A Quick Hello... and then a Good-bye

Well, I've found a small amount of time in which I have internet access and a computer to use it on.  Still on my trip and it's amazing!  I tell you, now I know what it must have felt like to be Adam and Eve those first beautiful nights after they were created.  I've never seen such wonders!  And it promises to only get better.

Today we went on a 10 mile hike up the side of a mountain in the Grand Tetons and back.  Now let me tell you, I love to hike... but hiking the flat fields of Illinois and hiking up the side of a mountain are two very different senarios.  It was well worth it, though.  When we reached the top, we were at the snow line and there was a beautiful lake resting in a valley.  All the students decided to be stupid and jump into this snow fed lake... including me.  It was freezing!  But it was beautiful, and if I ever climb that mountain again, I'll be sure to have a dip in the lake when I'm done.

Here are some pictures I've taken from my trip.  They aren't the ones from today, when we went swimming in an icey lake.  But there is some beautiful scenery.  Enjoy!

Everyone decided that they had to climbe the rocks in the badlands.  This is only one of the pictures we took.

These are the girls I have a cookgroup with.  And one boy.  *lol*  He must feel really special!

Here's my entire cookgroup. 

I just thought this picture was awesome.  That's Danae, standing on the edge of a mountain.

We had a little rainfall to spoil our first day in the black hills, but the after view was amazing!

These guys were extremely persistant!  I don't know how many herds of bison we've run into already.

I finally got to visit Mnt Rushmore!

This is devils tower.  We had to find out what the tower was actually made up of: the rock is called "basalt" and the pillars are formed by "Culumnar Jointing"... which I'll explain later.

Here we are at Old Faithful... but she wasn't being very faithful for awhile.

And this is Tim.  He's crazy, plain and simple.  In this picture, he was trying to show off the temporary tatoo on his neck.

And in this picture he decided to Branco Ride a tree.  Don't ask me why.  Like I said, He's crazy.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!  I'll probably post more in a week.  Just one more week and then we go home!