Day 35

My plan was to wake up at 6:30 to be leaving the campsite by 8am. Our fellow campers talked to us quite a bit about where we'd been but they didn't warn us about the dog. The dog that was directly behind our campsite in a private residence yard. This RV park was smack in the middle of a little town so there were people in regular houses next door. But at 4:30am I was plotting some way, any way to quiet this little dog. By 5:30 I was too frustrated at the owners, at the dog, at anyone that I just got up and started writing. My post may have been a little angry that day.




Ryan was all about helping Grammie at our gas stop today! She may be short, but she can figure out how to climb anywhere link a monkey! I don't even want to talk to you about the condition of the front of our car. All kinds of bugs from all over the country have made their mark for sure. Gross.

We left perfectly on time at 8am in hopes that with our gas and rest stops we would be into our next stop by early afternoon. At each of those stops people started conversations with us about our journey. Today's drive took us out of the plains and into the mountains and back again. I wasn't sure what the landscape was going to look like once we got there. I can tell you we were ecstatic to finally be seeing blue sky and real clouds after weeks of gray and smoke.


Our campground was first come, first serve so as we pulled into the park we decided to stake our claim for a site first. Grammie drove right by the campground and headed straight to the Visitor's Center as we usually do. We picked a site we thought would be good for us and close to what she would chose, left a chair, a few sleeping bags, and a tent on by the driveway and paid for it. By this point Grammie and Ryan were really wondering where we were!  We met them at the Visitor's Center, grabbed junior ranger books, post cards and explored. We were at Devil's Tower today.

There were no programs this afternoon or evening as it's now past Labor Day so the park service changes their schedule. We decided to get Grammie a site, set up, and have dinner. While everyone set up I made caprese sandwiches so we'd all be set up, fed, and ready to go hike around the tower.

Our first stop was a very interesting sculpture near the entrance of our campground. It is a peace "smoke signal" sculpture created b a Japanese artist who was drawn to the native american culture in our country. I'm not sure if there are more now, but it was the third of it's kind in the world with the first being at the Vatican and the second where Buddha grew up. Ryan had the camera for these shots.

The placement of the sculpture was just perfect to have it framed around Devil's Tower.

Just beyond the sculpture were the prairie dogs. I believe the kids could have stayed here the rest of the day. There were signs all around asking people not to feed them, but they all were begging and watching us to see if we still would. Ryan took about 75 pictures of these little guys.

We made it to the Tower trail with about an hour until sunset so I thought this would be the perfect time to hike. I noticed Laney frowning and found out she wasn't feeling very well. The adults took turns throughout the hike checking on her and encouraging her to continue. We were enjoying the trail and glancing up at the tower every few hundred feet to see how the view changed.

Just before halfway around Dave was hearing voices and looked up to find a climber about 2/3 up the tower. Once we all spotted him we found his partner just above him too. We headed down a side trail to the scopes to find them and figure out if they were climbing up or rappelling down. Our eagle eye Ryan set the scope so we could all watch them as they appeared to be climbing up.

It started getting dark so we continued along the trail trying to read the interpretive signs along the way. We were poorly equipped without flashlights and we made just as it was really getting dark. Laney was not happy at all so we headed back to the campsite to all go to bed. On the way home Ryan spotted the climbers headlamps still on the tower which created a bunch of questions for me. Could you camp up there? How late do they allow you to start climbing? We would have to find out in the morning.

Once we got back to the campsite, we all retired in our respective areas to read and snooze. We would be moving on to South Dakota in the morning on our shift south.

Day 19

Today began with a quick look at the sunrise and fog over the water then we got the birthday breakfast ready. Not too often you get brownies for breakfast and it's not April Fool's Day!

We also were able to take some time to watch Brayden's birthday video of his 12-year-old highlights as well as a few of the years before. This is a huge pain for Dave every year to compile, but it is always a guaranteed favorite every year with every kid.

We were set to meet at a central visitor's center between our two campsites for their programs so as soon as we finished we got ready and got on the road. Brayden was excited he is finally old enough to ride in the front seat! My navigator in training!

The program was wonderful, clearing up all our debate on horns vs. antlers. These young rangers have been delivering fantastic, well-spoken and rehearsed presentations. We have all been very impressed!

All the kids had finished their junior ranger books so after the presenter signed them we headed to the desk to get the kids sworn in.  The desk was packed but this ranger took a lot of time to give attention to the kids. Within about 2 minutes Ryan let me know she wasn't feeling well so we went outside for air and a snack. I hadn't thought about our sugar-laden breakfast until now so I grabbed some protein for her to try. She was green and grumpy but seemed to feel a little better after the fresh air.

