While at the Grand Canyon...a dead body was rescued from an overlook we were at
While in the Tetons.....sixteen hikers were struck by lightning and had to be rescued off the mountain...one hiker died, one was never found
The night after we left Yellowstone.....a grizzly bear attacks three people in the middle of the night, killing one
YIKES!!! Happy to be coming home safe and sound.
I can't believe I forgot to ever post this picture to the blog!
Woke up this morning and hit the road again. We made it to Indianapolis by lunchtime, and stopped to meet up with my cousin Corinne who goes to school out there. We just stopped for dinner near the Ohio/ West Virginia border. Gps says we'll be at Joel's parent's house at 2:30 am. The plan is to spend tomorrow down there, and finish up with the last two hours of driving home on Monday. I am so ready to get back to "normal" life, but I feel different than before I left. I have seen a glimpse of how unique and beautiful our country is, and how different the daily lives are of those who do not live on the east coast. This was one of the most action-packed months of my life, and I am tired. I feel like I need a vacation after my vacation- thank God school doesn't start until September! We have learned some things too this month, such as:
~When planning on blogging about a cross country trip, bring a laptop. I can't wait to not have to type on this cell phone keypad anymore!
~"America runs on Dunkin" is a farce. I'm sure there were some around, but I haven't seen ONE since the day we left! I am in need of a Coolada!
~The majority of the people found in and around the National Parks in summer are not actually from this nation. I am glad to see people from other countries coming to spend money in our's, but I hope a lot of Americans have the time/make the trip out to see just how cool the country is.
~Pennsylvania is not actually that big of a state....at least not compared to those you run through west of the Mississippi. It felt like Kansas stretched on for an eternity.
and finally....
~Not all air mattresses are created equal. Don't skimp and buy the Walmart brand when planning on sleeping on the ground for a month...your back will thank you.
Joel and I would like to thank everyone who took the time to read this blog this summer. Thank you for your comments and texts. We hope you have enjoyed our stories and can't wait to see all of you in person soon!
Well, we did not make it to the campground before dark, but it wasn't a big deal because we are now such experienced "tent setter-uppers" that we can do it in the dark! We stayed at a KOA in Interior, SD, which was right outside of the Badlands and pretty much in the middle of NOWHERE! When we pulled up to our site, we could hear a staticky noise through the car. The noise was being created by millions of cicadas. Outside, the noise was deafening. I actually did okay with it and was able to tune it out, but it drove Joel CRAZY...it sounded kind of like a really loud, non-stop, static hiss. We woke up about 4am to a crazy tstorm crashing around us. I have never seen such frequent lightning strikes in a storm, and I'm sure it was pretty, but I didn't really have the best viewing spot. Our campground boasted having "the only shade trees on the prairie," which was true. It was hard to forget the fact that we were laying under the only tall trees in miles as the lightening crashed down. We ended up sitting in the car for about an hour, before heading back to the tent as the storm moved on. We visited the Badlands National Park, which was really cool to see. It is an area where these mountains and crazy striated rock formations rise up out of the prairie floor. It looked like we were visiting another planet! We also went to see "Wall Drug," upon recommendation from the Yaden's and the thousands of highway signs advertizing it along route 90. Basically it is a gigantic drug store that takes up an entire block of a town and sells every single souvenir imaginable, plus books, clothes, homemade donuts, fudge, and ice cream, and pharmacy items. It has room upon room of stuff, it's walls are covered in a collage of old pictures and mounted animals, and is basically a giant tourist trap. The picture of me riding the jackalope is from there! It's just one of those places that you can't drive past without stopping at. After Wall Drug, we headed back to the campsite to swim. The sky was a crazy purplish color, and it DID NOT look very happy. We heard from other campers that there was a serious storm on the way and that we had a tornado watch until later that night. I was kind of excited because I thought I might actually get to see a tornado on the prairie, but also kind of nervous when the owner of the KOA told another camper about how they have a basement to go in for safety. Well, it all ended up being for nothing because the storm never came! On a different note, I got some text messages yesterday about a tragic event that happened in Yellowstone a few days ago. Apparently a grizzly bear rampaged through a busy campground in the middle of the night, attacking two people and killing a third. The attack was unprovoked and all of the campers had their food stored properly. It was just a bear that went mad...so sad and scary for those poor campers! I am glad we got out of there when we did because I probably would have been a little scared to sleep after hearing about this! As we packed up our site this morning, I couldn't help but smile, knowing that we are done camping!!! I really enjoyed it, but enough is enough! The sadness I had the other day for the trip's end has been replaced with an excitement to get home. I miss Winslow!! We have one last stop planned, visiting my cousin Corinne in Indy, and we plan on rolling in to Joel's parents early in the morning of the 1st. Probably only one more post after this one...
