July 11

Laundry. That is pretty much all I did today. We cleaned out the rv, checked our mail and went grocery shopping but laundry pretty much consumed me. Rick worked from home - I didn't know he had planned this but it is probably a good thing since he wouldn't have had anything to wear.

I did about 9 loads so far with about 5 or 6 left. The problem is my kids are outside running through the sprinklers, and making snow cones so that means I will have at least 1 more load of wet towels and sticky clothes to wash too. It never ends.

July 10

We stopped at Applebee's for dinner at Rock Springs. The food was great - the waitress terrible. The biggest problem with this was when we got back in the car at 9:00 with 3 hours left to go we just didn't feel like driving. About 1/2 hour later is was fighting to keep my eyes open and Rick asked me if I wanted to drive, which means he is really tired to because he rarely asks me to drive. I told him I was too tired. He said he would try to push on but just about then we saw a Truck Stop coming up. I said, "lets just pull in - go to sleep and drive the rest of the way in the morning. " Suprisingly he pulled in. We had a bit of a hard time finding a spot, there were a lot of trucks there but we finally did and we pulled out the beds and were asleep in 15 minutes.

About 4:30 or so the trucks started firing up and heading out, this of course woke me up. I laid there for a few minutes and realized I wouldn't be going back to sleep. So I just got up and fired up the rv and headed out. Rick came up a few minutes later when he realized we were moving to find out what was going on. He went back to bed for a while and I drove till about Salt Lake before anyone else woke up.

Anna woke up first, looked around and realized she recognized where we were. She was so excited she woke up everyone else. I switched and let Rick drive at the first Springville exit, that he would be the one to drive us in and I also needed a few minutes to gather the kids's clothes and stuff so we could hurry in and take showers and make it to church on time.

We pulled in the driveway at 7:45 and made it to church at 9:00. It was good to be home and start the rest of summer but I wish we could have had a couple more weeks. All in all the trip was wonderful, too short with too much packed in. I would have loved to be able to take the whole summer. One thing I realized is that for 6 weeks we could just separate ourselves from virtually all responsibilities and focus on the most important part of our lives. Our family, our church and our country.

Mormon Hancart Site

For some must push and some must pull and some must count some must sleep. We all have to do our part I guess. Today we visited the Mormon Handcart Site in Wyoming. It was incredible, it is right near Martin’s cove and the sweet water crossing. The stories of those handcart companies are absolutely unbelievable and the feeling was there. Once again the church did an incredible job putting together a site where you could learn some history, feel the spirit and experience a little taste of what those pioneers did. We started out by watching a little movie on the handcart companies and then we went on a trek. We got a handcart and loaded it with our backpack full of snacks and a couple bottles of water. We each had seven “stations’ and rotated through. We had 3 pullers, 1 pusher, 1 counter and 2 riders. Rachel fell asleep about ½ way in and took a little nap in the cart. We decided to make an “odometer” like the pioneers did by tying an orange sack around one of the spokes and had someone count it every time it got to the top of the circle. We walked 1817 revolutions, we estimated each revolution was 12.5 ft for a total of 22712.5 ft or 4.3miles. It took us almost 2 hours. It was incredible. The kids loved it – surprisingly enough because it was hard work. About half way through we got to a fork in the road, one way was a great big hill the other was the road back to the visitors center. I wanted to go back to the visitors center and Rick wanted to go up the hill. We weren't’ sure where the hill went but guessed we would have to come right back down it. We took a vote and up the hill we went. Sometime my family is truly crazy. We got to the top, turned around and went back down and took the other fork back to the visitors center. But I am glad we pulled the hill, it was the hardest part of our trek and it gave the kids a chance to really struggle and feel a little bit more like the pioneers would have felt.

As we came in the missionaries gave each of the little kids a book that they carried around to the different places at the site and got stamped. If they collected enough stamps they got a little necklace to take home. The kids loved running around collecting the stamps and I loved hearing the stories. I couldn’t help but think what a wonderful place to have a family reunion. At one point we saw a couple who were older – not super elderly- but maybe 60’s pulling a handcart together. It really touched me- which surprised me. I realized that they were out there by themselves and choose to participate in this experience that was obviously physically taxing them. They weren’t doing it with their kids or grandkids or as a ward activity or anything. I was impressed. I pictured my parents out doing that and it hit me that even if that wasn’t my Dad’s idea of an afternoon of entertainment he would have done it 150 years ago because just like the pioneers they have the faith and testimony that would have driven them to Zion.

