a gold star for that prediction.

Jacob, Bobby and Brett are taking a one-month road trip during summer vacation from their Art History PhD program at NYU, and also had some good tips for starting and maintaining a campfire. Emmie gets a gold star for successfully starting the campfire even with pretty damp kindling and wood.

The whole trip, Emmie and Emily have been egging themselves on about how scary the bears are. Bobby, who is from outside Seattle, was not helping with his stories of how people get eaten by bears all the time in that area. Also, the campground host had come around earlier that evening to say that a young grizzly bear had been walking around our very campsite that morning (and was very tame). That night at about 2am, Emmie and Emily were both tossing around in their sleeping bags, wondering if the other was awake. When Emily was certain that Emmie was not asleep, she sat up in her sleeping bag and stated, "I am paralyzed with fear." Of the bears, of course. They grabbed the bear mace, ran to the outhouse, and came back safe and sound. I slept through the entire episode.