September 3 – Thursday – Town sites and Walnut Grove
This very long day started with a delicious breakfast at our B&B. Today’s plans included seeing the in-town LIW sites, a trek to Walnut Grove, then the drive to Omaha. The Laura Ingalls Wilder historical society has done a great job in this town, securing LIW treasures as they become known.
A major coup was the Surveyors’ House. This is the home that the Ingalls family stayed in during their first winter in De Smet. Pa had been working for the railroad and they allowed the family to winter over in the Surveyors’ House. Laura described this house as spacious – and compared to her little houses to date, it was. In reality, it's cozy, but probably as large as some of the loft condos that go for 400 grand in the Pearl District in Portland. The home is furnished as it would have been for the Ingalls, by then a family of six. The house had been moved from its original location near Silver Lake into town, and then the historical society moved it to its current location, or else the location it was in was where it had been moved to, and the society bought it there – anyway! - They wouldn’t let us take pictures inside. Why? I have no idea. The artifacts weren’t original. I think it was a ploy to get folks to buy the packs of postcard pictures. Not me mister! I’m not buying no postcards! I did buy a spoon though…
The second stop on the tour was the original De Smet school house that Laura and Carrie attended. Site of the “lazy, lousy, Liza Jane” incident. De Smetians were big on moving buildings around. After it’s life as a school, the building was moved three blocks, given a second story and interior walls, and turned into a private home. When it came available, the society moved it (I know they moved this one!) to their property and are in the midst of restoring it back to school conditions.
This locale also had a tiny one-room schoolhouse identical to the first school Laura taught – the Brewster School in the books, the Bouche school in reality (and why don’t they label it after reality I don’t know – irritation!).
The last stop on the tour was the Ingalls’ town home that Pa built. It was only a few doors down from our B&B (Prairie House Manor if you’re interested). This isn’t the store described in the Long Winter, it’s where the Ingalls family moved shortly after Laura was married and they were D-U-N done with homestead life. At about this time I was trying not to get impatient with the docent, but I knew more than she did and she wasn’t able to answer the few questions I tried to ask about the real Laura vs the character Laura. I know, bratty, right?
The house was by far the largest “little” house the Ingalls owned, and was fun to explore. Pa added on as he had time and money. He built beautiful cabinets in the kitchen and had a good eye to a comfortably proportioned home. There would likely be many more Ingalls’ treasures in the home except for the tragic fact that their possessions were mostly pitched out the window for junk or sold in second hand stores after most of the family had passed on. By then Laura was in Missouri making a go at farming the Ozark land, and was decades away from becoming the Laura.
We wrapped up our time in De Smet and I felt satisfied. Someday I’ll go back, sans Crazed Freak Out Demon Child. Bless Rob’s heart – he had to keep taking Colin outside to basically run the streets and burn energy since he was a little turd anytime we were inside. On the way out of town we found the Wilder homestead (site of the Little Gray House that Almanzo built for Laura, and the setting for the First Four Years), marked with a sign but with no buildings remaining.
We turned our attention Eastward and cruised on into Walnut Grove, Minnesota. Memorialized in the Little House television series and the site of the Dugout and Wonderful House in By the Banks of Plum Creek. Ironically, since this is the area where the locust plague devastated the Ingalls (and everyone else in a multi-state region) crops for several years, we encountered more crickets on this trip than I’ve ever seen in my life. The museum in town had more to do with the show, but it had great examples of period buildings and artifacts from settler days.
The dugout site was outside of town on private property. The owner lets folks come in with a good faith donation. Most gorgeous farmhouse I’ve ever seen. We were once again on our own at this site, and we wandered through the native grasses that they are reintroducing to the site, down into plum creek (where we saw minnows! and Mosquitoes!) where I did indeed dabble my toes. We found the dugout site (hard to miss) and I got some great pictures of what I think of when I picture the prairie. It helped that the sky was big and blue this day.
And that. Was the end of my Little House adventure. I can’t believe I really got to go, and see, and walk in Laura’s footsteps. Rob’s a trooper for joining me on this journey. But to quote another author, we had miles to go before we sleep.
As we turned south to begin our loop around back to Denver, we moved from Minnesota to Iowa with no discernable difference. Rob and I realized how conditioned we are to seeing cities, towns and strip malls with a much greater frequency on the West Coast. We stopped for a really really good BBQ dinner at a really really cheesy chain restaurant in Sioux Falls, Iowa, got back into the car for a few more hundred miles and another state line, and dragged ourselves into our hotel in Omaha.
