Day 7 - Geysers, Springs, Mud Pots, and more

We didn't get out quite early enough this morning to do a ranger walk at Old Faithful, but we did manage to get out of the house by 8:30. And that was after pancakes and sausage for breakfast. It was our first hot breakfast for a while, other than the one we had for dinner. We drove in the west entrance and at the fork went south toward Old Faithful (so we were on the bottom left of the 8 shaped loops). 

Firehole falls was our first accidental stop because I thought it was the Firehole loop I had read about. It was just a short, one way road that took you past a small waterfall along the Firehole River. Worth getting out of the car for a picture, at least.

Now, what sets Yellowstone apart from all other parks we've seen is all the geothermal activity. Ethan and I saw a movie today that said there are more hydro/geothermal spots in Yellowstone than all other places combined: over 10,000. I believe it because you can see little steam vents from the road all over. There are several spots you can get out and walk on boardwalks around some of these hot springs, mud pots, and steam vents. The first one we got out at was the Lower Geyser Basin. This place was home to the Fountain Paint Pots, named such because the bubbling mud looks like it's latex paint. It is otherworldly and looks like something out of some kind of sci fi movie. Other spots, you have big holes in the ground the bluest water, but it's bubbling and steaming. Some are just hot, others are hot and extremely acidic. Needless to say, you do not leave the boardwalk anywhere near these things. Little rivers form outside the springs, and they are orange and yellow and all different colors. As with all things on these trips, the pictures will not do them justice.

The next set of hot springs, et cetera, was at the Biscuit Basin, and Will had read about a hike to Mystic Falls from this spot, so we stopped. First, we were up on more boardwalks, looking at different shapes and sizes of geo/hydrothermic areas. There was one geyser that went off fairly often, just not very high. There were other bubbling ponds with deep blue color and what sort of looks like white coral under the water. Past the boardwalk, the trail toward Mystic Falls started. It was about a mile hike, two out and back. It was a fairly easy trail and the payoff was great: the falls were beautiful. We were able to walk up higher and see them from a different vantage point. There was a sign that said to keep going up for the Biscuit Basin Lookout, which we took to mean the place we had parked our car. Back at the bottom, there had been two ways to get to the falls, one longer than the other. We assumed this was just the longer one and we could get back that way. The trail quickly became a switchback trail, high up, and Will started to freak out a bit. It had been his idea to go that way and not back the way we came, but he didn't realize how the trail was going to change. I wasn't all that nervous, but Will had to lean over and touch the side of the mountain. At one point he was sitting down sort of and saying he might turn back. I knew he was afraid of heights, but I was surprised by his reaction. Poor guy! He decided to keep going, and after a few switchbacks, the trail leveled off and there was not as much of a drop-off. Just when he was feeling safe, though, Will realized he lost his knife he had in his pocket. He told us to stay there and that he would be right back. So the kids and I took a 15 minute rest while he retraced his steps. He had to go back over the scary part. I tried calling him after a while to see if he just was going back the way we came and if we should go on. He answered on the third try (not sure how we had service on a mountain), and said he was one his way back, without the knife. I joked to the kids that it was probably in the car. 

We continued on the hike and it kept getting higher and higher. We were essentially on top of this small mountain. Finally, we reached Biscuit Lookout, which was just that, a lookout down to where our car was. Oops. Fortunately, we were able to find the spot to go down that was the other trail. Not so fortunately, it was similar to the part of the trail dad hated, with a narrow trail off of a somewhat steep cliff. It really wasn't that bad and a fall would not have led to death. You would have been bruised and battered, not much else. We finally made it down with surprisingly happy kids still and hightailed it to the car. Will immediately looked for his knife and found it in between the seat middle console. Ha! Will had logged our hike on his gps app Strava. Our 2 mile hike more than doubled, and we ended up going 4.8. The kids were champs. 

Hungry champs. We all were. It was well after 1 o'clock. We hit the road and drove to Old Faithful, which has it's own big area with a lodge, grocery, visitor's center, etc. The parking lot is huge to accommodate everyone. Eleanor and I waited in a line for the bathrooms - surprise - and then we ate lunch from rocking chairs on the steps of the store. Just as we started lunch, we saw Old Faithful go off over the roofs of buildings ahead of us. I wish we would have known and we would have walked to it first, before lunch. Because it went off, we had to wait until hour and half or so. I decided ice cream was necessary to kill some time. Ethan got mountain berry (delicious), and Eleanor got strawberry (also yummy). Then we went to the visitor's center. Will saw there was a junior ranger program going on, so we walked over to learn a bit. Ethan and I left early to watch a Yellowstone movie they were playing a half hour before Old Faithful. I was interested in the movie, but, admittedly, I also just wanted to sit down for a bit. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open. 

