The Great National Park Adventure - Rushmore

Shorty at our Custer Cabin

  We woke up in Custer State Park to a beautiful morning - I could see my breath!  A beautiful haze was blanketing the huge trees.  Oh how I wish that we could have lingered a little longer in Custer.  They have wonderful wildlife and just neat areas to explore.  We were feeling the crunch though and after a brief stop at the visitors center in Custer that the CCC built, we were on our way to Rushmore.

wouldn't this be an awesome house?

  The drive up was just beautiful.  Even though it wasn't far from where we camped, the curves and switchbacks made it slow going, but really who minds when surrounded by so much beauty of nature?

   When we got to Rushmore, we could tell that it was almost the next weekend because the crowds had really picked up.   The cool thing was when we walked through the parking garage we saw almost a different state/province in every slot!  To be totally honest, I was very disappointed at the "grand entry" to see the monument.  I thought that the monument itself was grand enough and the other just took away from that.  It wasn't there when I was there 20+ years ago, so I was glad I had the memory of that time:)
 

   The exhibit area down closer to the monument was really well done.  They were interactive for the kids and great for all different learning types.   The kids' favorite one was where you could push a tnt detonator plunger and make parts of Mt. Rushmore explode using original video footage.

Making Rushmore go "boom"

getting sworn in as Rushmore Jr. Rangers

  The walk on the President's trail was so pretty with lots of great photo opportunities.  Bubby was really interested in all the Ponderosa pines in the area and would pick up the needles along the path and hand them to Shorty telling him what they were.  Shorty misunderstood and thought they were "porkapine" quills :)

  By the time we left Rushmore, our hopes of reaching Devil's Tower for an afternoon visit were slim, so we just headed for our next night's stay in Keyhole State Park.  It is about 20 miles away from the tower, but you can see it in the distance on your descent into the park.

  Our cabin at Keyhole was more basic (without a heater or close showering facilities), but it was still lovely and lakeside too! 

   Oh how majestic that tower looks!  I've been 3 times and am not tired of it yet.  We got there right when the visitor's center opened and got "rock star parking", which was good, because when we left a couple hours later, it was getting really busy.  

  Surprisingly the kids didn't get really tired of all the hiking we did.  They all trooped along, just excited to be seeing what we saw at each place.  Shorty didn't care much for the faces on the mountain at Rushmore, but he did enjoy the tower - maybe it was because of all the rocks he could climb along the trail.

walking the tower trail

 

  

the kids on the debris at the base of the tower

   After earning their 5th and last Jr. Ranger patch, we started on our last leg through the mountains in Colorado - um, or so we thought.  From about Gillette, Wyoming on we drove through rain.  When we reached a few miles north of Cheyenne the road signs started saying that all roads were closed from Cheyenne to Colorado - huh?  We'd been without internet/tv/phone service for a couple of days so had no idea what was going on.  After we got cell service I made a call to Ducky and Gigi to find out what was going on and they told us about the flooding going on in Colorado.  What a blessing we weren't a day or so earlier in crossing the state border (they had closed the border just that day) - we had been planning on heading to Estes Park area.

  We turned east on I-80 and decided to drive on home.  When we hit pea soup fog in Nebraska, we were doubting our choice.  It even had strong winds with it, but the fog was unaffected!  When we stopped for gas, the attendant said that it had been like that for 2 days.  Thankfully, we ran out of it and had a great uneventful trip safely home.  Shorty woke up when we pulled in at 4am and cheerfully shouted "Home!".  He was more than ready to be there, his schedule had been shot to high heaven on this trip and he was done.  Actually the rest of us were wearing thin too, that is except Bubby.  That kid just fed off of each place we went.  We told them in stages where we were going over the next day or so, that way they would enjoy each thing and not be looking forward to the next to do.  Every time we'd let them in on the schedule, he'd say "I've read about that place and have always wanted to go!" and tell us some odd fact about it.  

  The funny thing about this trip was that the kids asked what we'd be doing about school since they were missing it.  They thought we were weird when we told them that they'd been doing school the whole time!  But really, all the intensive Jr. Ranger research, all the math figuring out ETA and how long the trails would be, P.E. (the hiking), geography, history, etc.... it was the ultimate in school! 

   Who knows when we'll have the opportunity again for something like this, but we'll be ready when we get it! :)

 

  

The Great National Park Adventure pt. 2

  The second part of our second day included Agate Fossil beds.  This is a high concentration of fossilized mammals.  Bubby's favorite part was a trail that had several Daemonilix which were the corkscrew shaped burrows of Paleocaster (ancient beaver). 

Paleocaster daemonelix

Hubby likes torturing me bringing back pics like this

The kids would get after me if I didn't include the right names, they were pretty rabid about their Junior Ranger duties;)  We arrived at Agate's visitor center with just an hour to spare, so it was the most hurried we were on our Jr. Ranger quests.  You can't go wrong with kids and fossils, so it was a hit nonetheless:)  They also had a super cool Native American exhibit.

  Thankfully they also had a great hands on kids area where I entertained Shorty.  He was in high gear due to lack of nap time, and other than glances at the exhibits I didn't absorb too much while I was chasing after him! 

   Our night's stay was one that we wished would have lasted more than just the single night.  It was this super neat bed and breakfast out in the middle of nowhere in NW Nebraska, the High Plains Homestead.  The drive out was through a badlands looking area which was just beautiful.  We were the only guests that night, which was nice :) They had a couple of buildings for the sleeping quarters and several buildings that made up a Prairie Town furnished all in antiques. By far Mookie's favorite was the old school.