September 4 – Friday
Nebraska! I thought that if I used an exclamation point that it would feel more exciting. Noto so much. Long straight rode west, lots of road work, likely stimulus funded – you’re welcome! Amazing that as we crossed the border back into Colorado, the landscape immediately changed from massive corn/soybean vistas to cattle range. Those are the only observations I have for the day. We stayed out near the airport, and blessed Tom Tom for getting us around all the toll roads.
September 5 – Saturday
Home again, home again, jiggidy jig. Colin again worked his magic and got to take a turn in the pilot’s seat. The flight home was uneventful, and we were soo happy to get home and see the Soss, chill out, and sleep in our own beds.
The End. Thanks for coming on my journey with me. It's taken me longer to recount the trip than to actually take it, but this is one I want to remember in detail.
Trip Summary
Miles driven – 2,100
States traversed - 6 (CO, WY, SD, MN, IO, NB)
LIW sites visited – three (De Smet, Walnut Grove, Keystone)
Little House books covered – 6 (By the Banks of Plum Creek, Shores of Silver Lake, Little Town on the Prairie, Long Winter, Happy Golden Years, First Four Years)
Best meal – chain restaurant BBQ (Famous Dave’s)
Best activity – helicopter ride
Best LIW site - Ingalls' homestead
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Prairie Adventure Part 3
September 2 – Wednesday – Prairie Bound
Woke up and for once had no desire to stay abed. Today we were heading to the prairie! We packed up our little cabin in the woods and prepared for a long haul eastward. We had to make a stop at the world famous tourist trap mecca Wall Drug, which started off in the dusty post-depression days and used the brilliant promise of free ice water to lure in weary travelers.
Today it’s just out of control. I don’t really know how to explain the absurd hugeness of this place – maybe the pic of Colin riding an excessively large jack-a-lope says enough
Driving across South Dakota, I couldn’t help but wonder if we were in the midst of missile silo country…
As we neared De Smet I was excited and a bit apprehensive of the solid bank of heavy gray clouds spanning the big sky. If for some horrible reason you aren’t familiar with LIW lore, De Smet is the setting for five of the Little House books (By the Shores of Silver Lake, Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, Happy Golden Years, and the First Four Years). We came through the town on the way to the Ingalls homestead. It was little then, it’s little today.
As we rounded the corner to the homestead my stomach gave a little lurch. It wasn’t on the same awe scale as the grandeur of Rushmore, but it was grand all the same. That’s the Big Slough! That’s the rolling far as your eye can see prairie! That’s the 150 acres of land Pa bet Uncle Sam for! That’s where Almanzo rolled up in his cush buggy to take Laura on their weekly driving dates!
I had not experienced the “coming home” sensation at a literary setting before (I’ve seen Louisa May Alcott’s home as an example). And as we pulled in and stepped out into the strong prairie wind, I let my heart just Be.
I was having a bit of a problem orienting myself – I should have read the books before our trip. And the approaching thunderstorm checked my plans to linger and mull.
They have planted ten acres of corn and wheat using two-horse-powered equipment, which is a great way to create perspective on the work necessary to keep a claim and support a family in such a turbulent climate. They have built Ma’s little house and hay-roofed barn as true as they can be (they used descriptions that Pa made when settling the claim with the government. I learned that these aren’t in the same location as the original, which is in a corner of property owned by the LIW Historical Society. A monument marks the spot where the house stood, among cottonwoods that Pa planted to create a bit of a windbreak, an ironic homage to the heavily wooded region they had left behind because there were too many trees to easily till the land.
The homestead is all very hands on and encourages children to touch and do – which Colin took to heart as he made his cornhusk dolly and a twine rope, and pumped water from the well with Rob’s help. I think his favorite part of this stop was the half-dozen or so kittens that followed him around. They have moved a small period school house on the property, and they have a soddy and a “how the heck did they live in that teeny tiny claim shanty without killing each other.” We got to take a pony cart ride too. Rob drove Oreo like a champ. They had a few baby horses – the two-week old stayed asleep by mama, and another came along on our adventures.
Skip and Barnum, named after one of Almanzo’s prized teams, usually haul around wagons full of be-bonneted Wilder fans. There were no bonnets the day we were there – the off-season comes quickly to the prairie. For the most part we were the only ones cruising around the homestead (also likely due to the fact that we hadn’t realized that we crossed into Central time zone and they were probably keeping the place open for us). The driver let Colin take the reins and the horses actually giddy-upd when Colin hollered Giddy Up! Whoa was a little more tricky but the driver seemed pretty familiar with stepping in.
