A Final Wrap Up

It’s been weeks since our return home from our trip.  So I am going to attempt to sum it all up.

We drove 8416 miles in the truck and did another 590 with Ed and Cheryl in the mini van while touring Yellowstone.  That means we traveled 9006 miles on our trip.  The average diesel cost was $4.000 per gallon.  The most expensive was $4.609 in Cooke City, Montana.  The lowest diesel price was $3.619 in Kingman, Arizona.  We hated to pay the price for diesel in Cooke City but we were headed on the Bear Tooth Pass and needed a full tank before we headed into the mountains.  We drove through 21 different states and camped at 18 different campgrounds on our trip.  We traveled through two different countries. 

We stayed at all KOA campgrounds along the way and this worked out well. Making reservations online was so easy at KOA and all but one site was a pull through site which made it easier for Scott.  The campgrounds were close to major highways (which also meant we heard traffic and trains a lot).  The most expensive campground was Niagara Falls and the least expensive was Salina, Kansas with Badlands, South Dakota a close second.  All of the campgrounds had pools but we didn’t get to swim as much as we had hoped though. 

The one thing I had not planned on was the lack of time once we arrived to our campground each night.  Once we arrived we had to unhook, cook and clean up dinner, get ready for bed, check emails and make phone calls, etc.  I started our trip by spending this time writing my journal and downloading pictures from the camera.  I soon realized I had to do things differently.  I charged the laptop at night and spent the time on the road, typing my journal and writing postcards (forgive the messy handwriting on the postcards, please).  That freed up a lot more time but still didn’t give us a lot of time in the evenings.  We had only 2 campfires on the trip; mostly due to being in the desert and then it being too hot.  We had our first fire in Mt Rushmore and then used the wood up at Badlands (before we had to leave South Dakota). 

We visited some 20 state and national parks, monuments and memorials.  Some of our favorites are:  Yellowstone, Bryce, Zion, Arches and Niagara Falls.  Scott and I have already started a list of where to return on our next trip.  Our first priority has to be getting to Yosemite but there are a lot of places to stop along the way.  Originally our trip was for 8 weeks and we were going to spend a week at Yosemite and then travel up the California coast and spend a week along the Pacific Ocean.  When Scott couldn’t get that much time off, we had to cut out two weeks.   We knew how much we wanted to go to Yosemite, so we cut that out, knowing we would make it happen another year.  We also cut out Glacier National Park and we are glad we did that.  The Going to the Sun road that we would have traveled to see Glacier National Park did not open this year (due to snow) until Isabella’s birthday, July 13, so we would not have seen most of the park.  Having all the snow in the mountains really made our visit to the mountains more spectacular.  Don’t think we will quickly forget the snow topped mountains while staying in the desert.  All the melted snow made for very flooded and raging rivers.

We saw tons of wildlife but never did see any wolf, coyote or moose.  We saw two bears with their cubs and two eagles.  Several bunnies hung out at the campgrounds, esp. at our first few campgrounds.  We saw more bison than anything and even saw up close a lot of bison calves.  We watched an osprey dive into the river and come out with a fish in its talons.  We saw buttes, mesas, arches, windows, valleys and mountains.  We drove through volcanoes, deserts, mountains, and forests.  Can’t count how many times we passed the Continental Divide.  We saw bright red, white and green shades of  sand. 

I have listened to the girls talk to people about their trip and I am glad we did it.  They will most likely never admit to us what a great experience it was for them but when I hear them talk about it, I know we did the right thing.  We made memories that will last forever and while they may have missed their friends, they experienced family 24/7 for 6 weeks.  I had expected a lot of bickering or needing space from each other during our trip but it never happened!  It worked out so much better than I could have expected.  We did have one very long day of travel (driving from Yellowstone to Devil's Tower) that we should have split up into 2 days but other than that we planned well.  It will be years before we can convince the girls to take another cross country trip with us.  But we hope to someday do this again. 

Day 42: Herkimer Diamonds and HOME

Sunday July 24

Sunday July 24 is our last day on our trip.  Scott packs up and I head across the street to Herkimer Diamonds with the girls to begin mining.  It is still very humid and we are not well prepared for mining.  We scrounge up 3 pairs of gloves and end up buying 3 pairs of safety goggles for mining.  They give out hammers when you get your tickets.  The girls and I watch a 20 minute video that shows the best ways to look for diamonds (which are actually double terminated quartz crystals).  The video makes me think there are lots of diamonds out there and we will easily find some.  My luck was such that I did not find any diamonds.  Lexi found many by looking on the ground and picking up the shiny objects.  Isabella and Scott (who joined us shortly after we started- he didn’t need to see the movie) found their diamonds by using their hammers and smacking rocks that they thought might have diamonds in them- based on having lots of hollow spots.

