Lewis and ClarkTrail

In Council Bluff, Iowa we went to see a Lewis and Clark center. It was small and covered three other things from the area.  We saw things from the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, and the California Trails. 

We drove up to see the monument to the Lewis and Clark adventure.  You can see the Missouri River from up here.

The Monument

In Sioux Falls, Iowa later last week, we saw a lot more L&C stuff.  Here is Sgt. Floyd. He was the only person to die on the whole two and a half year journey.

This river boat was named for Floyd.  It was used on rivers until around the 60's by the Army Corp of Engineers.

This is suppose to be Floyd.

In Cali 4th graders study Missions, while in Iowa they study river boats.  This one is built of (you guessed it) Legos

After learning about Floyd, we walked over to the L&C center. The big dog was also part of the  company.

This is about Floyd's burial. The museum is really well done.

The townfolks put up the monument to honor the 21 year old sgt. He was buried up on this bluff in view of the Missouri.

We've seen this fifteen stars and stripes flag all over the L&C areas.  This one is at the gravesite of Floyd.

We're in Mitchell, SD tonight.  We went to see a prehistory site this afternoon and will send photos next time.  We go to see the Corn  Palace in the morning.  Maybe I'll send them tomorrow.  That's all for now.

Love Mom and Dad

animals of the Rocky Mountains

Dad said I forgot to show you pictures of the animals we saw.  Well here they are.  We saw moose twice, but this is the best one.  The ram ignored us and kept on eating.  We saw marmots, and pikas, but they were too fast to get photos of.  The Rockys are full of animals.  We saw a huge herd of elk and a few mule deer. All the elk and deer were too far away to get pictures.

Rocky Mountain National Park

We're in the Rocky Mountains with my siblings.  Mendy and Mike came up to visit for the weekend.  We had a blast.

The scenery is astounding.

On another day we drove up on the 9 miles long dirt road.  Poor Beverly, she is afraid of sheer cliffs.

Water falls and streams are everywhere.

We walked one half mile to see some of the beginning of the Colorado River.  And a half mile back to the car.  The altitude is a killer.  I panted a lot.

A volunteer ranger too our picture beside the river.

This is Horseshoe Valley.  The river that runs through here is crooked and looks like horseshoe.

Our last run up the mountain took us to Bear Lake.  We walked around it.  It was only a half mile to walk around it.We were lucky and found a parking space. There was a ton of people up there.

Guess Who?

Bear Lake  It's at over 9000 feet.  There is no fishing from here because they are trying to get green cutthroat trout back in the system.

We spent 12 days together and nobody thought to take a group picture.  We were just having fun being together.  Bev left 2 days before the rest of us did.  Everybody but us were going home.  We are in Kearny, NE.  I think that's all for this time.  More later.

Love Mom and Dad 

The end of our tour with friends

We drove up to Mt. Hood. It was beautiful and look at all the snow in July.

People were still snowboarding and skiing.

After a few days of travel, we went to Utah and drove out to the 

Golden Spike site.  The rails were being repaired so the trains weren't running.  But we learned a lot more this time.  Almost as good. 

This is where the golden spike was driven.

This is about all for the next 12 days.  I don't think we'll have a good signal in Estes Park, so I'll fill you in after the 22.  I'm not even sure who all is going to be there.

Love, Mom and Dad