It was amazing how quiet it was. No traffic noise, no airplanes, just big sky and land. I could imagine how lonely it would be for the women who were in large part alone on these tracts of land for weeks and months at a time with few and far between visits from neighbors. I mean, I like to be alone, probably more than the average bear, but I usually have the TV or music on for company.
I wanted to linger and take another trip up to the viewing tower. But the weather was taking a turn for the worse and we all had low blood sugar. So I snapped a few last pictures in the gloaming and we took off. Back in town we found one restaurant that was open. And the less said the better. Okay, I have to say that Rob ate something that was white bread, hamburger patties, mashed potato and brown outta the can gravy. I have blocked out what I ate. Colin ate a PBJ on white bread, no sides offered or taken.
We found our bed and breakfast – which also carries a little LIW history. It was the home built by Banker Ruth – who, during the Long Winter, bought up the last of the town’s coal and as far as I know never opened his home to his neighbors during near starving conditions. Best bed of the trip. We had a lovely room with a bed for us, and a real Murphy bed for Colin. The rain storm put us out pretty quick and we looked forward to a real breakfast after our travesty of a dinner.
I feel like I should have more to say about seeing the homestead. It wasn’t more or less than I expected. I tried to not have any expectations so that I wouldn’t be disappointed, which I have done to myself before. I would have liked to have had more time/better weather to try to imagine myself in the setting of the stories, and perhaps more knowledgeable docents, but again, off-season has its plusses and minuses. We did have the whole place to ourselves, which probably is a rare occurrence. And the staff we met were all extremely nice people.
Offered us a kitten and everything.
Woke up and for once had no desire to stay abed. Today we were heading to the prairie! We packed up our little cabin in the woods and prepared for a long haul eastward. We had to make a stop at the world famous tourist trap mecca Wall Drug, which started off in the dusty post-depression days and used the brilliant promise of free ice water to lure in weary travelers.
Today it’s just out of control. I don’t really know how to explain the absurd hugeness of this place – maybe the pic of Colin riding an excessively large jack-a-lope says enough
Driving across South Dakota, I couldn’t help but wonder if we were in the midst of missile silo country…
As we neared De Smet I was excited and a bit apprehensive of the solid bank of heavy gray clouds spanning the big sky. If for some horrible reason you aren’t familiar with LIW lore, De Smet is the setting for five of the Little House books (By the Shores of Silver Lake, Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, Happy Golden Years, and the First Four Years). We came through the town on the way to the Ingalls homestead. It was little then, it’s little today.
As we rounded the corner to the homestead my stomach gave a little lurch. It wasn’t on the same awe scale as the grandeur of Rushmore, but it was grand all the same. That’s the Big Slough! That’s the rolling far as your eye can see prairie! That’s the 150 acres of land Pa bet Uncle Sam for! That’s where Almanzo rolled up in his cush buggy to take Laura on their weekly driving dates!
I had not experienced the “coming home” sensation at a literary setting before (I’ve seen Louisa May Alcott’s home as an example). And as we pulled in and stepped out into the strong prairie wind, I let my heart just Be.
I was having a bit of a problem orienting myself – I should have read the books before our trip. And the approaching thunderstorm checked my plans to linger and mull.
They have planted ten acres of corn and wheat using two-horse-powered equipment, which is a great way to create perspective on the work necessary to keep a claim and support a family in such a turbulent climate. They have built Ma’s little house and hay-roofed barn as true as they can be (they used descriptions that Pa made when settling the claim with the government. I learned that these aren’t in the same location as the original, which is in a corner of property owned by the LIW Historical Society. A monument marks the spot where the house stood, among cottonwoods that Pa planted to create a bit of a windbreak, an ironic homage to the heavily wooded region they had left behind because there were too many trees to easily till the land.
The homestead is all very hands on and encourages children to touch and do – which Colin took to heart as he made his cornhusk dolly and a twine rope, and pumped water from the well with Rob’s help. I think his favorite part of this stop was the half-dozen or so kittens that followed him around. They have moved a small period school house on the property, and they have a soddy and a “how the heck did they live in that teeny tiny claim shanty without killing each other.” We got to take a pony cart ride too. Rob drove Oreo like a champ. They had a few baby horses – the two-week old stayed asleep by mama, and another came along on our adventures.
