This trip was a little different. Sarah had to work, so only 4 of us went. I calculated that it would slightly cheaper to rent a car that got close to 30 mpg, than to drive our van at 17 mpg. It also would be more dependable. We drove the van 5 hours to Nashville on a Friday evening and spent the night. The following morning we went to the airport and rented a Buick LeSabre. The Nashville airport had the best deal on rental cars in the Southeast. We then drove all day Saturday to Council Bluffs, Iowa.

 

The next day we started by visiting the Lewis & Clark National Monument and museum in the NE corner of South Dakota.

(missing pictures)

That afternoon we drove across South Dakota, saw 1880 Town

(missing pictures)

and stayed at the entrance of Badlands National Park. It's a weird sight:

The NPS allows you to walk through some of the formations. Below, Lee & I  pose in a passage.

This sight we found on our own. We stopped at an overpass in Badlands to explore a creek below. We discovered a massive number of bird nests made of mud underneath the overhang of the bridge. You can see a few birds in flight. On the lower ledge you can see mounds of their droppings.

Here we found 2 moose grazing.

 

Here I am setting up for a water level photograph of my own.

This is Devil's Tower National Monument in NE Wyoming.

A raging creek in the Canadian Rockies.

Here we have some snow covered peaks in Canada's Banff National Park.

Here is one of the most photographed sights in the world, Moraine Lake in Banff.

At one end of Moraine Lake there is this natural log jam that Lee ventured out on.

Here are some shots along a beautiful canyon trail.

Here are some scenery shots from Canada's Jasper N.P., just north of Banff.

Here is a glacier that you can walk on. You have to stay within the cones so you don't fall into a hidden crevasse. At the base of the glacier are markers that show how far the glacier has melted since 1885. They show that some of the worst melting occurred in the 30's and 40's.