We met up outside of Old Faithful. All around it, there are benches set up, but they were in the sun so we waited on some shaded logs a bit off. Faithful was predicted to blow at 3:22, give or take 10 minutes. We got a good spot a few minutes before it was set to blow. Sadly, Old Faithful was not so faithful this time. We waited at least 15 minutes after its predicted time. Will kept a running commentary of jokes while we waited. Every once and a while, it would spit out a bit of water and everyone's cameras would go up and there would be a collective whoop. Then it wouldn't continue and cameras would go down once more. Finally, Old Faithful gathered enough anger to spout off. A ranger said it blows from 100 to 180 feet. I have no idea how far the geyser went up today, but it was impressive and fun to watch. Another bucket list item. Though I'll tell you there are far cooler things here than Old Faithful. 

Cooler, or much hotter, like the Grand Prismatic Spring. Do me a favor and stop reading and Google Grand Prismatic right now. Click on images. That is what we saw on our way out today. It is gorgeous! You're not that much higher than it when you walk around it, though, so I may see if there's a spot to go where you can see it from a more arial view. But even our view was so dang cool. I saw pictures of it months ago, and this was pretty much the Yellowstone feature I was looking most forward to seeing. Yay!

To end our day, we wanted to find a place to dip our feet in some water. The day started cool but got warm and our tootsies could use a good soak. Will found a pullout along the Firehole River. The water wasn't all that cold at all (likely due to very hot water from the hot springs flowing in up River), and Eleanor changed into her suit right away. Normally, Will would be next, but he stayed in his clothes. I decided, what the heck, and changed into my suit quickly. We had water shoes, luckily, because the bottom was all rock. The water felt great. Not warm, but not bitter cold. It wasn't very deep and had a decent current. I went on my back and let the current take me downriver a few yards until it was more shallow and my backside was hitting rocks. Very fun! I did this a few times and then got out to dry off a bit. The kids stayed in another 20 minutes, having a blast.

Now we are in the last few miles of our drive out of the park. We will stop at the grocery (again) for a few things we forgot. Tonight's menu is tacos. We were determined to get back to the cabin a bit earlier tonight so that we can have dinner done and kids reading by 8:30. If we want to get out of the house earlier, we need to get to bed earlier. It's hard sometimes not to keep seeing one more thing, but I'm glad we have another few days here. We have lots of time to explore. Not sure which way we will go tomorrow, but I know Will wants to find a lake to swim in possibly. 

Day 6 - Bison

I am starting to type this entry from the car in an Elk backup on the road through Yellowstone (people are slowing down to see a herd of elk off the side of the highway). We are heading toward the West Entrance after a solid first day in the park. 

Leaving Cody at around 9:30, it took up a little over an hour to get to the east entrance. We decided to purchase a National Park Pass, and they prorated it since we had already paid to get into the Badlands. We figure with Tetons coming and possible another park in North Dakota if we go back that way, it will be worthwhile. Plus, it's good for a year, and if my cousin's wedding is the 6th of July, as they are thinking right now, we will be able to use it in the Colorodo Rockie's next year. 

Let me describe the layout of Yellowstone in terms of the roads. Basically, there are two big circles, the bottom one larger than the top one, so it's shaped like an 8. The east entrance comes in (from the east, imagine that) in the middle of the bottom circle of the 8, and the west comes in from the west on the bottom. So for our drive today, we came in, straight east, into the east entrance and when we came to the circle we went north and and then west, staying in the middle of the 8 shape. We went a little south and then out the west entrance. I'm not sure if we will see all of the top circle, but the drives in Yellowstone seem easier and faster than those in Glacier. In Glacier, you were on the side of a mountain a lot. In Yellowstone, it is a bit more open, at least in the parts we were on today. 