Skip and Barnum, named after one of Almanzo’s prized teams, usually haul around wagons full of be-bonneted Wilder fans. There were no bonnets the day we were there – the off-season comes quickly to the prairie. For the most part we were the only ones cruising around the homestead (also likely due to the fact that we hadn’t realized that we crossed into Central time zone and they were probably keeping the place open for us). The driver let Colin take the reins and the horses actually giddy-upd when Colin hollered Giddy Up! Whoa was a little more tricky but the driver seemed pretty familiar with stepping in.
It was amazing how quiet it was. No traffic noise, no airplanes, just big sky and land. I could imagine how lonely it would be for the women who were in large part alone on these tracts of land for weeks and months at a time with few and far between visits from neighbors. I mean, I like to be alone, probably more than the average bear, but I usually have the TV or music on for company.
I wanted to linger and take another trip up to the viewing tower. But the weather was taking a turn for the worse and we all had low blood sugar. So I snapped a few last pictures in the gloaming and we took off. Back in town we found one restaurant that was open. And the less said the better. Okay, I have to say that Rob ate something that was white bread, hamburger patties, mashed potato and brown outta the can gravy. I have blocked out what I ate. Colin ate a PBJ on white bread, no sides offered or taken.
We found our bed and breakfast – which also carries a little LIW history. It was the home built by Banker Ruth – who, during the Long Winter, bought up the last of the town’s coal and as far as I know never opened his home to his neighbors during near starving conditions. Best bed of the trip. We had a lovely room with a bed for us, and a real Murphy bed for Colin. The rain storm put us out pretty quick and we looked forward to a real breakfast after our travesty of a dinner.
I feel like I should have more to say about seeing the homestead. It wasn’t more or less than I expected. I tried to not have any expectations so that I wouldn’t be disappointed, which I have done to myself before. I would have liked to have had more time/better weather to try to imagine myself in the setting of the stories, and perhaps more knowledgeable docents, but again, off-season has its plusses and minuses. We did have the whole place to ourselves, which probably is a rare occurrence. And the staff we met were all extremely nice people.
Offered us a kitten and everything.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Prairie Adventure Part 2
August 31 – Monday – Mt. Rushmore
Today was all about the Rushmore. Mount that is. We got up early to a pleasant surprise – part of the boofalo herd decided to mow the meadow that was right across from our cabin. The boys went to explore while I loaded Colin’s adventure pack for the day. A side note on traveling with the bumble: We brought a lot of new small toys, coloring books, etc. so that I could put something different and new in Colin’s new backpack each day. It was an easy way to keep him stocked with fresh entertainment as we rolled through the miles each day. But the best investment was a new portable DVD player that had a longer battery life than our other one. A friend at work gave me a stack of kids movies that Colin hadn’t seen, so he had new flicks to zone out to. If you’ve experienced Colin in motion, you may have discovered that the only thing to get him to actually cease motion is to put on a show.
Back to the Rushmore! We took part of one of the scenic (windy as hell) roads into the Rushmore, crossing through incredibly small tunnels (busses fit through these with an inch to spare! An inch! Wow I sound like an oldster!) and watching the fab foursome grow larger as we came around each bend. My first glimpse of the carving was kind of surreal. It was completely recognizable above a lush canopy of the trees that shade the hills black (a ha, you get where that’s going, right?) but in miniature. For some reason I think I had a better sense of the scale of the carving from that distance than up close.
In spite of a fresh adventure pack and movies, Colin wasn’t an easy boy this day. He’s equal parts a great fun traveling partner, and a schizophrenic diablo child. Stopping at viewpoints and getting out and then back into the car multiple times was more than his little circuit board could manage. So we just mustered through the whiney tantrums and used that fake Super! Happy! Parent! Voice! that I hate to use.
We pulled into the Rushmore and I was…impressed. All around. I have to say, the Rushmore is a very efficient and well-done park. And it’s terribly fun to call it the Rushmore. The roads were wide and multi-laned, the parking was easy, the concessions were not obnoxious or too terribly overpriced.
I totally felt the grandeur of the spot, and experienced the artist’s intended vision of the impact such a carving would make on visitors. When we were up close to Rushmore, the faces feel smaller than they really are, it’s hard to gauge how high the carving actually is and how massive the scale of the sculpture is. Colin loved looking through the binoculars so we shelled out quarters to keep him entertained. I have no idea what he was looking at though.