Searching for Diamonds

After a few hours we gave up this endeavor due to the heat and humidity.  The entire time we are there, a few professional miners are under tarps sorting through debris, looking for diamonds.  I can’t imagine making a living doing this, esp. with the luck I had.  We take our finding to the store and return our hammers.  Scott’s finding is the most impressive and a staff member believes they might be worth about $4!  All that work for $4. We take a look at the huge diamonds on display and decide to purchase a specimen for Dad’s collection.  These diamonds are highly referred all over the world, especially in China and Japan.   We have a quick lunch and head Home.

The girls are so excited to be getting so close to home and on this travel day, ask us several times, whether we have crossed into VT or NH yet. We stop at Hogback Mountain for a bathroom break and visit a gift shop and have an ice cream.  We had stopped at the same spot on our way to NY at the beginning of our trip but you couldn’t see across the road, much less the gorgeous view from this building.  On this trip, we are not using the bathroom in the camper (since we won’t be dumping it again until we go camping and no trips out are planned until Labor Day weekend) so we have to plan our stops better. 

Where are the diamonds?

The girls just about jump out of their seats when we hit the NH border.  We make plans to get Chinese food for dinner and get a little extra so the Tanguays can have dinner with us.  They can’t wait to see friends.  While Scott gets Chinese food I run and get milk and bread to get us through breakfast.  The house looks so nice when we get home.  Obviously Dennis had mowed recently and everything is green.  Inside we are greeted by Welcome Home Bakers sign which the Tanguays have colored and put pictures of most of the attractions we stopped to see.  Also there is a big pile of mail for me.  After a short visit and promises that the kids can get together soon (tomorrow),  the girls climb into their own beds in their own bedrooms.  We all sleep well.

Day 41: Howe's Cavern

Saturday July 23

Saturday July 23 we have plans to meet Amy and her Mom at Howe’s Cavern.  The girls are so excited to see Amy although Isabella is very disappointed she will not be spending the night with us.  We meet up with Amy and Mrs. Cook around 11:30.  We buy tickets for the cave tour and then eat lunch at their restaurant.  The food is very expensive but tastes good and we enjoy eating in the AC of the guest lodge.  It is still humid out and we are looking forward to the 52 degree cave temperature.  This is the 2^nd cave we have visited on our trip but the experiences are so different.  This is not a national park and therefore our tour tickets are more expensive (than Wind Cave) and we don’t enjoy the tour as much.  At many points along the way, we are asked to go to the side so another group can pass us.  They are trying to get as many people into the cave at a time to make a higher profit.  We do have a very informative cave guide though.  Unlike Wind Cave, this cave is very moist inside and we get to see (and at one point, touch) stalactites and stalagmites.  All over the ceiling in the cave are pencil-like growths- these are the stalactites beginning to grow.  This cave even has a pond in it where the reflection makes it look bottomless, even though it is only a few feet deep.  This cave does not have any areas of really tight passageways or low ceilings where you need to stoop to walk.

Wind Cave with Amy and Mama Cook

We take a boat ride at one point in the cave.  The tour guides seat us and then uses  the wall to push off as they steer us through the narrow river.  At the end, they have us switch seats so that we are facing where we just traveled (instead of turning the boats around).  They flip the seats and we move to the seat in front of us.  It is really an ingenious idea and saves a lot of work on their part (and again facilitates that more people can see the cave).  We stop at a rose quartz heart shaped stone in the floor of the cave where they conduct a few weddings each year.  The heart is said to bring good relationship luck to couples or people standing on it.  Scott and  I are the first ones to stand on the heart and we overhear the girls saying we’ll have a 2^nd honeymoon soon.  I truly believe this trip was our 2^nd honeymoon and Scott and I have as tight a bond as we’ve ever had, from spending so much time together.  But we’ll take any good luck we can get too!

Bella

From here the tour goes through the windy way.  This is the part of the cave, I least like but is also very neat and reminds me of Polar Caves.  It is a very tight and windy passageway.  I am pulling up the rear because I stopped to take so many pictures and even though there is probably another tour group a few minutes behind us, I keep feeling like I am going to get lost and then the claustrophobia and panic set in.  I stick close to Amy and Isabella who are with me and we make it out to the hot and humid world above the caves. 

We enjoy a cold drink on the lawns of the guest house in the humid air.  Isabella had worn my sweatshirt in the cave over her sweatshirt.  She had her hood up which has a small amount of white fur around the face.  She looked so cute in the pictures; almost like an Eskimo all bundled up.  We decide to drive a few miles to see the natural entrance of the cave.  The family had to sell off part of the land and there is a mining company located at the cave entrance and they are just starting to work on a museum as well but it was very disappointing.  The cave entrance itself was enlarged back in the day to allow tours to begin there and is enclosed in a gated fence so that nobody can enter that way.  The museum has a geology exhibit showing different rocks and minerals from the area that Dad would appreciate.