So, our first stop just inside the east entrance was at Eleanor Lake. It was more like a pond, but our Eleanor was proud to have a lake named after her in a National Park. We didn't tell her it was probably after Eleanor Roosevelt. At this stop, there was a trailhead for Avalanche Peak, so we headed up the mountain. This trail was rather steep, but fun. Like clockwork, Eleanor announced she had to go to the bathroom shortly (the harder one), but we kept going. We had no idea how long it was to the top, but we were curious to keep going. Admittedly, for the first part, I was nervous about bears. There was the usual sign warning us to start, and there were very few people. Finally, we saw a few guys who told us the top was a ways up but that we would come to a clearing soon with a great view. That clearing had creeks running all down and was filled with purple and pink wildflowers. It was gorgeous. Ethan, my peak hiker, and I went up a bit more, but it was pretty steep, making him want to turn around after a few minutes. The way down was faster, certainly, but actually harder on your legs and feet. You have to be careful not to slip on the dry dirt and rocks. We made it all in one piece and set off to find a bathroom, which ended up being a pit toilet down the road. Eleanor suddenly didn't have to go number 2 as badly.

The next big stop was at Lake Yellowstone. Lake Yellowstone looks a bit like Lake Michigan, with mountains. It is HUGE. I believe I read in the guidebook that it's the largest alpine lake in North America. That seems about right. There are over 100 miles of shoreline. We saw a rocky beach to stop at, so we pulled over, took our shoes off, and took a toe dip. It honestly didn't feel that bad, even though my book warned that it's not a good lake for swimming because the average temp is 41. But it felt warmer than that for sure. Eleanor was ready to put her suit on, but since we still had a lot of road to cover and knew we'd be stopping a lot, we opted not to get all wet. 

I would need the map to know for sure, but I think we stopped and looked at some rapids from here. We just walked along the Yellowstone River along a path. We learned it was trout spawning season, so they were busy swimming upstream. Will found a calm spot were three huge trout were resting before the rest of their journey. They were probably a foot and a half long. The only bad thing about this spot was that there were these long winged beetles of some kind, flying around and landing on you. They didn't bother me, but Eleanor kept having them fly at her, so we didn't stick around too long. This was the only spot we saw these bugs. I think Ethan said he heard a guy saying that the fish eat them. Maybe they were the flies that fly fishermen use. 

Next, we ended up at the Fishing Bridge camping area, where they had a large store and a little snack bar. Of course, there was a line for the ladies room. Whoever thought two stalls in such a large place was a good idea was clearly a man. We shopped around for a bit and ended up with a pin, a patch, a shirt for Eleanor, and a little deer for Eleanor. Eleanor decided to blow her souvenir money in the first stop. 

From here, we continued along the road to this sulfur spring area, and this is where we encountered our first of many  bison of the day. There were some out of the right side of our car, and then there was one in the road, about 5 cars ahead of us. Traffic was stopped on both sides as this beast of an animal just took it's time crossing the road. Just ahead, we parked on the side of the road and walked across to the Mud Volcano area. It was a series of these sulfur springs. The mud was just bubbling up out of the ground, and you smell rotten eggs. It's kinda nuts. And there were more bison - lots! There were some rolling in the sulfur mud, presumably to cool off. There was this boardwalk surrounding the sulfur pits, and there was one directly underneath. Of course, tons of people were right above it, posing for pictures. We chose to back up and go the other way. Everything we've read about bison attacks is from people getting too close. People are dumb. We try not to be those people. 

Eleanor started a tally of all the bison that we saw, and I believe she got up to at least 25. Not bad for day one. As we drove on from the sulfur volcanos, we could see many off in the distance, chilling in the valley. At one turn off, we saw a ranger who had a telescope pointing one way, so we stopped. There was a herd of Elk across a river. Through her binos, you could see them, but they were a bit far way for my zoom lens. All I saw were some dark spots. 

Our next stop was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It is as it sounds, a large canyon, except at the bottom was the Yellowstone River instead of the Colorado. It was a loooong way down. There are two waterfalls to see, upper and lower falls. Lower falls is the highest in Yellowstone. We saw it from a lookout spot above and could see people right at the top of the falls, behind a railing. Determined to see it, Ethan and I set off. It was 3/8ths of a mile down a switchback trail down. Will wanted to skip it because it was already after 5. But I was worried we wouldn't be back this Far East and didn't want to miss out. I promised him we'd go fast. It took us about 10 minutes to go down. And it did not disappoint. This was, by far, the most massive waterfall we have seen up close. It was probably about 40 feet across and a few stories high. The amount of water rushing over it was incredible. We took some photos and video to show dad and Eleanor, and we went up as fast as we could. I timed it on my phone, and we were up in 8.5 minutes. Not bad. 

Now it was really time to head out of the park, and, luckily, the next stretch didn't have any big stopping areas. And we were moving pretty quickly, too, other than a couple of animal slowdowns. We went about 45 miles in an hour and got out of the park a little after 6. Upon exiting, you are immediately in the town of West Yellowstone. It's small, with a ton of hotels, motels, restaurants, and souvenir shops crammed into a small area. We found a tiny, expensive grocery store, picked up some ground beef for spaghetti, and some fruit, etc. Our cabin was a 10 minute drive from there, so it really is very close to the entrance but away from the crowded town.

