On the Road Again...South Dakota Edition

Oh my goodness, it is not for lack of trying that these pictures haven't been posted yet.  I've been busy with lots of fun projects that I'll update on in a later post, not the least of which is getting ready for our first day of school tomorrow!  The classroom is decorated and all the ordered books and supplies are in...the girls are R-E-A-D-Y and excited for kindergarten and second grade! 

We had a wonderful time on the trip.  We had a little rain on the way out, and then beautiful blue skies and 80 degree weather the entire time we were there...what a gift given all the outdoor activities to do in South Dakota! 

Mitchell

Of course we had to make a few stops along the way to our final destination, and one of those was the Mitchell Corn Palace.  The walls are redecorated every year with new designs made of CORN! 

On the road to Wall Drug...Africa seems to find us everywhere we go! 

1880s Town

This was one of those, "Let's stop here!" moments, and I'm so glad we did because it turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip.  Luca joined a bluegrass band.  Brenin learned to drive and had a gun pulled on her.  You know, the stuff memories are made of. 

It began with a 14 sided barn which was stuffed with movie props from Dances with Wolves, one of our favorite movies!  Does this look familiar? 

Here it is in the movie!

This is gross, but I've been haunted by the skinned buffalo in the movie for years and it was amazing to see it here and see that it was FAKE! 

Also gross, but crazy to see nonetheless...

A copy of the script. 

TRIVIA:  Number of times the word "tatonka" was spoken in true

Dances With Wolves depth and drama on our journey West. 

ANSWER:  2,973,642

:-)

Brenin ringing the school bell.

Danny missing work.  :-) 

I did not tell her to pose like this...this is the kind of drama I'm living in here, folks! 

The inside of the train caboose.

Luca looks a little nervous, don't you think??  Little did she know Brenin would be driving us all through town with REAL mules in a little while! 

Stumbling out of the salloon in the middle of the day...tsk.tsk.tsk. 

Jail birds. 

Oh Lordy....Jesus take the wheel (that's for you, Buffy!)!

I thought this was an unlikely duo but cute nonetheless.  :-)  This feller tried telling my babes that his camel in the field was a buffalo.  When Brenin said, "That's not a buffalo...that's a camel," the darn guy pulled his pistol on her!  He gave a little chuckle and said, "Are you sure that's a buffalo??"  I was like, "Did you seriously just pull a gun on my 7 year old??"  Only in the West!  :-) 

HILARIOUS Luca's in the band! 

Wall Drug

Finally made it to Wall Drug...

basically lots of food and shops but something to see on the way.

I know there's a picture of me on this very same

"jackelope" somewhere in existence.

The girls did AMAZING in the car.  They had movies, books, coloring, singing, teasing each other and lots of daydreaming time.  We split the ride up on the way there but drove the full 11 hours on the way home!   

The landscape was so different than what we're used to, and there is SO MUCH undeveloped land...You could go for miles and miles without seeing a house.  Danny kept saying how nice it was to see so much open space. 

Chuckwagon Meal and Cowboy Show

Brenin could have done this for HOURS! 

Little lasso lady!

We took every opportunity to lock our children up.

Can you guess who's in the pen this time?? 

Brenin was "in character" much of the trip. 

She's all about pioneers and cowgirls, so she was in her GLORY! 

They got to shoot wax bullets in a real pistol under the direction of this cowboy.  I nicknamed Brenin "sharpshot" after her turn because she hit a thin rope 2 shots in a row!  Doesn't she kinda look like Bono in those glasses?? 

After a little direction, she was able to shoot on her own. 

Luca on the other hand was a little bit more prissy about the pistol shooting.

An event she could have lived without.  I hear ya, darlin'.  :-)

Right before our chuckwagon dinner, a bandit made it into the kitchen and stole all the biscuits.  This cowboy asked all the kids to help him find the bandit, and Brenin was, well, slightly excited about this prospect. 

After a quick draw, the bandit was wounded and the biscuits were recovered.  Phew! 

Surprisingly good music at the cowboy show! 

Bear Country USA

This is a drive-thru park where you get to see all the animals of South Dakota just living in habitat that you happen to be driving through.  It was SO neat to see these animals up close!

There was also a baby animal section where you could get out of your car safely and see baby animals in cages like at the zoo.

There were an unbelievable number of bears in the drive through part.

We kept seeing signs on the road to watch for long-horned sheep crossing, but we never saw one in the wild.  Aren't they incredible?? 

Wolves.

Pole dancing  (ha!)

These were named the "black hills" because they are covered in pines, which from afar look black.  Up close, they are very much green, and their bark smells like vanilla (a tip we learned while at Mt. Rushmore!) 

Mt. Rushmore

Mt. Rushmore is one of those things that you learn about and hear about, and then you go and see it and think, "Wow, that was WAY cooler than I could have imagined it to be."  We took the tour and about 4 gazillion pictures.  It was so great to hear how each of the presidents was chosen for the monument and contemplate our country's noble beginnings. 

"Who's that?" Luca asked, and I felt my eyes well up. 

It was history and future colliding, and how I wished he could see her face looking into his. 

Custer State Park

From Mt. Rushmore, we took in the breathaking scenery on our way to Custer State Park.  The roads are not for the faint at heart, and coincidentally Danny is rather faint at heart.  Also coincidentally, I was driving that train AND eating a delicious sub sandwich and Butterfinger blizzard while I drove.  We did in fact make it to Custer State Park that day, and Danny is recovering nicely. 

Tunnels bore right into the rock to drive through! 

Here's a double one! 

Begging burrows at Custer...all we had to feed them were some fruit snacks, and they LOVED 'em! 

Our goal for Custer was to see some buffalo in the wild.  We were starting to get disappointed when we were nearing the end of the park and still hadn't seen one.  We came over the last hill, and the sight we saw was INCREDIBLE!  Literally hundreds of buffalo roaming!!!!  We were stuck there for about an hour because they were everywhere, on the road, between cars, peering in car windows.  It was amazing.  Despite warnings to stay in your car and don't go near buffalo because they are dangerous, Danny figured he had already survived my driving/blizzard eating on mountainous roads and decided to throw caution to the wind one more time for this shot. 

Oh give me a home...where the buffalo roam!

After this, my camera battery died and I realized I left the charger at home.  I did something that I'm not proud of, and I'm still coming to terms with the fact that it happened, but....I bought disposable cameras.  *sigh*  I haven't gotten them developed yet because I'm still sulking about the whole thing and not very excited to see the over-exposed, grainy, non-interesting results, but on them is Sitting Bull, Keystone, panning for gold / gold mine tour and hotel/swimming shots.  If I can bear it, I'll take them in one day and dive deeper into my shame.  (wink) 

The most valuable part of any vacation for me is the feeling when you get back home.  There's no gratitude like it for the place where you live and the people you share life with. 

"And each heart was whispering Home, Home at last!"

-Thomas Hood-