Wild West Adventure-Summer 2012 (Part 1)

As many of you know, Jeff and I like to take long trips for our summer vacation. We started 4 years ago by going out to the south west (New Mexico, Arizona…) with our boys and Jeff’s dad who for my typing sake I will refer to as “Pop”. You can go back in my blog to view the pictures from that trip. We also have taken a trip to Washington D.C., New Jersey, Maryland & Delaware (Also a  two week trip) and last year we went to Niagara Falls, and up and around through Canada and Michigan. Each time we took Pop along with us. We have enjoyed each trip so much! (pictures from all of those trips are on here in past posts)

This year we invited my parents to join us and we had a blast! Here are pictures and our story from this year’s trip. (It will be broken up into parts to keep my computer from going into shock! )

We left Friday afternoon and headed North! Our two oldest boys had been to Youth Camp all week so they were extremely tired and worn out and pretty quiet. (and sad…) (and sick…)

But most of that wore off after a good night’s sleep. We spent our first night in Cool Springs, TN. Unfortunately, mom picked up some kind of stomach bug that night and she was pretty miserable until Sunday morning.

Our first picnic on the road…

St Louis, MO

Taylor is leaning up against the Arch here. It was very hot and very bright out! Jacob wanted to go up in the Arch so bad, but there was a long line of people in front of us. We nixed that idea.

Inside the National Parks Museum at the St. Lewis Arch.

Saturday afternoon we finally reached St. Louis, MO.  Mom was feeling really bad by this point so she and dad decided to go find our hotel and wait for us there. Ha! There were no hotels in the area with rooms available.  So they just had to sit and wait for us at a gas station, while we visited the St. Louis Arch.

Jeff started calling hotels in the next closest town and finally found us some rooms. The kind lady told him which exit to take and that it was only a mile and 1/2 off the interstate. Well….she was a little confused! It was more like 20-30, back roads. But it was a very scenic ride and we all survived it.

On that very scenic ride we noticed a sign that said “Daniel Boone Memorial site.” Of course the next day we had to go back and view that. I guess he died in the area and they buried him, but then because he was so popular in Kentucky, they moved his bones there. So now it is just the site where he was once buried. Ha! Anyway, it was neat to see and we all enjoyed it.  There was a VERY old cemetery there too.

Isn’t it funny how we all had to have our picture made with it?

 

Sunday we drove till lunch time and found a nice rest area to have our picnic. Unfortunately it was very hot and WINDY, but thankfully mom was feeling a lot better at this point!

This was our longest day of driving, but it went fast. We made it to Council Bluff, Iowa. It rained and stormed all night that night. The only rain we saw till nearly the end of our trip. God was so good to us!

Monday we drove to Yankton, Nebraska and had a picnic at the Lewis and Clark  Recreation Center. It was a very cold and WINDY picnic. The opposite of Sunday! We enjoyed the Visitor’s Center there.

Outside the Lewis & Clark Recreation Center

These pictures are so funny to me. Each one is so different. I love all the different expressions on their faces while we were trying to get them lined up. The Park Ranger who was watching us, had the giggles too.

Taylor gets the giggles too!

Wish you could have heard that flag flapping in the wind! One of the Park Rangers told us they have to change it every two weeks!

We drove on to Mitchell, South Dakota. My pastor’s wife, Michelle is from S.D. and she had told us how huge the sky is in S.D. She was right! It is so awesome! We passed a lot of corn and cows. And antelope are pretty common up there, as well as deer. Two crossed the road in front of us that day.

Tuesday-We made it to the Badlands today! This was such a neat place! It reminded me of the Painted Desert in AZ a lot!  But first we stopped at a little place that had a gift shop and a place where you could “tour” a old prairie town. (for a steep price) We enjoyed the gift shop and took pictures of the prairie dogs without going on the tour….didn’t feel it was worth the money.

Now on to the Badlands! I warn you, there are a lot of pictures here….

Jeff, Pop, Jorden and Jacob decided to brave going out on one of the ledges. I admit, it made me very nervous. But they said it was not slippery at all.

Isn’t it beautiful??

You can tell by this picture how far away the rest of us were from them.

My mom will shoot me for posting this, but it is so funny! There was a bee flying around her head just as I snapped the picture.

There! That’s more like it!

Taylor wasn’t much on climbing on all the rocks either. He was also starting to get sick at this point. Didn’t feel good at all on this day.

You can tell how hard the wind is blowing by Jorden’s shirt!

Yes! My hair is sticking out in this picture, but I like the picture anyway!

Messner Men

Guess this is what the bees were after…

We decided to brave the heat and wind and hike in the Badlands a little bit. They had signs up warning you to take lots of water and to watch for rattlesnakes! (Thankfully they didn’t like the heat and wind either)

Jacob loved that they let you climb all over these formations. Not many National Parks will let you do that.

Proud of my mom!

Mountain Goat!

Which way is North??? (this picture cracks me up!)

Yes, I had a bottle of water with me!

There’s his happy smile!

I will do Part 2 in the next post….