Road Trip Adventure Part 3

Day 3 was more of a review day than anything else, but probably the funnest day our whole trip!  We left the hotel at 8 and went straight to the badlands because we still had to get our passport stamp.  But this time we didn't just look at the Badlands; we were able to walk around INSIDE the badlands!  It was the best part about the whole trip!  Olivia even loved it too!

See.  IN it!

And if I were homeless, I would live here:

John and Olivia climbing to the top

Next we took a tour of the Minuteman Missile Command center area.  We didn't take any pictures except of this cute donkey!

Next we toured Jewel Cave which is the 2nd longest cave in the WORLD!  It is over 160 miles of mapped passage ways, but there are many different depths of the cave.  Looking at it from a surface, it only takes up about 3 square miles.  It is 18 miles away from Wind Cave, but completely different!  This cave had big huge rooms and openings.  Google it and go to it.

Next we did the most spontaneous thing our whole trip!  We went to the CENTER OF THE NATION!!!  We left our hotel early in the morning and started driving up HWY 85 when we saw a sign that said CENTER OF THE NATION!  It was just 7 miles off the highway, so we turned on a little dirt road, found this sign made by a 6year-old, and took some pictures!

We squoowzed through some barbed wire to this flag just a few feet off the road.   This was the official center marked with a geological survey marker.

I was there too.

We got back into the car and a few miles later:

Yep!  NORTH DAKOTA!!!!!!!!!!  Our first (and probably last time) in the ND.

After a little while of driving, knocking on random doors, and off roading in a minivan, we made it to our first North Dakota Destination: White Butte.  Elevation 3,506 ft

The road up the the butte was closed, so we walked it: a whole mile.

Hay!  So we took a picture.

This is where the real trail begins.  Jessica got stuck in the mud and got a mud tattoo.

Papa always takes the lead, mostly because we just can't keep up with him.

Crazy Ol' Maurice, always good for a laugh.  He's at the summit waiting for the rest of us with Olivia on his back!

Proof:

At the top there is a pile of rocks with a plaque of a guy's name.  I think it's a dead guy buried there, but John disagrees. 

At the top, there was an old tin lunchbox with pens and a notebook.  Each person who made it to the summit wrote their name, date of submitting, and hometown.  

Next was the Badlands of North Dakota.  Not as cool as the other ones.  Only worth one picture.

And then a visit to Teddy R's house.

(Theodore Roosevelt: The dead pres.)

Then we went to Montana, slept in Billings, went to Little Bighorn Battlefield (Custer's last stand): and a marker where Custer died in the battle:

Then we went to church, went to a gorge that we didn't really see, then drove home!  That's all!

Road Trip Adventure Part 2

We had a wonderful, super busy first day, but the next day was even better!  First we started off the day by going to the Wind Cave in South Dakota.  It is that 5th largest cave in the world.  The tour was an hour and ten minutes and about 1/2 mile walk through the cave.  

The tiny hole that is largest known outside entrance into the cave.  It is just big enough for me to squeeze though pre-pregnancy.  Now, I'm not so sure.  Just around the corner is where we entered the cave through a revolving door, going down maybe 50 steps to the inside of the cave.

We are "listening" to the tour guide.  He repeated himself over and over again.  It didn't help that everyone was asking the same questions.  What was an hour tour could have been a 20 minute activity.

Here is the path that we went on.  There weren't many huge open areas where we could gather as a group.  Most of the time we were walking single file through the cave.

Olivia hated being the backpack because the tour guide would ramble on for 15 minutes at a time and she would get so bored she would just scream.  So we took her out and would walk up and down the path.  

Then Olivia started screaming for about 10 minutes.  We stuffed an empty bottle in her mouth because we couldn't have any food in the cave and within minutes, she was out.

One thing that the cave is famous for is their Boxwork.  This picture doesn't show it very well, but google it. The pictures are neat.

And this is finally the end of the cave.  It was really cool to go through and see the natural formations, but it would have been better if Olivia was asleep the entire time and the tour guide wasn't so boring.  I highly recommend anyone going to South Dakota to check it out.

After the cave, we went to climb the highest peak in South Dakota: Harney Peak.  

The elevation is a little over 7200 feet and the hike is less than 7 miles round trip.  It was so easy, I would even like my 5-year-old do it.  I could have probably taken my jogging stroller up most of the way.  

Before we started, we had lunch at Sylvan Lake.  Since it was so windy, we ate lunch by the toilets instead of the picnic benches overlooking the lake.

