Thursday, August 20, 2015
Is this the desert or WHAT?
The title of this post is Max's exclamation after stepping out of the camper in the Badlands. Another long day of many miles, but from here on out (until the return slog home) the miles get shorter. Of course, a secondary title could have been, "Oh, look, corn..." Everyone (except Tom our fearless driver) took turns napping today but the good news is that when you are driving through Iowa and most of South Dakota, you don't really miss much. Go to sleep: corn field. Wake up: corn field. Ingrid seemed super impressed by all the corn ;)
To pay homage to our constant traveling companion we stopped at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD today. Specially grown corn of different hues is used to create the giant murals adorning the outside as well as the gymnasium. It really was a pretty neat site to see. After the Corn Palace, we continued east...through more corn. There was a short stop at the Chamberlain Overlook but Max had just fallen asleep so I stayed in the camper with him.
After that, we headed on to our first National Park of the trip: Badlands. Oh boy did they live up to their name today. It was neat to get to show them to Max (again, but he doesn't really remember when he was here at age 2) as well as the Coreys and Ingrid for the first time. Max was excited because on this trip he was able to "climb the mountains" - something he was looking forward to after seeing pictures of the Badlands from our last trip. A couple of scenic overlooks later, we stopped at the Visitor Center where Max claimed his Junior Ranger badge. He did a great job speaking with the Ranger and answering questions about the park. Sophie was reluctant to take the oath but she finally decided to collect her badge as well.
From there, it should have been a relatively uneventful drive out of the park but one scenic overlook stop later there was the smell of burning. Never good. Tried going a little further down the road. More burning. Now with smoke. Craig and Tom took the tire off to try and loosen the caliper that had become frozen. Craig was able to pound and pry and get it loose so that we could drive. So the plan is no brakes until Rapid City (Wall is now scrapped from the itinerary). Well, good plan...except for the bighorn sheep on the side of the road. We took some time to ooh and ahh over those because it's pretty awesome to have so many up close and just hanging out then we moved on. Almost out of the park when stampeding over the hills and down the roads is the rest of the herd of sheep!! It was one of the coolest animal experiences I've had.
We made it to Rapid City with no more locking of the caliper, went to the parts store that was open until 7, got the parts and made it to the Chuckwagon Show just in time. A little crowded at our table in the balcony but decent food and good atmosphere. Even better was the entertainment. The band that took the stage played a great mix of modern country medleys with some older stuff mixed in. Max was singing (even though it was the tune to Little Einsteins) and dancing for the first part of the show. Sophie was a trooper and tried to stick it out as long as possible even though she was tired too. I ended up bringing both kids back to the camper before the end of the show to get ready for bed. Now we are on a late trip back to the hotel. I'm sure I missed some highlights from today, just trying to the get the basic info down quick before we get to the hotel.
To pay homage to our constant traveling companion we stopped at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD today. Specially grown corn of different hues is used to create the giant murals adorning the outside as well as the gymnasium. It really was a pretty neat site to see. After the Corn Palace, we continued east...through more corn. There was a short stop at the Chamberlain Overlook but Max had just fallen asleep so I stayed in the camper with him.
After that, we headed on to our first National Park of the trip: Badlands. Oh boy did they live up to their name today. It was neat to get to show them to Max (again, but he doesn't really remember when he was here at age 2) as well as the Coreys and Ingrid for the first time. Max was excited because on this trip he was able to "climb the mountains" - something he was looking forward to after seeing pictures of the Badlands from our last trip. A couple of scenic overlooks later, we stopped at the Visitor Center where Max claimed his Junior Ranger badge. He did a great job speaking with the Ranger and answering questions about the park. Sophie was reluctant to take the oath but she finally decided to collect her badge as well.
From there, it should have been a relatively uneventful drive out of the park but one scenic overlook stop later there was the smell of burning. Never good. Tried going a little further down the road. More burning. Now with smoke. Craig and Tom took the tire off to try and loosen the caliper that had become frozen. Craig was able to pound and pry and get it loose so that we could drive. So the plan is no brakes until Rapid City (Wall is now scrapped from the itinerary). Well, good plan...except for the bighorn sheep on the side of the road. We took some time to ooh and ahh over those because it's pretty awesome to have so many up close and just hanging out then we moved on. Almost out of the park when stampeding over the hills and down the roads is the rest of the herd of sheep!! It was one of the coolest animal experiences I've had.
We made it to Rapid City with no more locking of the caliper, went to the parts store that was open until 7, got the parts and made it to the Chuckwagon Show just in time. A little crowded at our table in the balcony but decent food and good atmosphere. Even better was the entertainment. The band that took the stage played a great mix of modern country medleys with some older stuff mixed in. Max was singing (even though it was the tune to Little Einsteins) and dancing for the first part of the show. Sophie was a trooper and tried to stick it out as long as possible even though she was tired too. I ended up bringing both kids back to the camper before the end of the show to get ready for bed. Now we are on a late trip back to the hotel. I'm sure I missed some highlights from today, just trying to the get the basic info down quick before we get to the hotel.
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