The Six Travelers Go West - Day 9

We're getting tired. We didn't wake up until after 7:30 this morning, and really had no plans. After fixing a nice breakfast and relaxing, we decided that we would go to Teton Village and ride the tram to the top of Rendevous Mountain. Teton Village is right at the base fo the Tetons and it is beautiful! It is a skiing community where you can ski right into the town. During the summer they have activities such as hiking, mtn. biking, horseback riding, etc.

The tram to the top of the mountain is a two and a half mile, twelve minute ride. The views as you go up are breathtaking! You are hanging so high above the Ponderosa pine trees that it's almost scary. The base of the tram is about 6,000 feet above sea level, and the peak of the mountain is at 10,500 feet. As you ride the operator also serves as a tour guide pointing out the various points of interest and encouraging everyone to look for moose and black bears.

The ride up is so smooth and fun. Elijah was scared every time we went by a tower because the whole tram would swing. It did feel a little weird and unsafe, but apparrantly that's how the tram works. He was so scared by the time we got to the top that he begged us to let him hike back down. Even as much as we like hiking, that was a little much for us.

The terrain changes as you ride up until you are looking at the face of a cliff thinking that you are going to smack right into it! But, no, the tram goes up and over the top of that cliff to almost summit the mountain. To actually get to the real summit, you have to walk up about 200 yards, which we did. The weather up there was, of course, much cooler than 4,000 feet lower! We all had brought jackets and were glad that we did. It actually wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. There are quite a few trails at the top of this mountain. We took the one that was about a half a mile, not wanting to push our luck with the high altitude. It was a great little hike with some of the most amazing views I have ever seen. We could see snow on several of the mountains and the kids wanted to hike to it. We told them it looked a lot closer than it actually was!

There is also a snack shop at the top, and we sat there for awhile with the grandparents just enjoying the views. By the time we went down we could all feel the effects of the altitude. Elijah decided that he actually enjoyed the ride on the way down and would like to go again. Your tram ticket is good for all day, so we told him we would walk around a bit and take another ride.

Teton Village is a great place to walk around, see the sights, and do a little shopping. After we were finished I took Kade and Elijah for another tram ride while Dan stayed with Zack and Rylie as they still weren't feeling too great from the altitude. The boys enjoyed their second ride so much. We didn't even get out at the top this time, but just came straight back down. The boys giggled and had fun the whole way. We didn't spot any wildlife, but we did see the most extreme ski run in the U. S. At first I didn't believe it was actually a ski run because of how high up it starts and how steep it is. Turns out it is a double black diamond and only for very advanced skiiers. I guess I won't be skiing there any time soon.

We headed back to the cabin for a relaxing evening. There is a creek behind the house, and we took a little walk down there and did some exploring. When it was almost dark we lit a fire in the fire pit and roasted marshmallows. After that, we sat in the hot tub and looked at the stars. The milky way is so visible out here and the night sky is so bright.

The Six Travelers Go West - Day 8

Today was the day I had planned to stay at the cabin for the morning. I was hoping everyone would sleep in, but we are sleeping in the loft and the kids were awakened early by the activity downstairs. Since we were up so early, we had time for a good breakfast and a walk to the creek in the backyard. Pacific Creek is beautiful! You have an amazing view of the Tetons in the distance as you walk up the creek. It twists and turns and has the most amazing mountain rocks! The rock are all different colors and are smooth and round. They look like the rocks you buy in Arkansas! We know there are a lot of wildlife in the area because there are animal prints everywhere! We saw moose, elk, and various other prints today. We have yet to see animals down there though. Kade wanted to build a dam, and Dan helped him build one with driftwood, rocks, bark and dirt. They made quite a little pool! Dan, Kate, and I decided that we would kayak down the creek while the kids stayed iwth the grandparents.

We made our way back to the house and got everything ready for kayaking. We told dad we would call him to come pick us up when we were finished, or just to come in about an hour if we didn't have service. We hauled the boats down to the creek and launched them. These aren't the type of kayaks that we are used to, and they were a bit tippy! It took a little while to get used to them. I fell out once, and Dan tipped in the rapids. I didn't laugh when he flipped in the rapids, but when he flipped trying to get back in the water, I couldn't help it.  The float was beautiful! There were so many twists and turns and changes in the water levels. Sometimes we were floating fine and sometimes we were walking our kayaks, then the next minute we were shooting the rapids. I was hoping we would see some wildlife, since we were floating a couple miles of river, but we only saw ducks. Katie was sure we were going to come around a bend and have a grizzly bear in the river, but that didn't happen either. Dad ended up beating us to the take out point which was good becuase we were a little nervous about missing it because we had never floated the creek before. We learned later from a neighbor that we were floating in the Grand Teton National Park and it is actually illegal. Good to know.

