Thank you Betty from Houston! Thanks for suggesting such a cool park to visit. It really helped motivate us to do a big road trip the first week of August. North Dakota was my second-to-last state, and once we made it to Craters of the Moon in Idaho, I then had all 50. We put 2565 miles on the Hertz Lincoln LS making a loop from SLC to Mt. Rushmore (clipping Nebraska for my SO), to Deadwood, SD for an evening of Texas Hold'em, to TRNP! (woo hoo!), over to Yellowstone for a couple of days (stopping for gas in Miles City -- looked around for Jim B but didn't see him), down through Grand Tetons and a night in Jackson (would never have thought I'd be there for the first time in August! whaaa), then over into Idaho (the last one!!!) and back to SLC (well, a night in Park City.. again, no snow and in a luxury condo slope-side!)

Anyway, it was a great trip. Not the kind we usually take, but will probably want to do more of them. We really enjoyed just "cruising" by ourselves and stopping when and where we wanted (although we were on a pretty tight schedule). We went from 109 degrees in Rapid City to 39 one morning in Yellowstone. Oh, the Canon S80... on it's first trip and the LCD cracked... whaaa!)

Well, my SO still needs Michigan, New Mexico and Hawaii... to be continued...

Thanks again Betty! Photos from TRNP:

Kim

There were these buffalo up on a high hill ...



One started to get near the edge, I thought it better not go too far... before I knew it, they were all heading that way ...



I couldn't believe I was seeing some sliding down on their bellies...never got a great photo of that, though... However, my video was good.



Then there they were, walking across the street at the bottom of the hill...

WHAT!! :eek:
You were in Miles City and did not let me know!!!
I was here.
To bad you did not have time to go to Range Riders Museum and Water Works Art Center.
I live about 8 blocks from the gas stations on the middle exit which I am sure is where you stopped.
Did you have time to do the Medora Musical?
They also have a new golf course in Medora.
Bully Pulpit. Tough tough tough course.
Great pictures. That is what it looks like around
Medora North Dakota for those interested. Kind of like that around here too in some places which is about 130 miles West.

Sorry Jim! No time! Editing to say: We were on a misson! No idea how many miles a day we averaged, but it was a lot!)

We left from Deadwood, SD on Monday morning and drove up to see Devil's Tower, then TRNP where we stayed much longer than we thought. We made it to the Best Western in Glendive, MT that night (yikes). Then up early Tuesday and drove right to Yellowstone where we spent that evening, all of Wednesday, then off early Thursday morning for Jackson Hole.

The slot machines in the gas station in Miles City cracked me up!

Name Par Yards Slope USGA
black 72 7166 133 75.4

Yeah, I'd say that's a tough course!!

Very cool pics, Kim. Thanks for sharing.

Kim - cool pictures! If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your S80 that the LCD cracked? I have one and now I'm a little nervous ...

Masaki

Masaki - Good question - Kim?

I have the S80 and I've dropped it and carried it in my purse - a danger zone if ever there was one without a problem. Going on MUSH with it for the snapshots of our friends.

Welcome home Kim!!

Well, about the camera....

We're not sure what caused the crack. There wasn't a crack that we could feel on the surface. The screen just went black with a little purple shape near the top and a little gray spot near the bottom of the screen. We were driving and stopping frequently on the 39 degree morning --- getting in and out of the car at various hot springs, etc. So, there were some temperature flucuations. We could feel the heat from the springs and geysers as we walked past them on the boardwalks. But if that were the cause of an internal crack of some sort, well.. that's super sensitive, huh?

She did have a room key in her pocket for our cabin at the Canyon Lodge, but, there was no indication on the surface of the LCD of any sort of crack or scratch or anything. She shipped it off to Canon and we haven't heard anything. We'll keep you posted, but I know you're leaving for MUSH soon. If the problem was caused by temperature fluctuations, then that would be your only concern, I suppose. I'm totally guessing here.

Hmmm. Not like Alaska isn't known for temperature fluctuations either. :) I've had my S80 now for about half a year and so far, so good ... but admittedly it hasn't traveled much yet. Hopefully, no such problems on this trip. I hope Canon can either fix/replace your camera quickly!

Masaki

From what I know about Canon Service, it's taking about two weeks to hear anything. Since the camera is new it's still under warranty, I would assume they will fix or replace the camera. I hope it's quick.

BTW, congrats on the completing the 50 states! That's very exciting! :app:

Update on Canon.

Well, they said it's non-warranty repair because there is impact damage. This is so depressing. She did drop the camera on the bathroom floor in the Jackson Lake Lodge, but that was AFTER the LCD failed. She so hates this camera. It's all been bad for her. The on-line company she bought it from (we buy on-line a lot have have never had problems) went out-of-business. She did not have a good experience with them anyway. She bought the camera on-line at a good price. Then they called her to "confirm" the order and gave her a hard -sell on some stuff she really didn't want. She called back within about 5 minutes to cancel and they wouldn't cancel without charging a 20% restocking fee. She tried to get over that and just enjoy the camera. Now this $140 charge. And, she won't trust it's durability ever again.

Anyone want to buy wide-angle & zoom lenses and adapter?

This online company wouldn't have been something like Express Camera or something similar would it. I had the same experience on my Rebel XT and told them to stuff it! I kept their email for awhile until I made sure that they didn't charge me then deleted it, so not sure on name. I did buy online from Beach Camera after that and was happy.

Nope, wasn't Express.. she says... not helpful, I know.

Kim, Kudos for your 50 achievement on land, now you should apsire to dive all islands in the caribbean!

ps. You are our dive photographer in November

..r/wes

Thanks, Wes! Alice will be our dive photographer. She bought the underwater housing for the new camera. We're hoping she will get to try it out before the cruise. At least in the pool our dive shop uses. Not likely to try it out in our hot tub!