Yellowstone National Park

We drove into Yellowstone National Park this afternoon. After several brief stops for scenery and elk, we went to West Yellowstone, Montana, for lodging because the park is full.

Grand Teton National Park

The Grand Teton National Park has magnificent views of mountains, old barns, and elk antler arches. We left the motel at 5:45am, when the temperature was 27F, and drove north of Jackson Hole, WY, to Schwabacher Landing where I photographed the Teton mountains at dawn. The old barns on "Mormon Row", north of Jackson Hole, are said to be the most photographed barns in the world. They are iconic images for the Jackson Hole area. There are about 2,000 elk antlers in each of the four arches on the town square in Jackson Hole.

Wyoming

We drove through Wyoming on our way from Denver to the Great Teton National Park. We were surprised because some of the terrain in Wyoming is similar to the Badlands in South Dakota.

Bison in Grand Teton National Park

We drove from Denver to Jackson Hole. The scenery is beautiful along hwy 287 in Wyoming. There was a bison traffic jam in the Grand Teton National Park.

Bison and Crazy Horse Memorial

We saw only a few bison in Custer State Park, South Dakota. A park employee said it was possibly because the bison were in the woods to escape the sun in the heat wave.

We viewed the Crazy Horse Memorial from the highway.

Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park, South Dakota

Today (Aug 28) we went to the Wall Drug Store for breakfast. We arrived early and saw the street almost empty. When we left, people were looking for parking spaces. The store is huge, and now includes new shops and a children's play area at the rear of the store. We then saw some highlights in the town of Deadwood, then saw Mount Rushmore and drove to Custer State Park, South Dakota. The temperature was in the mid 90s, instead of the 102F we experienced driving across South Dakota yesterday. The road (Iron Mountain Road) we took to Custer State Park was so scenic... wow! The road was narrow, with numerous tight switch-backs, and several log bridges and tunnels. Trucks and RVs can't use this road.

South Dakota Corn Palace and Badlands August 27