We say goodbye to Amy and Mrs. Cook and head back to Herkimer.  Along the way we stop at a diner for dinner.  In the diner, they have license plates hung on the walls and the waitress finds us a license plate from Delaware, the only state most of us have not seen on the trip.  So now the debate:  do we count the license plate we saw on the wall or not?  I am inclined to think not…We get back to the campground in time to enjoy a swim and ice cream before bed.  The pool is very busy and the girls swim while I watch them.  There was only a few minutes left before the pool closed that I decided not to change and swim with them.  When they do not kick us out of the pool at 8pm, I let them swim awhile longer.  Soon I am uncomfortable being the only adult in the pool area with several groups of young kids so I pull the girls out.  By now Scott has joined us and we head to the store for a refreshing ice cream.

Day 40: Niagara Falls, Canada to Herkimer, NY

Friday July 22

Friday July 22 finds us making our way back into the United States.  It is so hot and humid that we do not get as early a start as we had hoped.  We leave the campground around 10:45am and while its only 90 degrees, it feels so much warmer due to the oppressive humidity.  We wish we had more time to go back to Niagara Falls since Alexandria loved it so much, but we have to move on.  We do get a nice view of the falls from the Rainbow Bridge, while we are waiting to get through US customs and get stuck in traffic waiting to get back home.  The customs official actually asks Scott to open the camper for him and wants to see the girls’ room.  Unfortunately there isn’t any room for us to put out the slide and he comments that “I guess you’re not transporting any people back there”.  Once we get through customs we need gas but the Next Exit book is not showing any diesel for awhile.  Hard to believe, coming into Buffalo that we are not finding fuel.  We are as low as we have been on the trip and getting nervous.  We bought fuel in Port Huron just before we went into Canada and did not want to buy fuel in Canada but now we are thinking that was a mistake.  Finally we find fuel, with about 30 more miles to go- too close to empty for us. 

Heading back to USA

We hear on the radio that the NY freeway has been shut down ahead of us and we need to take a detour for several exits.  We stop for lunch at a rest area and get a map and information on the detour.  Fortunately by the time we arrive there, they have reopened the highway to all traffic.  Even with the detour we do not experience any more traffic than normal.  We arrive at the Herkimer KOA campground around 6pm and it is still very humid.  I have an intense headache so I lie down and let Scott set up the camper.  We head out for dinner and discover that Herkimer, NY is a very small town with not much to do or see, other than the 2 diamond mines.  We settle on a pizza and take it back to the campground to eat dinner.  This is the first stop where we have taken the bikes out of the camper.  Even though it is very humid, the girls enjoy riding bikes.  In fact, Isabella has outgrown her bike and Scott adjust Alexandria’s bike for her and Lexi rides my bike.  Guess it is time for a new bike!

Day 39: Niagara Falls

Thursday July 21

Niagara Falls

Thursday July 21 is our day to tour Niagara Falls.  We get going later than we had hoped but drive in and park on the Canadian side of the falls.  We buy tickets for the adventure pass which allows us admission to 4 events:  Maid of the Mist boat ride, Niagara’s Fury movie, Journey Behind the Scenes walk and White Water Walk.  We catch the movie first at the Table Rock Visitor’s Center.  The movie provides rain gear and warns pregnant women, people with heart conditions, neck or back issues to not go on it.  I am wondering if I should go on it since I get motion sickness so easily but I decide to go for it.  The movie was lame but we did get wet and the room underneath us rotated and shifted some but not enough to cause me any problems.  We went from there to the Journey Behind the Scene Tour.  Again you put on rain gear and go down an elevator about 150 ft.  You come out in tunnels that go to 2 observation holes.  They are just that- basically 2 areas where you can look out into the water flowing over the falls.  I am disappointed until we find the observation deck.  Here we really get wet!  We are in the falls and water is splashing everywhere.  I try to take a few pictures and as soon as the lens gets wet, it will not work anymore. 

Maid of the Mist

We have lunch at the Elements Restaurant where each table has a view of the falls.  It is a pricey meal but we are paying for the scenery too.  After lunch we take the shuttle to Maid of the Mist.  We have about 2 hours before we need to be at the White Water Walk, farther down the road.  Scott and I have done this ride before when we visited with Scott’s cousin David and his wife, years ago.  We wait to don the raincoats until we are on the boat because the air is so hot and sticky.  Within minutes we are all getting wet and Isabella starts to cry that she is wet and unhappy.  She moves to the middle of the boat while Lexi and I enjoy the ride and I try to take pictures while not getting the camera too wet. 

We're a little wet!