There is a great one-mile-ish loop that takes you closer to the base of the mountain and to the artist’s workshop. However, I enjoyed recognizing the steps that appear in National Treasure Duece! Today I’m super happy to have a digital camera – we took so many shot of Rushmore that the delete button will come in handy. Colin had a tantrum leaving. I never thought we’d have to drag our kid away from a national monument. In a few more years we’ll have to drag him into them.
After Rushmore we headed into Keystone (the town at the base of the mountain) and our first Laura Ingalls Wilder site (Keystone is a LIW site since this is where her sister Carrie settled). We found some tasty (finally!) lunch at a mexicano joint and then went on to the historical society. It’s an old schoolhouse and Colin had fun playing the part of a scallywag student. I found the Carrie Ingalls corner and had my looksie. Not a whole lot there so we moved onto our next adventure, the 1880 train!
I’m not sure why we keep doing this to ourselves. Colin loves trains so we booked a two-hour round trip ride on this antique steam-driven iron horse. Within five minutes… “I’m borrrreed. I wanna show. Waaaahwaah blah blah blah.” Although we were surrounded by a lot of grandparenty types, no one seemed to thrilled with the youngest passenger in the car. I don’t blame them.
After the ride we attempted a few other attractions but they were either closed, horribly overpriced and tourist-trappy, and the Bumble was done. We had wanted to see the lighting ceremony at the Rushmore, but It had been a long day so we made for the cabin, a little pizza and our beds.
September 1 – Tuesday – Up and Down
Best. Day. Yet. Today we went up, up,up, and down, down, down.
Our adventure began with a helicopter ride to see the Crazy Horse memorial. After the Rushmore meltdown, we were glad we had decided that a second visit to the other massive stone carving in the area may be too much for Colin. And we really wanted to get into a heli! It was fairly quick, nine mintues, but it felt longer. Colin was rather more impressed by the toy helicopter in his hand than the vistas to be seen, but he had fun and that’s what we were aiming for. None of us had ever been up in a helicopter before, and it was great to experience it as a family.
After the ride we went to Bear Country. This was one of those rather sad wildlife parks where the animals either look mournfully in your way, or ignore you with haughty disdain as you drive through their paddock. But we finally got to see an elk (the one Custer park inhabitant that we had not seen). On the plus side it had a whole passel of baby bears that were cute, cute, cute.
We had to make a stop at Dinasaur Park. It was a WPA project in the 30s to put local people to work. It's fantastically cheesy in a concrete attraction kind of way, but it was fun to let Colin clambor over the terribly realistic animals.
On our next stop we spelunked! in the very cool Rushmore Cave. Spelunk, kerplunk, cachunk. It’s a privately owned cave that has easy access – meaning, we didn’t have to crawl on our bellies to get in and out of the cave. Colin wasn’t bothered by the whole undergroundness of the adventure. And trying to keep him from going off the path or screaming at the top of his lungs kept me from being bothered by it. I’m not claustrophobic, but I’m certainly glad we spelunked in the age of electric lighting and improved handrails rather than by lantern glow.
Veventures over for the day, we returned to our cabin, walked around the park a bit and enjoyed hot dogs cooked over the fire, Pringles and some cold bud lights.
We turned Colin loose with a roasting stick, and once we convinced him that marshmallows are even more tasty when toasted and not just shoveled into the mouth from the bag, he made some admirable efforts to achieve the golden puffy glow of perfection.
A good end to a good day.
Today was all about the Rushmore. Mount that is. We got up early to a pleasant surprise – part of the boofalo herd decided to mow the meadow that was right across from our cabin. The boys went to explore while I loaded Colin’s adventure pack for the day. A side note on traveling with the bumble: We brought a lot of new small toys, coloring books, etc. so that I could put something different and new in Colin’s new backpack each day. It was an easy way to keep him stocked with fresh entertainment as we rolled through the miles each day. But the best investment was a new portable DVD player that had a longer battery life than our other one. A friend at work gave me a stack of kids movies that Colin hadn’t seen, so he had new flicks to zone out to. If you’ve experienced Colin in motion, you may have discovered that the only thing to get him to actually cease motion is to put on a show.
Back to the Rushmore! We took part of one of the scenic (windy as hell) roads into the Rushmore, crossing through incredibly small tunnels (busses fit through these with an inch to spare! An inch! Wow I sound like an oldster!) and watching the fab foursome grow larger as we came around each bend. My first glimpse of the carving was kind of surreal. It was completely recognizable above a lush canopy of the trees that shade the hills black (a ha, you get where that’s going, right?) but in miniature. For some reason I think I had a better sense of the scale of the carving from that distance than up close.