We had a nice lunch at the cabin we are staying at, and then headed down to Jenny Lake for a boat ride and a hike. The road down to Teton National Park was so pretty. The mountains just got bigger and bigger the closer you got. When you finally get there, you are right at the base of the mountains. There is a shuttle boat that you can take across Jenny Lake to save four miles off of a beautiful hike. We decided after our hike yesterday, to go that route. The boat ride was really nice with the mountains in view the whole time, and the weather was perfect. My one regret was that we weren't there earlier in the day. The last shuttle is at 4:00 and if you don't want to hike two miles around the lake, you have to be back in time for that. I had wanted to hike up to Inspiration Point, but we opted for the shorter hike to Hidden Falls because of time. It really worked out great because it was a fantastic hike up into the Tetons. The Pine forests are beautiful and the mountain creek we followed was breathtaking. Not only that, but the snowy, rugged mountains are in sight the whole time. The kids wanted to hike up to the snow, but we told them that they really had no idea how high up that was! The snow was above treeline in the rocky part of the mountains. The hike is only about a half mile, and totally worth every uphill step! Hidden Falls are AMAZING! They're over 100 feet tall and just cascade down the side of the mountain. The kids had fun jumping from boulder to boulder while we hiked. Dan says he thinks Kade and Elijah are part mountain goat! So many people were sitting up there just watching the falls, and I can see why. It was hard to pull yourself away, but the idea of missing the last boat across the lake made us hike down back down quicker than we would have liked. The trip back across the lake was pleasant.

We spent the evening down in Jackson going to the visitor's center, having dinner at a nice little place called, "Bubba's" and then picked up groceries for the rest of the week.

The Six Travelers Go West - Day 7

Today we got up early and headed up the east side of Yellowstone for another great day! Our goal was to reach Grand Canyon Village. We were passing through Hayden Valley on the way, so I had wanted to leave early to better our chances of seeing wildlife. Right after we turned out of the road where we are staying there were a bunch of cars parked alongside the highway. A black bear walking up on the mountain was the cause for the commotion. It was pretty high up, so we didn't get any pictures. Our first stop after getting into Yellowstone was at Lewis Falls. They are a very wide falls by Lewis Lake. The kids had fun climbing on the fallen trees in the water at the bottom of the falls. By that time they were glad for a break from sitting in the car.

Our next stop was one of my favorites - it was a piece of land by a river that had a geyser area with steam just coming out of the ground. The ground where the geyser is is a stark white against the lush green grass by the river. The part that made it over the top was the buffalo that were just hanging around down there by the geyser. They were snorting and growling at each other and a couple of the males were fighting. It was such an amazing sight! The sounds the buffalo were making was so neat to hear that I videoed it.

We went to the boiling mud pots after the buffalo. This was just such a strange sight! It is literally huge mud puddles ground boiling becuase they are so hot! It's not odd to see hot springs with water boiling in Yellowstone, but to see the mud bubble like that making all kinds of gurgling noises is really something! My favorite part at this stop was the dragon cave. There is steam blowing out of a cave like a dragon is breathing fire back in there. Then there is hot boiling water shooting out of the cave towards you. Whne you add in the noises the cave is making, it is quite an experience!
We passed through another field of buffalo on our way to our next stop. There were hundreds of them hanging around down in that lush green field!

We stopped at Artists Point and did the short hike out to the point. Yellowstone has been far less busy than I anticipated it would be, but this place was crowded! The parking lot is not very large and there were cars and people everywhere. When we hiked out ot the point I knew why. Here is where you get a phenomenal view of the Lower Falls. This is the waterfall that is on all the pictures of Yellowstone. It is so much better than the pictures! The canyon in which this waterfall runs into is a true wonder! If I hadn't already seen the Grand Canyon, this definitely would have been the largest canyon I have ever seen. The waterfall itself is over 300 feet tall! We wanted to walk the steps down to the base of the falls, but that trail was closed for repairs. I might have regretted that hike halfway back up anyway! We spent a bit of time at Artist's Point admiring the canyon and the falls before we headed on up to Grand Canyon Village.

We ate a nice picnic lunch at Grand Canyon Village (There are picnic tables everywhere in Yellowstone!) and then did some souvenir shopping. I expected the prices of souvenirs to be really high in the park, but they are not. The kids had saved their own souvenir money, and they have had a blast shopping. I think it's almost their favorite time of every day.

Our last acitvity of the day was to hike part of the Wapiti Trail. The part I had wanted to hike was about five miles long. I wasn't sure how the kids would hold up, but it was supposed to be a fairly moderate trail and Dan thought they would be fine. The hike goes right through Hayden Valley which is bear country, so we had to take bear spray with us. The valley was beautiful to hike in and nothing like I have ever hiked in before. We went up and down rolling hills with beautiful views of Yellowstone. The hike also went through sections of pine forests with mountain streams running through them. We were very cautious every time we went into a section of forests because we didn't want to be surprised by any animals. We always sent the men with the bear spray first in those sections. We had to do two creek crossings during the hike. The water was cold, but refreshing. Dan and Rylie discovered a little waterfall along one of the creeks when they backtracked to pick up a pair of binoculars that Rylie had left. After we had been hiking about three miles the air began to smell like sulphur and we realized we must be close to a geyser basin. The only one we ever saw wasn't active, just white ground with old geysers, so I'm not sure where the smell was coming from. It was pretty neat to see the old one though. After we had hiked about four and a half miles the kids started to get really tired. We weren't exactly sure how much longer we had to go or where the car was and I was hoping we didn't have melt downs before we made it back. Thankfully, it wasn't much farther and we hiked the rest of the way down to the parking lot. Everyone was happy to take their hiking boots off and sit for awhile. My walking app on my phone chimed in about that time to let me know that we had walked over 19,000 steps.