We went back inside as this just happened to also be the National Park Service 101st birthday and there was going to be a celebration inside. Immediately, Ryan wanted to move away from the people and sit down so we went outside with a stack of crackers to sit down. She was laying in my lap looking terrible so she got a lot of attention from the park staff and visitors. I knew she was bad when she declined a piece of birthday cake! After she had a bit of water she said she felt better so we headed inside for a movie Brayden wanted to watch about wolves, his favorite!

The movie was so interesting about a pack of wolves from Canada they reintroduced to Yellowstone. The park rangers and scientists tracked them over time to study their hunting patterns, pack social ways, and pup rearing. Ryan hung out in Grammie's lap to watch - some of the best medicine!





After the movie we decided to move up the road a bit to a pizza place for the birthday celebration.  Brayden made sure to call Grandpa as he'd been trying to reach him for birthday wishes all morning. Ryan still wasn't feeling the best and shortly after we got there she made a quick trip to the bathroom and then felt so much better.  We knew she would be good then as that is her sickness pattern only lasting about 2 hours. We had a blast eating delicious pizza, watching Brayden open presents and cards, and watching videos again!

Grammie grabbed Lola out of the RV and we shared some birthday ice cream with her. Laney shared the most as her top scoop fell off! My kids love to live on the edge eating from both ends of their ice cream cones!

After a bunch of birthday hugs we headed back to camp to get ready to leave the next day. Our first day in the park we had stopped briefly at the Jackson Dam and I convinced everyone to stop again so we could take the walk around to the mountain view. Along the way the kids saw several paths down to the rocks so they stayed and played for awhile while we enjoyed the view.

When we are in one place for awhile, the car organization seems to fall apart and piles accumulate everywhere. It was a good time to throw in a load of laundry as it was just a short walk from our site.

While I organized, Dave and the kids opened birthday presents trying out the drone and putting together Legos. Dave mentioned wifi at the general store next to the laundromat so I sat next door to update a few days on the blog until it was ready to go in the dryer.

The kids were very interested in the bison program that evening so Dave stayed at the site to relax and fold the laundry while I took the kids to the program. This was yet another fantastic brain-filling program!

When we got back Dave had a campfire started so we fashioned some roasting sticks and toasted a few marshmallows. After I snuck down for a few minutes with the sunset color, we all snuggled in for one last night on our huge bed in one tent.

Day 19

It's possible!  A night out of the desert without rain!!  I awoke to get ready for the day and take in our amazing view from our site.

Ok, so having a walk-in spot isn't so bad after all.  It does afford us some pretty amazing, unobstructed views.  And absolutely some quiet away from the rv generators and early risers packing up.  As I started lugging up the food and equipment for breakfast, Brayden popped out of the tent to sit by the warm fire.

I pointed behind him and he quickly put on his shoes to go explore.

Once the girls got up, he was so excited to show them he put their shoes on for them!

Before I'd finished getting breakfast ready, Ryan said she wasn't feeling too good so we all headed to the bathroom.  We took the walk slow as it appeared she might faint, then Brayden got pale too.  He waited for us on a rock as we kept walking and we picked him up on the way back.  By the time we made the climb back up, a park ranger was waiting for us at our site.  Uh oh.  He said, "If possible, please try to have someone stay at your site if you need to leave food out."  If possible.  1 mom.  3 kids with 1 or 2 possibly sick.  Not really possible. Of course I didn't say that though.  "Yes sir," I said.

Ryan wasn't the least bit interested in eating so she went to the tent with a bowl just in case.  Laney, Bray, and I ate with Bray feeling much better afterward.  Ryan used the bowl a few times expelling two doses of Tylenol I gave because her head hurt, crackers, and water.  Looks like we'll be at the tent for awhile today.

If anyone knows Ryan, she has an amazing ability to bounce back fast.  She heard the rest of us talking about going to get junior ranger books and check out some animals and within minutes I saw a little head poke out of the tent.  We waited 30 more minutes or so then hopped in the car to explore.  We went to several visitor centers to watch movies, attend a ranger program on trees and shop.

Then of course it was time for our daily rain, so we retreated to the tent with Bray's new purchase - cowboys and indians.  I remember playing with these as a child and it's great to know they are still as entertaining as ever.  Take that, Nintendo.

After eating a quick dinner we headed to another area for the campground program.  This one wasn't so entertaining for the kids, but I did enjoy it.  It was about sister parks for Rocky Mountain in other countries so we got the opportunity to see photos of some parks in Poland, Costa Rica, and the Chezck Republic.  When asking the kids what their favorite part of the presentation was I was assuming they would roll their eyes and say something about going to the water fountain.  Instead, Brayden mentioned the some of the photos and they all loved the cute Polish "Don't Feed The Bears" video at the end of the night.

Day 19: Exploring and Expelling.