Our cabin is very nice. Large living room/kitchen, a bathroom, and two bedrooms. There is short shag carpet everywhere but the kitchen. The cabinets are all knotty wood, as is the ceiling. I would call it cowboy modern. And our front yard is mountains. Can't beat that. We have a little porch with a grill and table for four. In the back, there's a small deck with a table for two. You can hear a small creek (our cabin is called creek side), but you can't really see it as there is a bunch of brush around it. We were in a rush to get dinner going when we got home, and we didn't want to have the kids outside on their own. Honestly, if we see a bear at all, it will likely be out the kitchen window. 

We got the car unpacked, made a quick dinner, and tried to organize a bit. Kids just went to bed, and I am following soon after a shower and some laundry. Will is talking about a ranger hike at 8:30 at Old Faithful. I'm not sure I can be up and out early enough to make it there. We will see. I don't have it in me to proofread this right now, so please excuse any errors. 

Day 5 - Cody

Today was pretty great, partially because we didn't have to go go go all day. While our trips are always awesome, they are also tiring and we typically are up and out early and then back for a late dinner and immediate bed time. This morning, we slept in (except Ethan, I imagine) and then Will and I went for a quick run. We went into a neighborhood and then onto a recreation area around a large reservoir. With rattlesnake warnings posted, I was sure to stay in the middle of the paved trail. It was a pretty place to have a much needed run. 

After stretching, showering, and packing a lunch, we set off to see if we could find a place to explore the Shoshone River. We parked at a spot near town that had a paved Shoshone River Trail. There was a rafting group pushing off as we started our hike. The kids and I campaigned pretty hard to do a rafting trip, but Will has a lot of paranoia concerning the kids flipping out. The "rapids" are very light, and we watched a 2 year old getting into the raft trip we saw, but Will is convinced we will find something in Jackson to do that's a bit more his speed. We plan to hold him to it. The paved trail was fine but not all that secluded or impressive, so we went back to the car. 

While on our way to find this cave on Spirit mountain we read about, we turned off the highway when we saw a "place of interest" sign. We could see a road going along the river into a canyon. We stopped to eat lunch, and a random man in a truck stopped to asked if we'd gone down the road yet. He works at the power company along the river and told us to drive as far as we could down the road until we got to the public parking area. After that, only authorized vehicles can go down the road, but pedestrians are welcome. He told us to walk to the end, where there is a tunnel gated off, which would be the end of the line. It turns out that this was the closest we could get to the one side of the Buffalo Bill Dam. We did as we were told and were so glad we did! It was such a gorgeous walk in a canyon with the river at the bottom. The water was rushing more furiously here, and there were no areas calm enough for us to explore, plus we were up too high most of the time. But it was gorgeous! On one side we had the river with a high wall, and on the other side we had the other canyon wall. We could see where climbers had put in their metal clips for ropes all along the canyon walls. Apparently it is a popular place for climbers. We walked until the end where you could see half of the dam and the spray from some water being let in. There was a spot at the end were were able to go and feel the water (cold) and enjoy the nice, cool spray. 

On the way to this spot we found, we had passed a horse trail riding place we had read about. The kids, especially Eleanor, had expressed great interest, and so we decided they could do it. We gave them the option of going to see the Stampede or going for a horse ride. They chose horse. They said they'd rather be cowboys than watch cowboys. Will knew he would not go (remind me to tell you about our honeymoon  volcano horseback riding experience), so it was just the three of us. And now, I'm going to hand the iPad off to our mystery author while I wash some horse trail off of me in a much needed shower:

The horseback riding was overall, a splendid, stinky, stupendous, and scenic trip. For an hour ride, the horses/we hiked up spirit mountain, which was at least 75 yards up in the air. Not very much of the expedition was level. Most of the time we were going uphill. Michelle's horse was named Apache. He didn't seem to jazzed about the fact that he was going uphill, with a person on his back, in the blazing sunshine. Eleanor's horse was named Fluffy, and was second in line with the horse caravan, tied to our guides horse, Turbo. After Fluffy was Ethan's horse, Blackjack. Our guide told us that Blackjack was considered a "Grumpy old man, but overall nice to his rider." I guess that  the term, "Grumpy old man" comes from the fact that he really didn't like going downhill. But other than that, he was a "Spectacular horse," as Ethan quotes. On top of  spirit mountain, you could see all of Cody, Wyoming. Like a bumpy airplane, Will claims he would get "Motion sickness," when he decided to bail out. I think he just didn't want to smell the horse manure and look at the shiny green doo. Or he didn't want to pay to do it. Since you read this whole thing, I will tell you who I am. When I next see you.

