South Dakota!

I have to say--we kind of feel like we have this travel thing down. As it turns out, traveling with an 11-year-old, an 8-year-old and a 6-year-old can be both epic and strangely relaxing. Case in point: for the first time on a road trip since, oh, about 9 1/2 years ago, we didn't haul a small potty along in the back. And didn't regret it! Freedom!

I've been prepping for this trip ever since May-ish, when we spent a couple evenings piecing it together. Although I'd heard of lots of people traveling to South Dakota, and I'd had a nice time visiting as a kid, and so had Matt, I found it hard to believe that there would be much to actually do there. After all, how long can you really stare at giant stone heads? (As it turns out, about 2 hours--more on that later!)

The very house where Laura spent an
entire winter! Naomi found it very
challenging to pose normally during
the trip.

Google to the rescue. Despite my misgivings, I was sold on the trip even before my search reminded me that Laura Ingalls Wilder had also spent time in South Dakota, and then showed me that her homestead was not all that far from where we'd be passing through anyway!!! It does not get better than that this side of the Atlantic.

My mind raced into action, and Matt, knowing he wasn't going to stop this train, let me run with my idea. After all, he knew that some solid at snagging respectable fish would be in store for him later in the trip. In chatting with bubbling over to a friend who'd also spent time in De Smet, I learned that you can stay in covered wagons on Laura's actual homestead!!! On the phone, like, seconds later (okay, not quite), I found out that the larger wagons were already booked. Would I be content with a 3-person wagon? How could I not. Sorry, Matt, but you're voted out of the wagon. He seemed resigned to his fate because, again, he stood no chance of stopping this train. He also didn't seem to harbor the same dreams that I did, crazy enough.

I spent the next three months reading the Laura series to the girls, or listening to it with them on audiobook, hoping to at least land Laura in South Dakota before we did. Naomi hadn't heard it, and Elise had forgotten a lot. We're still not finished, because we're reading other books, too--but we accomplished our goal, plus Naomi fell in love with the whole series just like her sisters did.

Fast forward to our actual trip. We began our drive on my birthday! Which we had fortunately celebrated earlier, as nothing much fun actually happened that Friday--although the anticipation of staying where Laura walked was pretty much enough. We left after lunch (so Matt could work a full morning), began counting out-of-state license plates, listened to The Long Winter most of the way, arrived at a fairly nice hotel, watched Animal Planet (okay, that was fun--but I had to squeeze in an emergency trip to Target during that time) and went to bed. Meh.

Elise and Naomi both got
to drive this covered wagon
for a bit!

The next morning, though, we pointed out familiar sites from the Laura books as we made our way through the stark countryside to her local digs. "Look, girls, a slough!" "Look, a train, along the very track they were trying to clear during the long winter!" Fortunately, I learned how to pronounce slough early on. And they were eating it up, the dear girls.

We began with the town sites, and were able to explore several places where Laura actually lived, or that were built by Pa, or that she walked past every day in town. We saw a few artifacts and found a couple souvenirs. Then we headed to the actual homestead, past the cottonwoods actually planted by the family when they first settled on it, and eventually made our way to a barn with kittens.

KITTENS!!! There are definitely more
pictures of kittens where this came
from.

KITTENS!!! Six of them, and Elise named them all. S'mores, Oreo, Snorey, Lelah, and all the rest--I've lost track, although she hasn't. And here we could've stayed the rest of the trip, and the girls would've considered it all time well spent. As it was, Matt, occasionally accompanied by Kalina, worked on his lassoing skills with the help of a wooden calf and I alternated between watching the girls with the kittens, petting the kittens myself (soooo cute!) and watching my husband go all western on me. Yes, he did actually manage to snag that calf a couple times. In the moments we were able to wrest the girls away from the kittens, they took a pony cart ride, drove a covered wagon, made jump ropes, explored replicas of buildings Laura might have known, and eventually headed for our home-sweet-covered wagon for a campfire dinner and s'mores. If we hadn't been trying to live out of a cooler we would've had cornbread, bacon and beans--but one can only go so far.

It was cozy, but doable for one night!

