July 27-29

July 27

Today we viewed the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site left over from the Cold War. Eye opener for the kids.

Then we were off to Badlands National Park where we saw many bighorn sheep and prairie dogs, not to mention, beautiful colors and formations at the overlooks. We did a couple short hikes, as well.

Badlands was followed by the Minuteman Missile Visitor Center to learn more about the Cold War and the Missile facilities that dot several states.

We made our way across South Dakota and finished up the day by doing laundry at the hotel. Everyone loves clean underwear!

July 28
We spent the day at a Sioux Falls water park so we did not take pictures. We enjoyed the lazy river, water slides, wave pool, and the kids and I tried making across tethered down floating objects to cross the pool. I failed and got a bruise from a rope but the kids really had it figured out. We also did bumper cars, batting cages, and go karts. Rhys went on the tallest slide twice which made us nervous but he did good.

Finished the evening at Sioux Falls Park to see the falls.

 July29

Today we passed a ton of corn and soy and made our way to Le Mar, Iowa, the ice cream capital of the world. Sadly, we did not check when they opened so we scooted over to a nearby Catholic cemetery and documented headstones for Billiongraves.com for 45 minutes. Then the ice cream tasted even better at the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor. 

We then made our way to Council Bluffs Kanesville Tavernacle where Brigham Young and his presidency were sustained by church members. Then we visited Winter Quarters, spending time on the temple grounds.

We finished our day with a stroll across the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge which is marked with the Iowa-Nebraska border.

July 24-26

July 24
We made a quick visit to the Rock, Paper, Scissors statue in Gillette before making our way toward Devil's Tower National Monument. We had really been looking forward to this one. It did not disappoint. We decided to hike the outer loop and were glad to get a great view of both the tower and the surrounding area. Very pretty. It was a good hike and we were glad to be back as it had a bit of a climb at the end. While we hiked we sang a little tune from the 1970s movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind which spotlighted this area. We got it from the library and showed it to the kids when we got back home.

My favorite shot

Prairie dog

 Next we stopped in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, at the geographical center of the nation, if you include Alaska and Hawaii.

We took Spearfish Scenic Byway, stopping along the river, and made our way to Mount Rushmore, the most horrible example of "No Trace Left Behind" one can find.

On our way out we took Iron Mountain Road just for fun as it is single lane in some areas, has narrow tunnels, and pigtail turns. Neal really enjoyed that.

July 25
We toured Jewel cave in the morning and spent the afternoon in Custer State Park checking out a load of wildlife. It rained a bit so we opted out of hiking.

Cave bacon that is about 20 ft long

Back in Custer, we walked main street shops, enjoyed their bison art, ate bison, and bought a load of fudge and chocolates.

July 26
We visited Wind Cave this time. We enjoyed a tour. Learned about chokecherries and gooseberries so I could forage a few and sample them, and did a prairie hike which put us in the middle of a light thunderstorm and soaked us pretty good. We changed our shirts, dried Sophie's sweatshirt with the bathroom hand dryer and ate lunch to find it was sunny and clear upon exiting the building. We did a second cave tour for good measure.

Chokecherries

Gooseberries

Here comes the storm during our hike

Sunny and clear less than an hour later- talk about timing.

Box works formations are rare and 95% of the world's box works formations are here in Wind Cave.

After a morning of cave exploring we took an 1880 train from Keystone to Hill City. Enjoyed the scenery, spotted SO MANY deer, even a fawn, and old mining cabins. In Hill City our train picked up some period dressed characters for the ride back and a little drama. Loved hearing the whistle blow.

Mine entrance

Stayed in Rapid City, Iowa that night.