Oh Happy Days

I bet Eric could make this picture sound cool with some theme music. But alas...Meg's work had this ceremony in honor of Marion Ross (Happy Days mom) and she invited me to come. Here we are meeting her at the end. She was so so so so nice. Happy Days are yours and mine, happy days!

Salem Sue

For years I have passed her and have seen her from a far without going up to her. Finally, I have taken the time to spend some time with Salem Sue. Here is a tribute to Salem Sue.

Cool!!

Hey, Isabelle can have this horse...if she can catch one.

Wind Canyon Overlook

Hey, the next time you go to the Badlands you need to go to Wind Canyon Trail and take this same photo at sunset. We missed it by an hour. We got hungury and thought we could make it back in time.

It was a beautiful overlook of the Little Missouri River.

More Petrified Forest

This was a tree that had fallen over and looked like a fallen tree. However, I failed to get a photo from the top. I'll remember for next time.

Petrified Forest

Well, here is some of the sites we saw at the forest. This stump is about 8 ft high. Some say it is the remains of a Sequoia tree. It was really neat back in the forest.

Badlands!!

Susan and I have to say that the Badlands was high on our most beautiful place we have seen. I had forgotten how beautiful they were. The first day we walk into the Petrified Forest on the western edge of the park. It's an easy 1.5 miles in but we decided to walk the 10.7 mile loop. MISTAKE! We were hurting. The back 5 miles in on top of a butte with nothing but grass to walk through. But for the GPS I had we lost all track of distance. Being 94 and 24 mph winds didn't help either.

We did make it back and got ready for the next day.

Uneventful Day

Today was uneventful but we relaxed and it was needed after yesterday. We went upto Big Sky were we honeymooned more than 16 years ago. The last time we were there it was quant and beautiful in its own beauty. Current day it is overly commericallized and over developed. It had changed so much I did not want to stay and we drove right back to West Yellowstone. Tommorrow is our last day in Yellowstone and we have not made up our mind where to go next. This will be a mystery for you all. HEHEHEHEHEHE.

Pink City Girl Turned Country

Isabelle loved horseback riding and wants a horse now..... Mom says nope! She was a natural and handled her horse the easiest. Great Job Izzy.

Amazing !!!!!!!!

Today was a good day for the Nilles'. We went whitewater rafting and horseback riding. The day started out great with a 2 hour horseback ride and then a 8 mile raft ride. We are exhausted and just drove back to West Yellowstone. Isabelle is a natural cowgirl and Christian is definitely a thrill rider.

Yes Linda we are all alive :)

Old Faithful not so much faithful

Another day on the happy trail. If you all are watching the daily news from the Nilles Vacation. We are on day 5 or 6 depending on if you count the first day which we started late that day.... anyway. Today was a lot of sun and a lot of wild life and geyser and hot springs. We went into Yellowstone National Park and traveled along until Old Faithful. For those who don't care skip ahead to the corrections. But, for those who are interested we went to many geysers and hot springs and after awhile they all started to look the same. Then, final the last one was Old Faithful .... well it was not faithful today. We waited 45 minutes after it was to go off that it finally did just like the many times prior. The kids did very well in the hot...hot...hot sun, Isabelle said "It looked like it was touching the clouds". Prior to the geyser going off Christian said "It was worse than watching paint dry but then said "WOW". Tomorrow we are going North to Gardiner, MT, to a place called The Flying Pig. No this is not an animal but a company that we will be whitewater rafting and horseback riding. This should be fun. More journaling later. Thanks for reading. Wish you all were here.

P.S. Correction to yesterday's posting. After a long day of discussion and a review of the internet we think that the moose are elk. We say an amazing amount of elk today.

Yellowstone we have arrived

Hi everyone-

The trip is going well we have ventured to Yellowstone National Park and will be here for the next five days. The change of scenery was nice and we like this KOA the best. Internet at our campsite is the best and all the space is a treat. Tomorrow we are off to Old Faithful. Oh, and I did not like the drive today there was a lot of close to cliff action. Linda you would have cried and screamed the whole way.

I have two picture for your viewing pleasure. Moose (unsure of plural) resting in an open field and we have finally seen the most expensive gas prices yet $4.39 in Yellowstone. That one hurts.....

We went on a long drive around the Grand Teton National Park yesterday and Christian took this picture. We went on an all day hike today and had a great time. We went up the mountain about 8000 feet. For us North Dakotan's that is a lot and all went well.... no injuries except tired feet. Tomorrow on to Yellowstone. Having a great time and weather is awesome. Thanks for all the comments and directions. Without Jamie's help we were in trouble. Of coarse we don't ask for directions :)

View from our campsite at Snake River, WY

Me again. We have a great site at Snake River. This is the view from our site and you can here the water running from this creek down to the Snake River. We are heading out to see the sights of Jackson and tomorrow hiking in the Tetons. Miss everyone and we keep saying that Mom and Dad would love this. Next time you will need to go....

Beautiful weather. Sunny, blue skies and about 80 today. Lows are around 45 to 50 which is nice for sleeping.

16th Anniversary

Yesterday was our 16th Wedding Anniversary. We enjoyed a very long but beautiful drive to Jackson, WY. We went thorough the Rocky Mountains. All I have to say is Brett did a fab job on driving the whole way, 11 + hours with a trail through a crazy amount of mountains. Christian took this picture at one of the turnouts. Good Jog CK.

Kids at Devils Tower

Picture of the kids at Devils Tower.

Devils Tower and us

Hi everyone- We have arrived at Devils Tower today. It was an early morning, 5am. Arrived here around noon. Here are some pics of the day. On to the Grand Teton Mountains tomorrow. Post again later.

We're on our way

Well we are all hooked up and ready to got to Yellowstone and the Tetons. First stop is in Dickinson and than o Devils Tower. Will update as time permits.

Welcome to the West

Eric and Susan here is a snapshot of what you will see next week.

I made it!

So I'm in Montrose finally. What a fishy journey! The weather here is so beautiful though and the mountains are awesome. I wish I was with you guys in MN though - I'm missing out. Don't have too many beer keggers at my house! My neighbors will wonder what's going on over there! Just kidding. Have a great holiday everyone!

PS - Brent and is doing well in Belarus - he comes home this weekend. Everything has gone really well so far though I think he's ready to be back stateside.

Not in CO yet

So you're never going to believe this. But my flight today to Denver was canceled by United. Apparently some fish on the plane accidentally thawed and the fish juice leaked all over the plane. The smell was so bad they deemed the plane inoperable. of course this was determined about 2 hours past boarding time. But I'll get a direct flight to Montrose in the morning - not so bad.

Ugh! I hate flying.

Happy 4th

Hey peeps -
I'm off to Denver tomorrow to see Christine and Brent is still in Minsk. We're bummed to miss everyone this weekend but have a good holiday. I hope Star Wars is fun!!!

Jamie