The only bummer was the wind. The really strong, gusty, constant, chilly wind. That never stopped, all night long, prompting me to lay awake for at least part of it wondering whether the wagon would:
1.) Tip over
2.) Roll away
3.) Give in
4.) Freeze

So it was an interesting night. The girls all shared the barely full-sized bed, by choice, leaving me the mattress on the floor. Which really worked out fine, as they all seemed to sleep. I'll admit that the whole experience was a bit less magical than I had initially worked my mind into a frenzy over ("And it'll be the day after my birthday, no less!!!"), but it was still a neat thing to have done. A little less wind would've been great.

The one plus side of the wind, however, was that the girls quickly decided their long hair (no one wants a haircut, we're not a weird homeschool family or anything--or at least not just due to long hair) needed to be in braids. And Elise and Naomi had chosen somewhat old-fashioned-looking dresses that morning, completely randomly as far as I know, in perfect Laura and Carrie colors (which you'd understand if you'd read the books and analyzed them as thoroughly as my girls have). They ended up totally looking like they could've almost actually stepped off a real covered wagon a hundred years ago. Almost. Later in the trip, Kalina joined the two-braid bandwagon, and it continued until the very last day. Fun!

After a breakfast eaten huddled on the slightly calmer side of the wagon, lest it all blow away, and a very tearful leave-taking of the dear kittens, we finished exploring the property and then continued to head west.

Happy birthday, National
Parks! And thanks for the
cake and ice cream!

"Mommy, I miss the kiiitttteennnnsss!" Poor girl(s). Seriously, we could've left them there and picked them up later...but, onward!

A couple hours later, we were pulling into Badlands National Park. On the official birthday of our National Parks! And the present was for us: free admission! Feeling a bit like we were crashing a party, as we hadn't actually known about the occasion, let alone planned around it, we euphorically pulled off at the first scenic overlook. My fear of heights kicked in just as Elise's love of off-trailing ramped up, but as she's a fairly sensible girl, we quickly settled into an easy dynamic of my setting limits and her nosing up to them, but never edging over. I think she instinctively knew what was at stake: not being allowed to explore the vastest, strangest, most climbable wilderness she'd ever known.

Little mountain goat!

Kalina, who never sees a beautiful scene she doesn't want to capture in a photograph, snapped pictures using any camera available. This continued throughout the trip, even when she had left her camera in the car: "Quick, I need your phone!" As though the hill could simply disappear in a poof of smoke.

Naomi worried about rattlesnakes. This also continued throughout the trip. Apparently, they worried about her, too, because we never saw one (in the wild). Naomi also admirably said an unemotional no to at least 2 different stuffed prairie dogs before finding one she was in love with. This is a grand step up from last year's teary gift-shop runs.

We meandered through the park, hoping out of the van every so often to explore, and then hopping back in just as eagerly when the oven-like heat and nearly overpowering sunlight became unbearable. We saw several groupings of bighorn sheep along the way. Our last stop in the park was a prairie dog town--supposedly the biggest? But we're still confirming that.

If you sit long enough, they'll get used
to you!

The prairie dogs let us creep close to them, and especially a larger fellow who seemed to be the prime watchdog who, as we learned later, could be bribed for food. [We didn't feed any wild animals, but we sheepishly appreciated those who had in the past...except that time I got really annoyed by it....]

We enjoyed the Badlands so much that we didn't leave until dinnertime. And it happened that the only convenient dinner stop was...drum roll...Wall Drug! Which was actually more tasteful, and less tasty, than I'd expected.

We then aimed the car for Rapid City and arrived at our hotel as the sun was setting. We looked forward to spending three whole nights in one place.

We liked this sign. :)

Still on central time, we rose and shone bright and early the next morning, but still felt rested. We rubbed shoulders with the retirees who must have been on a guided tour, and who kindly gave up tables in the breakfast room so we could sit and complimented us on our well-behaved, beautiful kids. "It's early." I wanted to respond, but I know when a compliment should just be received and not protested, and besides they are quite beautiful and relatively well-behaved kids for large portions of family vacations. And most of life in general.

