GART Day 6 - Fly Fishing and Horseback Riding

The Great American Road Trip - Day 6, Tuesday, July 7, 2009

'THE FISH WERE BITING, BUT SO WERE THE HORSES'

We set the kids up at fly fishing school with Gallatin River Guides. It was a one hour class on a stocked pond off of the Gallatin River.

Learning to cast on land.
Hard work pays off!

Casting on her own.

Whoa! That fish is as big as she is!!!

It took our little gal about an hour to land

this rainbow trout, she and the guide were

very patient to get her a great trophy pic!


MONTANA ON HORSEBACK

This is probably one of my favorite

pics from this vacation so far

I think he is charging the British.

The fishing went great, horseback riding not so much. The kids did great on the horses in the corral, but were a little intimidated by the up and down trail and feeling good control on the horses. Maybe next time.

Let's get outta here! That is one big bear!

Action shot of running from a statue.

GART Day 5 Big Sky, MT

The Great American Road Trip Day 5, Monday, July 6, 2009

We were thankful to be at one spot for the next week. The Resort at Big Sky, MT. The views are beautiful and the hotel is lots of fun.

Yes, that is a mound of snow in the background!

Princess Pink Running Bear

Chief Ima Handful

Big Smiles to be in Big Sky!

GART Day 4 - Billings, MT

The Great American Road Trip Day - Sunday, July 5, 2009

I don't know about you, but I'm tired! We stayed overnight in Billings, MT. We ate brunch at a great place, "Stella's, she's a nice Italian girl". I loved that!

Flowers at the hotel in Billings, MT

GART - Day 3 Sheridan, Wyoming (Post 5)

The Great American Road Trip Day 3 - Saturday, July 4, 2009
She meets her namesake.

My parents moved to Sheridan, Wyoming in 1986, I was able to go and stay there during breaks in College. It is the most beautiful little town you have ever seen. That is where we came up with the name for Sheridan - not she is not named after the hotel, (by the way that is Sheraton), and she is not named after some bizarre soap opera character. The town of Sheridan is in the Mountains and has a victorian flair.

The historic Sheridan Inn, where Buffalo Bill dined.

We were able to have dinner here.

I'm here, I finally made it to Sheridan!

(p.s. her brother was pouting in the car,

he doesn't have a city of his own!)

Sheridan meet Sheridan


On our way to the scenic town of Sheridan, Wyo.

GART Day 3 Gillette, Wyo (Post 4)

The Great American Road Trip Day 3 - Saturday, July 4, 2009
A trip down memory lane

We left Devil's Tower and drove around Gillette, Wyoming where I grew up enroute to our next stop. Here are some pics of where i used to hang out.

812 Apricot

My grandparent's home

Twin Spruce Junior High

George Amos Memorial Library

CCHS - Campbell County High School

Note the poor abused mascot Humphrey

423 Circle Drive, I lived there

for 9 years.

DEVIL'S TOWER

JULY 4, 2009

GART Day 3 - Devil's Tower (Post 3)

Great American Road Trip Day 3 - Saturday, July 4, 2009
National Monument: Devil's Tower, Wyoming
Jr. Ranger Badges earned: 4

We left Rapid City and traveled to Devil's Tower, Wyoming. I remember going there a lot as a kid and camping with my family. (sorry pics are in reverse order of what I intended, but we will go backwards!)

Double Junior Rangers - Mt. Rushmore and Devil's Tower

Sheridan being sworn in to receive her badge.

Brenner in his tri-corn colonist hat that he

wore for the day receiving his badge.

The 1 mile hike around the base of DT.

And here it is from a distance.

GART Day 3 Rapid City, SD (Post 2) - Saturday, July 4, 2009

The Great American Road Trip Day 3 Saturday, July 4, 2009
States Traveled: South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana

We stayed in Rapid City after our day at Mt. Rushmore. Downtown Rapid City has statues of each President, the kids had a lot of fun looking for their favorites

George Washington, Brenner's all time favorite!

