I love THIS cabin!!!

It was a REALLY long day of driving.....

The boys did great. In fact, when I told Adam it was ok for them to watch Star Wars in the car, he told me it was a "Dream Come True!!" We started out this morning at the KOA near Mt. Rushmore. We wanted to make sure we made it back to Yellowstone in the daylight, so we got up early and hit the road by 6am. We made it to the historic North Entrance around 3:30pm and then traveled through part of the park (and saw an elk or two) to make it to our new home for the next three nights. Now THIS cabin (actually it's a log home) is very nice. The boys have the upstairs bedroom with their own bathroom and bunkbeds. Downstairs is a livingroom, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. It's brand new and really cute and we enjoyed a dinner at home with the boys roasting smores on the BBQ after dinner. Even with all that driving, it was another good day. Tomorrow we're headed back into Yellowstone park. Old Faithful here we come!!

Mt Rushmore and the Wind Cave

This morning we slept in. I think 8am is an absolute record for this family!!! Then we headed over to the big tent for the pancake breakfast cook out - complete with buffalo sausage. Then it was back to Mt. Rushmore. We were hoping to walk the Presidential Loop but half of it was closed because they are loading up all the fireworks for the 4th of July celebration later this week. You can see the guys on top working if you look really close in the picture.... Oh well, we toured around the memorial a bit more and took the audio tour and got some more great photos.

Then is was off to the Wind Cave. None of us quite knew what to expect, but we thought the boys would get a kick out of it and they did for the most part. Adam was scared for the first half but once he relaxed he did enjoy it quite a bit and Kevin loved it. Erik enjoyed it until his potty emergency over took his attention.

After that we went into Hill City for dinner. Turns out that this little western town is a big motorcycle and Harley Davidson town so the boys kept jumping everytime another bike started up. Then it was back to the camp resort for mini golf, water park, horse shoes and ice cream.

We had another fun and full day. Tomorrow we're headed to the west side of Yellowstone. It will be a long driving day so I'm not sure if we'll have much to write about. we'll see how it goes.....

What no post from Mt Rushmore???

Well, it was a really long day and a VERY late night as we made it to Mt Rushmore for the evening program and to see the presidents all lit up. It was definitely worth it, but it was too late to post anything when we got back to the cabin....i mean hotel.

We started out yesterday morning in Sheridan WY. I really like that state. It's so beautiful - and - we found a Starbucks that morning so what could be better. From there we drove to devil's tower. Apparently aliens store their UFO's there in a famous movie. We didn't see any UFO's. We just had the challenge of keeping our monkey boys off all the rocks. I think we have future rock climbers on our hands.

Then it was back in the car for the rest of the drive to Mt. Rushmore. We rented a "cabin" at a KOA campsite, which was a bit more rustic that I was ready for, so we moved into the "lodge" which is fine. After we got all our stuff unloaded, we jumped back into the car and headed to Mt. Rushmore for a wonderful evening. Sunday was another great day!!

P.S. Doesn't our new camera rock!?!?!

Yellowstone and WYOMING

This morning we started off at the Yellowstone Mud Pots. It was chilly but not raining so we bundled up in sweatshirts and headed out. We all joked about how the bubbling mud looked similar to chocolate milk but nobody wanted to drink it for sure. Then we went to Artists Point and the Upper & Lower Falls in the Canyon area of Yellowstone. I’m probably going to be saying (typing) this a lot but it truly was beautiful and words just can’t really do it justice. Then we checked out Tower Fall on our way to the North East Entrance from the park.

Oh and I almost forgot….the Buffalo!!! Lots and Lots and Lots of Buffalo!!!

I told the boys to wait until we left Yellowstone before they started watching movies or playing game boy. But the drive across Montana and back into Wyoming was breathtaking!!! Each time we left one beautiful valley, we would come around the bend to breathtaking scenery that just kept going and going and going. It was in the Shoshone National Forest on Chef Somebody’s Scenic Highway and when they say scenic, they’re NOT kidding!!! Again, the photos just can’t do it justice.

What no blog on Friday? …..no internet!!!

I didn’t realize that hotel still existed that didn’t have internet, but apparently they do. We spent last night in at the Yellowstone Lake Hotel and it was like traveling back in time. In some ways, that was good. We read about the history of the hotel and talked about all the travelers over the years that had stayed there. And we had a wonderful meal topped off with a Yellowstone sundae which consists of huckleberry ice cream and pound cake. But the hotel itself is really in need of a major face lift to say that least. Even still we had a good night.

Yesterday (Friday) we woke up to rain. Bummer….. But we continued on with our plans to drive through the Tetons on our way to Yellowstone. Unfortunately the drive wasn’t quite as breath taking as it usually is as the mountains were behind a thick bank of clouds. We stopped at the Grand Teton Lodge to look around and stretch our legs for a bit. Adam cracked us up when he walked by the bank of phone booths and asked, “What are these for?”. We did a little shopping and managed to hang out long enough for the majority of the clouds to clear so we could actually see the mountains and get a good look at the awesome view.
From there we took our time driving into Yellowstone. We stopped at the West Thumb geysers and the boys had a blast walking from geyser to geyser checking it all out. Then we made it to the Yellowstone Lake hotel in time to check in and enjoy a great dinner.

Kellar Family Roadtrip

We're off....

Yesterday we drove to SunRiver in the afternoon. We made it there in time for a nice bbq dinner and then a walk around the neighborhood. The boys also managed a quick dip in the hot tub.

This morning we headed out at 7:45am (we were shooting for 7am but what the heck it's vacation....) and made it all the way to Idaho Falls. It's a very pretty drive right around the Oregon / Idaho border and we even passed into Mt. time zone. we didn't think any part of Oregon was in the mt. time zone, but now we know!! Here are a few pictures of our travels. We drove through the onion capital of the west and saw lots and lots and lots of farm land. we had lunch in Boise and stopped at the Sierra Trading Post outlet store to stretch our legs for a while.

We made it to Idaho Falls around 7:30pm so it was a LONG DAY of driving. However the boys did great. they watched about 3 or 4 movies and we listed to a book on cd about a little boy who worked with is grandma to overcome the ghost that was living in his basement. very cute. we just got back from the hotel pool where they wer able to blow off a little steam. now we're headed for bed. Tomorrow we hit the Tetons and then on to YellowStone Hotel tomorrow night. should be a great day with lots of good pictures!!!!