After the Maid of the Mist, we ride the shuttle down to the White Water Walk.  It is so hot at this point and we have a long wait outside (in the heat) for the walk.  We take an elevator down to the river’s edge and walk around the river.  It is cooler here and very pretty watching the river race past us.  Along the side of the walkway is a wall with colorful gum splatted everywhere.  I am disgusted by this but the tourists love it.  Overall the whole Falls experience is so different from the National Parks experiences we have had.  There is a lot more liter and graffiti in all the places at Niagara Falls and the wooden walkway down to the river looks like it could fall apart soon, some is closed because the wood is rotten.  It reminds me we are not in America and that the sole purpose of the park is to make money- not to preserve it for the future.

We return to the truck and head back to the campground for a swim.  It is very hot and humid and the swim is very refreshing.  We head downtown for dinner and eat at The Love Boat restaurant.  From there we return to Niagara Falls to see the park lit up at night.  It is so hot tonight that we do not notice the horse and buggy rides that were out the night before.  The falls are beautiful with different colors lighting up the falls.  The lights change colors and it is gorgeous.  The sky is filled with the night life lights as well.  Lexi would have loved to eat at the revolving restaurant in the Skylon Tower.  We figured it would be way too pricey but later that night I looked it up and dinner was $40 and I noticed a sign advertising ½ off dinner sale at the tower itself so that wouldn't have been too bad a price for the experience.  I told Lexi she should put it on her “bucket list”. 

Day 38: Canada

Our first view of the Falls

Wednesday July 20

Wed July 20 is another day of travel and we are greeted by rain showers as we pack up and head out.  The weather soon clears up and becomes oppressive again.  We are crossing Michigan and then entering Canada at Port Huron.  The girls are exited for their first trip to a foreign country but they do not like the wait at the border crossing.  The lady at the crossing asks a few questions about where we are from, how long we have been on the road, etc and lets us through with no issues.  I am so thankful on this leg of our trip that we have the GPS as I am finding it harder to navigate using my printed directions.  The signs are all in English but use the metric system.  We finally pull into the KOA around 5:30pm.   The campground is right on Lundy’s Lane and is close to everything but also very quiet (especially at night).  We do not have food for dinner so we head downtown.  We drive by the falls for our first look and see a nice rainbow over the falls.  We choose dinner at a local brewpub.  The parking lot is full but when we walk in, the place is dead.  (We later realize the cars are parked for the Italian restaurant next door).  The menu consists only of 3 course meals or appetizers but we find something to have.  Isabella orders pasta and what comes is macaroni and cheese that she doesn’t care for.  The food is okay but slow service.  It is late by the time we get back to the camper.

Day 37: Wisconsin Dells, WI to Allendale, MI

Tuesday July 19

Tues July 19 finds us enroute to Allendale, Michigan.  It is still very oppressive when we pull out of Wisconsin Dells KOA.  We had let the girls sleep in until about 9am, knowing they were tired.  We have about a 6.5 hour drive and 3 states to drive through today:  Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana; ending up in Michigan.  We will also loss an hour of time and be back on Eastern Time Zone when we pass into Michigan.  The traffic around the Chicago area is bad, even though we are going around the city itself.  Once in Indiana I notice how much trash there is on the side of the road.  It is very noticeable; tires and trash everywhere.  There is also a ton of traffic around the Indianapolis area.  This is where I start to feel very claustrophobic; trucks on either side of us and straight ahead.  I hate that boxed in feeling.  While driving in the Chicago area, we have the local news on and they are talking about the heat wave going on now and remembering the heat wave of 1995 when some 700 people died.  Unfortunately for them they also have major fog over Michigan Lake that they closed down the beaches because life guards could not see people in the water.  Once we cross the border into Michigan, we are close enough to the Lake to see the fog and it reminds me of the time we went to Newcastle Beach last summer and the fog was coming in off the ocean.  We never did get close enough to Lake Michigan to see the lake itself though.

Traveling through 4 states today!

We arrive at the KOA campground in Allendale around 7:45pm.  The campground is petty much in the middle of a corn field.  We are in a very residential area and the GPS took us down the side streets to get to the campground.  There are not even any signs advertising the KOA.  This is the only non pull through site of our trip but Scott does great placing the camper on the site.  We cook a quick dinner and get ready for a second day of travel.  Tomorrow we are crossing the boarder into Canada so we do some research on border crossing.  We end up dumping lots of food because meat, vegetables and dairy can not be carried across the border.  Thankfully we are running low on food anyways. 

Day 36: Water Park

Monday July 18

Driving into Wisconsin dells, we are stuck by all the tourist activities to do; mini golf, water parks, homes to tour, etc..  It is clear why lots of people come here on vacation.  The girls had spent the morning looking online at the water park (Noah's Ark) and making a list of all the rides they wanted to go on.  The place is huge and we finally find a spot in the shade to park.