Everyone was ready to make the two hour drive back to the house by that time. We stopped and got the kids some ice cream as a reward for hiking so far. We had a buffalo come down the road towards us as we drove home. It was so close I could have touched it out my window, but I was a bit frightened so I just took blurry pictures. Dan laughed at me, but he wasn't the one on the side of the buffalo!

We passed Yellowstone Lake on our way out. I had no idea there was a natural lake that large in the Park. In some places along the shore there are steam pots coming up out of the ground right by the water. It's a pretty amazing view along that drive!

We were all pretty worn out when we got home. We relaxed in the hot tub and looked at the stars before bed. The milky way is truly an amazing sight out here in the wilderness.

The Six Travelers Go West - Day 6

If a picture is worth a thousand words, than seeing something with your own eyes is worth a million. That is how I felt today. I have heard about the sights at Yellowstone, I have read books about Yellowstone, I have seen Yellowstone shows on tv, yet nothing can quite prepare you for seeing the things at Yellowstone with your own eyes. It is almost like stepping onto a different planet, a planet which looks like earth, yet it is so different you think that maybe it is not earth.

We were all tired from our long day yesterday, and for that reason we didn't leave the house overly early this morning. We got up and checked out the house because it had been dark when we arrived. It's a very nice house on a beautiful five acres. From the yard you have a nice view of the Tetons in the distance. There is a creek in the backyard that you can take a short hike to also. There is a hot tub and a fire pit, making the outdoor space extremely nice. After everyone had explored and eaten breakfast we packed up and headed for Yellowstone.

The house we are staying in is about thirty miles outside of Yellowstone. The drive up is through Teton National Park and is very beautiful. A few minutes from the house is an overlook called Oxbow Bend. The views from this spot are indescribable! Every time we drove by I wanted to take more pictures.

We arrived in Yellowstone mid-morning. Our first stop was at Old Faithful which I thought was fitting as it is an icon for Yellowstone. We were a little early for the eruption, so we had a picnic in the park. There are so many classic buildings here at the Old Faithful site. The Old Faithful Inn is a must see! I'm not even sure how the architecture works in this place, but it is absolutely beautiful! The big fireplace in the lobby just finishes off this classic scene. You can go out on the deck on the second floor and have a great view of Old Faithful erupting. We opted to go down to the geyser and watch it up close. Some people say watching Old Faithful is nothing special, but everything about it was special to me. Where else can you go and see water spouting so many feet up in the air, and being blown there by volcanic activity deep in the ground! It steams and bubbles and gurgles all before it finally spews gallons of water high into the air! I always thought Old Faithful was out there by itself - a lone geyser doing it's thing. But, I was wrong. There is a whole field of geysers in the same area. They have a great boardwalk trail for you to walk all around the geysers. They all blow at different times. We were lucky enough to catch Castle Geyser go off. It spews water for about twenty minutes and was quite a sight to behold. I never knew they could last so long. 

After we had spent ample time seeing all there was to see in the Old Faithful area, (Kade especially enjoyed the very educational visitor's center, and all the kids bought lots of souvenirs) we set out for the Grand Prismatic Spring. Again I had no idea what Yellowstone was like before I came. The Grand Prismatic Spring is also in a field of a bunch of hot springs. They are beautiful in color and shape. This area made me nervous as there are not railings on most of the boardwalk and if you fall in the springs, you don't survive to tell about it. We held tightly to the boys' hands as we walked this area. I will say the one thing that wasn't my favorite was the smells at these areas. The smell of Sulphur is very strong, and you realize how many different things are going on in the ground below you.

One of my favorite parts of the day was taking the Fire Hole Lake Drive. It's a little road off the main road after the Grand Prismatic Spring. It doesn't look like much, but it has some amazing thermal features. We stopped at an overlook where we saw the steam just rising out of the ground. It was a perfect hot spring pool with beautiful colors. It was much easier to see the colors than the big pools because it was all contained in a small area. In the background there was a perfect geyser going off. It lasted so long and gave us time to get great pictures. I learned later that this particular geyser goes off twice a day and blows for about an hour each time. It's unpredictable though, so we just happened to be there at the right time. There is a river that runs through this area that is a hot river. It's made from the boiling springs and the steam just rises from it as it runs its course. The whole area here is a fragile thermal area, so you have to be careful to stay on the roads and walkway. You can see places where new geysers or hot springs have just come up. It was an incredible scene which I will never forget.

We ended the day with the Fire Hole Canyon Drive. This is a drive that follows a canyon up to a waterfall. The water here is warmer than most of the rivers because the hot river I was talking about before runs into it. They have a spot here that you can actually get into the river and swim. I didn't realize they had any spots that you could get in, so that was pretty neat. Our day was getting late and we didn't have time to get in the water, but the kids did hike down and touch it. The falls at the end of the drive are beautiful and well worth taking the extra drive. We stopped at the falls and had a little supper before we headed back to the cabin for the night. 

It was a day that was incredible in so many different ways. We all learned a lot and saw things we had never seen before. We're anxious to see what adventures tomorrow holds.

