Dinosaur Park

Road tripping means stopping at really random places.  I think the dinosaur park in Rapid City qualifies for really random.  On the very pinnacle of a very steep hill are five concrete dinosaurs.  Yup, just five concrete dinosaurs hanging out.  The city council approved the creation of this park back in 1936!  So they are old and slightly falling apart.  Poor T-Rex doesn't have any of teeth anymore, perhaps he should get dentures.  His claws have been broken off so his arms are just little nubs.  And his tail is starting to pull up the concrete that is supposed to be holding him down from tipping over.

The poor stegosaurus has a melting blob tail, but was by far the easiest for all of us to climb. 

The triceratops, brontosaurus, and duckbill are in pretty good shape.  They kids could climb all over these creatures and just have a good time.  

Once we were done we went down into Rapid City looking for some dinner.  Instead we found art alley.  I was torn between being impressed and a little scared.  It was definitely a back alley, even if it was a colorful back alley.  

After we made it through, Daxton asked not to walk back down the creepy road again.  Deal!  Instead we hoped in the car and found some delicious pizza for dinner.

Wildlife Loop

Back to nature!  In Custer State Park there is a road called the wildlife loop.  If you want an up close and personal view of some wildlife, this is the road you want to drive.  During the first few minutes we couldn't see any animals, just a lot of animal droppings.  So at least we were on the right path.  Eventually we caught up to a herd of bison.  It felt very similar to Yellowstone.  These were small and a different species than the ones we saw last summer.  They were also just as bold approaching the cars on the road, but getting through them wasn't much trouble.

  The trouble came when we found our road blocked by a herd of burros!  They were very curious animals and as we watched them stick their heads into the windows of the cars ahead of us I wondered what they were doing.  

They made their way to our car and without a hint of shyness stuck their giant heads into our car looking for goodies!  Their lips were wiggling as they opened and closed their mouths begging for something to eat.  I didn't know what to do!  Jeremy was a tease and put a grape right up to one of the burros mouth and then slowly pulled it away farther and farther into the car until it was basically on my lap.  

Don't let this innocent face fool you!

Cambrie wasn't faring much better in the back seat.  Jeremy and rolled down and locked all of the windows so the kids couldn't escape.  They kept looking for grapes, but if we didn't give them any they weren't too disappointed because then they just got to work licking our car!  

We finally made our way through the herd to the other side of the park.  As we stopped to look at more bison, we noticed another car with a whole bunch of lick marks on its side.  The driver laughed at our car and wondered if we had given them any carrots, apparently those are their favorites.  We had carrots!  It was simply very hard to think when they were literally in our faces.  Maybe next time we'll remember the carrots.  And if you're wondering what burros tongue marks look like, they look like this:

 

Crazy Horse Monument

After getting out our wiggles at Sylvan Lake, we thought the kids could handle another national monument and went to see Crazy Horse.  After seeing Mount Rushmore we could see what a great vision and some tenacity could accomplish.  Crazy Horse started being constructed about the same time that Mount Rushmore was finished.  It doesn't have the same kind of national funding and so it's taken the sculptor's family a lot longer to finish it.  I thought the story behind the inspiration of the monument was really cool.  Chief Standing Bear wrote to Korczak Ziolkowski to ask him to take on this project because, "My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know that the red man has great heroes too."  Crazy Horse was one of their most iconic chiefs who most notable fought in the Battle of Little Big Horn and fought to keep his tribe free of the US government. 

 The Indian Museum at the site was very comprehensive and had a lot of beautiful artifacts.  What an amazing culture.  It would be great to see it during the summer when they have workshops and demonstrations.  

This is the vision for what Crazy Horse is meant to be.  If they can actually complete this carving, it will be stunning!

Until then, we get to use our imagination.

Sylvan Lake

Remember how this is an off-season vacation?  Well we had to pack for the unexpected because we simply didn't know what we would find open.  We packed all of our snow clothes in case we found a winter adventure spot, and boy did we!  We drove a short ways from Mt. Rushmore to Sylvan Lake, and it was gorgeous.  Not only was it so pretty to look at in its winter splendor, it was also completely frozen over so we went and played on the ice.  

