Day 38

I got up before the sun this morning to keep editing pictures. With Dave back to work I'm the driver so my writing and editing is done super late or super early. We got out of the campground pretty early as we had a long drive with a couple stops that would pretty much take us all day. Before we got out of the park we were stopped by a herd of bison walking in the road. They weren't worried about us at all.

The kids are getting pretty good at helping with the windshields each time we get gas. I remember enjoying this when I was younger for some reason as well. Helping on the RV is a whole other challenge!





Our first fun stop today was suggested by the museum guy back in Sundance, WY. Once the kids heard the words archaeology dig and mammoths there was no way we couldn't stop. Unfortunately Dave was working so he didn't get to enjoy it, but we made sure to tell him all about it once we got back.

In the movie we learned about 30 years ago a developer bought the land to make a new subdivision and as the bulldozer was clearing a hill on the land he discovered some bones. They stopped development, he sold the land to the newly-created Mammoth Site organization at cost and they began uncovering the mystery of the site.

We were taken to the dig area after the movie to view the progress of the last 30 years. After core samples were completed down, they determined there were bones and tusks at least 45 feet down. So far they have pulled out skeletons from wooly mammoths, Columbia mammoths, small-faced bear, and a few other animals only 22 feet down. They have many many more years left to go!

Once we went down we discovered there wasn't anyone working in the lab in the basement, but they had a great display set up of bones of all kinds of animals as well as the smallest of snail and reptile shells that had been found as well. This was the femur bone of a Columbian Mammoth!

We'd never heard of the now extinct small-faced bear before and we were all amazed by his statistics. He was almost 6 feet tall at the shoulders so he could look an average sized man in the face. Standing he was more than 15 feet tall so he would be able to peek into a second story window. And his claws, oh wow.

While we liked to see bears we were all thankful we'd never seen that one. We got back into the car and Dave was barely able to contain his excitement. After we passed into Nebraska we would be very close to his next stop!















We all were anticipating being able to see it from miles away with the flat landscape, but it was tucked away around a curve that we could only spot about a mile away. Dave had visited Stonehenge as a high school kid so he was more familiar with the set up of the stones, but we were all pretty impressed.

This summer had actually been the 30th anniversary of the structure. There had been other art sculptures added over the years, but other than replacing a few foreign cars with American made cars, Carhenge had basically remained just as we were seeing it today. The kids enjoyed spinning the tires and trying to open the doors. As we walked up the trail to other cars we saw a large buried car people could sign so I ran back to the car to grab a Sharpie. We hoped that if we ever stopped back by that we could find our notes one day.











The history and the idea behind the project was interesting too! We stopped into the gift shop and asked about the eclipse as Dave found out this was also a totality spot. She said there were 4,000 people there! I'm sure that was a very unique experience! We bought a few things with stickers and postcards and got back on the road to our next spot.

We found our next campground after driving over the dam next to it a few times. They were letting out water from the dam and the smell was overwhelming. I was really hoping it wouldn't be a part of our camping experience this night as I could barely hold in the snack I'd eaten a few hours ago. Luckily Brayden pointed out the smell in the campground was just campfires so I resumed breathing again.

Our little spot on the lake was calm and beautiful. After a quick dinner of pizza bagels, the kids and I played cowboys and indians until we could barely see them anymore. We've gotten into a routine of going to bed with the sun as our days are pretty full of long drives to get back home.

Day 37

I was right about one thing - there would be a war at our campsite! With an early bedtime the night before the kids were up early and the Cowboys and Indians were restless. Thank goodness they kept themselves in the fort area of Grammie's RV.

I was up early too but more to go through my 500 emails waiting for me. When we get home we are back to our very busy, scheduled life so it does my brain good to get some of this taken care of now. Dave was up early workinng today, luckily with 4G in the campground. Grammie was up early cooking homemade biscuits and grits for us - YUM! Once we were all full and finished with dishes I decided we should all hit the showers. My clean-soap-smelling kids have vanished for the summer!

Our plan today was to chauffer Grammie around the fun roads she is unable to travel in her RV and to turn in the kids' junior ranger books. Grammie and the kids decided to add ice cream to that list for lunch too! The drive north on Iron Mountain Road was even better than our drive south! Through the two of the tunnels we had the perfect preview of the presidents on the mountain. The other tunnel was fun just because it had a skylight in the middle!

