These Adventurers are Tired! Day 8!

We spent this day trying to finish up with any last minute site seeing, or visiting anything we thought we missed. We've had a good time, but are ready for home and sleep. Going full blast for all this time has definitely caught up, and it will be hard to get back to reality without a break.

Ashlyn at the Flintstone campground sign in Custer, SD.

Molly delivering ribs at the Flintstone park.

These burrows were at Custer State Park that were descendents of other burrows that were used to haul visitors up a mountain trail. When the park stopped this they released them into the wild. These were the only animal in the park we were allowed to feed, and they were quite happy to get a snack.

Two guys with the same name... I'll let you figure that one out :)

This is the sign for the slide that Leah requested to go down for several days that we traveled back to. It was 2000ft long.

The girls on the lift up to the top to slide down.

On the way out of South Dakota


Molly tired out and catching a nap in the back seat of our second home, the van.

This is the last state sign we came to. The girls were SO tired of getting out to take pictures. Ashlyn has been telling everyone that they had to take pictures with 20-30 signs. I would like to go on record to clear things up. I only had the girls take pictures with 19 signs, and some of those were at their request.

Our last western sunset that I had to catch on the go. The sky is so colorful there, something I will miss.

This Adventure is Hot! Day 7

Today we started out in the Badlands of South Dakota. It was amazing to see the landscape. On one side of the road there were mountains with nothing (why the Indians called them the Badlands) and on the other side there was grassland as far as you can see. We went from a temperature in the low 50's last night, to the mid 90's today. It is definitely warm, but they have nothing on a Florida mid 90.

I didn't realize that I looked like a guy with this hat on. Nobody in the family told me until it was too late.

Mountains of the Badlands

Prairie across the road from the mountains.

There were grasshoppers EVERYWHERE! Al squished a couple. All the prairie dogs were eating them, that is the ones that weren't eating the food people were giving them. We walked down a short trail, and they were literally flying out of the way with every step.

I was amazed how they sit back on their tail to eat. This one was eating part of a sandwich someone gave it. We read that you're not supposed to feed them because they don't drink water, so it messes their metabolism up... they were everywhere, so they must survive somehow.

Encouragement to stay away from the prairie dogs :)

The girls on a boardwalk through part of the Badlands where fossils were found.

We were on the way to Custer State Park and saw this truck with antlers in the back. We talked to the ranger who was driving it, and he said they found these elk that died from fighting. Al was so impressed with the size of the antlers. The ranger thought they would score about 405 Boone and Crockett. It would have made the record book for sure!

Buffalo are everywhere out west. This is in Custer State Park. They are auctioned off in the fall every year from this park. People from all over the U.S. and Canada come to buy them for their land, breeding, or for slaughter.

The biggest white tail deer we saw in South Dakota. Don't know why they would run away, maybe because Leah had half of her body hanging out the back window of the van??! Click on the pic to see their horns better.
An elk that would make any hunter excited. Al loved it when we saw these.





This is the monument from the Wounded Knee Massacre. The U.S. Army killed over 200 Indians after taking their weapons from them when they were attempting to surrender. This monument is in the center of a rectangle that holds those bodies. This was in the Indian reservation. It must be a harsh reminder.

Welcome to Nebraska! This was on the edge of an Indian reservation here.

This Adventure is Patriotic! Day 6

We made it to South Dakota!

Deadwood, South Dakota


The bar that Wild Bill was shot and killed in
Click on thepicture to read the sign.

The man who murdered Wild Bill Hickok.

We learned a lot about the history of Mt. Rushmore and the presidents represented here.

Mt. Rushmore

Washington, 1st president, father of our nation, fought for our independence. Originally Washington and Lincoln were the only two presidents to be sculpted on Mt. Rushmore.

Jefferson, 3rd president, composed the Declaration of Independance. Responsible for purchasing Louisiana Territory from France for $15million. I thought one of his writings gave a glimpse of how he felt two days prior to leaving office. "Never did a prisoner released from his chains, feel such relief as I shall on shaking off the shackles of power."

Roosevelt, 26th president, most controversial addition to the monument, responsible for setting 5 national parks and multiple state parks appart to be kept safe. Also first president to travel out of US and started work on Panama Canal for international welfare.

Lincoln, 16th president, who was all about freedom and equality. "Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free...We shall nobl save or meanly lose, the last best, hope of earth."

This mountain goat and her kids were up near the memorial. One of the park rangers told us one of the kids had seen its reflection in the door of the ranger station earlier that day and tried to ram its reflection.

This is the crazy horse memorial. There were a lot of artifacts in the museum there like tools and craftwork different tribes of Indians made. It was also made abundantly clear how unfair the white man was to the Indians, always taking the best for themselves and "giving" the leftovers to the red man. We saw a laser show against this sculpture that told its story.

George Catlin was a white man who spent a lot of time with the different Indian tribes learning about them and their traditions.

Leah loved the beads shown in this collections which the Indians used in decoration. These were traded from Europeans who came to America.

Osceola, a leader of the Seminole tribe who is in my family tree. It's actually his sister that we're a descendant of.

The story of the Indians was a somber ending to this day.

This Adventure is High! Day 5

This is the grizzly bear we saw up pretty close today. This picture is taken through Al's spotting scope. It was up in a lot of wildflowers. We saw another one later today. It was walking up a hill, and we looked up and saw some people walking on a trail coming down. We were nervous about what would happen, but they must have seen all the people looking at the bear, so they went out and around the path of the bear. What a story they must have to tell.


We decided to go on a hike today. Leah has been asking and asking to go on a hike, so we decided to go up Mount Washburn. We drove part of the way up thinking it would help, but it was 3 miles one way. There was a lot of whining and some tears (won't mention any names) but we finally made it, and it was worth it. Such a beautiful view. We also saw some animals along the way that helped out. It took us about 3 hours total. 2 were on the way up, and 1 on the way back. It was actually more difficult walking back down since it was quite steep.

We weren't sure what this was, but once we reached the summit, there was some information letting us know it's a yellow-bellied marmot. We got pretty close before it went into a culvert to get away.
We made it!!

This is a mountain goat Al spotted from the look-out where we went to get out of the cold. It was on the very edge of the cliff.

Al and Leah played a little in this glacier that is still left. We passed some men on their way down who told us it snowed on them when they were at the top this morning. Leah made a "snowball" which made it most of the way down the mountain before she threw it at Ashlyn.

This was our last day in the park, so this is the sign we passed when we were leaving and heading toward Cody.

Al and I thought this bumper sticker was funny...

These are the actors and actresses from the gun fight we saw in Cody. It was a little corny, but neat all the same.

Another beautiful western sunset.