Thank you to our mystery writer. I will add that this ride was definitely fun, if a bit scary at first. My horse had a mind of his own and kind of liked to do his own thing. Before we started, he walked over to where a bunch of other horses were tied up. They hadn't taught us how to reverse, and I was sort of scared of another horse getting spooked, so I had to wait for one of the employees to lead my horse back to the group. And, yes, the trail was quite steep at times. We were to lean forward while going up and lean back while going down. Apache stopped often to rest while going uphill; it started to give me a complex. We learned some neat things along the way, like why it's called Spirit Mountain. The mountain has a cave that has sulfur springs in it. Every so often, the Indians would see steam coming out of the cave and think they were spirits. Also, the Shoshone River was named by Indians and it translates to stinky river, due to the sometimes sulphuric smell. All in all, I'm glad the kids chose to ride the horses, as it's certainly not something you get the chance to do often. I have no doubt Eleanor will talk solely of this experience when telling about this trip. She was in heaven. 

While we were on our ride, Will had to drive to an ATM because the place only took cash (seriously?), and then he came back and waited, talking to the other employees. When we were leaving, he was talking to another man who worked at the power plant and urged us to drive up the road to see the dam from the other side, where there is a visitor's center. So that is what we did. Looking down the dam from the top is quite the experience. In 1910, Buffalo Bill Dam (previously Shoshone Dam) was the tallest in the world. Not so much anymore, but the video that showed how it was built was pretty incredible. The workers only had a few months out of the year to work because the flooding in the spring/summer was so bad. They had to do a lot of work in the bitter cold winter months and even finished it in January of 1910 after record breaking cold. The engineering of things like this is so beyond me, but I can appreciate how very difficult it must be. 

From the dam, we drove back through town, stopping at Walmart for a few staples for the next leg of our trip. Then we made a pit stop at Dominoes and ordered a pizza. Will took us back to the hotel to shower while he went back to get the pizza. We watched some Chopped and relaxed. 

To cap off our night, I got a voicemail from the department chair from Downers North, asking me to call him to "discuss the next steps." I went outside to call back and he told me he would love to offer me the position. Hooray! It was nice to finally get good news from a school administrator. He said he talked to the teacher taking the leave and told him that after several interviews, he had one obvious choice. He gave him the option of meeting me first, but the teacher said, nope, let's do it. So I will have a leave position until early Oct, and with some luck, maybe another one right after at Downers South. The chair said he will send an email in the next couple of days, putting me in touch with the teacher taking the leave so that we can find a time to meet. Exciting! Scary, but exciting!

I will try not to stress too much, though, and enjoy the next part of our trip. It feels likes we've been gone for so long, even though we aren't even in Yellowstone. The lake house seems like weeks ago. Funny how time works. Tomorrow we enter Yellowstone -can't wait!

Day 4 - Driving day

We all got a fairly good nights' sleep last night and were up about 7. I got some coffee and prepped a bit for the phone interview I had at 8am. I'd been contacted by the Downers Grove North English Department Chair about a leave position. He asked me to interview today, and when I told him we'd be on the road, he asked if I'd be willing to do it over the phone. So, this was my first interview, sitting in the car, wearing spandex and a t-shirt. Not bad! The department chair was very nice, and I feel like the interview went well. But, then, I usually feel like they go well, so who knows? He said it was possible they would do another interview with the teacher going on leave, but he may pick someone after the interviews today. He goes out of town tomorrow, but he said I would hear from him, either way, in the next week or two. So I'm on the way up the roller coaster one more time.

Speaking of roller coasters, our drive today was HILLY! But before we got to the hills, we made an unexpected trip to a Midas in a somewhat large town in eastern Wyoming. Our check oil light was going on the last couple of days and then another light went on, despite the fact that we had it changed right before we left on this trip. But with all the mountainous driving we've done and will be doing, we did not want to risk breaking down, especially since towns are few and far between. Thankfully, the nice guy at Midas checked, and he thinks exactly what Will expected: the guy who changed it back home forgot to reset the counter or whatever for when the warning light would go off again. We changed the oil earlier than needed, so now that we've driven 1000 miles or so, the warnings were going off. I got really nervous that it would be something serious, which would not have been fun. I'm glad we had it checked.