And for those unbelievers out there, here is the close up picture of me eating in front of the toilets.

                                      

The hike started out ridiculously simple.  The sign at the beginning of the trail said that it was 6-miles round trip and that we should allow 4-5 hours for the hike.  Well, it was 1:30 and we needed to get to Mt Rushmore, 25 minutes away, before 5:00 so that we could get our passport stamped before the visitors center closed.  That gave us less than 3 hours to hike.

This is about 1/2 mile in.  Over the rocks that we are standing on is a huge valley.  Our goal was to get to the other side where you see the peak in the background.  It looks a lot father away that it was.

At the very top, there is a mini-castle.  There is Olivia on Papa's back!

And here is the view from the top.

Proof that we were all there together

What should have been a 5-hour hike turned out to be 2 1/2 hours.  If we all went Chris' pace, we would have been done in an hour.  We had a little less than an hour to get to Mt Rushmore before the visitor center closed.

These guys were just chillin' on the side of the road.

We didn't make it before 5.  In fact, we went to Mt Rushmore 3 times on our trip.  We saw it Thursday just after 5, then we wanted to see it when the lights were turned on, so we ate dinner and came back that night, then we went back the next day to get our passport stamped.

Olivia loved it!

Her favorite part was crawling around everywhere!

Even at night, Olivia just wanted to walk around everywhere.  She didn't even want to pose for the picture.

That was day 2!

This picture is for part 3, but I  loaded it to this post by accident. 

That's all!  Stay tuned.

939 Miles and One Pampers Part 1

It all began at 7:30 PM on April 10.  Ending at 7:00 PM April 15.  Total mileage: 2835.8 miles.  Number of states visited 6. 

It was an awesome road trip.

We did so much, I can't even write everything in one night or even one post!    Here's day one with pictures.

First of all, John has been planning this road trips for months!  Every hour was planned.  We invited John's parents to come with us because neither of them have been to North Dakota and, to be honest, we wanted to split the cost.  We left on Tuesday night after John got off work and started our journey by driving through the night.

First stop:  Panorama Point: the highest point in Nebraska.  Arrival time 4:00 AM.

John's goal is to climb the 50 highest peaks of the 50 states.  In this trip, we knocked out 3 of them.  He also collects a  rock from the top of each peak and plans on displaying them in a custom made coffee table some day.  I was asleep until the car pulled up to the top, but to get there, we took several dirt roads that went on for miles until we drove to the top of Nebraska.  We had to wake Olivia up and get out of the car for the experience:

Next, only 3 miles away and down several other dirt roads, we went to the spot where Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska all come to a point!  There John is on the top of all three states.  Jessica, Olivia, and I are in Nebraska, or Colorado in this picture.  There, Olivia was in 3 different states in a matter of 10 seconds!

Next, we went to Devil's Tower in Wyoming located in North East Wyoming.  Right as we entered the park, there were hundreds of Prairie Dogs just chillin on the side of the road.  Of course we had to take pictures:

Here's one dog.  Cooler looking in person than in picture.  While the grandparents were looking at these Prairie dogs, John and I went to change Olivia's diaper after 15 hours and 939 miles of NO CHANGING.  It weighed about 4 pounds, no leaks, and definitely Pampers commercial worthy.

 We pulled up to Devil's Tower and "hiked" around it.  It's not really a hike since it was a 1.3 mile paved walk.

 Olivia at a Gingersnap and posed for a hiking picture.

And here I am rock climbing Devil's Tower free handed.  Who needs ropes.

Next, we got into the car and drove toward Rapid City, South Dakota.  Our first stop was the Badlands.  It was amazing!  Pictures don't do it justice.

Olivia has a National Parks passport.  It's a little book that lists all the National Parks and whenever she visits one, she gets a stamp in her passport.  This park, the visitors center that has the stamp closed at 4.  We decided to walk a small path before going to the visitors center.  However, Olivia insisted on walking 1/4 mile of the path and she walks slower than my grandma, so we didn't make it to the visitors center.  But here she is walking!  John illegally climbed up the top of a hill and took this picture.

 Here we are overlooking the Badlands.

Olivia taking her precious time down the path.

After we missed the visitors center, we went to a disarmed Missile Silo.  It's a real missile in the middle of nowhere.

 That was the last thing that we did on day one! 4 states!  We checked into a hotel and ate dinner.  It was a long day, but awesome!