on the road again...days 4 & 5

day 4 took us through big sky country - montana. miles and miles of rolling grass hills and farmland, including cows, bison, antelope, emus, llamas, and sheep. we felt very much out of place in our shorts and flip flops, garnering stares every time we stepped into a local establishment. we crossed over the northeast tip of wyoming and then into south dakota for the night. we visited mount rushmore to get a photo of the infamous presidental faces and then settled back into rapid city, south dakota.






day 5 was a long one, but both of us were keen to drive so we just gave 'er. an hour into our drive we arrived at the Bad Lands in south dakota and took some amazing photos below. imagine crossing these rock formations on horse, because that's what the native american sioux did hundreds of years ago. the bad lands reminded us a lot of Moab, Utah, which we visited on our trip west over a year ago.





this is a prairie dog. they are tiny and hilarious. we spotted hundreds of them from the car and when aimee got out to get a picture, she scared all of them away. we managed to get this picture with our telephoto lense (which exaggerates their true and tiny size).


another installment of "where's aimee?"

after the badlands, the photos ended, but the driving continued...and continued...and continued. today, on day 5, we crossed south dakota, minnesota, and crossed into wisconsin after 11 hours on the road. and in south dakota, we finally entered the central time zone! woot! we decided to settle in at la crosse, wisconsin; however, when we got there, we found out that every hotel within a 50 km radius was booked because of oktoberfest festivities. so, we drove some more, and find ourselves in the last room of a family-owned inn in tomah, wisconsin. where you ask? ...good question! it's east and that's all that matters! day 6's destination: somewhereville, michigan!

on the road again...days 1-3

we left vancouver on september 30 wide-eyed and ready to take in all the beauty around us that is BC. we did a quick trek to kelowna, bc and were again lucky to spend it with chris' aunt sandy and her family. we left early the next morning and began our drive to calgary. this, of course, took us through the canadian rockies. so beautiful. so majestic. especially with the fall colours in full force. on our way to calgary, we had to stop and spend some time in banff where we visited the hot springs for a quick dip as a reward for all of the driving that day. in calgary, we were so lucky to catch up with friends (greg & rachelle, andrew mac, johnny mac and angela). and thanks to greg and rachelle (& adelle) for putting us up for the night.




we left calgary at 6:30 this morning and made our way south to montana. montana - so beautiful, so serene. cowboys. cowboy boots. cowboy hats. big belt buckles. funny drawls. but friendly. we drove as long as we could and 10 hours later ended up in billings, montana where we've settled for the night. as for tomorrow, we decided to take it easy and do a half-day drive to mount rushmore in south dakota to take in the presidential sights. so timely. speaking of which, we made sure to rush back to our hotel room this evening to see the VP debate. our favourite buzz words this evening were: heckava, maverick, round'em up, reerin' its head, ramp up...good grief!





good signage in montana...