Animals in the Grand Tetons

On the hike around the lake we saw a cinnamon black bear and its two cubs! One of them climbed the tree with ease.

A woodpecker and a marmot 

A mother moose

And its adorable baby

The Grand Tetons

After our time in Cody and Yellowstone we headed toward the Grand Tetons.

The snow capped mountains were breathtaking.

While we were there we visited a Mormon settlement which had supposedly the most photographed barn in the U.S. We understood why, with those Tetons in the background!

We also hiked around Jenny Lake

To Hidden Falls and the Lower Inspiration Point. The weather was rainy off and on but we still had a great time hiking. One time during a ten minute hail storm we sheltered under a trail sign with a roof!

Animals in Yellowstone

We saw so many animals in the past few days!

When we strolled along a sandbar at Yellowstone Lake we found a log covered with ladybugs!

Pelicans

Adorable mama and baby elk

Our first black bear sighting of the trip!

A bull elk

Yellowstone

On Tuesday we toured Yellowstone! After seeing snow at various places, we finally got out to touch it on our way to the park, and take a family selfie. :)

We witnessed Old Faithful erupt and saw many various other hot springs, including one called Dragon's mouth, pictured below on the right.

A highlight was seeing the lower falls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and hiking to the brink of them and looking over the edge at the spectacular view.

We also enjoyed seeing the bright colors at the Grand Prismatic Spring.

Cody, Wyoming

From Sunday night to Tuesday morning we stayed at a campsite near Cody, Wyoming, which is about an hour from Yellowstone. This is the campsite where our tent survived rain and 50mph winds while we were gone one day. Thankfully we only lost one tent peg and had one tent pole broken which dad was able to fix. The adventures of tent camping never end. :)

Washing dishes in our campsite, with the Rocky Mountains in the background.

We spent Monday in Cody at the old trail town and the rodeo.

We enjoyed the rodeo, especially the team roping and barrel racing. At the end of the barrel racing a little girl whose whole family was in the rodeo did the barrel racing too! 

Calf roping!

Mt. Rushmore and Devil's Tower

Sunday morning we left the Badlands and headed to Mt. Rushmore.

After Rushmore we entered Wyoming and went to Devil's Tower. We enjoyed hiking around the base of it.

And we even spotted a snake!

The Badlands Part 2

We enjoyed seeing many animals in the Badlands and even in our campsite!

In the morning when we were packing up our tent a bison decided it wanted to walk through our campsite. The bison lowered its head, pawed the ground, and lunged forward, and Seth and dad jumped out of the way fast! 

The Badlands Part 1

We arrived in the Badlands in South Dakota after driving 24 hours, including straight through the night!

These are some pictures of us in the Badlands, where we enjoyed hiking and camping.

Our campsite at Sage Creek with our blue tent.

The hills around our campsite at sunset!

From PA to SD

Somehow we managed to fit everything in the van, thanks to Seth and dad's expert packing skills.

We left Friday afternoon at 2. The van went 80 mph even with all the luggage....

However, apparently the plastic parts of the van are not able to handle 80 mph winds. This piece blew off. 

We drove all through the night Friday into Saturday, till we reached South Dakota!