Billgrimage

***Pretend this is 3 days ago. We tried to publish it then, but the Internet failed on us!***

"Why are you changing your shirt?"

"Because I don't want to go into a Presidential library looking like a redneck."

It's been a few days since we last posted. We're currently eating lunch in Nowhere, Tennessee on our way to NC. We're both getting a bit tired and looking forward to being in one place for awhile!

We've had a great last week on the western tour. We really enjoyed Carlsbad Caverns and watching the bats fly out of the cave at dusk. After leaving Carlsbad, we headed toward Dallas, where we spent the night with Josh's fraternity brother and his girlfriend.

We wished we could have spent more time in Dallas, however we had to begin our Billgrimage the next day. To begin this epic journey, we stopped at the Grassy Knoll in Dallas, where Bill Clinton's idol, President Kennedy, was assassinated. After a short drive, we landed in Hope, home to Bill Clinton as a young child. Our next stop was the Clinton Library in Little Rock. We both really enjoyed this experience.

After spending the night in Memphis, our next day's theme was all about music. We started off touring Graceland before heading to Nashville where we visited the Grand Ole Opry.

At Carlsbad Caverns

We believe in a town called Hope!

Bill's childhood home.

This is as close as we could get to the real thing!

Josh's future office!

Graceland!

Yikes--the pool room at Graceland.

Who's Carlsbad

"Staying in a Days Inn is like staying in the Ritz after camping for four straight nights."
-Vanessa Capobianco


We made it safely through the night in Roswell and are leaving shortly for Carlsbad Caverns, where it is expected to reach 100 degrees. Solid. We're planning on taking a tour of a couple caverns and watching the bats fly out at dusk.

We'll be staying in the friendly confines of Bradley Lake State Park for our last scheduled night of camping. After that we head to Dallas, Little Rock and Nashville.

Go Spiders.

Hiking the Grand Canyon

We're back at the random lodge for another post. Today we got up early and headed to the South Kaibab trail for a 1.5 mile hike down the Canyon. It was a fantastic hike with spectacular views--we would recommend seeing the Canyon from this perspective! The 1.5 mile hike back up was tough, but luckily we left early enough that we beat the afternoon heat.

After lunch, we left the park for the National Geographic IMAX film about the Canyon. Apparently, it is the "most watched IMAX film ever." It was a nice break from the tourists and hiking. It was also nice to be back in civilization and enjoy the cold and tasty delights of Wendy's (aka: Frosty).

We're looking forward to a relaxing evening around the campfire tonight, complete with s'mores, of course. Now that we have a new grill, we're really upping the dinners--spaghetti and hot dog buns toasted on the grill. I wish everyone could have seen the first run on the grill when Josh pushed the ignitor while the grill was already on---I've never seen corn go airborne like that before. The metal top also flying off was a bit scary. All of our campground neighbors heard and witnessed this eventful grilling.

Tomorrow we leave the Grand Canyon for Carlsbad Caverns, but will most likely stop over in Roswell and take a UFO the rest of the way.

(View of part of the hike down the Canyon)

(Vanessa in the Canyon)

(In the Canyon)

(Thanks, Obama!)

"The Grand Canyon looks a lot like Farmville"

Greetings from some random lodge at the Grand Canyon with Wifi. We're dirty, tired and sitting under a collection of huge animal heads (elk, bison, moose). Today's post is going to be primarily pictures, folks. I know there are some formatting errors, but just don't have the time to fix them right now. Enjoy.

Last man standing/riding from Sturgis

Taking a break at Alberta Falls while hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park

Lunch at Lodo's before the Rockies/Pirates game.

The second-best baseball player named "McCutchen"

Film on the Rocks at Red Rocks

Four Corners - Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico (in order of coolness)

Vanessa making s'mores and braving the cold weather (barely)

Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park

Sunset at Grand Canyon

The Presidential Motorcade coming out of Grand Canyon. President Obama is somewhere in there, but we didn't see him.

Hiking along the Southern Rim of the Grand Canyon

Vanessa cooking a hearty breakfast before our hike along the Grand Canyon.

By the Numbers!

3,938: Miles driven since we left NC on Aug. 1
8: States visited since we left NC
5: Bear sightings
1: Moose sighting
1: Set of camping induced frozen tears
3: Feet by which the tent needs to be larger (primarily for Josh)
15.01: Time to breakdown camp in Yellowstone
1: Time Josh seriously reached for the bear spray
25: Recommended yards to stay away from large bull elk
5: Yards Josh actually stayed away from the large bull elk
7.4: Miles hiked at Rocky Mountain National Park
0:Times Josh has shaved since Aug. 1
3: Freebies Josh has gotten by flirting with the high school girl behind the counter ("Go ahead and throw in a free cookie.")
4: Nights we were supposed to camp out in Yellowstone
1: Night we actually camped out in Yellowstone (see frozen tears above)
15: Days left in our trip!

