Vacation

It’s been two years since we took an official family vacation so we made up for it last week. Be forewarned – this will be a loooong, picture-heavy post, but I do it to keep the written memories for years to come when my memory doesn’t serve me so well. (If you want to skip the narrative and see ALL of the pictures I took – click HERE.)

Wednesday

We got a slow start due to vehicle issues, but everyone was excited to be on the road. Jake worried us when he announced he had to pee less than 40 miles from home then wondered, “Is THIS Colorado?!” when we drove through Pierre – 90 miles from home and 850 miles until the cousins’ house.

After that, we kept the kids so busy they didn’t have time to think about if they were “there” yet.

We made a quick tour through the Prairie Homestead right before the entrance to the Badlands. We have several soddies in our pastures. (Soddie: a house or barn built of strips of sod, laid like brickwork used by settlers.) While many sod homes used wood, the ones in our have a stone foundation and that is what remains today. The kids love to climb on the rocks and ask questions about the early settlers that lived there. Which is why we thought The Prairie Homestead, an actual sod farm, would be a great stop.

The farm has been kept up and all the buildings are the same (including furniture) as the original inhabitants left them in 1949. Cool stop!

The Prairie Homestead

Chickens roamed near the barn.

Prairie dogs were ALL over.

Brady and the kids head to the barn.

We quickly moved on to the Badlands. Before we got there, the kids kept asking what the Badlands were. My descriptions didn’t excite them. But we all thoroughly enjoyed our drive, hiking and looking at the amazing landscape.

Patricia nabbed a photo of Brady and I in the Badlands.

On top of the world!

We ended Day 1 with a visit to Dinosaur Park in Rapid City. You can’t visit Rapid without seeing Dinosaur Park – that’d be like skipping Mt. Rushmore.

Jimmy and Brady watching a couple B-1 bombers in the distance. Ellsworth AFB is just east of Rapid City.

Dino silhouette.

Thursday

This was our crazy day. The kids and I took a walk along Rapid Creek and played in a park while Brady got the tires rotated. I count that as a stop since the kids (and I) expounded energy. Our first “touristy” stop was Bear Country. My husband called it “a license to print money”. I can’t argue but it was pretty cool to see the wild animals up close from the safety of our vehicle.

Jimmy got pretty nervous so dug his pliers out and gripped them tightly the entire time – just in case something tried to crawl in the vehicle with us. Love that kid!

The elk were just shedding their velvet.

Pliers to keep us safe.

Staring in amazement out the window.

BEAR! He marched right up to the vehicle and sat down in the middle of the road behind us.

We have badger holes in our pastures now and again so the kids liked seeing what one actually looked like.

Baby bears snuggled up with an elk horn.

An arctic wolf and her babies.

We ventured on to the Cosmos Mystery Area tucked back in the Black Hills. Neither Brady or I had ever been there, but it was recommended as and lived up to a cool place to check out.

Tricia helped with a demonstration – the ball rolled up hill.

The trees grew all bent over in this area (OR they put weights on them when they were little to make them grow like that.)

Lunchtime was approaching and Brady prided himself on multi-tasking at the Alpine Slide. We rode a tram to the top of a little mountain to an open air restaurant with a fabulous view. After lunch, we slid down the hill. Hands down, the kids’ favorite stop of the day.

Jake and I rode in the seat behind Brady and the kids.

WOW!

Getting ready for the big slide.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee……..

Great view – the city of Keystone looks great, too. 🙂

On to Mt. Rushmore. It truly is breathtaking to see those faces carved in stone. I tried to give the kids some perspective – think of how they hung off the side of the mountain and carved by hand, etc…. They were underwhelmed.

Still on Thursday here! We drove south through Custer State Park to Wind Cave. After lots of hot, sunny outdoors activities the cave felt great – 58 degrees. We had a great Park Ranger – obviously not her first time guiding a tour. We had several young kids in our tour group and she explained things wonderfully for them.

The boys weren’t big fans of the “let’s see the cave as the first explorers did” trick. Jake tried to crawl up some girl beside him. He was quite startled to find it wasn’t me! Later on the tour, he grabbed me and pulled me real close, “Mama, is this you? Oh, good.”

Steep ascent into Wind Cave.

Wind Cave has 98% of the world’s cave boxwork.