At our first hotel breakfast, the second day of our trip, the girls raided the Fruit Loops (except Kalina, who's a die-hard waffle fan) and filled up on them before I could say "protein." This time, I insisted on some healthy options so they wouldn't run out of energy to do anything but argue an hour later. The girls dutifully doctored up bowls of oatmeal and swallowed down eggs and yogurt before digging into the requisite pastries and, yes, more Fruit Loops--after all, it was vacation. Except Kalina, who's a die-hard waffle fan and who, at 11, has finally grown a big enough appetite to willingly eat eggs and such. The breakfast at this place was particularly varied, fairly healthy and delicious, so we were all happy campers, healthy food notwithstanding. Even the orange juice seemed real!

Elise totally bonded with
the super-old tortoise.

As most of us were bursting with excitement about Reptile Gardens, and it opened at 8:30, we headed that way first. I admit I was expecting a cheesy tourist trap. Which I'm sure it was back in the 80s, but nowadays it's actually super fun. Even the endless cages of snakes were labeled better than most zoos, making for somewhat entertaining reading even for those of us who aren't Matt.

We began with the shows, in the proper order of least exciting (birds), to more exciting (snakes--with a handler who even hung out with venomous ones!), to crazy-exciting (crocodiles and alligators). I'm not sure how much was show, and how much real peril the handler was in with the crocs, but it was a stitch to see the animals all creeping up on the guy while he's "wrestling" one of the specimens. As he put it, "For some reason everyone wants to see me get bitten by a crocodile."

After a quick cooler lunch, we headed to a small museum of paleontology. Elise, down on museums the whole trip, sulked through the whole thing but was impressed by a few things in spite of herself. Naomi, taking her cues from Elise, asked where the gift shop was. And Kalina, tired from the big morning but engaged, enjoyed herself among all the local fossils and impressive rocks.

Can you guess the nursery
rhyme?

Then, as a change of pace, we headed to Storybook Island, an old park with large models of storybook places. Naomi brightened immediately, especially when she saw that the first characters we came to were out of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, a story she particularly loves. We made it across the troll's bridge unscathed, and then wandered the large area, hopping from Cinderella's carriage to Santa's house (which she especially adored), with lots of stops in between. She made two new friends, and even the older girls had a nice time.

Back at the hotel, we ate a super-simple supper and then took the kids to the pool. Which had a nice-sized water slide! Which the older girls (let alone Naomi) were terrified of, despite the fact that other kids their size were enjoying it.
Elise: "But Mommy, they're not our family! I want someone from my family to go on it first!" Apparently no one else can be trusted?
Long story short, once we forced them on it, they adored it and wanted to do nothing else. Moral of the story: your parents are usually right, kids, sorry.

And we missed the kittens, by the way.

The next day, we tackled another potential favorite: Bear Country USA. Naomi conquered her fear of wolves-right-outside-the-car, bears-right-outside-the-car and mountain-lions-in-a-cage-just-outside-the-car while Kalina snapped pictures every 5 feet. Having again arrived right after opening, we were at the park during feeding time. The highlight (for me, anyway): a tussle between two black bears and three wolves over a hunk of meat. No one was harmed in the skirmish.

After we drove through the expansive animal cages, we walked through the small zoo of smaller animals, the highlight of which was the bear cub cage. The cubs enjoyed sucking on each others' ears, to the delight of our kids.

It was at this point the Naomi finally found the perfect stuffed prairie dog souvenir! It even chirps! We were proud of her for holding out.

Where's my gumball?

After this, we realized we had plenty of time to visit Mount Rushmore. We began with pizza in Keystone, where Elise won a $1 bill out of a gumball machine. What she really wanted, however, was a gumball, so the kind waiter, who'd never seen anyone win money in his two years working at the place, gave her 4 quarters for her dollar and soon Elise was happily chewing. She's saving her other quarters for additional gumballs.

We were properly awed by Mount Rushmore, and especially since Matt had packed a couple pairs of binoculars. The visitor center was closed for remodeling, but we were able to walk the trail that leads nearly to the base of the mountain (or whatever it is--the girls questioned whether it was really a mountain or not), which the girls much preferred to a museum anyway. We were able to catch views from various angles, plus climb a whole ton of steps. We also made it just in time, without even trying, to a ranger talk at the Sculptor Studio. It was a nice visit but, well, once you've seen it you've seen it.

