NP tour back to Chicago

Coming out of Olympic NP and on our way down to Oregon we saw Saint Helen's and so we stopped off the highway to watch the video in the visitor's center (something Micah has to do in every park ;) We continued down I-5 past Portland to Salem to visit Barbara and Stuart for a night. I still can't believe it's been 6 yrs since my last trip to see them - time flies. And I didn't take a pic but I got to see their cute new puppy, Sundae.



So, starting back east in Oregon we took I-84 to Hells Canyon, supposedly the deepest canyon in America.

Then from there we caught back up with I-90 to see Devil's Tower. The Native American's story for this butte says that it was formed when some children who were running away from a giant bear prayed to the gods for help. They jumped on to a rock that then grew so high that the bear couldn´t reach them, but when the argry bear tried to climb up the rock he only scratched the sides of the rock. And that´s where Devils Tower comes from.

Our last stop was at Mt. Rushmore.