The Wiggen's Travels
Our travels around the world.

We awoke in Yellowstone for our last day in the park.  Deciding to see more of the park we headed out.  Of course we got stuck in a 1 hour bison traffic jam where we did NOT move at all for 20 min and then only moved slightly.  It was great to just sit and watch them walk by, roll around, and even fight (we saw one get pretty bloody).

We saw some waterfalls (wonderful) and some more thermal activity.  On the way out we saw a large elk with big antlers.

We then headed to Montana.  Following the river (and a lot of rafting fun) we headed toward Glacier National Park.  Susan took a turn driving and at one point we had to literally pull over because of hail.  When it rains here, it POURS.

We arrived at the best campsite so far.  We are in Polson MT where there is the largest fresh water lake west of the Mississippi

.  Tomorrow off to the park.

We played Hearts in the evening after dinner.  Somehow my sister Meghan still managed to have more points than us…..

Today we toured Yellowstone.   We started with a loop around Grand Loop and saw many geysers and thermal pools.  Of course we made it over to Old Faithful for a noon eruption.  One of those things that I am glad I saw in my lifetime.

Later in the afternoon we took a tour of the eastern part of the park looking for animals.  We saw a wolf (Susan spotted it first), some more bison, elk, and a bear (susan yelling O MY GOD ITS A BEAR).  It was a great 5 hour tour of the park where we learned lots of fun facts that I can’t remember.

A great time in the National Park…..

After a mosquito evening and morning (they were terrible) we headed out to the Grand Tetons.  We had a great day in the National Park to the South.

We drove quickly to the town of Jackson (its not Jackson Hole like I thought, that is the whole region, Jackson is the ski town), and had a good thai lunch in the rain.  From there we followed the mountain range north and enjoyed the number of lakes in the park.  I would like to return here for some hiking.

At the end of the day we all collapsed after dinner having spent a great day in nature….

With dad arriving a day later than expected, we found ourselves with a morning in Cody. The morning we prepared for our trip (groceries etc) and stu and I went to the local lake for a swim.

During the wait Susan and I got to go on the trolley tour of Cody. You give them 1 hour they give you 100 years of history. Cody is named after Buffolo Bill Cody. We learned all about him, his town, and where he was buried

(Denver not Cody). All in all a great learning experience.

We then picked up dad and headed toward the east entrance of yellowstone. On the way we visited Cody dam and took a tour of the dam that was 25 years before hover and the precursor for a number of future dams.

The drive to yellowstone was great and quite pretty. We found our rv site and checked in.

We then headed out to find animals. Susan almost jumped out of the roof when we saw our first bison. It was next to the road walking and we were 10 feet away. From there we continued on to have bison pretty much everywhere. We even had them walking the streets.

We returned home for a good stir fry in the rv. Everyone tired but jazzed from the day.

After our long day of adventures yesterday, today seems pretty tame.  We drove a lot to get across the mountains into Cody.

Devils Tower (notice no ‘) is the first US National Monument.  Its pretty impressive and would be really cool if we were climbers.

From there we drove on 90 to route 16 (which allows you to get to Yellowstone).  I highly suggest this route as its a wonderful path over a mountain range.

We ended in Cody where we met my mother.  She was here for the last week visiting her college roommate.  She had not seen her for 40 years and this trip allowed them to meet up.  Dad unfortunately had plane troubles and was stuck in Salt Lake City last night.  We had dinner at a Buffalo Bill bar (he actually owned) and had an early evening.

This map is for Fred.  So far we have driven 5,511 miles.

A long day indeed.

Today we saw as much of South Dakota as we could (and we will see a little more tomorrow).  We started with an early morning walk around Falls Park in Sioux Falls.  I suggest everyone who is ever close come to the falls.  Bring a picnic as well.  Its a great field of grass with a river flowing through it.  80 ft of falls also 🙂

From there we drove on 90 to the town of Mitchel.  Here is the Corn Palace.  They have been making the Corn Palace since the late 1800’s and every  year they make new artwork and decorate the building with corn.  Every year is different and today they were building this years model.  They had cool pictures inside of every Palace ever made.  Yes mostly a tourist trap, but we enjoyed the history of it.

From there we went to the Badlands National Park.  We took a long drive through the park and extended our trip into gravel road in search of Bison.  Not only is the park beautiful with great rock formations, we found the heard of bison.  In fact they were on the road we wanted to drive on.  We actually had to turn around.  While we sat watching the bison, our crazy puppy had to be restrained from attacking the prairie dogs (of which there where millions running around).

We finished our day at Mount Rushmore.  At 9PM there is a “show” with a movie and a speech.  Followed by the lights being turned on the mountain.  We sang the national anthem and pledged allegiance to the flag.  Overall a very USA USA type of a evening.

We now go to bed.  A great day, but a long one….

Today we decided to take a travel day.  After not driving for a few days we were missing it and traveled from Fox Lake through Wisconsin, Minnesota and arrived in South Dakota.  While I am sure there are great places north of route 90 in both WI and MN we decided to not spend a lot of time there and move farther West.

We did however get to pass the Mighty Mississippi one last time as we moved into MN, and then stopped in Blue Earth MN where route 90 east met route 90 west and Boston was connected to Seattle.  Here a large Ho Ho Ho Green Giant stands to mark the point (with no huge connection to the General Mills company).  If you look a little closer to the picture of the Giant, you can see me standing between his legs.  Its a big giant.

Today Susan invited her friends over to her parents house.  We had beer, wine, pizza, and lots of kids.  The weather in the midwest has been unseasonably cool (I had a long sleeve shirt on in the morning), but luckily the weather finally got warm enough to go for boat rides and actually get in the water.

Greg and Melissa Karczewski’s Wedding

Today was one of our “hub dates” that we planned a lot of this trip around.  Wedding in Chicago.  My old good friend Greg from gradeschool (1st grade on) was getting married.

Susan went to Jacob’s baseball game in the morning while I took the train downtown to the wedding.  It was a beautiful day in Chicago and the weather was perfect (and not that hot).  I ended up walking 2 miles from the train station to the church and really enjoyed the feel of walking around Chicago.

I met up with the Van Huysse’s and Vitale’s at the wedding.  Later Susan met us for the reception.  It was a beautiful wedding and we really enjoyed hanging out together, drinking and some dancing.  A heartfelt congratulations to Greg and Melissa.