We come across the lazy river first and the girls go on that together while Scott and I apply sunscreen and get our bearings.  The lazy river lasts forever, it seems.  Finally they make their way around and we head to the wave pool so everyone can refresh.  The wave pool is 10 min on, 10 min off and it is off when we first arrive.  Once the waves begin, Isabella goes in more shallow waters.  She loves the wave pool and finds the waves stronger at the shallow end.  While in the wave pool, they spot a ride they wanted to go on, Congo Bongo, and take off for that.  I enjoy a quiet sit on a chair and relax.  I do not like water slides nor do I like enclosed slides (get too claustrophobic) so I expect I will be watching them a lot today.  After that ride and another time in the wave pool to cool off (remember it is close to 100 degrees and HUMID), we head back to the lazy river area so they can go on rides there.  I actually fall asleep waiting for them at this point.  Alexandria comes out first and she and I go on the lazy river while waiting for Scott and Isabella to come off their ride.,

Staying Cool!

We look at the map and realize we have only been in 1 part of the park and there are 5 more parts they want to explore.  We head to the Time Warp (which turns out to be Lexi’s favorite ride).  The wait is long and I enjoy some more people watching.  The ride is dark and not one of Scott’s favorites.  Isabella likes the Bermuda Triangle that they go on right after the Time Warp.  We head towards the Black Anaconda, which Lexi wants to do.  There is a huge line and since we only have about 1.5 hours until closing time, we head on.  We find the 2^nd wave pool, which is near a kid play area.  Scott is amazed that both girls want to play on the tiny octopus slides.  Next we head o to the newer and bigger rides.  The girls do Jungle Ride which Isabella loves.  They decide to do the Cowabunga- which is huge raft down a sleep slope.  I am trying to get a picture and notice just how steep it is and the fact that someone is going backwards!  They end up coming down with a young couple in the raft. 

There is no line for Plunge so they grab a mat and head up the stairs.  I get a shot of them both getting on the mat, face first and then I see Lexi coming down.  I can’t find Isabella with the camera so I look up at Scott and see Isabella is heading back down the stairs, mat in hand.  Guess she didn’t realize it was face first and didn’t want to do it.  Scott has been watching the park’s newest ride, Scorpions Tail, the whole time and is tempted to go on it.  You shoot feet first down a steep incline and then loop up so you are going upwards feet first, before plunging down a very steep slide.  He is dry and water parked out so he doesn’t go on it.   We head back to the parking lot, hoping to make it to the first wave pool so we can refresh before leaving the water park.  The girls find another kid area and stop.  Lexi does the zip line and drops into 11 ft of water.  Isabella was excited to do the zip line until I told her it was 11 ft deep and she wouldn’t be able to touch!  But she (and Lexi) proceeded to go down a slide where you were some 4 ft above the water and then dropped into 11 ft of water! 

It is almost 8pm and closing time when we finally leave Noah’s Ark and head back to the camper.  We do a quick change and then head back to downtown Wisconsin Dells for dinner.  Scott has found a brewpub, Moose Jaws, and we head there.  We have a little wait so we head downstairs and order drinks.  Scott is amazed when he asks the waitress for a bitter beer, that she has no clue what kind of beer to recommend to him. She does come back with 2 free samples for him!  We order a pizza for dinner and Isabella is so tired she barely makes it through dinner. 

Day 35: Sioux Falls, SD to Wisconsin Dells, WI

Sunday July 17

Sunday July 17 marks 5 weeks of us being on the road and sadly, having only a week left.  The girls are getting excited to go home and see their friends.  We have driven 6825 miles and seen a lot of cool places.  Our favorite spots are still Rocky Mountain National Park, Yellowstone, Arches and Bryce.  We liked the dry heat of the desert more than the humid air in South Dakota and Minnesota.  The highest temperature was 122 at Hoover Dam.  We saw snow fall in Colorado.  We have come back through 2 time zones which makes it easier to communicate with family at home.  I am calling Mom and Dad most travel nights to check in (I know how Mom worries about us being on the road) and there were some late night calls when we were 3 hours behind them.  It does make travel days seem longer when we travel AND then have to lose an hour to the time change.  I much prefer going the opposite direction and gaining an hour. 

Minnesota reminds me a lot of Kansas; flat and crop land.  I feel like we are in the middle of a corn patch.  It is very pretty and green.  South Dakota had a ton of cattle and horse fields but there are no more of those visible from Rt 90 in Minnesota.  There are also areas that have lots of wind turbines, just like Kansas did.  The weather is a steaming 92 and very humid; the kind of weather where your shirt gets wet just being outside.  I am glad we are in the AC.  Minnesota does not have any rest areas open so we are not able to get any tourist information.  When we stop for lunch, we notice the convenience store has a sign saying that due to the government shutdown, they can not sell lottery tickers.  Looks like if you have a winning lottery ticket, you can’t turn that in either.  When Scott stopped for gas in Minnesota, the attendant told him the state had worked out a deal and would slowly begin running again this week.