At first we just practiced sliding.  Then we tried to see who could slide the farthest.  Then we decided to see who could come up with the most creative way to move across the ice.  Kelton was able to snow angel his way down the lake.  

What a fun candid moment of my boys!

Wait for me!

I thought the rocks that surrounded the lake were beautiful.  I can picture them in summer with the bright blue water lapping around the edges and I think it's just as pretty having them frozen in time.  

The lake was small enough that we decided to take a walk around the whole lake.  At the far end we found the dam that made the lake possible.  

We had to climb through a small cavern to get below the lake and make our way up and around.  

That was a fun area to explore because we found a small waterfall, a rock climbing route, and some quartz that McKenzie really wanted to mine.  While McKenzie was treasure hunting, the boys realized that they could scamper to the top of some rocks and it provided the perfect snowball ambush site.  They prepared a lot of snowballs so that when Jeremy and the girls caught up they were attacked from above.  

It was a little windier on the other side of the lake, which the boys discovered had frozen over the snow to make a great belly slide.  They climbed up and slid down time and time again.  

As we made our way back to the car some of the kids' legs were getting a little tired.  McKenzie asked Cambrie to pull her, then Kelton grabbed on, and finally Daxton became the caboose.  

Cambrie couldn't get enough traction to pull them all, and even Jeremy only managed to move them a little ways before they realized it was easier just to walk.  But I still love this shot of them all! 

Mount Rushmore

Our first stop of the morning was Mt. Rushmore.  Jeremy came once as a kid, but I have never been and was excited to go and see it.  We are pros at going on vacation on the off-season, and while we run into some complications (like a remodeling of the Avenue of Flags), we don't run into a lot of other tourists.  

The sun was just rising and lit the mountain perfectly for our family picture.  

The museum down below was fascinating.  Even the boys liked watching the informational video about how the workers would hang from swings and use dynamite to carve most of the mountain.  Cambrie and Jeremy thought it was incredibly clever to use a giant plumb bob to transfer the measurements from the model to the mountain.  I was hoping to be able to take the walking path right to the foot of the rock pile, but it was closed because of ice and snow.  It is a pretty impressive creation.  I can't imagine America making anything like this in the future and was really grateful we were able to go visit it.  I just couldn't peel my eyes from the mountain while we were on site. 

A final profile shot of Washington as we drove away.

South Dakota

Welcome to the random moments section of our road trip.  On our first day we stopped in Torrington for a picnic lunch at the local park.  The kids enjoyed getting out some wiggles on the playground equipment.  Jeremy and I were even able to get out our wiggles on the public ellipticals.  

We stopped as soon as we crossed from Wyoming into South Dakota to get another state sign picture.  We can officially cross this state off of our list now! 

 We had hoped to visit the wind caves, but like everything in the world their operations have been affected by covid-19.  The cave tours were postponed, but we stilled walked along the path to the cave entrance.  The kids each packed their cloaks to travel with.  And they thought, why not go hiking while wearing cloaks?  They reminded me of hobbits from Lord of the Rings. 

Jeremy thought that lowering our sons into the natural entrance of the cave would be a good idea...I've had enough scary experiences with exploring caves that I didn't quite agree.  Luckily Kelton was too nervous to go exploring.  

Near Custer we passed a huge sculpture made out of bicycles.  We pulled over and went exploring.  It really was a sculpture made entirely of bicycles; new, old, antique, broken, new-ish, children bikes, and adult bikes.  We walked through it just thinking that it took a lot of dedication to keep something like this growing, and I was grateful to find something so unique.  And we heard the unexpected from our teenage daughter, "Wow, road trips are actually a lot of fun!"  I'll take that as a win.

There were very few restaurants and shops open this time of year, so when we stopped at Custer and found the only burger shop open in town, we had to wait a bit for a table.  We wandered around town and found an old stage coach stop, stage coach, and bunk house.  And while we couldn't go into the museum, we could slide down its banisters!  

Luckily for us, once we did get our dinner we were not disappointed!  Black Hills Burger and Bun was amazing and we left with incredibly happy tummies!  Cambrie thought the restroom sign at the diner was awesome.  I admit, it made me chuckle too.  Day one on the road wasn't too bad!