Homeward Bound

Tuesday, 28 July, 2015

South Dakota, Minnesota

Today we began our driving trek homeward.  We began driving to the Badlands.  Driving through Wall, SD, though, we of course had to stop at that old piece of  tacky Americana—Wall Drug.  Most of us have experienced it and I felt that the children should too.  It has expanded over the years to now take over an entire city block!  We walked through some of the gift shops, then I had them follow me to the  courtyard in the back.  It has been redone with flowers and fountains, but still has the Jackalope, the covered wagon, and the offensive Native American stereotypes that you put your head in for a picture.  They loved it!  Shelby laughed so hard through all of it.  It is so adorably kitschy that you can’t help but laugh and have fun.  There was a man fixing the giant gorilla that plays the piano and sings so he gave us 50¢ to put in from money that was thrown in to “make sure that it works.”  J 

Trying on hats

T-Rex

Joshua and the Jackalope

Shelby and the Jackalop

Shelby was laughing so hard, she almost fell off the seat!

At Wall Drug, Shelby got a geode,  partially to replace the one that was stolen in San Francisco that she had bought at one of the state parks.  For souvenirs, we give each of the children a limit of $100 dollars to spend.  We started that on our first trip to England.  It was a way to get them to think more about souvenirs that they wanted.  They have gotten quite good at getting souvenirs of higher quality rather than the cheap, plastic things that might not even make it home.  Anything that is left over up to the $100, we give to them after we get home and they either put it into their savings account at the bank or use it for spending money.  I think they’ve become more savvy consumers and it gives them the power to decide what they want to spend the money on and weigh it against having the cash when we get home.  They often end up getting very nice souvenirs (such as the nice set of rune stones Shelby got in Norway) or, more often, jewelry. 

After Wall Drug, we drove through the Badlands National Park (boy, our park pass has certainly gotten a work out!).   It was the same as I remember it.  My family went a few times when I was young and Randy and I were here when Anneliese was a baby.  Same pretty, striped hills of many colors.  And, like everywhere else, tons of motorcycles.  Many, most likely, making their way toward Sturgis. 

Shelby

After we rejoined the interstate, we just drove and drove and drove, just stopping for bathroom breaks, gas for the car, and food.  Arrived home at 11:00.

The difference of color and water are apparent as we drove here to west and west to north (home).  Much more green here, more water, and more deciduous (leafy) trees.  We had a fun trip, but we are looking forward to home.  None of us have any plans for the next few days save unpacking, laundry,  and grocery shopping.  Hopefully the garden will not need too much tending to for a few days (hopefully the mulching I did before we left held down the weeds) and we’re hoping that the house is mostly tidy and won’t need too much cleaning other than changing sheets, etc.  We are all especially looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and starting to catch up on some sleep!

devils, chiefs, and presidents

Monday, 27 July, 2015

South Dakota

Today we drove to Devil's Tower, then to South Dakota to see the most photographed monument in America and the slowest-developing monument.

To get to Devil's Tower, you drive down a couple of tiny little roads, then there is a traffic turn-out with a marker about Devil's Tower.  Most people stop, look, take photos, then turn around and leave.  Despite this, there are a ton of hotels (including a tipi campground).  Who are they catering to?  There can't be enough people who decide to climb it to support that!  Why would you stay?  You see, you leave.  There is no hiking or anything else to see there, not even scenery.  Hmmmm.  Oh well, not my problem.

Joshua's dancing

Then we drove a bit to Crazy Horse.  They must have found enough money to build some fancy signs and booths to take your money, and a visitor's center, but not enough to make what looks like ANY progress since the last time we came to look--18 years ago!

Well, then that icon of Americana--Mount Rushmore.  The last time we were here, we had our now-18 year old in a Snugli--she was only about 5 weeks old.  So in 2015, we saw, we looked, we photographed.  We also saw a short video and read about the making of the monument, and saw the display.  Did you know the workers had to walk up 700 steps every morning to the top, then drop down over the face in a swing attached to a thin cable holding dynamite or power tools?  Wow, the steps would wear me out!  We then went to the Sculptor's Studio to see his plaster mock-up of the monument and listen to a ranger-talk about the making of the monument.  Then we walked the "President's Trail"  (this is a less than a half-mile walk on boardwalk with 250 steps).  

We found our flag!