The Six Travelers Go West - Day 4

We almost had to wake the kids up this morning. It was quite late when we got in last night, and I know they were exhausted. The first thing on our agenda this morning was touring a gold mine. It didn't open until 9:00, so we took a leisure morning at the hotel. The kids walked across the street with their grandma to play at the park, and Dan and I cleaned up the room and the van.

We got to the Big Thunder Gold Mine a little after 9:00. This was a working mine back in the 1800's. Two men from Germany heard that there was gold in the Black Hills, so they headed out here to stake a claim. They got 600 feet of land to mine. It took them 25 years to dig 680 feet! In the end they only found $20 worth of gold. We were able to walk the whole length of the mine and hear all the stories from their progress, or lack thereof. It was a very interesting tour. The most memorable thing for me was when the guide told us that the owners at the mill where the gold was processed used to make the workers poop in a container before they could leave. They did this because the workers would try to steal the gold by swallowing it to "collect" later. If they refused to go poop, they could get shot on the spot for stealing. And, folks, there you have your interesting fact for the day!

After our tour, our guide taught us how to pan for gold. They got us all set up with pans and pre-collected dirt with guaranteed gold flakes in them. That was an experience! We definitely all joined the "starving miner's club!" We all did find some flakes, and I'm pretty sure we all dumped some flakes. We were allowed to collect more dirt and pan as long as we wanted. Dad really got into this, of course, and we finally had to pull him away to go eat lunch.

We ate lunch at the Big Thunder Gold Mine Café, which was very good and very reasonable. I prayed for good weather for this trip, and the Lord has blessed us tremendously. The weather has been absolutely beautiful! We ate our lunch out on the deck of the restaurant and enjoyed the views of the Hills.

It was really important to mom to go to the Historical Museum for Keystone as she (and the rest of us) are HUGE Laura Ingalls fans. Turns out Carrie Ingalls lived in Keystone and her step son helped work on Mount Rushmore. The museum was built in the old school house and was very quaint. They had a lot of neat memorabilia from the city and from Carrie's life. They still had a couple of the rooms set up as they would have been when the school was in service. They had colonial clothes for the kids to try on and they let them all ring the big school bell. It was the kind of school bell that you had to climb up on the chair and literally jump and hold on to the rope to make it ring. The kids thought this was great fun, and I had to stop them from ringing it too often and making the whole town think they needed to come to school....

Dan and I didn't feel like we had had enough time at Mount Rushmore last night, so we headed back over there after the museum. We didn't make it far before Dan started hollering and pointing. In a parking lot by the road we were driving on were  Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Ferraris, and other cars I can't even identify. Turns out the Cannonball Run was in town. Of course we turned around and parked to take some photo opportunities with these rare cars. Zack's long time favorite dream car has been a Lamborghini, so he was especially thrilled to get to take a photo with one. And then.......it got better. We were walking down the sidewalk back towards our car when a man came walking quickly past us. He said, "Hey, does anyone want a ride in a Lamborghini?" Of course all the kids wanted to take him up on it, but we decided that Zack should be the one that get to ride. Turns out the car was a 2016 Huracan 610. (That doesn't mean much to me, but Dan was impressed!) Zack cautiously got in the car and buckled up. The guy pulled out all the stops for Zack's short ride down the parking lot. He didn't have to do any of it. He was just moving his car, he didn't have to give a kid an opportunity he might never have again, but he did. I'm grateful for the kindness of people, and I'm really grateful for a racer in the Cannonball Run that took time to give my 14 year old kid a ride in his really cool car.

We finally arrived at Mount Rushmore. I can't explain the feelings that rise up in me as I walked up the walkway to the monument. The pride in our Country and the gratefulness for our forefathers fills me with emotion. The walkway is lined with flags from each state. The kids had fun locating the Arkansas flag each time we walked through. This time while we were there we took time to visit the visitor's centers and museums. We heard a great ranger program on Gutzon Borglum, the man who designed and headed up the building of Mount Rushmore. He had a "miniature"(It's really large!) sculpture of Mount Rushmore made that was to be the model for the real thing. They still have it in one of the museums and it's quite impressive. We walked the trail to the base of the mountain and enjoyed, not only the different views of Mount Rushmore, but the Ponderosa Pine forests all around as well. We did a little shopping in the gift store before heading back down into Keystone.

We spent the evening walking the cute town of Keystone, shopping, and eating some good ole fashioned ice cream. We came back early to the hotel to get ready for the next leg of our journey tomorrow. The kids are swimming in the pool and I am sitting here trying not forget anything from our journey.

Our time in South Dakota has been fabulous. I hope I've been able to relay the sights and emotions of this place well enough. It is definitely a must stop in the great Midwest!

The Six Travelers Go West - Day 3

Still being on Central Time, we were able to get out of bed and get going earlier than usual today. Our plan was to go early to Custer State Park and view the wildlife there, but sometimes the journey is as good as the destination.