Farmland

Road Ratings:

Utah: B+

Idaho: B+ Great rest area with tourist information

Montana:  B (score was brought down by road construction near the campground where you had to wait for a pilot car to escort you across- all times of day and night)
Wyoming:  A

South Dakota:  A-

Minnesota:  D- very bumpy AND no open rest areas.

The girls are so excited to get to Wisconsin.  They have been looking forward to the country’s largest water park since we began planning our trip.  Once we hit Wisconsin, we are met by cattle everywhere.   There are still some crop fields but we notice a lot more cattle and signs for cheese.  The girls do not pick up on the billboards displaying cheese.  Scott gives them until dinner time to find out what Wisconsin is famous for.  Lexi overhears me on the phone telling Mom and Dad that we are seeing a lot more cattle and assumes it is dairy products.  Isabella goes to the KOA store and asks a nice woman working there.  They finally come up with cheese. 

Wisconsin is so HUMID.  It is mid 90s but you can’t move without your shirt getting wet and sweating.  I talk to my parents outside in a lawn chair for a half hour and I am soaked.  After dinner the girls and Scott run to the pool while I take laundry to the laundry room.  The laundry room is AC and almost cold so it’s a nice reprieve from the oppressive heat.  Evidently the upper central states are on a long term heat wave.  We get a passing thunderstorm right at bedtime.  But a lot of rain falls during the night and another thunderstorm in the morning.  Since our only plans were to go to Noah’s Ark, the country’s largest outdoor water park, we let the girls sleep in.  We all wake up and get going around 10am, at which point the storms start to clear and the rain stops.  We make a nice breakfast and head to the water park.

Day 34: Interior, SD to Sioux Falls, SD

Saturday July 16

Sat July 16 we head to Sioux Falls, SD.  It is only a 4.5 hour ride and I’ve done the research to find some cool things to do tonight- dinner and light/laser show at the falls.  Lexi is very helpful packing up the camper and we are off early.  We make a quick stop at the Badlands Visitor’s Center so I can run in for a few postcards.  Lexi started to complain of a headache at this time.  Her headache got much worse and she was crying in pain.  Her head hurts above her left eye.  We give her some Tylenol and then some zyrtec that we have in the truck.  Her nose is running a lot and we think it might be allergies.  But none of this medicine helps and she is still in pain.  We finally stop to get her some Excedrin, hoping that she will stop crying.  At this point, her chest and throat start to hurt so I have her take her inhaler.  She immediately vomits.  There is no place to pull off the road but Scott pulls over enough so I can get out and assist her.  I am horrified that I have to do this but get through it somehow.

Lexi feels somewhat better after she gets sick but the head is still throbbing.  I call our doctor’s office and speak to a nurse who advises us to have her seen.  There go our evening plans!  By this point, Lexi is so exhausted from crying and not feeling well that she finally goes to sleep.  I have spent most of the 4 hours driving so far without a seat belt turned around to help Lexi.  It is a relief to have her feel better.  We pull into the KOA at Sioux Falls and unhook.  It is hot and humid- mid 90’s but the humidity immediately makes us sweat.  Lexi stays in the AC of the truck until we unhook and get the AC running in the camper.  I asked at check in for directions to a clinic and we head out to the Sanford Urgent Care.  No lines, no waiting and we are out pretty quickly.  They believe she had a tension headache or a migraine.  She did a sinus x-ray to rule out a sinus infection.  The right side of her body falling asleep probably was a result of hyperventilating and she needs to calm herself down sooner.  She is feeling better at this point and even hungry.

Laser show at Sioux Falls!

We head to Granite City Food and Brewery, which I had found online.  We had an incredible meal there and Scott some beer.  I had a chicken brushetta salad and it was great.  It came with some bread that had a Caesar salad dressing and parmesan cheese melted – delicious.  The food was great and we complimented the waitress.  Of all the brewpubs we had visited on the trip, this was by far the superior place.  It reminded me a lot of Sebago Brewing Company and their style.  On the way back to the camper, I found signs pointing to Falls Park and followed them to Sioux Falls.  I had read that the falls have a light/laser show each night during the summer.  It was after 9pm and I didn’t know when they started the show but we headed to the falls.  The falls themselves were very small (compared to some we’d seen in Yellowstone and along our travels) but they were pretty.  We found a place close to the falls and sat.

The light show began by showing colors on the falls and we soon realized we were too close to the falls to see the laser show.  We moved back quite a bit so we could see the laser show displayed on the building.  The show told the story of the development of Sioux Falls and was quite interesting.  Of course Isabella didn’t find it exciting at all and wanted to leave.  The bugs were biting and we eventually headed to the rear of the park to view the remainder of the show and be ready to leave as soon as it was done.

