SHAME

Bill decided to shave before we reached the true west coast.  Though we are in San Francisco, we have not set suit in the water.


Shame on you and your shameful smile, Bill.

June 26 - Reno

After a long night of driving, Matt and Bill decided to post up for their first night sleeping in the front seat of the Honda Accord.  At about 7:00 AM, we woke up to continue the trip through the desolate Nevada surroundings.  The drive showed us how truly different Nevada was from New Jersey and Virginia.  Towns were few and far between, and services like gas and food only appeared every 50-100 miles in many places.

With our final time change and some easy driving, we made haste and ended up in Reno by the early afternoon.  Our last minute booking of the Sands Hotel and Casino gave us a pretty ideal hotel rate, and landed us at Mel's Diner for lunch (a part of the 'resort').

Reno is definitely not on the nicer end of the cities that we stayed in, but we had some fun and interesting experiences in the city.  We wandered around, went in some thrift stores, threw about $10 each into some slot machines, and saw a mediocre comedy show at the Silver Legacy Casino.  With some teamwork, we ended the night by turning $10 of Bill's into $55 at the Roulette table. By morning, we plan to suit up and hit the road to San Francisco (with a potential stop at Lake Tahoe).

You can see additional pictures in the web album.

June 24-25 - Yellowstone National Park

We arrived in Yellowstone on a cool afternoon and made our way to our camp site before taking on an evening hike overlooking Yellowstone Lake.

In our effort to get close to nature, Matt took one step too close to a 2000 pound grazing buffalo. This picture was taken a moment before it charged briefly in his direction.

It was only after that, though, that we started noticing signs EVERYWHERE about park visitors being gored by buffalo on a regular basis.  With these things in mind, Matt then decided that it was his mission to fight a buffalo.

We starting the next day early and made it to Canyon Village's Lower Falls in time to see a rainbow in the mist.

We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon hiking the canyon before heading over to Old Faithful in time to see it erupt.

The Badlands and Yellowstone were truly two of the most beautiful places that Bill and I have ever seen.  The pictures say it all, but there were truly some breathtaking views in each of these places.  These were an incredible few days, and we were about to witness the insulting juxtaposition with our next destination: Reno.


For more pictures from our trip to Yellowstone, please click here.

June 24 - Big Horn and Lots of Driving

Continuing west from Mount Rushmore, we stopped to camp in Big Horn National Forest. We set up next to a beautiful lake that was tucked between the mountains.

We woke up early to continue the drive to Yellowstone and stopped and Dirty Annie's dinner along the way.

The views along the drive were amazing.

Check out the other pictures from this part of the trip.

June 23 - Badlands and Mount Rushmore

We watched ominous bolts of lightning streak across the dark night sky as we concluded our drive to South Dakota's Badlands National Park. It was truly one of the most amazing things that either of has had ever seen given the scenery and the flat landscape.  After arriving at about 1:00 AM, we immediately set up camp so we could set out exploring early the next morning. 

We hiked across the arid landscape and climbed some stunning rock features. 

Though we dressed like peasants by day, we eventually got our acts together and suited up for a climb or two.

That afternoon we set out for Mount Rushmore, where we saw the granite image of Thomas Jefferson and three other guys.

But really, those gentlemen are insignificant when you put two gorgeous stallions like us in front of them.

To see the remainder of our pictures from the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore, please click here.