That would be the case today. We ended up on Iron Man Road on our way to the park. It took you right past Mount Rushmore for some great views of that. It twists and turns through the Black Hills as you climb higher and higher. Now, in my mind I've always thought of the Black Hills as rolling hills - Friends, the Black Hills are mountains! Beautiful mountains! The pine trees and the granite rock that cover them are stunning. As we drove this road, we came to a small, one way tunnel. We drove through and Dan pulled off into a little pull out right after it. "What are we doing?" I asked, wondering why we were stopping so soon. "Go look through the tunnel," he said. I don't know how he knew it was going to do this because there were no signs, but when we walked back and looked through the tunnel it perfectly framed Mount Rushmore in the distance. It literally made you squeal with excitement. I know I can't describe it accurately here, and I have no idea how they made it happen, but if you ever go this way, stop and see it! We had fun standing there watching other people walk in and see it for the first time and hear their delight. While the grandparents were taking pictures, we hiked up the rocks to the top of the tunnel and enjoyed another spectacular view of Mount Rushmore. The kids started picking up the crystals, mica, and the other rocks native to the Black Hills. We could hardly get them back down the mountain because of all the interesting rocks they were finding. I'm sure Dan's worry about the weight in the van is going to be heightened by the gathering of rocks!

As we continued the drive to the park, there were several other tunnels, each situated perfectly to frame Mount Rushmore. After much stopping at overlooks and rock climbing, we finally made it to Custer State Park. The park itself, even without the wildlife is beautiful. The terrain changes every few miles from hills to plains, to rocks, We saw a herd of buffalo, antelope, prairie dogs, deer, and wild donkeys in the park. The donkeys were my favorite as they are very used to visitors and would come right into your car window looking for snacks. The buffalo herd was hanging out very close to the road and we were able to get great pictures. My dad and Dan's mom got out for a closer look A little too close as we were hopeful they didn't anger the large buffalo! We ended the drive with a picnic lunch and souvenir shopping. (Shopping is the kids' favorite part of every day, I think.)

The next thing on the agenda was to take Needles Highway out of the park and back towards town. If you are ever in the Black Hills, do NOT miss this!!! I don't think I can even begin to describe how amazing it is. You drive up into the top of the mountains to these crazy, amazing rock formations, and then your drive right through them. The roads are a little scary as they are very narrow and right on the side of the mountains. Then you go through tunnels so small that I thought our mirrors might get knocked off. Of course, there are cars going both ways on these roads. The rock spires at the top of the mountain are something like I've never seen before. After we finished this section of road, I wanted to turn right around and do it again. Not only are the rock formations incredible, you are so high up that the vistas out over the mountain range are incredible!

We finished up Needles Highway at Sylvan Lake, which is a beautiful mountain lake high up in the mountains. We climbed the huge rocks here out over the lake . The boys especially enjoyed the rock climbing. The rocks up here are granite, pegmatite, and metamorphic rocks. Totally different than what we have in Arkansas. They give you a much better grip, so the boys looked like little professional rock climbers as they scaled the rocks and jumped from rock to rock. Dan and I did our best to keep up with them and make sure no one fell in the lake.

We finished the day off with the night show at Mount Rushmore. I know I keep saying, not to miss things, but this is a definite not miss!! You sit in a huge amphitheater below Mount Rushmore. The weather was absolutely perfect tonight, and the sky was clear with so many stars. The show began with a park ranger telling a story about her grandfather who was in World War 2. She then expressed her gratefulness to the Veterans who have made our free country possible. After she walked off the stage, they uncovered a huge screen and showed a video on the history of Mount Rushmore. We all learned some very interesting facts that we didn't know. Not only did the video show how it was built, it also highlighted all four presidents and their accomplishments that helped make our nation great. It ended with lighting up the memorial, "America the Beautiful," and then having everyone sing "The Star Spangled Banner." At least we thought that was the end. After everyone sang, a park ranger came out and called for all the veterans to come down to the stage. It was a long walk down, but dad was able to make it. I couldn't believe how full the stage was! You couldn't help crying as you saw men and women from wars back as far as World War 2 make their way to, and then almost fill the whole stage. They lowered the flag and honored each one with a round of applause, a standing ovation,, and a reminder of how we wouldn't be able live in this great nation without the sacrifice of each one. The whole evening was a great reminder that no matter how unhappy you are with things in our country, we truly do live in the greatest nation on earth and we have so much to be thankful for!

After the show, we drove up the mountain to find a dark spot to view the sky. You were supposed to be able to see the Northern Lights from South Dakota tonight if it was dark enough. We thought that would have been a truly amazing way to end the day, but the beautiful full moon was too bright and we finally had to give up and go home.

The kids pretty much just fell into bed when we got back to the hotel.

Tomorrow will be a whole new adventure!

The Six Travelers go West - Day 2

We checked out of our hotel and headed to the falls at Sioux Falls this morning. I had thought about skipping this event because we had so many things on our agenda for the day. I'm so glad we didn't! It was an amazing sight! Not only were the falls incredible, the rocks were something like I had never seen. We spent longer than we originally planned here just because there was quite a bit of exploring to be done. After we explored the falls area, we went across the bridge (which provided a fabulous view of the falls) and saw the ruins that were left from a mill that used to be there. Back in the 1800s it had been a six story brick building that produced thousands of pounds of flour. After reading about the mill, we decided that we better head West.