Partial-family photo

The plaster mock-up they used to do the sculpture on the mountain

the mock-up of Washington, and the real thing

A few days ago, Joshua said that he wanted to eat Chinese again and ribs during our last few days of  vacation (we rarely eat out during the rest of the year, so eating out on vacation is a big treat).  So, last night we ate at a non-chain Chinese restaurant.  It made Panda Express look like a gourmet restaurant.  We all ordered the combi meal.  The chow mein was mostly bean sprouts, the egg roll (that the waiter raved about) was mostly cabbage, and even the fried rice was kind of weird.  We had some sort of meat in a fried ball that we dipped into an orange sauce--no sure what it was, but that was OK.  We couldn't even eat half of the food.    For dinner tonight, we ate at Ruby Tuesday.  And the children and I had ribs--not as good as Friday's, but pretty good.  Before we went in, we saw massive rain in the distance; while we ate, we saw lightning through the windows, heard thunder, and heard the rain; when we left, there were gale-force winds, pouring rain (coming down sideways because of the wind), and lots of hail.   After awhile, the other customers waiting in the vestibule with us began to get their cars so we did too.  I talked to some bikers at our hotel that came early for Sturgis who got caught in the rain, but luckily were under cover when the hail hit.

I'm enjoying the time with my teenagers this vacation to reconnect.  The younger is a strange kid; lovable but kind of weird and spending more time with that weird kid is good.  The older (middle child) is a quiet, but lovable girl who is growing up way too fast; it's nice to spend time talking and making more connections with her.  And I love the shared memories we are creating.  I miss our oldest, but this is good too.   Right not the dramatic youngest is convincing us to play hearts, so I have to end this.

We're all looking forward, though, to sleeping in our own beds tomorrow night and sleeping in on Wednesday!  (And something other than hotel make-your-own waffles for breakfast!  Though it may be a few days before we see breakfast!).

Bison, and Elk, and more Bison, oh my!

Sunday, 26 July, 2015

Yellowstone and Wyoming

Today we spent the morning and part of the early afternoon in Yellowstone.  We ate more granola bars and fruit for breakfast (no free breakfast here).  I realized tonight that I left my pillow there :(  I have almost left it at most of our hotel rooms--even driving back to a few to get it.  Love that pillow--maybe I'll try to contact them and ask for them to send it to me--it has an embroidered pillow-case that was a gift.

We took some photos of the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake.

Then as we were driving, I saw some people clustered near a lake by one of the traffic turn-outs.  When I looked to see what they were taking photos of, it was bison on the other side of the lake.  So, we pulled over at the next turn-out and took photos as well.  By this time the bison were on the other side of the lake from us. 

Then we went on to the Sulphur Cauldron—Joshua claimed he needed a break from the fumes—it was giving him a headache (!).  Well, the traffic had been backed up with no traffic coming toward us.  Then we saw why!  A bison was walking down the road, followed by a ranger’s jeep with lights flashing and a huge line of cars behind it!  The park guide said not to get too close to bison because they can run more than 30 miles per hour (not that you can tell that from watching them walk very slowly) and will gore you with their horns (both male and female have horns).  The bison turned into the parking lot for the mud volcano (across the road from us).  The ranger just waited near it.   I went over to use the toilets and had to ask the ranger if I could walk on the opposite side from the bison—she walked with me to make sure I was safe.  She said that while she was waiting, the bison kept turning to look at her.  Each time she turned around so that it wouldn’t charge her.  I got to the toilets safely and it was still there later—with many people taking photos of course (and the ranger close by). 

 

Huge traffic back-up

Here the sulphur smell was the stongest.  It was much greener than it appears in the photo

We weren't sure if the bison liked the sulphur smell or the heat from the heated water

Later there was another traffic slow-down, this time people were getting out of their cars to take photos of elk in the trees.  We didn’t want to contribute to the craziness so we kept on driving.  A ranger was there as well.  A bit further on, we heard shots from the trees, then saw some rangers come out of the trees with a  rifle—not sure what they were shooting at.  Maybe a rabid dog named Cujo?   

At a slow down (not sure why), we took off on a side road and saw the lower falls of the Yellowstone River near the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (it's actual name)

.

Then, another traffic slow-down—a herd of bison crossing the road!  Adults and babies!  You could see that some of the adults hadn’t completely lost their winter coats yet.  As we were driving, we kept coming up with what the bison were probably saying about all of the photos.  

Then we saw some cool rock formations.

rain in the distance

Further on, we could see huge fields of bison.  It was interesting to think that a long time ago, they covered all of North America, then were almost lost and not the National Parks and their rangers are keeping them safe for all of us to see and be inspired by.  They are such huge, majestic beasts.  Very inspiring.

The sunset from our hotel on the east side of Wyoming