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Being meteorologists, we cannot resist the urge to trek up to Boulder, CO and visit one of the major research centers in the country, UCAR/NCAR (which stand for "University Center for Atmospheric Research" and "National Center for Atmospheric Research". The Centers are located in the scenic mountains on the southwest side of Boulder. |
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Because of major construction on the entrance/visitor areas, this is the best place to get a picture with the words "UCAR" and "NCAR". Andy and I made use of the library there in Boulder to check our email and browse the web for 5 minutes. |
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After Boulder, it was on toward Mt. Rushmore. Here's Brad's 3rd new state, wonderful Wyoming (hey I should be a slogan-writer...sounds better than 'colorful Colorado' doesn't it?!) We didn't actually visit Devil's tower in the NE corner of the state (that's what's pictured on the state sign) because we wanted bigger and better things ... namely North Dakota :) and to visit the tower would put us out of position for ND. |
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New state # 4 for Brad! We were kinda rushed, so we just rolled down the window and snapped this shot. Notice how flat and relatively treeless the far western Nebraska plains are. The state gets hillier as you go north, as you see below. |
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In the distance on the left you see "Scott's Bluff", for which the town Scottsbluff, NE got it's name. &nbps The white stone bluffs were a welcome change to the rolling plains. |
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Woo Ho! A new state for both Andy and I (actually Nebraska was a new state for him, too). Number 5 for me, and number 2 for him! |
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The black hills are actually rather green; they just appear black from a distance. |
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Another scenic part of SW South Dakota. |
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We wound up and down through the Black Hills National Forest; this pic is taken from one of our higher vantage points. Glad we didnt meet many RV's or campers - our route of choice had tons of switch-backs and one-way tunnels. It was all scenic and beautiful. |
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Sorry for the terrible shot of one of our nation's more remarkable monuments; this is only day 2 of me using the digital camera; I'm sure now that I couldv'e gotten a better shot than that one. But at least it's a record of us going there...and if you'd like a better view, visit their website! As an aside, we arrived at the monument around 8:00, which placed the sun already behind the mountain and thus back-lighting their heads. We ate dinner there (a great meal at a suprising value - $5.99 to fill me up!) and then watched the 9:30 program. Rushmore's main July 4th-related activities actually took place on the 3rd, so we didn't go back to the monument the next morning because of the crazy traffic and crowds. |