One of the many vantage
points along the
Presidential Trail

Since we'd only spent two hours at Mount Rushmore, the afternoon was still relatively young. Elise pushed the hotel and pool, but Matt and I really wanted to make the very most of our time, knowing things would be a little more chill at Custer. So we hit up a museum that gave some history and context to the area. The museum offered the kids a scavenger hunt--one for younger kids and another that challenges even adults. As there were only two easy booklets left for the younger kids, Kalina bravely took on the more difficult of the two. They were informed that if they completed the booklet and handed it back in, they'd receive a turtle pin.

While Kalina was motivated by the idea of gathering information that stumped many grownups, and Naomi's box-checking tendencies got her through, Elise was totally after that pin. Although she remained grumpy throughout at the affront of heading to a museum instead of the pool, she quickly filled in the answers for each room and pestered me to let her move ahead to the next one and, finally, visit the desk for her pin.

Naomi happily bounced from museum toy station to museum toy station, desperately in need of quiet play time to process everything we'd been up to the past couple days, and filled in her booklet on the way. Kalina enjoyed the Native American games as she puzzled through her answers with some, but not too much help from Matt and I. In the end, they each got their pin, even though Kalina (and Matt, and I) failed to find the answer to one question. I'm pretty sure the guy who checked her work didn't either, though, as there was no, "Oh, this one is found in the _____ room, and the answer is...." Just silence. And a well-earned turtle pin.

We're in a mine cart! Except
the one who worried it'd be
too tippy!

Finally, it was time to enjoy another super-simple-supper and some pool time!

On Wednesday, we checked out and headed further into the Black Hills, roughly on our way to Custer State Park. Our first stop was a gold mine, where we were just in time for a tour. We learned that the whole mine was dug by only two men, over the course of 32 years. The fun tour guide let us take our picture in a mine cart. That was brought in for the purpose of taking pictures.

Maybe this pan!

We panned for gold, however, we're pretty sure a lot of people had done the same thing ahead of us. We found the gold stocked in our pan (plus in the second pan the nice tour guide gave us for free), and then maybe a little more.... But we could totally see the pull of gold panning.

Ned, or Norm. Maybe, being a lone
male, he enjoys some company?

After another cooler lunch, we turned our car toward Custer State Park. We found a herd of bison right past the visitor center, and then our lovely cabin. Once settled, we headed to a high lookout and a short hike before dinner. Afterward, the girls and I walked to see the horses while Matt handled dishes. On our way back, we were startled, to say the least, at the sight of a bison meandering just past our cabin! Having been instructed to stay 75 yards away from bison at the visitor center, I considered my options: duck inside another cabin for safety, back slowly away, or take a photo. I ended up snapping a picture. Lots of other people were outside gawking, and a bystander informed me that the restaurant staff had named the bison (either Ned or Norm), and he wasn't a problem. I still kept some distance but, fortunately, he wandered past fairly quickly and it was soon safe for us to return to the cabin.

The famous "needles" of Custer State
Park.

Next morning, we decided to tackle a relatively difficult, but well-reviewed hike up to the "needles" area of the park. We made it to the top with a cooler bag (thanks, Matt!), and picnicked and explored at the top. Afterward, we saw snow-white mountain goats in precarious positions, and then headed to the lake.

Kalina caught it all by herself!

When Matt sees a lake, he finds it very hard not to fish. We made one loop hiking around before he tossed in a line, and when he did, so did Kalina and Elise. Elise soon became more committed to the crayfish she kept hauling in (44 total--although some were recatches), but Kalina actually caught several trout! Naomi, who still desperately needed low-key playtime, delighted herself in endless rounds of hide-and-seek with me and occasionally Kalina, and then endless rounds of rock-paper-scissors with me and occasionally Kalina, and finally creating pets and a little doll out of pine cones and pine needles.

Naomi's pine-cone critter.

That evening we enjoyed a campfire and s'mores; however, Kalina was feeling out of sorts so we stuck close to the cabin. She and I thoroughly enjoyed watching (most of) The Parent Trap, while Matt took a walk to see the horses with the younger girls. They also invented their own hammock game, which made absolutely no sense to Kalina when they tried to explain it to her the next day. You had to be there.

