South Dakota

We took a big, four week long summer road trip this year! And I refrained from posting on the internet that we were gone and our house was vacant until after we returned, which I think was an impressive display of internet maturity on my part. Our first stop was South Dakota where we were greeted by our very own custom welcome sign at the home of our friends from San Diego the Rs, who were kind enough to host us for a few days.

 

On the way to their house we stopped at, but took no pictures at, The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, which was very interesting place! There was a hot spring there during the ice age, and every seven to ten years or so a mammoth would fall in, get stuck, and die. This went on for thousands of years, so there are over a hundred mammoths buried there. The site is only partially excavated, and they built a building for visitors right over the dig. Also, a short faced bear skull was found there, one of only twelve complete skulls ever found. Short faced bears were a bit of an obsession in our house a few years ago. I myself didn't know that such a thing as a short faced bear had ever existed until my four-year-old son told me about them. They were quite amazing, not to mention very large and terrifying, animals.

Sunday we went to church with the Rs, where M is the bishop of their ward, another sign that we and our friends are actually grown-ups now. That afternoon we visited a lovely little chapel near their home. Caleb and I, at his request, attended a short ecumenical service inside while everyone else roamed the grounds, and he remarked quite a few times how much he enjoyed it.

 

 

Monday it was down to tourist business, and the boys were thrilled to earn two Junior Ranger Badges in one day. In the morning we went to Jewel Cave, which I also didn't know existed but is the second longest known cave system in the world. It really over delivered; the cave was very large with some interesting formations inside. I'll include this picture as a public service to remind everyone not to bother bringing your camera on a cave tour. Your pictures will be terrible.

 

Then on to Mount Rushmore. I am rather ambivalent about Mount Rushmore. But of course you can't visit the Black Hills without seeing it; the kids were excited; the parking lot was a "license plate hot spot," as Caleb put it, for our list of license plates from different states; it is entertaining to see how they have to shoehorn Teddy Roosevelt into the greatest four presidents in the videos and museum; and of course there was a Junior Ranger badge involved.

 

 

Tuesday, we hiked to the highest point in South Dakota, Harney's Peak. It was almost seven miles round trip with 1000 feet elevation gain, and everyone but Benjamin hiked the entire way. (Isaac had two short little carries right at the beginning when he needed a psychological boost, but they were like 50 feet.) It was a very enjoyable way to experience the Black Hills, which really are beautiful.

 

That night, we got to celebrate J's 6th birthday with the R family. They went camping at a lovely nearby lake, but we only stayed for the evening. The boys fished and paddled around in the beautiful canoe that M handcrafted for Christy as a wedding gift years ago. South Dakota really is surprisingly pretty.

 

Then, we went the the R's home and slept in the R's beds, while they "slept" in a tent while it poured rain on them all night. I won't say who got the better end of that bargain, because now they have all those family memories to think back on fondly in years to come, but warm and dry has something going for it, too. It was really nice to spend time with my friend Christy, who constantly amazes me as an inexhaustible fountain of creativity in every aspect of her life.

 

She is professionally trained in landscape architecture, but she has impressed me with her original textiles, sketching, painting, birthday parties, clothing alterations, and jewelry making. She is generous with her gifts, and if you can believe it, when we got back to their house after the party to sleep in their beds after they had hosted and fed us for days already, she had prepared a little travel package for us for our trip the next day which included snacks and games for the boys to play. I know, it is almost too much. Also, she made this vintage-looking ditty like all the cool kids are these days from a photo she took of our family at the dinosaur park in Rapid City.

 

Thank you for the great time, South Dakota, and especially the R family!