Monday, July 2, 2001
Writing this one day late again, oops! Well yesterday started out real nice, so nice that I decided to do the full 6-mile hike that I had only done the first part of (TWICE! ~sigh~) yesterday. It was a really nice hike through the badlands desert. BUT there were no clouds blocking the sun so it got brutally hot, big surprise there since I was in a desert! lol. Only stupid thing was I should have brought more water with me on the hike, o well, mild heat exhaustion. It turned out the ENTIRE day would be brutally hot like this, without even cooling down much at night. I couldn't escape it!
After the hike though I took a scenic drive through the park and did a hike through an area where fossils were preserved for the public to see. It was an interesting hike but it was SO SHORT unfortunately, so it didnt take long to do. So on i went driving through the park. Some of the coloring of the layers of earth in the badlands were just amazing on this drive! There were orange and purple tones that I can't describe how unique they looked, and the camera didn't do justice on them sadly either, but i'll never forget how cool it looked.
After the scenic trip I drove back into Rapid City. I tried to do some shopping for film and some Baccardi 181 american Rum that my bud in Calgary wanted me to find. I ended up striking out on finding both things and had to settle for a different type of film and a less alcoholic version of Baccardi, o well I guess he will just have to drink more of it to get the same effect haha! It was kind of cool and yet very weird too i must say, to be able to buy all your alcoholic needs at the local Safeway. After hours of "trying" to shop for stuff I needed I gave up and under the brutal heat of the mid-afternoon sun I made a snap decision to not go to the Black Hills National Park for a night (where Mount Rushmore is, probably I'd just look at it and think that I would have rather seen the mountain as it was before it had faces, what can I say I'm a naturalist). I decided at 4 in the afternoon that day that I would head for the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks in Wyoming. I made the decision mostly cause I believed that it may be a lot cooler in the higher altitudes to the west.
After some 6 hours of solid driving, (I have to say driving 120kms/hour legally is pretty fun on the interstates) I gave up about 30 miles from the Yellowstone Park boundary near a town called Cody which was having a BIG ol' party that night. I didn't realize why this small town was so busy so late at night until I drove by the rodeo arena and found myself engulfed by cowboys and girls in chaps everywhere! hehe. I didn't stay around to watch the show, instead I just drove to the outskirts of the town and found a nice little pull-off on the shores of a nearby lake surrounded by mountains to sleep away the night. As I write this its atually 6:30 am that following morning and the sun is just cresting the distant mountain peaks; I'm realizing just how beautiful the setting is where I layed to rest last night. I couldn't tell last night and lets face it, I was too tired then from the days driving to look around, even if it hadn't been pitch black out then.
Little side note; Americans LOVE fireworks!!!! I mean yah its almost the 4th of July, but I've seen more signs on the interstate from people selling fireworks then advertisements for food, hotels, and gas combined! hehe | 