While checking in to the hotel that evening, the clerk kindly mentioned the Mammoth Site was next door and still open. As if we hadn’t done enough that day, we trekked on up the hill. I’m so glad we did. It was such a great stop! Jimmy, in particular, loved hearing about how the mammoths trapped themselves in the sink hole and have been preserved there for 26,000+ years. To date, paleontologists have dug out 61 mammoths.

How the kids compare to mammoths and elephants.

The kids were in awe of the huge sink hole and all the mammoth skeletons exposed.

Excavating tools lined up next to a mammoth tusk.

The kids enjoyed being mammoths the rest of the night. We ended the day at Wooly’s next door to the hotel. Brady and I enjoyed a great steak (and a glass of wine for me) then we all crashed.

Friday

We headed out early Friday morning for Colorado Springs and a much anticipated visit with cousins. Our one stop along the way was probably more for mommy’s and daddy’s enjoyment. It turned out to be a great leg stretcher for the kids as well – the Anheuser Busch (a.k.a. Budweiser) Brewery tour in Ft. Collins, Colorado.

Yes, we took our kids on a brewery tour. Honestly, it was very educational. I was impressed at the questions my farm kids asked the guide. I think the guide was, too. And, yes, it really does taste better fresh.

Ft. Collins is home to the western Cydesdale team but they weren’t home this day.

Left: hops. Right: This was just a small part of all the beer in the last phase of brewing. This room smelled SO GOOD!

The guide told the kids he’d give them an extra cup of pop at the end if they could correctly guess how many cans were down there.

We made it to Colorado Springs just in time for the big kids to pick up the oldest cousin from school. YAY!!!! Two days of craziness ensued.

We hung out at my brother- and sister-in-law’s house that evening. The kids had a great time playing. They were all full of energy fueled by excitement so we sent them on a hunt in the backyard. We all settled in for a movie night later.

The kids went on a coyote hunt in Monty and Erin’s back yard.

They came home empty handed.

Plotting the next hunt.

Crashed together for a movie.

Saturday

The Garden of the Gods right in Colorado Springs was a perfect place to let the kids run and explore. Plus – it’s free! How did we know when it was time to go? When Jake laid down on a rock to go to sleep.

Wes, Tricia, Nate, Jimmy, Jake.

Rocks are for jumping.

Pike’s Peak, Colorado

Rest stop.

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, CO

Jake decided he was done.

All the cousins don’t get the chance to ride together often. We got Patricia going around the poles and the boys all had more fun playing with panels and a plastic pipe.

Tricia hopped on Trigger to do poles after getting some advice from daddy.

Who needs toys when you have panels?

Monty and his mini-me, Nate.

Again, who needs toys.

Gracie wasn’t interested in grass.

Sunday

We had a slow Sunday morning while the kids played.

I was so impressed at how well the kids got along and played the whole weekend.

We tried to take Wes home with us.

We started home that afternoon. We good visit that evening with my college roommate then drove late to make it as far as we could, ending up in Ogallala, Nebraska. Not a super exciting tourist destination, but who doesn’t like to say Ogallala? Want to hear something fun – get Jake to say it.

Monday

The kiddos had great fun at the hotel pool in Ogallala the next morning. Especially when they discovered how much fun daddy can be in the water.

Since school was set to begin in two days, we stopped in North Platte to finish getting their necessary supplies. We didn’t want to be quitters so made a pit stop to Bailey Yard, the largest rail yard in the world. That’s right. In Nebraska. You learn something new everyday. It’s where east meets west on the Union Pacific line, and where 10,000 cars are handled each day on 2,850 acres of land stretching out eight miles. It really is something to see. They’ve constructed an eight story tower and visitor center overlooking it all.

Golden Spike Tower and Visitor Center.

Bailey Yard, North Platte, NE.

We felt more comfortable sitting on the open air deck, story seven.

The boys staring out over Bailey Yard from eight stories up..

With our minds on vacation overload, we started the rest of the trip home. Although we did find this gorgeous little scenic overlook for a snack stop overlooking the Niobrara River northeast of Valentine, NE.

We made it to my parents’ that night (100 miles from home). We enjoyed a quick visit with them and my grandma. We made it home Tuesday afternoon just in time for the kids’ school open house.

If you haven’t seen enough, ALL of the pictures I took are in a gallery HERE. Yep, these are just the highlights. That’s what happens when a photographer goes on vacation.