Yellowstone

This is going to be another short post because Vanessa and I are on our way to hike around in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Our three days in Yellowstone were pretty amazing. We saw plenty of wildlife, including bison, black and grizzly bears, mule deer and pronghorns. There was even a close encounter with an elk.

We also took in the usual tourist attractions - Old Faithful, the Mud Volcano, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, the West Thumb Geyser Basin, the Grand Prismatic Pool, and the Petrified Tree, which sounds a lot cooler than it was.

(Josh with the Petrified Tree)

(Vanessa at Old Faithful)

(At Lower Falls at the Canyon)

On Saturday, we did a 6-mile hike up Mt. Washburn (elev. 10,243 ft.). Our time up the mountain was decent, but not nearly as impressive as our time down. We made it back to the car just before a massive rainstorm with thunder and lightning.

(Vanessa at top of Mt. Washburn)

We're staying in Denver with the impregnated Fuglers (http://fuglerfamily.blogspot.com/) for a few days. On the agenda is RMNP, a Rockies game (or two), Film on the Rocks at Red Rocks, and hopefully some Rocky Mountain Oysters.

More later.

South Dakota

We are currently in Wyoming with Internet access for the first time in a few days. We've had a great and busy past couple of days exploring the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, the Black Hills and of course the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. We saw lots of wildlife including buffalo, deer, and pronghorns. This was also our first two days of camping. Of course, it rained both nights.

Yesterday, we drove even further west to Yellowstone. During our drive, we saw a moose in Big Horn National Forest. Josh named it Meredith because "of the uncanny resemblance" to my sister. We also stopped at Devil's Tower and did a short hike around the base of our nation's first national and natural monument. Bet you didn't know that!

We didn't arrive in Yellowstone until after 11 p.m. Of course, the park had experienced bad storms before we arrived so our campsite was nice and soggy. Wyoming is also a lot colder than South Dakota and we froze a little last night. Correction: I froze. I am looking forward to the colder and stormy weather that is approaching at the moment. I love camping.

Weather permitting, we are scheduled to go on a horseback ride through the Grand Teton National Park in about an hour, however the sky is currently darkening. We'll try to post again as soon as we find internet connection.

Vanessa and I took a quick trip up the St. Louis Arch this morning before heading west. Nearly 10 hours later we arrived in Sioux Falls. Turns out they grow a lot of corn in this part of the country.

Tomorrow we're planning on visiting the Corn Palace, Devils Tower, the Badlands, Wall Drug, and, time permitting, Mt. Rushmore. Vanessa has been begging to go to Sturgis for the Bike Rally (www.sturgis.com), but we probably won't get to that until Wednesday.

More later.

Lions and Tigers and Reticulated Giraffes!

After leaving Lexington at 6 a.m. and an 11-hour drive, we made it to St. Louis in time for the 6 p.m. Cardinals vs. Astros game! The stadium was really fantastic and we had great city views from our seats. I was especially delighted to see All-Star Matt Holliday hit two home runs. As most of you know, Holliday is batting .609 since being traded to the Cardinals from the Athletics - wow!

(At Busch Stadium after the Cardinals win!)

We crashed early that night after the game, but got up fairly early this morning to purchase tickets for the Arch tour on Monday morning in an attempt to avoid the weekend crowds. We wanted to make the most of our 1 full day in St. Louis so we headed to the St. Louis Zoo! It was huge with a variety of exhibits....our favorites included the zebras, lions and bears (wish I could have tested the bear spray, but thankfully they were caged).

(My new friend at the St. Louis Zoo.)

We then left the zoo for the tour of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. This was Josh's second tour of the brewery, as he visited last summer with his father. We both enjoyed seeing the Clydesdale's and tasting the free beer!

After the tour, it was time for a snack, so we headed over to the famous frozen custard joint, Ted Drewes. The place was packed, but we couldn't tell the difference between custard and ice cream. As I'm writing this, Josh claims he could taste the difference. I don't believe him.

We tried the traditional St. Louis pizza for dinner down on the River Front. Very delicious. We then wandered across the street to a bar which had actually run out of Budweiser products! I thought that stuff ran through the faucets here!

We had a great day enjoying the sights and food of St. Louis. As you can see, we ate extremely healthy. A big thank you to Bryan Greenberg, the actor who recommended many of the local food joints in our hotel's brochure.

Tomorrow we'll climb the arch, before our 9-hour drive to Souix Falls. It should be an interesting drive as the motorcycle rally in Sturgis is also this week. Reminds me of when my Catholic High School took us to Daytona Beach during Bike Week. See you in Sioux Falls!