We took a couple hours longer than planned at but it was so worth it, I would have liked to stay the rest of the day and longer. We left around 6:00, with a little more than 6 hours left to get home, ½ bag of marshmallows and a 12 oz bottle of Gatorade, the rest of the day wasn’t looking to appealing. I was hoping the kids would all crash and sleep for a couple hours. No such luck. The are higher than a kite driving us crazy. Rick put on his headphone and is doing his best to block them out. Taylor and Dallin are reading and trying, sometimes unsuccessfully to ignore the younger 3 who are building forts in the back bedroom and pretending they are cats meowing and rubbing up against Taylor and Dallin. I have to say the boys are doing a better job of ignoring the “cats” then I would. On one hand I am glad the kids are having fun and getting along so well but all the noise and commotion is hard for Rick to drive with and isn’t making my headache feel any better.

July 9th

We got in pretty close to midnight last night with the gas gauge on E. We thought about getting gas but were tired enough we decided to go to bed and get it in the morning before we headed out. Too bad we forgot all about the gas until we were sitting in Alcova Wyoming watching a pair of osprey (I think) and trying to get a signal for our gps to show us the way to the Mormon Handcart site. Then all of a sudden I remembered we forgot to get gas. Rick face registered shock and he put the RV and gear and headed into town. For those of you who haven’t been to Alcova it is about 50 minutes out of Cody and 1 hour out of Rawlins. There isn’t really any town in between. Alcova boasts a population of 100 permanent residents. We hadn’t noticed a gas station on the way in – we were praying we just overlooked it. Luckily we had. We rolled in found out the gas was 3.95 a gallon. It was 3.40 in Cody where we were supposed to get gas, but since walking 50 miles with a gas can wasn’t worth saving $26 to us we just went ahead and filled up.

We stopped at Independence Rock for a quick look. Our quick look turned out to take a little over an hour. The kids ran off to run up the Rock. The scampered up it like little mountain goats. Rachel wanted me to go with her so I said sure – as we started I figured out pretty quickly I wasn’t making it up – way to steep for me. So we went back down. Rachel though went around where it was a little less steep and ran up – I decided I better follow her to make sure she could get up. We got up ok – sweating like a pig but ok. But one look down and I realized I would either have to live on top of that rock or find another way down. So we walked across it to where it looked a little more gradual. It took a while to make our way down to where we were almost there and then found ourselves facing a 30 ft drop. We went back up. We found a rattler under a little outcropping but luckily spotted it before we got to close. It took us a few tries but we finally found a way down on the opposite end and opposite side of where we went up. Anna suggested that if we made it back to our RV alive we better say a prayer of thanks. There was couple minutes I wondered if we would be praying that day. But we of course made it and now next time we play Oregon Trail and pass Independence Rock we can write, “I stood Here” on the rock. Do you know why it is called Independence Rock – I didn’t , or at least I never thought about it. The pioneers on the Mormon, Oregon and California trails all passed by the rock and knew that if they didn’t reach it by July 4^th they wouldn’t make it over the mountains before the first snows fell. I am learning something new every day – cool huh.

July 8

I guess all the pictures I had seen of Mt Rushmore were just close up of the presidents faces because I thought it was just a big granite mountain in the middle of the desert, or at least an area like he badlands, with 4 presidential busts. I didn’t realize the mountain is in the middle of a beautiful forest with trees, lots of them. I was up making dinner as we were driving up the mountain. We had been in badland country and that is what I expected, when the mountain came into view all the kids started cheering so I came up front to see it and I was shocked. There were trees. I love trees and forests and green. It was beautiful and the faces were magnificent. In a movie we watched on Mt Rushmore it said the builder wanted to carve something as colossal as the American dream and magnificent as the American spirit, well I think he succeeded. It is pretty cool.

We got out and walked around and took some pictures. There were people everywhere and I wondered if we could get a very good of just us with the faces. I thought we just need to be higher so we don’t have the crowds in or the bottom half of the mountain in our pictures. Then I saw our rv and thought – that is higher. So I had Rick and all the kids, except Rachel- who was being a handful, climb up on top of the Rv and take the picture. They thought t was great fun to climb up there, no one fell off and Rick said the picture looked good so it was a success.

We walked down to the visitors center and the gift shops, there were more gift shops there than I think I have ever seen at an attraction. I hate gift shops. We took a lot of pictures, went to a ranger talk in the sculpture about how the faces were made. It was pretty interesting, amazing that someone could not only conceive such an idea but then be able to design it and then calculate the exact amount and area to place the dynamite in order to blow out the rock that was covering the face. Amazing. We then went though the museum and hiked up the presidential trail.