Day 34: Badlands

Friday July 15

Friday July 15 and it is time to move a little bit east.  We have a 2 hour ride to the Badlands ahead of us but we only have the one night in the area to explore both the park and Wall Drug (which we have heard is a must for the area).  It is amazing how quickly the scenery changes on our 2 hour ride.  Before long the hills and mountains are behind us and we are in farming country.  Again the city signs tell population and we are amazed at the small size of towns.  Interior, SD, where we are spending the night at Badlands KOA has a population of only 67!  Interior has a convenience store on the corner where we have to turn to go to the KOA and that is all the town offers.  We feel like we are heading nowhere on the 4 mile ride to the KOA but it is pretty, passing the White River.  The river is flooded and very light colored.  We arrive at the campground at noon, an hour before check in but they are able to let us check in.  We quickly unhook and drive to Wall. 

Badlands

Wall is a town in South Dakota that boasts the best drug store in the world.  Basically it is a large drug store with other stores connected.  We have lunch at the drug café which turns out to be a huge disappointment.  Expensive and not very tasty food.  Scott tried a bison hot dog and did not care for it.  We do a little shopping and then head to the “new” backyard area.  This area has small water fountains and areas to take pictures of the girls pretending to ride stage coach, jackalope, bison, etc.  The girls each get a bag of “sand” to sieve through and look for gemstones.  They each get to pick a stone to put in a necklace and they have a blast doing this.  Last time they did this, was at Polar Caves and after they finished sorting the gemstones out, they dumped everything back in together.  Thankfully they don’t do that this time.  Isabella is so excited to show Grampie her new rocks.

We catch a quick free ice water (which made Wall Drug famous back in the day) and an ice cream (which is the only thing reasonably priced in Wall, $10 for 4 ice creams) and head to Badlands National Park.  We had stopped at the Visitor’s Center on our way to Wall and knew where we wanted to go.  We pull off onto this dirt road and immediately spot what we assume to be mountain goats.  They look like goats and are living high in the plateau areas of Badlands.  They are very friendly and a few hang out near the road for our photo taking advantage.  Later we find out they are actually bighorn sheep.  The females do not have the curly horns but look just like what we saw.  At last we saw bighorn sheep (although it would have been cool to see a male).  We had seen mountain goats at Mt Rushmore the night before and they looked very different from these animals- very white and smaller.

We stop at the Pinnacles and walk around awhile.  It is hot and humid and nearing dinner time so we do not stay long.  The Badlands are almost just mountains of sand in some areas.  They were carved out by the ocean 37 million years ago and continue to erode at a rate of an inch a year.  Hard to believe that if I return to the area in my lifetime, the park would look noticeably different and eventually will not be there.  There are lots of signs warning about rattlesnakes and that really makes us stay on the paths.  But there are people heading into the high grass everywhere.  Badlands reminds me a lot of Bryce except there is green grass on the plateaus and valleys.  It got its name from the French people who were first crossing the area on horseback and how hard it was to get over the landscape. 

Day 33: Wind Cave

Thursday July 14

Thurs July 14 is going to be a hot day and we decided to stay cool by going to Wind Cave National Park.  It is about 1.5 hours south of the campground.  I had really wanted to do Jewel Cave National Park instead but several people had told us they were having elevator trouble.  At Jewel Cave there are tons of stalactites and stalagmites, which I have never seen.  But we don’t want to chance getting stuck in a cave so we head to Wind Cave NP.  We get there and booked our tour (Natural Entrance Tour) before we headed to a picnic area for lunch.  The cave is a constant 53 degrees so we all grab sweatshirts and the girls change into long pants.

Wind Cave

The cave tour begins at the natural entrance where the park ranger showed us the small hole that 16 year old Evan McDonald crawled through to begin exploring the cave.  It was a hole barely big enough for Isabella to crawl through.  It’s at this point that I start to panic about going into a cave.  I am claustrophobic and have to fight with myself to keep from leaving the group and waiting out the tour at the visitor’s center.  Bu then we make it to the opening of the cave now used by groups and we begin the descent.  There are some 300 stairs on this tour, mostly at the beginning.  The stairs are steep (I am thankful we don’t have to go up them!)) and narrow.  The air is immediately cooler and the cave is lit by lights along the path.  We are going 200 ft below the earth’s surface and I void all thoughts of cave ins or getting lost in these mostly unexplored caves.  We stop in the first room and notice how high the ceilings are (at some points on the path, we had to duck).  The caves used to be covered with an ocean and the limestone was partially dissolved by the water to form the boxwood- spiderlike protrusions from the walls and ceilings.   Because the cave is now dry, the boxwood can be preserved.  The ranger tells us that a few years ago they surveyed the caves and only 3 bats were found living inside. 

