August 2005 Vacation

The second week of August 2005 I decided to take a vacation to the Western part of the United States. The first part of my trip took me through the Black Hills of South Dakota, and to Mount Rushmore. what an awesome site!




It also happened to be bike week at Sturgis SD... so as I have never been there before, I decided to take in the sights and sounds of "Hog heaven" for a few hours on the first Saturday of the event. You definenitly see a little bit of everything here.













After Sturgis I head North /West up highway 90 to Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. The town was having there annual art festival in the historic downtown and greens area. This is a beautiful lake side town nestled in the mountains of Idaho. I also did a day trip with a friend up to Sandpoint another neat little town just to the north. I spent two days here just relaxing and enjoying the beauty of the area.

I then traveled back through the forest fires of Montana and droped down into Wyoming and headed for West Yellowstone. I think this might of been one of my favorite nights of the trip, just hanging out in West Yellowstone. The next day I traveled all through Yellowstone National Park. Once again just and incredible example of God's great and interesting creation!

After traveling all day through Yellowstone I drove to Jackson Wy. This is definantly a cool "Old West" town. I enjoyed my time shoping and eating in Jackson. The next day I headed to the Jenny Lake ranger station in The Grand Teton's National Park, to get my backcountry camping permit. Once I had my permit I headed out on the Cascade Canonyon Trail. This is one beautiful and exhusting walk into the mountains of the Tetons! I enjoyed my time backpacking and camping in the back country ... I met several neat couples while I was out there. I also talked to a group of college students that work on the trail system all summer ... building better trials for us to use and help with keeping them from eroading. They were an interesting bunch of kids!
The scenery in the Teton National Park is beyond words Awesome!
I have tons of photos of this incredible area ... but you will have to wait to see these on my photography site sometime in the near future. however to satisfy some of the curiousity I will give you at least one or two to wet your appetite!



After hiking out of the Tetons on a Friday evening I loaded everything back up in my Durango and headed back on the road driving as far as Laramie Wy that Friday night and the next day spending some time in Cheyenne Wy. and then making my way across the wasteland that is Nebraska and on into Iowa and home sweet home. This was a solo vacation by purpose. One just to be able to get away and experience another part of our great country! It has been several years since I have visited this area. but also two, to be able to take my time and get some good photographs to be able to add to the collection in the art gallery. www.walnutstreetgallery.com
but also three, to spend some quality time with my Lord and Saviour in His incredible creation!
Mission accoplished!