Brenner with his Junior Ranger Badge from Mt. Rushmore. He has announced that after attending the Naval Academy he wants to live in South Dakota and work at Mt. Rushmore.

Sheridan with her lost tooth!

Who needs a picture of a statue of a

President when this cutie is around!

Tommy with his fave - Ronald Reagan. I think at night, he still dreams of the days of Reagonomics. Tommy feels about Reagan how Alex P. Keaton felt about Nixon.

GART Day 3 Black Hills National Cemetery Post 1

As we drove out from Rapid City, SD we came upon Black Hills National Cemetery. My Grandpa Charlie is buried there. We had an opportunity to stop and visit his grave. He was a wonderful man and my memories are so fond of him. I got to tell our children stories all about him; what he liked to do, how he met my grandmother, how he spoiled his grandchildren. It was very special.

My grandfather served in the Army Air Corps as a Sergeant from 1942 to 1945.

Our peeps. S - had Grandpa Charlie met you, he would have loved what a lovely young lady you are and what an amazing writer and spectacular reader you are. B - had Grandpa Charlie met you he would have adored your love of history and your imagination for living in any moment but the present! Tommy - you and Grandpa Charlie would have had so many talks about football and politics!

Thanks Daddy for taking this special picture!

GART Day 2

Great American Road Trip Day 2: Friday, July 3, 2009
States Traveled: Wyoming, South Dakota
National Monument: Mt. Rushmore

We left the Reynolds with their great conversation and wonderful food and drove through the Southeast part of Wyoming, we crossed into South Dakota and made it to Mt. Rushmore.

Clark, Ellen and the kids - next stop the world's second largest ball of twine!
To say he is excited is a complete understatement!

Super cuties!

Scott Nelson - this pic is for you!

We had an awesome seat for the fireworks...

however, the cloud cover made the show impossible to see.

GART Day 1

The Great American Road Trip Day 1: Thursday, July 2nd
States Traveled: Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming

We invaded the Turners late Wednesday evening and that gave us a head start on Thursday's travel. We traveled in four states on this day and arrived at the home of the Reynolds'. The kids had a blast playing with Shelby and Ross. Tommy and I enjoyed visiting with Cassie and Larry. And Cassie and I stayed up way too early in the morning dicussing everything from parenting to pedicures to politics! Thanks Reynolds - you are a super duper schmooper family! And guess what? Pictures....


That is one big baby bottle!


Shelby feeds her calf...

...Sheridan helps from afar.

Shelby, 7 and Sheridan, 8

Ross, 5 and Brenner, 6

Boys will be boys...

The Great American Road Trip Film Class

I failed to mention that prior to our GART (Great American Road Trip), our darling dad brought home an educational film to be viewed by the peeps prior to visiting South Dakota. The film was North by Northwest. Now, it is a classic, however, we are quite strict on media choices around the homestead and I thought he had lost his mind bringing home an Alfred Hitchcock flick. It was not bad, the kids got to catch a glimpse of Mt. Rushmore, they delighted in calling Tommy "Kaplan" (Carey Grant character in the movie) and we had to fast forward through only a few parts. Not that I would recommend it for everyone, but it was daddy's trip research!

The Great American Road Trip (Preparation)

Ellen Grizwald here catching up on the week's past event. We are once again taking a cross country summer trip. It all started with the purchase of a van several years ago and we have logged some major miles on this baby! In 2007 we drove to San Diego from Dalhart and stopped at the Grand Canyon. Last summer we drove to Palm Coast, Florida and got to stay with the Wright Brothers. This year we headed up the middle of the country to Big Sky, MT. I'm hoping to download some pictures while we are still on vacation. I'll check back in a day or two with a day by day run down of our trip. We have had a blast...uh wait, "Clark, you are driving 80 miles an hour!". (hahahaha) Ellen out.