Custer State Park

He mentioned that the only other living things would be found at the beginning of the cave (where we had already passed) - a few snakes, rodents, etc.  Thankfully he didn’t tell us this before or I might have not passed by!

Isabella is in front of me and Alexandria and Scott right behind me.  Being surrounded by the family keeps me from panicking.  At one point, I even turn and insist Scott take a picture of me as proof that I actually made it into the cave.  At one point the ranger turns out all the lights and shows us how Evan McDonald would have seen the cave with only a candle in a box.  It is dark and you can not make out any outlines in front of you.  Our tour took us about a half mile through the cave and 200 ft below the surface but I am glad to take the elevator back to the surface. 

We decide to take a scenic road back to the campground through Custer State Park.  This road is full of wildlife and we soon see a few bison, pronghorn, prairie dogs and mule deer.  Once into Custer State Park, we watch a bison walking in the middle of the road.  A park ranger comes up behind him in his truck and tries to move him along since he is creating a traffic jam.  The bison does not like this but does continue to move off the road.  We are driving the Peter Norbeck Highway and we have to go through 3 tunnels and many switchbacks and some pigtail bridges.  It is really neat to see Mt Rushmore framed by these tunnels as you drive through. 

We get back to the campground for a nice dinner and then we head to the pool.  Unfortunately the pool is adult swim only and the girls are very disappointed.  So we have our first campfire of our trip!  Hard to believe we haven’t had another fire before this but we are so busy traveling, touring, spent a lot of time in the desert where fires were not permitted and some campgrounds just didn’t have any room for fires.  We play another game of Oh Hell.  Isabella loses by a lot but doesn’t complain too much and we are proud of her for this.

Day 32: Isabella's Birthday

Wednesday July 13

It is Isabella’s 9^th birthday today- Wed July 13.  We have a leisurely breakfast and head to Rapid City for Cars 2 movie.  The closet place to see a move is 25 miles away.  This is the one thing Isabella has requested for her day.  She would have loved to go swimming in a lake but it is cloudy. The campground concierge thought people might go swimming in Horse Thief Lake (which is only about 5 miles from the campground) but didn't look like our lakes back home.  When we drive by though the area looks more like a fishing area and I can’t see any sandy beach.  Just after Horse Thief Lake is Mt Rushmore.  We are amazed that we can see the carvings from the road. 

The Birthday Girl!  9 years old.

After the movie we have dinner at Isabella’s choice- Olive Garden.  She even asked if we could tell the waitress it was her birthday so everyone would sing to her.  I am shocked at this since she usually is too shy to do this.  We enjoy a nice meal and then head to a grocery store for a few things.  On the way back to the campground, Scott and I decided we should take in the Mt Rushmore evening ceremony.  Isabella wanted to go swimming in the pool but we headed to Mt. Rushmore instead. 

Mount Rushmore is a national memorial but they do not charge any admission (this was the wish of the sculptor) but do charge an $11 per car parking fee.  We parked in the bottom level of the garage all by ourselves (which later proved to be beneficial at a quick exit after the ceremony).  You can see the carvings immediately (and from the road) but the parade of flags is on the walkway to the carvings and Isabella immediately spotted New Hampshire’s flag.  It is 8:30 and just starting to get dark.  Scott looked back from the statues at the flags and noticed the full moon centered between state flags on either side of it.  It was a cool thing to see but minutes later the moon had moved just enough that it wasn’t the same. We spent a lot of time reading about the carvings.  Originally Jefferson was supposed to be carved to the left of George Washington and the workers has actually gotten a lot of the carving done, before Borglum decided the rock was not quality enough and made them move it (it now sits just to the right).  They had to dynamite out the part that had been started. 

Night ceremony at Mt Rushmore!

The ceremony began at 9pm with a talk by a park ranger.  Then we saw a movie that explained the monument.  Most people can understand why Presidents Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln were included in the carving.  Washington was the 1^st president and he set the course for our country to follow while fighting for freedom from Britain.  Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and also sent Lewis and Clarke off to explore the western US.  Lincoln was a strong advocate for freedom and wrote the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slavery.  He also had to deal with the civil war and trying to keep our country united.  Theodore Roosevelt was the 26^th President and was included in the carving for his involvement in creating the National Parks.  Roosevelt felt strongly that land should be set aside for use by all the people.  The first National Park was Yellowstone and there is a Roosevelt Lodge in the northeast corner of the park in honor of Teddy.  

The ceremony was very patriotic and the park ranger ended the ceremony by asking us each to think about what our freedom means to us and how we can preserve it for the future.  The carvings were lit at 9:30 at the end of the ceremony and we sang the national anthem together.  I was happy we experienced the ceremony together.  All of this trip, I have been amazed at what this country looks like and now it felt right to honor the memory of those who made it possible for us to live and enjoy it.