We drove a couple of hours and stopped at the rest stop at Chamberlain, SD. If you drive this way, stop here. It overlooks the Missouri River, and the visitor's center is a little museum of Lewis and Clark. They have a replica of the boat that the explorers would have taken on that incredible journey. I had no idea the actual size of the boat, and was surprised that they were able to haul it around the areas of the river too dangerous to take it down. There is also a fifty foot tall stainless steel statue of an Indian woman that is quite a sight. We spent a little more time here than we would have normally between the museum and the hike to overlook the river. Both worth the time.

We were scheduled to go see the Minuteman Missile Silos on our way to the Badlands. I didn't check the closing time online though, and we missed them by a few minutes. We were able to go to the museum for the missiles as it stayed open an hour longer then the missiles themselves. So, if you go, go early! The museum had a ton of interesting stuff about the Cold War, our missiles verses the Russian missiles and interesting facts from that time period. The kids enjoyed it as much as we did. I even bought a magnet.....

The Badlands are just a few miles down the road from the museum, and we headed that way with much anticipation about what we would see. Right before you enter the Badlands there is the infamous Prairie Dog Town. At the end of the day when we asked our kids what their favorite thing was, all four of them emphatically agreed it was Prairie Dog Town. There is a fenced area where tons of little fat prairie dogs have made their homes. The desire to walk out there amongst them is strong when you pull up because they are adorable, but go in the little shop first. In there you find the prairie dog food i.e. peanuts. They sell little bags of peanuts for you to feed the prairie dogs. They only charge $1 each bag, which I thought was very reasonable. The kids all got a bag and headed out to feed the little critters. Prairie dogs are much smaller than I thought they would be. I was expecting them to be closer to the size of a groundhog, but they are a good bit tinier. We started out tossing our peanuts to the prairie dogs, but soon found that if you sat still enough they would come and take the peanut right out of your hand. It was especially enthralling to the kids that the little critters would come right up to them, take the peanut, and then sit up on their haunches right by their feet and eat the peanut. It was very cute. After we successfully distributed our peanuts, we went back into the shop and the kids bought all the prairie dog souvenirs that they could.

It was now much later then we had planned to be in the Badlands, but I was determined to do everything we had planned while we were there. We were all awestruck by the first overlook. I had seen pictures online, but again, there are reasons you have to see things for yourself. The pictures couldn't grasp the beauty and wonder of this place. I'm not sure how to describe the terrain as the rock that the hills were made out of was very unfamiliar to me. It almost looked desserty, but it's not desert. I highly recommend driving the whole Badlands Loop Road. Stop at all the overlooks you can because the terrain changes so often throughout the park. One minute you are looking at these rock hills and formations and the next at the vast prairie.

The highlight of this part of our trip was our hike on the Notch Trail. The trail itself is not overly long ( a little over a mile) or very strenuous, but it has some amazing things that make it memorable. First, to get to the upper part of the trail you have to climb a long log ladder. It looks very impressive from the bottom or top. I found it much more difficult to go down it then I did up it. After we reached the top of the ladder, we hiked the ridge of the canyon. This part was a little scary for my because I have small children and you are literally hiking the edge. After you hike the ridge for awhile the trail takes you back down to the bottom. In the lower area of the trail, Kade and Rylie both thought they found dinosaur bones. I didn't want to discourage them, but when they started digging, Dan put a stop to the excavation saying we didn't want to get arrested. After our short excavation, we got back on the trial and followed it back up to the ridge. The trail comes to a sudden end o the edge of cliff  high enough up that you can see for miles! The view was breathtaking!

By this time it was getting late. We still had over half the park to see, but time was not on our side. As the sun went down we drove most of the rest of the loop without stopping. Not only are the views good in this park, the wildlife is abundant. There are deer, antelope, big horned sheep, buffalo, and prairie dogs.. Probably more also, but these are the ones we saw. After the sun went down there was the most amazing full moon that rose over the prairie. It was so bright that it lit up the prairie enough that we could still see some of the wildlife. Coming from the hills of Arkansas, seeing the moon come up over the flatlands was a fantastic way to end and already great, full day.

We drove the rest of the way to our hotel in Keystone, SD.

The Six Travelers Go West - Day One

The plan was to leave the house at 7:00, then 7:30, 8:00.......It was somewhere between 8:00-8:30 when we finally pulled out of Lakeview. You know, getting everyone fed and in the car. Then there was the electric bill I couldn't find, but needed to pay before we left...

Packing for six people no matter what is a lot, but packing for six people for almost three weeks is a WHOLE LOT! Dan was sure our Honda Oddessey mini van was over the suggested weight limit as he shoved the last bag into the back end. We'll never make it with all this weight, he said." "Do we have to take all this food?"  I am definitely an over packer when it comes to food. Our kids eat lots of snacks, and we have a couple that have blood sugar issues.

The first leg of the journey was pretty uneventful as left Arkansas and headed into Missouri. The only thing of interest that happened was that every time we hit a curve Dan would yell for everyone to, "Lean in!" so that the van didn't tip over because of it being top heavy. The kids would repeatedly say, "You're kidding, right, Dad?" I just leaned in to humor Dan.