We parked back at Mt Rushmore just as it started sprinkling. Grammie checked the weather and it looked like a small pop-up storm that would be over in 20 minutes. We raced up to the terrace and down to the exhibits to finish up Brayden's book thinking it would be over by the time we finished. They were sworn in by a park ranger who had spent a few years in Pensacola at UWF. We have found so many people that have lived or visited and loved Pensacola!











That was when Grammie received a text from Dave saying there was hail at the campground. Luckily he had the RV to duck into and Lola to protect him. The kids decided to take pictures with George's nose to show everyone how big it is then we headed to grab ice cream.

The storm was all around us but it was still just sprinkling.

I think the new standard "single scoop" has been upgraded as our sweets have been huge on this trip! That means it takes Ryan 45 minutes to slowly lick hers to the cone but it was raining so it was fine. We are all trying to teach her to take bites, but she would rather savor every drop. Maybe we should take a lesson from her!

The kids faces popped with surprise and joy as we walked to the parking lot when they spied the elusive mountain goats on our list to see. These two must be park annual passholders as they were very accustomed to people and the area. They were very tolerant of a lady trying to hand feed them grass and others trying to take selfies with them.

Our drive back to the campground was going to be down the Needles Highway. While this is still the Black Hills area the rocks are completely different from the ones just a few miles away. We decided they looked like magnified versions of Laney's drip castles she makes at the water's edge. Just outside the park gates we stopped briefly to take a picture of the profile of Washington before we started our drive back.

This drive had the same one-way tunnels and hairpin turns, but there was an exciting addition to the road this time - gigantic tour buses!! I still have no clue how these buses were fitting through the tight-for-me one-way tunnels. As we went through all of us sucked in and held our breath hoping to make it, I can't imagine the feeling of riding on those buses! I spoke with a guy that watched one come through just before us and he said it took them at least 5 minutes to eek through. My mouth dropped as the bus slowly appeared out of the tunnel with a "student driver" paper posted on the front. Here is a picture of the tunnel the bus went through with a road sign to the right for perspective - crazy!

One of the other stops on my list was Sylvan Lake. The temperature had dropped 20 degrees since we left the mountain and I was the only one with a jacket (I don't share well with others) so we only stayed for a few minutes. I could imagine swimming or kayaking there on a warm day!

By the time we got back Dave was finished with work and ready to jump in the car with us. We have so much stuff packed in my little car it takes us a few minutes to reorganize and relocate bags to Grammie's RV. I'm not sure what we're going to do when we get back and add a dog, a cat, and a guinea pig to the mix!

The kids had originally planned to go to Jewel Cave National Monument first then head to a quirky wild west town Dave had added to the list. Our time was fading fast and I didn't want them to rush through either so they made the decision to just go to the town and enjoy themselves. We have seen a lot of caves, but we'll definitely be adding Jewel Cave back on our list as it looks very unique.

Four Mile Old West Town caught our eye immediately with all the humorous signs and collection of antique everything out front. We were greeted by an eccentric woman who told us the story of the old town. She swore the kids in a sheriffs to make sure the adults were well-behaved on the tour. Then she handed me a tape player and sent us on our way. Yep, a cassette tape player. I think I used to have one of those.


We visited all the old buildings, all of which were restored original buildings or rebuilt to their original size. We went to the saloon, the newspaper, the bank, the doctors office, the dentist, the seamstress, and many more. This place was an overwhelming collection of all kinds of antiques placed in each of these buildings with extensive explanations in each building. As we reached each building, we played a short bit of the cassette for the introduction then we entered the building and read all about what was inside. After about 10 buildings my brain was on overload and I just started listening to the tape and looking around. I learned SO much!

 The kids were shocked when we walked into a small log cabin near the end of the first row. There were two beds, a long dining table and a very old stove crammed into an area about 12ft by 12ft. This was a typical house for 8 people. They especially loved playing with all the old typewriters, cash registers, tools and toys.

This place was definitely an enormous labor of love for the owners as there was so much history and knowledge we were all blown away. She appreciated all our kind words and gave the kids some stickers. Dave bought them a Sassafrass soda and we headed to dinner. Custer had a few spots that were supposed to be good and we settled on the one that had the most options for us. Thank goodness we did because they served us the best garlic parmesan french fries we've ever had! Another recipe for us to try to make at home!

By the time we got back to the campsite we were all exhausted and ready to go to bed. We would be on the road again tomorrow headed for another spot from Dave's list!