  Shorty loved the "buffyloaf".  There were three and he stood at the fence saying "Buffyloaf, come, come" and motioning to them.  They never did listen:)

Bubby's main excitement was the possibility of fossil hunting, which was free to young kiddos.  We tried after supper (which you can get at the cookshack there) without much luck. So Hubby and Bubby headed out after breakfast (which was provided and as yummy as the supper!) for another go.  Success! 

Bubby & his tooth

He found a paleo bison tooth, and fossilized turtle shell fragments.  I have never seen him more thrilled!  He was just grinning from ear to ear and had to go show Miss Linda, one of our hosts, what he had found.

  That was not the last of our fossil adventures.  After scouting out where the Hudson Meng buffalo kill site was just a couple of miles down the road, we were off to the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, South Dakota.
  The Mammoth Site is where a giant sinkhole formed containing a nice hot springs with steep sides.  Because of this it trapped numerous mammoth and other critters that are now being excavated.  The building is only over part of the large site on a hill on the edge of town.  The kids were fascinated.  Shorty kept asking to "diggy", but we had to tell him that it wasn't Daddy's site so he couldn't dig this time:) 

"I diggy"

We had to have fun with the short faced bear exhibit:)

  The last trip of the day was to Wind Cave National Park.  Hubby was interested to go because it was a CCC project.  This was the most intensive of the Junior Ranger badges - we worked forever on it.  Shorty was excited to see more "buffyloaf".

  Ranger Clayton, that lead our tour of the cave, was from NE Kansas just like us!  That wasn't the only reason we liked him.  By the time our tour happened, Shorty was done for the day.  Ranger Clayton had a cool trick that he would take his flashlight and flash it on the floor near any of the toddlers (there were 3) that were getting a little fidgety or he'd take it and shine it under his hat while the kiddo was looking - so cool and such a blessing to us!

Our night was spent in Custer State Park.  Did you know that many state parks have cute little cabins for low cost?  This one had a heater even.  The kids loved the bunk beds!

After a good night's rest we were ready for the main event the next day - Rushmore!

Field Trip Friday: Orphans and the CCC

  So what do orphans and the CCC have in common?  Nothing except the Orphan Train Museum in Concordia had a traveling Smithsonian exhibit called "How we Worked" and their museum as part of that had a special Civilian Conservation Corps exhibit of which the CCC in Kansas is Daddy's speciality.  We used the opportunity as our next Friday field trip:) 

in front of the museum

  Nana (Daddy's mom) had the day off so she came on our adventure with us, which was wonderful!  I had the kids read up on the Orphan Train on the way up for some background.  When we got there, we watched a short intro video - turns out that the Concordia museum is the the main depository for Orphan Train records, etc... - go Kansas! :)  When we got into the actual depot, we all scattered: Daddy to his CCC display, and the kids to the kids area, Nana and I just wandered where we could. 

the kids room

CCC display

  I was so impressed with the museum.  The displays were interactive and they had a scavenger hunt for the kids to fill out along with other activity pages. 
  Our next stop was the Cloud County Historical Museum where they had a local CCC collection on display in the Annex & then a research area in the main building.  While Daddy conversed with the museum volunteers about  CCC things, the rest of us investigated the vast collections. 

the coolest artifact for the kids was an antique funhouse mirror!

Margaret Emma Talady Kariger Grinstead obit.

Seriously, I've been to a ton of local museums and this was the biggest and had the largest variety I have ever seen.  Now, I couldn't let Daddy have all the fun and since his ggg-grandma was buried in Miltonvale, in Cloud County, I tried to find her obituary.  Success!  Not alot of new information, but it did verify some info that I didn't have good sources on.  A note about copying obituaries: always make note of the paper and date you got it from (either get it in the copy, or write it on the side or back).
  Our last stop was the site of Camp Concordia a prisoner of war camp for German soldiers during WWII.  Bubby had seen a display at the museum and we made his day by going to see the buildings that are still standing.  It was too cold and windy to stay long, but we did get a picture.

Camp Concordia tower

This was one of the best field trips ever!  Something for everyone! :)

In Pursuit of History

Today our family celebrated the life and passing of one of our own.  My great-aunt Elsie, almost 102, passed away this week.  She was a wonderful and kind woman.  I didn't really truly get to know her though until I started doing genealogy (which I think if you are doing true family history research, you should not only be finding out about your deceased ancestors you know nothing about, but also drawing close to those that are still alive).  Aunt Elsie and I would sit and talk at length about family both past and present.  She took my mom & I out to see cemeteries with long forgotten relatives.  She invited distant cousins over so we could chat about those same relatives and pour over pictures of the same.  She would also chat about her daughter and her family whom she loved dearly.  It was always a blessing to go and visit, or to receive a letter from her which she would send regularly and I would try so hard to answer even though I was (& still am awful at it).    Even though I hadn't seen her recently, I still missed her and loved her dearly. 
  After the graveside services, I had to look up some relatives...

   My gr-gr grandparents Schaede are buried just in the next row.  Aunt Elsie told me that when she was little she used to pretend that she had an earache just so Grandpa J.G. would blow pipe smoke in her ear to cure it:) 
  After eating lunch with my folks, we headed out for one more adventure.  My hubby likes to research the Civilian Conservation Corps in Kansas so we headed south to just outside of Yates Center to the Woodson Fishing Lake where Camp Fegan was around 1934-5.  It was a family adventure.  While my husband took pictures of the dam, the kids found shells on the shore...

and then helped Daddy try to find building foundations from the camp.  Bubby was totally excited to find, by himself, the CCC flagpole.

What a glorious day of good weather, reconnecting with family, and exploring:)