In spite of a fresh adventure pack and movies, Colin wasn’t an easy boy this day. He’s equal parts a great fun traveling partner, and a schizophrenic diablo child. Stopping at viewpoints and getting out and then back into the car multiple times was more than his little circuit board could manage. So we just mustered through the whiney tantrums and used that fake Super! Happy! Parent! Voice! that I hate to use.
We pulled into the Rushmore and I was…impressed. All around. I have to say, the Rushmore is a very efficient and well-done park. And it’s terribly fun to call it the Rushmore. The roads were wide and multi-laned, the parking was easy, the concessions were not obnoxious or too terribly overpriced.
I totally felt the grandeur of the spot, and experienced the artist’s intended vision of the impact such a carving would make on visitors. When we were up close to Rushmore, the faces feel smaller than they really are, it’s hard to gauge how high the carving actually is and how massive the scale of the sculpture is. Colin loved looking through the binoculars so we shelled out quarters to keep him entertained. I have no idea what he was looking at though.
There is a great one-mile-ish loop that takes you closer to the base of the mountain and to the artist’s workshop. However, I enjoyed recognizing the steps that appear in National Treasure Duece! Today I’m super happy to have a digital camera – we took so many shot of Rushmore that the delete button will come in handy. Colin had a tantrum leaving. I never thought we’d have to drag our kid away from a national monument. In a few more years we’ll have to drag him into them.
After Rushmore we headed into Keystone (the town at the base of the mountain) and our first Laura Ingalls Wilder site (Keystone is a LIW site since this is where her sister Carrie settled). We found some tasty (finally!) lunch at a mexicano joint and then went on to the historical society. It’s an old schoolhouse and Colin had fun playing the part of a scallywag student. I found the Carrie Ingalls corner and had my looksie. Not a whole lot there so we moved onto our next adventure, the 1880 train!
I’m not sure why we keep doing this to ourselves. Colin loves trains so we booked a two-hour round trip ride on this antique steam-driven iron horse. Within five minutes… “I’m borrrreed. I wanna show. Waaaahwaah blah blah blah.” Although we were surrounded by a lot of grandparenty types, no one seemed to thrilled with the youngest passenger in the car. I don’t blame them.
After the ride we attempted a few other attractions but they were either closed, horribly overpriced and tourist-trappy, and the Bumble was done. We had wanted to see the lighting ceremony at the Rushmore, but It had been a long day so we made for the cabin, a little pizza and our beds.
September 1 – Tuesday – Up and Down
Best. Day. Yet. Today we went up, up,up, and down, down, down.
Our adventure began with a helicopter ride to see the Crazy Horse memorial. After the Rushmore meltdown, we were glad we had decided that a second visit to the other massive stone carving in the area may be too much for Colin. And we really wanted to get into a heli! It was fairly quick, nine mintues, but it felt longer. Colin was rather more impressed by the toy helicopter in his hand than the vistas to be seen, but he had fun and that’s what we were aiming for. None of us had ever been up in a helicopter before, and it was great to experience it as a family.
After the ride we went to Bear Country. This was one of those rather sad wildlife parks where the animals either look mournfully in your way, or ignore you with haughty disdain as you drive through their paddock. But we finally got to see an elk (the one Custer park inhabitant that we had not seen). On the plus side it had a whole passel of baby bears that were cute, cute, cute.
We had to make a stop at Dinasaur Park. It was a WPA project in the 30s to put local people to work. It's fantastically cheesy in a concrete attraction kind of way, but it was fun to let Colin clambor over the terribly realistic animals.
On our next stop we spelunked! in the very cool Rushmore Cave. Spelunk, kerplunk, cachunk. It’s a privately owned cave that has easy access – meaning, we didn’t have to crawl on our bellies to get in and out of the cave. Colin wasn’t bothered by the whole undergroundness of the adventure. And trying to keep him from going off the path or screaming at the top of his lungs kept me from being bothered by it. I’m not claustrophobic, but I’m certainly glad we spelunked in the age of electric lighting and improved handrails rather than by lantern glow.
Veventures over for the day, we returned to our cabin, walked around the park a bit and enjoyed hot dogs cooked over the fire, Pringles and some cold bud lights.
