*** Yes it is a MARMOT aka GROUNDHOG ***
Well done Paul for being the first to guess it right both times

Heres a new one for you to guess:

Yesterday we visited Yosemite NP and saw this little fella. Does anyone know what it is?

All guesses are welcome!

Click the photo to enlarge it.

The winner will be awarded with a prize.

We left Vegas and drove through Death Valley where the temperature reached 113 degrees (45C).

We saw some sand dunes:

And some funny looking trees:

We camped the night at Three Rivers. The ground was so hard we couldnt get our pegs in, so our tent was a little saggy.

Here’s me cooking dinner:

We were told there was a bear in the campsite the previous night, so we armed ourselves with our walking sticks and bear spray in the tent. At the first sign on noise (possibly Mike snoring) I decided it was safer in the car. For six hours I was on bear watch and Mike didnt even notice I had left the tent!

You may think I’m paranoid but we did see some bear footprints outside our tent the next morning!

The next day we drove through Sequoia NP where we saw a big tree. It was impressive, but not impressive enough to walk all the way to the bottom in the heat.

The drive through Kings Canyon was very windy with sheer drops down the side.

We got lots of pictures of the canyon but they just didnt come out very well.

But we saw a pretty blue bird

There were lots of nice campsites in Kings Canyon, but they all warned about active bears. They provide you with a metal box, and it is law to store all your food, toiletries and anything with a smell in these boxes. If you dont, then the bear is likely to break into your car and steal your stuff. We decided to stay in a motel.

We have been in Vegas for 3 days now. Unfortunately we haven’t won our fortunes.

So nothing much to report except learnt the basics of craps and think it is a way of getting rid of you money even faster than playing Blackjack.

So will move on today,

We are living up to our reputation and are taking the rain where ever we go. It was 100 degrees when we arrived in Cody and an hour later it was 50 degrees and started chucking it down with rain.

We went to the last night of the Cody rodeo. As they started the national anthem Mike says “we gotta stand up for this”. I replied ” I dont even stand up for my own national anthem! Its just a song!” and remained sitting. So Mike joins me in sitting. I was amused at these young girls to my left with their hands on their hearts and singing like their lives depended on it. They gave us the filthiest look. But hey, its a free country!

It was the most miserable night, so cold and wet. Our tent was a little damp inside but we survived it ok. Perhaps thats the American wrath for not standing to their anthem!

We had planned to go to Yellowstone national park, but the forecast was for snow and it looked pretty miserable up there. An Austrian couple who camped next to us werent impressed with Yellowstone and said Rotorua was far better. Plus we were a bit worried about Yogi Bear taking our pic-a-nic basket.

So for the second time on this trip, we turned away from the Rockys in search of warmer weather. What a waste of our bear spray!

Saturday was a good day for spotting wildlife.

We saw a snake:

A cute little prarie dog:

A family of donkeys:

And some big hairy buffalo

Oh and almost forgot, some stoned presidents

On Friday we landed on the moon. At least it looked like it. We visited the Badlands national Park and it was very cool.

There were many signs warning us of Rattlesnakes.

But we decided to camp anyway.

Yesterday we visited Milwaukee. We didn’t find Richie Cunningham but we did find Billy Bob. He is there with his band for the Harley 105th motorcycle party.

We visited the Harley museum and sat on some of their latest bikes:

We hired some push bikes and went for another cycle ride despite our sore rears.

This is Lake Michigan, you cant even see land on the other side.

And to top off the day we had the most disgusting meal ever. We went to an Italian restaurant that was recommended. I ordered the chicken and mushroom pasta cooked in a white wine and olive oil sauce. It sounded nice but I took one bike and promptly swapped my meal with Mike. It tasted like they had dumped a flagon of bad sherry in it. It was putrid. I could see Mike gagging on it too and he’s not fussy! I felt a bit bad about swapping but we have this unspoken rule that if I dont like my meal I can have his!

Anyway, he swapped his meal for spaghetti and meatballs and that was equally as crap. My (Mikes) risotto was ok but extremely sweet. I guess we just get spoilt for good Italian restaurants in England.

We decided to head North as Hurricane Fay was wreaking havoc on the south. Yesterday we visited Chicago, hired some bikes and cycled beside Lake Michigan.

Chicago is a cool city right on the edge of Lake Michigan.It’s not just a poxy small lake either, its huge. Its like being by the sea.

They have the roads underneath bridges and stuff, just like on the Blues Brothers. We got lost trying to leave Chicago as the sat nav didnt work under them.

Here are some photos:

We also visited Wrigley Field but we were too late for a tour so we just got a photo of the sign. Been there done that!