Shortly past this stop, we could see the white caps of the Rockies, and the drive got a lot more curvy. We went through Bighorn National Forest, where we went up and down and wound this way and that, all with gorgeous vistas on either side. Will is surely getting good practice for driving through Yellowstone. 

We did have an ornery Eleanor several hours into our trip. She went to a dark place and tried to bring the rest of us down with her. Honestly, the kids have done so well in the car. Today was our longest drive. Looking back, she was clearly hangry. We packed pb&js for lunch, but she refused, so she ended up having a blueberry muffin for lunch, along with some carrot sticks. After dinner, she perked up considerably.

We only made one short stop after the Midas stop, this time to check out a view in Bighorn and stretch our legs a bit. The drive after that was smooth, but had a ton of downhills and switchbacks. Once we were out of Bighorn, we had more straightaways. We arrived at our hotel right around 4:30, which meant the trip was 7 hours. It was supposed to take 6.5, so we did pretty well considering we had one bathroom, one Midas, and one stretch break. 

Our hotel, just before downtown Cody, is better than we expected. We are not in the main hotel building but in a stretch of motel type rooms with an outside door. We have a large room with two queens and the one bed is in a separate room of sorts. It doesn't have a door, but it is nice to have a little more space. (Our last place was TINY, reminiscent of our Banff hotel.) The last two nights, I've gone to bed with the kids. Now, Will and I have our own area and can stay up a bit and read. Not that I will last all that long. All the sitting in the car has worn me out! 

For dinner, we drove into downtown Cody and hit up a Mexican restaurant. It was decent. Then we walked around town for a little bit and went in some shops. Will talked about doing the nightly rodeo tonight, but I said I was just too tired. We may do a rafting trip tomorrow. We talked about doing one when we are in Jackson because we are staying along the Snake River. But I was thinking it might be smart to do it here since we only have two full days in the Tetons (Jackson), so spending half a day outside of the park might not be the best use of our time there. I know the kids want to do some white water rapids and we saw a "family trip" advertised. We will research tonight. 

For now, it's time to sip a little of the well-deserved tiny box of wine I got at the liquor store. Wyoming is apparently like Florida. You can't buy wine/liquor in the grocery, but there is always at least one or two liquor stores right next door. The one I went to had a drive through window! 

Day 3 - Rushmore and Custer State Park

Today was an eventful day. All of us, besides Eleanor, were up before 7, likely due to the time change. That was okay, though, because Will had read that Mount Rushmore can get crowded early. We set off around 8:30 or so and were parked and walking up to the monument by 9. 

I literally knew nothing about Mount Rushmore, other than the fact that it existed and I wanted to go there some day. So today, I learned a whole lot. Admittedly, I learned a lot mostly from helping the kids with their junior ranger packet. We decided to do it, hoping they would get a patch. But all they got was a lame plastic junior ranger badge. :) Ethan said, "If I knew it was just a pin, I wouldn't have done that." But we had to pay attention to the exhibits in the museums and during the movie, which was quite interesting. The man who thought of the idea for Rushmore was named Doane Montgomery. He thought it would be cool to carve out people like William Cody and other Western icons. He commissioned Gutzon Borglum, a sculptor, who thought these important presidents were a better idea. The way he built it, using a scale model and a whole lot of dynamite strategically placed, is pretty incredible. 

Before we even went to the museum, we took the short hike that takes you a bit up the hill. Ethan had the camera and took pictures of each individual president. There were several spots to get good pictures and se some of the details like Theodore Roosevelt's glasses and Abe Lincoln's hair. The whole thing took fourteen years to complete. Sadly, Borglum died as they were planning the final dedication. Most of the work had been done, though, so his son Lincoln finished as head sculptor. It was fun to learn more about Mount Rushmore and knock it off the list. 

From Rushmore, we were going to head to a place called Hippy Hill that the guy at our lodge recommended. Apparently, hippies gather there yearly, hence the name. It's a hike down a steep hill (duh) that leads to a lake into which people love to jump from rocks. He thought it had a spot to get in that didn't involve cliff diving. But we realized we didn't have Eleanor's suit with us, so we drove past where we needed to go and back to our place to get it. We had packed a lunch and just ate it in our room and did a bit more research. It looked pretty cool and fun, but I couldn't tell if there was a safe place to go in. And, there were several articles involving deaths there. So we decided to pass-you're welcome, grandparents. There's another place called Devil's Bathtub, which has a lot of natural water slides and such, but it was northwest over an hour. A lot of people said it was cool but difficult to find the trail at times, so we passed on that too. 