We turned Colin loose with a roasting stick, and once we convinced him that marshmallows are even more tasty when toasted and not just shoveled into the mouth from the bag, he made some admirable efforts to achieve the golden puffy glow of perfection.
A good end to a good day.
Monday, September 07, 2009
Prairie Adventure part 1
August 29 – Saturday – Travel Day
4am – effing cat. SHUT UP.
5am – up and at ‘em. Colin needs no prompting to get up since he’s amped about starting our ve-venture!
6:30 - Head out to the airport. Motto of trip is GO WITH THE FLOW. Traffic is a breeze, check in and security are not. But we make it through in time for a SBUX fix and an on-time departure.
9am – Holy crap – Rick Springfield is on our plane! Walked past him to use the bathroom, on my way back I stopped and told him how I used to pretend I was Jesse’s Girl. He smiled and said, “Aww, that’s so sweet! Let’s take a picture.” Not really. I snuck a glance at him and continued on my way.
Noon – arrive in Denver. Can’t bring myself to ask to take a picture of the Rickster in baggagh claim. But Rob and Colin have the distinctive honor of using the stall next to him in the bathroom!
1pm – rental car situated, Tom Tom engaged. Have discovered a massive error in my drive time calculation and route. Somehow managed to overlook the fact that we will be driving up Wyoming as well as the time it would take to actually get moving. Add about three additional hours to our drive today and voila, first itinerary alteration – no Mammoth Site.
That’s about all I can recount with an actual time continuum. From then on it was wide open Wyoming – a lovely state and I’m actually glad to be able to see some of it. Surprised at the beautiful rolling hills, painted bluffs, and rapidly changing landscape. By the by, Wyoming has the nicest rest stops we’ve ever seen! I think they may have a little extra tax income to spend out here.
We crossed over into South Dakota and continued to climb into hill country. Beautiful.
Night fell as we finally pulled into Custer the town to find some dinner. If you aren’t a beef person, you are scheisse outta luck for tasty options. I realized just how horribly spoiled we are with Portland’s culinary options.
After our meal we took the final leg of the day’s journey into the park to find our cabin and rest our heads. I had the first and most fun surprise sighting of a buffalo grazing roadside. It appeared out of nowhere in the headlights and it was huge!
We checked into our cabin and surveyed our home for the next few days. It was a nicely equipped two-room log cabin with a/c (roughing it here) a kitchenette and a fire pit outside. We were all ready for bed after a long day and looking forward to starting our adventures in the morning.
August 30 – Sunday – Playing in the Park
6am is horribly early to get up Colin.
Today we just cruised around Custer State Park. We took in the wildlife loop, and at one point found ourselves held hostage by an overly-friendly troop of wild burro. “Hello, we are burro. We are friendly. Do you have food? You look like you have food. No food? Mind if we take look for ourselves? Bob, get in front of them and don’t move until I find the food.”
Aside from the burro love fest we saw pronghorn, white-tailed deer, mule deer, prairie dogs and a few random buffalo. Turns out the main herd was over in a part of the park that we didn’t explore that morning. The guys we were seeing had finished up their uh, manly duties for the season and were recuperating from all the bwant chicca bwahn bwaw.
We cruised into Custer the town and found a coffee shop that served espresso. Hello latte, I think I love you. We found one of the park’s beautiful rock-rimmed lakes and took a great hike around the perimeter. Colin’s first hike and he did fantastic with a few assists from daddy. At the park store we found Colin’s new friend, Buddy the Buffalo. Isn’t he cute!
We were where the deer and antelope play. Literally. The young white tails and pronghorns frolicked – they were frolicking, people - - in the fields as we passed.
Later in the day we took a buffalo jeep excursion. The jeep ride was a lot of fun – it took us off onto non-public roads to go into the buffalo herd. Baby buffalo are CUTE. Adult male buffalo are BIG. All buffalo are STINKY and INSECT-Y.
The ride culminated at a beautiful valley where a chuckwagon dinner and entertainment awaited us. Most of the time Rob and I enjoy being off-season tourists – no traffic, no lines, not many people. However, a chuckwagon is just not one of the things that is terribly enjoyable in a small group. There were about 15 of us total, and it’s hard to work up the jolly energy necessary to do a chuckwagon right proud. Colin ran around like a banshee, and threw a handful of rocks at one of the men. Mortification ensued at this first glimpse of demon child who accompanied us on a good part of this trip. We ended the evening with a group hokey pokey/chicken dance….just let that sink in…and an echoy Ya-HOOO!!!