It was very difficult to keep Elise from
running right up and hugging these
guys. Honestly, I could relate. They
were sweet, but not tame--and we
probably should've stayed in the car!

Rain and clouds greeted us the next morning, so we tried driving the Wildlife Loop to see if we could catch any bison enjoying the dampness (do they like such a thing?) We had some luck, only because Matt intrepidly took a gravel road towards a small herd. Shortly after, the skies cleared and we went to another lake. Matt fished...a lot.... We rented a canoe and a kayak to explore the lake and got a lovely view of two bison resting on the beach right in front of the playground. We'd learned that bison can swim, but still felt pretty safe in the water. As Kalina and I turned our kayak back later to check them out one last time before handing it in, we noticed two park rangers walking up with gun-like contraptions, who then proceeded to shoot the bison. We had to ask. It turns out, they had shot paintballs at the creatures, marking them with green bug repellent that should help them stay healthy. The bison calmly meandered away. We grew suspicious of the 75-yard rule.

Typical buffalo jam.

Later, while fishing continued to happen, Naomi and I checked out the playground. She invited several of her friends from home and took them on various trips and adventures. It was so nice to "see" them again. Kalina caught more trout, and Elise grew very upset that she only pulled in 2 crayfish the whole time. What a waste!

Can we get a kitten, by the way?

Naomi was wary of the burros, and
rightly so. She also insisted on wearing
a hodgepodge of jammies, including
her tall, rainbow socks that are actually
different sizes because I matched them
wrong when I did laundry. But look at
the cute burro!!

That evening, we attempted the Wildlife Loop again, having been told most of the animals are active around 7:00 p.m. We found and mingled with the famous "begging burros," and also got ourselves stuck in a traditional "buffalo jam." We were glad we weren't among those riding motorcycles because, yikes, those creatures are large!

Our last morning in the park we decided to attempt another strenuous climb to the top of a rock tower. The hike was relatively easy until it wasn't, at the very last bit. We struggled through and over various large rock formations--or at least Matt and I did. The girls seemed to have very little trouble but, then again, they weren't carrying a backpack and a nice camera they had no interest in banging off a rock. Kalina helped Naomi considerably, too--sweetly coaching and encouraging her every step. Although Naomi didn't come across as scared, I'm not sure she would've made it up with Kalina's constant presence empowering and guiding her.

On top of the world!

Look how steep! And
what's on the other side?
Emptiness???

The final stretch was a fairly steep scramble up a rock face. Not doing well with heights, I volunteered to wait with the stuff. Until I couldn't stand missing out, and joined everyone in the bid for the top. It had a legitimate flag, which Elise wanted to pin her turtle pin to (I just wasn't quite okay with her going as close to the edge as the flag was, though). Fortunately, the space was large enough that I didn't have to be paranoid at every second. We saw the needles area we'd picnicked in a couple days prior, and also the back of Mount Rushmore. And we all felt very proud. Elise jogged much of the way back to the trailhead.

Elise caught a turtle in
addition to her crayfish.

We returned to a lake for more fishing, and then to the Wildlife Loop for one more look at local animals. We were rewarded with a great view of some antelope, and also a couple elk.

The 11+ hour drive home was made with only three stops and mostly good attitudes. We enjoyed different scenery, our audiobooks, the saved-for-the-long-haul snacks and yes, some screentime.

We still miss the kittens, though.

And here's the trip by the numbers:
Total meals eaten out: 4
Fast food meals: 1
Nights we had cereal for dinner: 2
State license plates found: 48 (we never found Vermont or Hawaii)
Canadian license plates found: 5--most more than once
Journal entries written: 27, plus Elise's diary
Band-Aids: 2
Trips to the grocery store: 1 (the first night in doesn't count as groceries)
Loads of laundry run: 0
Fraction of clothes we brought but didn't use: 1/4 (not bad, considering we were clearly in the cool mornings/evenings, hot days season)
Rainy days: 1/2
Bed spaces for 3 girls, most nights: 2
Pictures of cats: At least 30
Price paid for a loaf of bread at Custer: $7.49 plus tax (better than McDonald's, though, right??)