States to be Visited

The map of the U.S.below shows the states we will be visiting highlighted in blue. Here's a few facts about each state.

Wyoming - Wyoming is the 10th largest state by territory, but the smallest in population with just 544,000 people, that's one third the size of Philadelphia.  It is one of two states that are square, becoming the 44th state in 1890.  It was the first state to give women the right to vote back in 1869 (probably to get them to come to this wilderness area).  The state is a great plateau broken up by mountain ranges including the Rocky mountains, the Teton range, and the Bighorn mountains.  We will cross the Continental Divide at least twice.  On one side of the Continental Divide, the rivers flow east into the Atlantic and on the other side the rivers flow west into the Pacific.  We start our journey in Jackson, then travel through Grand Teton and Yellowstone.  While visiting Yellowstone we will be staying just outside the state border in Montana.  We then head east through Cody, travel north to Montana again and then make our trek across Wyoming toward South Dakota.

Montana - Montana is the fourth largest state in the U.S becoming the 41st state in 1889.  It has 974,000 people.  Three of the five entrances to Yellowstone are in the state.  The state has a lot of ranches.  After our visit to Cody We will travel to Crow Agency, Montana, just north of Billings, to visit the Little Bighorn National Monument.  Crow Agency (population 1,500) is the capital city of the Crow Nation tribe, also known as the Absaroka.  Their reservation is 2.3 million acres, the fifth largest in the U.S.

 South Dakota - We'll be spending 4 nights in South Dakota, one night in the western town of Deadwood and three nights in Keystone near Mt. Rushmore.  South Dakota has about 800,000 people and became a state in 1889. North Dakota and South Dakota became states at the same time and President Benjamin Harrison mixed up the papers when signing them so no one would ever know which one became a state first (had to work in some presidential trivia). We are just visiting the Black Hills region in the southwest part of the state. The Black Hills are of great religious importance to local American Indians. This was basically an indian area until gold was discovered.  There are a lot of tourist attractions including Mount Rushmore, Badlands and Wind Cave national parks, Custer State Park, the Crazy Horse Memorial, and historic Deadwood.