A fire and s’mores at the cabin capped off our evening and we put another day and ourselves to bed.
4am – effing cat. SHUT UP.
5am – up and at ‘em. Colin needs no prompting to get up since he’s amped about starting our ve-venture!
6:30 - Head out to the airport. Motto of trip is GO WITH THE FLOW. Traffic is a breeze, check in and security are not. But we make it through in time for a SBUX fix and an on-time departure.
9am – Holy crap – Rick Springfield is on our plane! Walked past him to use the bathroom, on my way back I stopped and told him how I used to pretend I was Jesse’s Girl. He smiled and said, “Aww, that’s so sweet! Let’s take a picture.” Not really. I snuck a glance at him and continued on my way.
Noon – arrive in Denver. Can’t bring myself to ask to take a picture of the Rickster in baggagh claim. But Rob and Colin have the distinctive honor of using the stall next to him in the bathroom!
1pm – rental car situated, Tom Tom engaged. Have discovered a massive error in my drive time calculation and route. Somehow managed to overlook the fact that we will be driving up Wyoming as well as the time it would take to actually get moving. Add about three additional hours to our drive today and voila, first itinerary alteration – no Mammoth Site.
That’s about all I can recount with an actual time continuum. From then on it was wide open Wyoming – a lovely state and I’m actually glad to be able to see some of it. Surprised at the beautiful rolling hills, painted bluffs, and rapidly changing landscape. By the by, Wyoming has the nicest rest stops we’ve ever seen! I think they may have a little extra tax income to spend out here.
We crossed over into South Dakota and continued to climb into hill country. Beautiful.
Night fell as we finally pulled into Custer the town to find some dinner. If you aren’t a beef person, you are scheisse outta luck for tasty options. I realized just how horribly spoiled we are with Portland’s culinary options.
After our meal we took the final leg of the day’s journey into the park to find our cabin and rest our heads. I had the first and most fun surprise sighting of a buffalo grazing roadside. It appeared out of nowhere in the headlights and it was huge!
We checked into our cabin and surveyed our home for the next few days. It was a nicely equipped two-room log cabin with a/c (roughing it here) a kitchenette and a fire pit outside. We were all ready for bed after a long day and looking forward to starting our adventures in the morning.
August 30 – Sunday – Playing in the Park
6am is horribly early to get up Colin.
Today we just cruised around Custer State Park. We took in the wildlife loop, and at one point found ourselves held hostage by an overly-friendly troop of wild burro. “Hello, we are burro. We are friendly. Do you have food? You look like you have food. No food? Mind if we take look for ourselves? Bob, get in front of them and don’t move until I find the food.”
Aside from the burro love fest we saw pronghorn, white-tailed deer, mule deer, prairie dogs and a few random buffalo. Turns out the main herd was over in a part of the park that we didn’t explore that morning. The guys we were seeing had finished up their uh, manly duties for the season and were recuperating from all the bwant chicca bwahn bwaw.
We cruised into Custer the town and found a coffee shop that served espresso. Hello latte, I think I love you. We found one of the park’s beautiful rock-rimmed lakes and took a great hike around the perimeter. Colin’s first hike and he did fantastic with a few assists from daddy. At the park store we found Colin’s new friend, Buddy the Buffalo. Isn’t he cute!
We were where the deer and antelope play. Literally. The young white tails and pronghorns frolicked – they were frolicking, people - - in the fields as we passed.
Later in the day we took a buffalo jeep excursion. The jeep ride was a lot of fun – it took us off onto non-public roads to go into the buffalo herd. Baby buffalo are CUTE. Adult male buffalo are BIG. All buffalo are STINKY and INSECT-Y.
The ride culminated at a beautiful valley where a chuckwagon dinner and entertainment awaited us. Most of the time Rob and I enjoy being off-season tourists – no traffic, no lines, not many people. However, a chuckwagon is just not one of the things that is terribly enjoyable in a small group. There were about 15 of us total, and it’s hard to work up the jolly energy necessary to do a chuckwagon right proud. Colin ran around like a banshee, and threw a handful of rocks at one of the men. Mortification ensued at this first glimpse of demon child who accompanied us on a good part of this trip. We ended the evening with a group hokey pokey/chicken dance….just let that sink in…and an echoy Ya-HOOO!!!
A fire and s’mores at the cabin capped off our evening and we put another day and ourselves to bed.
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