Our first stop of the day was to see our dear friend, Bev and her sweet kiddos in Omaha, NE. We pulled in to Gene Leahy park where we were going to meet them. We visited the porta potty first thing, and Kade's take on this was that it was "very roomy." I guess if I had to leave a review on the park bathroom, "roomy" would be a good word for it. It was definitely the biggest porta potty I've ever been in! Besides only having a porta potty, this park is pretty neat. It's right in the middle of downtown Omaha, so you have huge buildings on both sides of this pretty little oasis. There's a river with lots of geese, a waterfall, great green grass, and the best part - slides. Not just any slides, but huge bumpy slides that hurl you down at high rates of speed. There are two of them, which makes it incredibly fun to race down. We had been in the car for about eight hours and this was the perfect spot for this kids to run off some energy. I even tried the slides a few times as Dan reminded me that we had a lot of trip left and not to hurt myself. I know I'm not as young as I used to be, but really.... The kids raced up and down those slides for almost an hour until we called them off to go walk down by the river. It was a great stop and lots of fun to catch up with our sweet friends.

That was all our excitement for day one. We ended the night by checking into the hotel in Sioux Falls, SD.

The Six Travelers Go West

"What about school?" I heard this question more than once as we prepared for our fall trip West. We had planned this trip for September because Dan doesn't like to fight crowds.

I thought about this question a lot. As I thought, I tried to remember what I learned the first three weeks of 7th grade. Nothing came to mind. I tried to remember what I learned the first three weeks of 4th grade. Nothing. I tried to remember what I learned the first three weeks of kindergarten and 9th grade. Still nothing.

Then I smiled....My 9th, 7th, 4th graders and my kindergartener WILL remember what they learned the first three weeks of the 2017-2018 school year.

We're on day three. We've already learned a lot about geology, history, zoology, geography, paleontology, weather, economy, math, writing, and thinking & communication skills. It's only day three. In fact day three is not over yet - we still have the history show at Mount Rushmore to see. I'm pretty sure I have a lot to learn there.

Our trip has already been a world of information and there's much more to come. My kids are journaling daily about what we're doing. I hope they read those journals again when they are adults and relive the adventures from their first three weeks of school.

I'm going to do some irregular, unusual blogging here in the next couple of weeks. Feel free to read or not to read a bit of it. I'm going to journal about our adventures West for my family that's at home, and because I want to remember details. If you do read it, I hope you enjoy our trip right along with us.

I'm calling it "The Six Travelers Go West" There's really a few more of us than six, but I'll focus mainly on the six people in my family.

Here is our journey West.

Faith Stories

I'm up early on a Tuesday morning. I enjoy watching the sun come up when I can convince myself to get out of bed. God's gloriousness in nature is so evident in the morning hours.

My plan was to write a blog post on raising teens, because OH MY WORD I'm learning a lot. We're in the throws, Folks, and we do a lot wrong but by God's grace we've done a few things right. It helps me remember and process to write life stories out, and that was my plan.

But, in the middle of my plan to write a post on parenting teens, I'm reading a book. A book called, The Insanity of God. And I am moved. I am moved by the stories of Christians in other lands. I am overwhelmed by their faith stories. And God says to me, "What about you? Do you remember what I have done for you? Write your faith stories; write the faith stories of your family. Don't ever forget them."

So, instead of a post on parenting teens, here are our faith stories (at least some of them) -


When I was a young child my parents were quite poor. My dad had a taken a job at a small church as their full time pastor. We knew what it meant to live by faith. Our family was growing and out growing the small car that we had. My parents gathered us together one day and said, "Kids, we're outgrowing our car and we need a van. We don't have the money for a van, so we're going to ask our Heavenly Father to provide one for us." And we prayed together. Every day. I still remember praying for this van. After several weeks of praying, we had some first time visitors in our church. They were from Texas. We had never met them before; they had never even been to Bull Shoals before. They had come for vacation. At the service they told my dad that they wanted to meet with him after church. They sat down with him after the service that day and told him that God had laid it on their heart that they were supposed to give their van to him, and asked him if there was a need for one. I think my dad cried. Later that day my parents gathered us all together to told us they had something to tell us. They told us God had answered our prayer and we now had a van. Oh, what excitement! The family from Texas also told him when the tires wore out, he was to call them and they would replace the tires. We drove that van for many years. It not only hauled our family, but it was used as the church van also. We ended up becoming good friends with the visitors from Texas and kept up with them over the years. God moved in their hearts to become missionaries in Mexico. After they had been in Mexico for awhile a need arose. They needed a van to carry the locals to church. My family was able to give the van back to these precious people and it was used not only to bring people to church, but also as a Sunday school class room. These dear people who heard God's voice so many years ago are in their 90s now, and we are still friends.