Anna has been so excited to see Mt Rushmore, she was assigned to give us a report on it, so she researched it and feels like it hers. Her report was very interesting, she told us there is a vault behind the mountain where some documents like the Declaration of Independence (not the real one obviously) are on display. So she looked and looked for the vault. We never found it. We toured the museum and watched the visitors center movie.

We went in as many gift shops as I could handle. Rachel really wanted a postcard and sat quietly in the movie so she earned one. So I took her into the shop to buy it, she had it all picked out. It wasn’t in the first shop we went to, or the second shop. It was, naturally, in the farthest shop. I assumed she would choose one of the 35cent post cards – she didn’t. The one she fell in love with that was 2.50. I really didn’t want to spend that much on something I had my doubts would even make it back to the rv but she talked me into it. We went up to pay and found out he didn’t talk credit cards. Well we had $34 dollars in cash and the camping place we were planning on staying cost $32.50. I wasn’t sure if they would take credit cards or not so I wanted to save at least $32.50 (hopefully there wouldn’t be tax on top of that). So I told Rachel she couldn’t get that one – it broke her little heart. She was devastated. The cashier tried to help her find a similar one that was cheaper but she just had her heart set on that one – it had fireworks and that is why she liked it. Well after about 10 minutes of crying and trying to sell her on another one I finally told her I would count to ten and if she hadn’t chosen one we would leave. I got to 10- twice- and so I picked up sobbing and started for the door. She said “ok, ok, ok” I will get another one. I put her down and as her feet hit the floor she turned off the tantrum, she stopped crying and started smiling, she ran over grabbed another one and just like ran over and paid for it herself just as happy as could be. She proudly carried her postcard and receipt around the rest of the day. She was careful not to lose them. Her receipt did get lost at one point – but fortunately receipts aren’t all that hard to find. It is a good thing she can’t read and all receipts look pretty much the same.

Well we had seen all we wanted to see by about 6:00 pm. The lighting ceremony starts at 9:00 so we debated what to do. Some wanted to wait some wanted to leave. So we took a vote. 4 to 3 – leaving won. So we headed out. But Anna, Ryan and Dallin hadn’t spent all there money and since this was our last stop to buy souvenirs we had to go back to the gift shops. I didn’t think I could handle stepping foot in a store, especially with Rachel, so she and I went for a walk. We walked around for close to an hour. I took a lot of pictures of her – she loves to get her picture taken, all alone without the other kids. She is quite the poser. Anyway a group of Japanese girls were watching her. She was really hamming it up for the camera and they were eating it up. They smiled at her and waved and she smiled back and they took a picture of her. Well then she wanted a picture of them. I told her I wasn’t going to go over there and take a picture of a group of girls I didn’t know. But I let her hold the camera and take it. Finally they came over and ask if they could take a picture with my little girl. I said they could and so they each took their turn taking a picture with her. I wouldn’t let just anyone do that- but these girls, and one guy seemed innocent enough. Plus we had seen them earlier each getting their picture taken with Miss Mt Rushmore so I figured they just liked pictures with cute girls. Rachel also had to get her picture taken with “the Mt Rushmore Princess” we had to stand in line to do it. I thought it was kind of weird – actually really weird – that so many adults wanted their picture taken with miss mt Rushmore. She was cute but I wasn’t super impressed. But there were a couple groups of oriental people, old and young and then a couple groups of senior citizens. Even the old men wanted their picture taken with her. I doubt she was more than 15. But they ran up and put their arm around her while their wives were snapping pictures. Weird. Anyway so let Rachel pose with these girls. She loved it. Absolutely loved it. After they left Rachel said – now I am like the Mt Rushmore princess. It still surprises me how many people come up to me and comment on how cute Rachel is. When she was a baby I couldn’t leave the house without strangers coming up to look at her and comment. It really was constant. She is really beautiful – but I still think it is odd people comment on it so much. While we were waiting we ran into one more person who liked to watch Rachel. It was a young man – maybe 25, and kind of rough looking. I felt like he was following us around, closely. Every time I looked over my shoulder he was there. Well Rachel wanted to ride the elevator so we went over to do that. He followed us. I ignore it but as we were standing there waiting for the elevator to come I got really nervous. I told myself I was being sily since we were in a public place. I just didn’t want to be alone in the elevator with him. So right as the door opened I picked up Rachel and said, “let’s go potty first” and ran in the bathroom. She of course screamed I don’t have to go. We walked in the bathroom that was right next to the elevator. I told her I just wanted to wait till that man left so we could ride all by ourselves. She thought that was a fun idea and giggled because we were being sneaky. Well she peeked her head out of the bathroom to check if he had left. He was gone we came out. But as we came around he was standing in the elevator holding the door open. I picked her up and went back in the bathroom. That kind of freaked me out. No one else was around. Why would someone stand in the elevator and hold the door open – it had been awhile. Anyway he finally left so we came out. We saw him a couple more times – once he was sitting on a bench smoking. Rachel just had to comment on “there is the man from the elevator we ran away from and he is SMOKING” she can be such a delight.