We are near Custer State Park, so we looked up lakes there and saw one called Sylvan Lake that looked really pretty and has a beach. Off we went. It was only 14 miles but took over half an hour because once you got close to the park, you were on roads with  u-turn switch backs. It really seems like we are in the mountains. We need to google what the difference is between a hill and a mountain. Anyway, the lake was very pretty. It had a lot of big rocks sticking right out of it. Ethan and dad decided to get good and hot with a hike, but Eleanor was interested in swimming, so we walked to the beach area. Water was cold but doable. Eleanor swam out to a big rock about 50 yards in and then settled in on the rocky beach. Will and Ethan came back, and Ethan really wanted to show me some of the hike they did, so we set off. There are a lot of spots where there are just boulders on top of boulders, and they are mostly easy to climb with the right footwear, and it makes you feel like you're really climbing a mountain. It was fun, but both Will and I have had to have several stern talks with Ethan, who wants to push the limits of what he can do. He keeps wanting to go up higher and higher or closer and closer to the edge. He will say things like I'm not going to get hurt, mom. I keep having to remind him that of course he doesn't intend to get hurt. I can only hope that at some point he will take his kids someplace similar and have the same anxiety we do. In fact, just yesterday he announced, "I can't wait to take my kids to the Badlands!" We hope we're around to listen to his stories of his kids' scaring him.

We left the beach, with some urging from me, who is always more aware of the time and what we still need to see/do. We stopped at a grocery on the way home to grab some sausage, potatoes, and green beans. We have access to a grill here and all kinds of kitchen tools in a bin we brought, so I cut the potatoes, seasoned them with salt, pepper and herbs, threw some butter on them and wrapped them all in foil. They took way longer than expected, so we kind of had a tasting menu of sausage, followed by green beans, finished off with potatoes. After dinner, we made a fire in one of a few pits they have and had s'mores. We had all the supplies with us already. 

Then it was shower time (mine was ice cold halfway through because Eleanor went before me) and now we are in bed. Well, Will is out reading in the lodge lobby, and I am telling Eleanor to be quiet and that of course she can't fall asleep because she's talking. 

We have a long drive to Cody tomorrow, closer to 7 hours. We will spend two nights in Cody so we have one full day there. I am anxious to get to West Yellowstone where we can do some laundry and settle in since we have 5 nights there. We are all enjoying ourselves, though, so I'm sure we will enjoy Cody, too. I have to say I had no idea that so much of South Dakota was this pretty. Driving several times to Webster, I thought of it as much more flat. We'll be sad to say goodbye tomorrow. 

Day 2 - Badlands

We left Brandon this morning around 8:40am and arrived at our final destination at 7:30 mountain time (8:30 central). Needless to say, we are all pretty tanked. The drive from Brandon to Rockerville (south of Rapid City) is only 5 hours, but we hit Badlands National Park on the way. 

Driving on 90 West in SD is fun, partly because it's really very pretty with the rolling hills and ranches and farms, but also because there are so many billboards advertising all kinds of places to stop. Wall Drug has at least 1,000 signs, but there are also other places like 1800 Town (We were suckered into stopping but did not pay the nearly $50 to walk around what is apparently an old movie set.) There is also the Corn Palace. Will said no to that one, but I think it would have been kind of neat. The whole outside is decorated with corn in mural fashion, and it changes yearly. Plus, it's free! One stop I was sad we couldn't make was to Laura Engalls Wilder's home. I saw a few signs for it, but it was a full hour north of 90, which seemed a bit too far, even though Little House on the Prairie is a big favorite of mine. 

One stop we did make was at the Minuteman Missile Historic Site. We just went to the visitor's center, which is essentially a museum devoted to the story of when there was a vast supply of nuclear misses, hidden in underground silos across the Great Plains. You can tour one of the silos, but we didn't have time. We looked around the museum, though, and the kids were actually somewhat interested. We talked to them about duck and cover drills and how Grandpa Jeff was in a submarine during the Cold War. I told Will we should at least be able to write off our mileage from today since he can talk about this stop in class. :)

The Minuteman stop was just north of where we turned off 90 to do the scenic route through Badlands NP. The loop basically does a half circle south of 90, and you end up back at 90, at Wall. It's 37 miles, winding through the northern part of the park. The badlands are pretty cool. We visited some badlands in Canada last summer, during our unexpected stay in Calgary. But these in SD are much more vast than anything we saw in Drumheller. The rock formations just go on and on, and they really make for some amazing vistas. 

