On the Road - day 3 and 4, Gillette, WY - Casper, WY

After a good nights sleep in Gillette, WY, we decided to take our time and back track an hour to see Devil's Tower National Monument. We got there and the kids wanted to do the Junior Ranger program, where they get to take a booklet on the trails to find certain things and then turn it in when we are done and they get a badge and certificate. Of course once again as soon as we were about to walk the 1.3 mile trail around the base of the tower, Owen declared he had a bad headache again, so Tony ran back to the car to get some Children's Ibuprofen, but the first 1/4 of the hike, he whined about how horrible his head hurt. There were tons of rock climbers this day and that was really cool to see, but those people are a lot braver than me.

After our trek at Devils Tower, we ate another picnic lunch in Moorcroft and after two trains passed by right where we were, we discovered that Tess is afraid of trains. Afer our lunch, we drove almost three hours to end up in Casper, WY at my sister and her fiancee's house. The first thing we did was unload the truck so we could take it to a mechanic where they are as we speak replacing the rear brakes. We knew they were going to be replaced at some point, but after driving Needles highway and the Mountains in SD, we had no break pads left and they made a crunching noise as we would break.

But my sister made a great dinner of chicken and Elk kabobs and homemade french fries.

Today we rested up while Tony went to work with Todd (game warden) for a ride along. We took the kids to the playground, but basically just hung out. Tomorrow we will be getting up super early to head to Yellowstone!

Devil's Tower National Monument

 My Junior Rangers (Todd said he needs to make them Junior Game Wardens instead cause I found out Rangers and Game Wardens are sort of rivals. lol)

 My future rock climbers

 She wishes she was a future rock climber.

 He's pretending that he feels better

 The view from a point on the trail.

 Tess insisted on carrying the heavy water bottle that we took. This is why it took double the time it normally would have to walk this mile long trail.

 Owen was walking about as slow as Tess, so Tony carried him awhile.

 Good picture, despite the huge fat roll that you can see on my gut. The bench was not comfortable, but it works.

 My Junior Rangers!

 After a long day of hiking and eating, a nice snuggle (or wrestle) in bed with Aunt Kimmy and Uncle Todd.

 This morning Aunt Kimmy made us all French Toast with berries. Yum.

 The kids gobbled them up. And even after a fever of 102.3 last night for Owen, he has been fine all day.

I will post again on Sunday night with all my Yellowstone pictures. It will be nice and cool temps, which will be a relief and we will get to hang out with all of Tony's mom's family. Tonight is bath night and I need to finish up washing clothes, but all in all, we are ready for our Yellowstone adventure! See you all on the flip side!