Jackson Hole, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore 2009 - Day 9

Today’s blog is a day late because we were up until 1:30 AM with THE most incredible people on the planet. No silly, not Octo-mom and her children. The Herrera Family. We will soon be filing papers at the courthouse to become legal members of the Herrera Family. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

We woke up in Sundance, WY and took a scenic drive to Devil’s Tower.  Pretty much the sole purpose of going to Devil’s Tower was to buy Alison a snow globe for her collection, as well as see where the aliens landed in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. There was a sign posted in the visitors center with a quote from N. Scott Momaday, and the last part of it says, “...there are things in nature that engender an awful quiet in the heart of man; Devil’s Tower is one of them.” After everything we have seen in the past 9 days, we’ll agree to disagree. It was very beautiful and all that, but it didn’t stir emotions in us like some of the other sights we’ve seen. So we drove around a bit and took some great pictures and then headed out.

We had a 7 hour drive to Bozeman, MT which is our second to last stop on “The Road Trip of the Century… Nay, THE Unprecedented Road Trip of this Freakin’ Epoch. Period.” Which is what we are naming this road trip, and we would appreciate you referring to it as such from this point forward. No abbreviations, please. Or “abbr.” For you abbreviators. Abbreviation is a very weird word if you say it out loud over and over again. But I digress…

It was a long drive so we put a movie in for the kids while Chad and I listened to Steve Martin’s “Let’s Get Small” album. Comic genius - truly. Sure wish he wouldn’t have gone through with that face lift though. Yikes.

We arrived at Jean and Pepe’s house, who are the parents of our friend Wylie. Wylie, his wife Jessica and 10 month old daughter Kalia were waiting for us. We brought our bags in and then left to get dinner. We went to this great restaurant in Bozeman and then back to Jean and Pepe’s house-slash-hotel. We stayed up all night talking and laughing. Especially about the stories from when Pepe and my dad, Jim were best friends in the 60's.

If you ever plan a road trip, may we make a suggestion? Stop by Jean and Pepe’s house in Bozeman. You will love them instantly and be treated like one of the family. Also, I love that their house number is 9. Just 9. Single digit.

We are now sitting in the parking lot of a hotel an hour outside of Bozeman, "borrowing" their wireless to post this blog. We're off to Chad's mom's house for our last night before going home. None of us want this trip to end. Maybe we'll be kidnapped by a band of gypsy's and forced to live with them on the road. If we're lucky.

Later,
The Niemeyers