The year was 1996. I was in Moscow, Russia serving as a missionary for four months. We had a lot of different avenues of ministry that we did while we were there, and a lot of them involved taking public transportation. Trying to always be on mission, we would take Bibles and tracts with us and pass them out on the metros. I loved looking down a metro car after we had passed out tracts to see the people sitting and reading about the love of God that seemed so far away in a place like Moscow. Sometimes the metro cars could be so full of people that you could barely move. We were riding along one day and I looked over at a woman sitting on the bench a little bit down from me. Sometimes when God speaks to you, you think, "Is that me thinking that or God talking?" This time I knew it was God's voice. He said to me, "Give that woman a tract." I don't know why I argued that day, but it seemed very inconvenient to me to walk down and give her a tract. The metro car was somewhat full and there were so many people standing all around this woman that I would have had to push through even to make it to her. So, that's what I told God. "There's too many people around her, God," I said. He replied, "Give that woman a tract." After a couple different lame arguments from me about how hard it would be because of the crowd to give her a tract, I finally said, "God, if you will move the people surrounding her, I will give her a tract." Now, I want to be clear here, God doesn't HAVE to do anything so you will obey Him. Obedience isn't about God, it's about you. But that day, God wanted to teach me something, and I'm so glad He's merciful! The instant I told God that I would give the woman a tract if He would move the people, EVERY SINGLE PERSON around that woman moved. All of them. Instantly. (And there's not that many places to move on a metro in Moscow!) I will never forget it. It was as if God was saying, "There is now NO obstacle for you to give this woman who I want to hear about salvation a tract!" I walked over and gave the woman a tract. I don't know the final outcome, but I have a suspicion that I will see that woman again someday, and we will worship Jesus together.

When we were growing up my dad did almost all of our car repair work on his own. I remember seeing him many times lying under a vehicle trying to figure out how to fix this or that. One day he was under one of our cars changing a part. He was trying to unscrew the part, and he was down to the last screw. Now my dad is a master at being creative when he doesn't have the right tools, but this time it wasn't working. He didn't have the right wrench and the last screw was stubborn. He kept trying different methods, but nothing was working.  He just could not get it loose. In discouragement, he prayed, "God, I really need to get this part off and I don't have the right tool, could you help me?" God could have given him super strength at that moment, but He didn't. Right after my dad prayed this prayer, he heard a car drive by on the road in front of our house. As the car went by something fell out and bounced on the road with a clang. My dad drug himself out from the under car to see what it was - it was the EXACT wrench he needed to get the part off the car! True story, Folks. I know it sounds crazy, but it happened. He climbed back under the car and removed the part with ease. My dad carried that wrench around with him in his brief case for years as a reminder of God's faithfulness to us.

When I was 17 I was preparing to go on a mission trip to Russia. I needed a few thousand dollars to be able to go. We didn't have the money, but felt like God was leading me to go. We remembered the quote from Hudson Taylor - “Depend on it. God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply. He is too wise a God to frustrate His purposes for lack of funds, and He can just as easily supply them ahead of time as afterwards, and He much prefers doing so.” We begin to pray for God to provide for my trip. And, oh He did! In ways I never thought possible. I remember sitting in a local bank at a piano playing for their Christmas open house when a woman from the community came to talk to me. She leaned over me while I played and said, "I heard you were going on a mission trip to Russia - I want to help." She set down a check on my bench and walked out. I finished my song and picked up the check - it was for $500. I couldn't believe it! I could barely go back to playing Christmas songs. That was just the first of many. Money continued to come in from my church family, from the community, from relatives - people who were listening to God's voice. Money for the trip was a problem for me, but money is NEVER a problem for God. He provided over the whole amount that I needed for that 4 month mission trip. That trip was one of the most incredible in my life, and I'm so grateful to have been able to share the Gospel so many times in a place that had been so closed off to Jesus for so many years.

When we were growing up even the expense of clothes was a bit of a hardship for my family. My mom did a wonderful job making most of the clothes that we kids wore. My dad on the other hand couldn't really get by with homemade dress pants. He was in need of pants for work at one point, and my mom began to pray. I love how God hears our prayers no matter if we are a man, woman, or child. God was listening to her sweet request - one day a lady walked up to our front door. She told my mom that she lived there in Bull Shoals and her husband had recently died. He had a lot of clothes, and she thought he was about dad's size. (Those of you who know my dad know that he is not a normal man size as he is only 5'4" and at the time weighed about 130lb. He is often identified as the "short pastor.") She was wondering if we could use any clothes. Mom told her that we would come down and see. I still remember the day mom took us, and we went to this lady's house. Turns out she was a compulsive shopper. We went into a room and oh, there were so many clothes! And there they were -the pants my mom had been praying for. Not one pair, not five pairs, but twenty-seven pairs of brand new dress pants with tags still on them in all my dad's exact size. Did my dad need twenty-seven pairs of pants - No. does God want to blow us away sometimes with His amazingness - Yes. And He did that day. I was little, so I don't really remember, but I'm pretty sure my dad didn't even have room in his closet for all those pants!

These are some of my stories. I hope you've been encouraged in your faith as we were as each incident happened. I am reminded where God says in the Bible to the Israelites that they were to tell their children the great things God did for them - they were to never forget and never stop telling. It's so important to pass on to our children our faith stories and thus our heritage of faith in a God Who is real and awesome.

In the meantime, grow your own stories. Teach your children to pray. If you don't have a lot needs, be in such a relationship with God that you hear His voice and He can prompt you to meet the needs of others. Include your family - I think that's one of the best things my parents did. Whether we were crying out to God together or we were meeting a need together, they included us in the process and helped us build our faith.

We serve a great God.