Of course, both kids love climbing all over these formations, giving Will and I much anxiety (well, mostly Will). We did one trail but the heat made Will and Eleanor turn back fairly quickly. Ethan wanted to keep going and we came upon part of the trail where you had to go up a huge ladder built in the rocks with logs of wood and rope. People were coming down very slowly, and I didn't want to wait, but he said, "Mom, I HAVE to see what is at the top of that ladder. I can't leave until I see it." So up we went. We actually walked up a steep section next to the ladder. At the top, there were more rock formations. We had to go down via the ladder, which was a bit scary, but also pretty cool. We'd watched several others (including some grandparent types) come down, so I felt confident we could do it. I probably lost a pound of sweat on that hike, though, as did Ethan, so we went back to the car and drove to the visitor's center to cool off. 

At the center, we bought the National Park Badland's patch (we have a collection going), and Ethan bought a pin for his own collection. We also watched a movie about the area. (Typical story: white man wants something, so white man takes it. The Lakota Indians used to live all over the area, traveling with bison herds. Then homesteaders came, over-hunted the bison, took Indian land with help from government treaties that somehow kept taking more and more, etc. Indians forced into reservations and have to give up the way of live they had since long before the white man came. You know, the ugly kind of history we ignore. I digress...) From the visitor's center, we kept driving, stopping several times along the way to take in the sights. Ethan was mad when we wouldn't let him get too close to the edge of things - we're mean like that - and would have probably stayed climbing all day.

Once out of the park, you hit a wall: Wall, SD, that is! See what I did there? I'm crazy tired and slap happy. Wall is home to the world famous Wall Drug, which apparently is simply famous because everyone who goes there gets one of these green Wall Drug bumper stickers. It's essentially a big indoor mall with different stalls with things like art, jewelry, books, etc. There is even a small chapel. And it's full of kitschy stuff everywhere.  It's been in the same family for generations, though, and the story of how they have stayed in business basically from offering free ice water and five cent coffee. We took a couple pictures, walked around, and headed out. We drove another 40 minutes to Rapid City, where we found a nice little family restaurant for dinner. 3 of the 4 of us got breakfast while Will, who is the only person I know who doesn't love breakfast for dinner, opted for a burger. Then we hit the Target for a few odds and ends before driving on to Rockerville to our motel. 

We are here for two nights. It's a tiny room, reminiscent of our Banff Ave hotel, but it's clean. We broke out the air mattress tonight because the beds are doubles and I got beat up a bit by Eleanor sharing a queen last night. We had to rearrange some furniture to fit it, but Ethan is sawing logs to my right as I type. It was almost 9 here, which is like 10 to us, when we turned off the light. After a whole lot of hiking around in the heat today, both kids were exhausted and easily went to sleep. And now it's my turn.

Tomorrow we will see Rushmore and explore the Black Hills, which we are essentially in right now. And if we are still bored, we can always visit one of the dozen other MUST SEE sights we've seen advertised. Caves, monument adventure parks, Reptile Gardens, and even a drive-thru wildlife park. This area reminds us a bit like Gatlinburg in the Smokies. So much extra junk around a beautiful area. I'm sure the tourist money is so helpful, but it makes me sad that people can't just enjoy the natural fun.

Yellowstone Bound - Day 1

Wautoma, WI to Brandon, SD

We had an uneventful and easy drive today from the lake house to Brandon, SD, which is just over the border from Minnesota. We left the lake at 8:36 and got to our hotel at 3:26. With a 15 minute bathroom stop and 45 minutes at lunch (we had to go to 3 different places...), we made pretty good time. We like to keep our drives to around 6 hours, knowing that stops, construction, incidentals, etc. can make them much longer. Today, though, I almost wished we would have kept going a little further. But it was nice to get out of the car. 

Plus, the kids were very excited about our hotel, which has a water slide and small kiddie water park. The "waterpark" was a bit tired looking but the water slide was fun, and the kids played for over an hour. Then we took showers, grabbed some Subway and headed to the Big Sioux Recreation Area Will had read about. We paid our six bucks, got a map of some trails and headed in. Sadly, when we got out of the car, we were immediately attacked by mosquitos. Having left our repellent at the hotel, we had to abandon our hike and leave the rec area. Instead, we found a park at an elementary school and played there for a bit. We relaxed at the hotel for a bit before reading and bed time. Tomorrow, we head to the Rapid City area for two nights. We will explore the Badlands on the way and are staying close to Rushmore and the Black Hills.