Anyway we met back up with Rick, the kids had successfully spent all their money so we headed back to the RV. I was a little disappointed at not seeing the lighting program but at the same time I was relieved at not having to hang around for a couple more hours. Rachel was wearing me out. Also it would have been a really late night by the program was over at 10:00 and we got to our campsite – about an hour away.

Well it was early enough that we decided we would just keep driving as long as we could. The kids turned on a movie and we just pushed on. With the help of the 5 hour energy drink we brought for emergencies we made it to Cody Wyoming, about 3 hours further than planned. We pulled in a Walmart parking lot and crashed. It worked out great because we didn’t have to scrape together the last of our pennies for a camp site – it was cool enough we didn’t need the AC and it is fast and easy to stay at walmart. I did have Rick run in and buy a gallon of water and I stood in the shower and washed me hair by dumping the water over my head. The campground in the badlands didn’t have showers and I really needed one by the time we got there – another day hiking meant I was desperate. I would have just used the shower but with no water hookups I was afraid we would run out and we need to have enough water to make it through the day. Since we had planned at staying somewhere with hookups we hadn’t bothered to dump or fill up the night before and we are running pretty full on the one and pretty empty on the other.

July 7th

July 7^th

Prairie's that stretch out for miles, rolling hills of wheat and farms with row after row after row of corn. That pretty much sums up Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. There was nothing but prairie until bam we crested over a hill and the rows of corn ran right into huge rock formations of the badlands. The abruptness of it surprised me. It was beautiful. Reminded me a lot of Goblin Valley and the rocks of southern Utah – except you could still see corn in the foreground.

Great Faces, Great Places. So far South Dakota has got it right. We have seen some pretty spectacular sights in South Dakota. One of which was the famous Corn Palace of Mitchell South Dakota. We started seeing billboards about the time we crossed the border from Minnesota and decided a palace made of corn was something we had to see – plus it was free and what could be better than that. The also aggressively advertised coffee for 5 cents at the Wall Drug. What a deal, if we were coffee drinkers we would have stopped. Anyway the corn palace turned out to be a huge community center for sporting events and the like that wasn’t actually made out of corn but was decorated with 1000’s of ears and stalks of corn. It was pretty darn cool. Each year they choose and theme and then decorate the entire outside of the building with murals depicting that theme made entirely of corn. They were still building some of the murals – it was pretty cool to watch them cut the stalks with a miter saw. There was a lot of corn there. The building must double for the states food storage. Inside they sold everything corn related. The kids had a great time browsing in the gift shops and begging us to buy overpriced junk. That is one of there favorite parts of the trip.

We also saw the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder. That may not seem like much but to the biggest Little House on the Prairie Fan ever it was quite the find. Anna was pretty excited too – she has started reading the little house books and has talked a lot about them during the trip – comparing their life to the things we have seen about the life of the pioneers.

We also stopped by the ranch store and bought some peanuts to feed the prairie dogs. It was pretty cool. They were everywhere. And they were pretty friendly and would let you pet them if you were really slow and calm. I touched one – it took me a couple tried to muster up the courage to touch it but it wasn’t too bad. I just kept telling myself they were more like dogs than rodents. All the kids liked to pet them and Dallin was especially good at it. Rachel on the other hand had most of them running away from her the second she came near. She was just too loud and moved too fast but she finally managed to pet one.

We reached the Badlands just about ½ hour before the visitors center closed so we ran in to get our passports stamped and then found a RV site. As were were pulling in a big motor home cut in right in front of us. I just knew they would get the last spot. Turns out there were two spots available but he was too long for both so we got our pick. The campground is nice except for the bugs and the lack of showers. The mosquitoes are really bad. I am getting eaten alive and they itch like crazy. My legs are on fire. It would help to take a shower – but there are none. I might end up trying the RV shower after all. We made dinner and ate it outside on the picnic table – it was then that I realized how beautiful it is. The setting sun lit up the rocks and brought out spectacular colors. The hills are stunning the look almost 2D – like someone put up a movie set or something. They are really cool. We had considered skipping the badlands due to time constraints but I am so glad we didn’t. It is one of South Dakota’s “great places” to be sure.

Tonight we went to a ranger program on the rock formations of the area and the paleontologists and their finds. This area used to be full of prehistoric mammals that have left there record thought the abundant fossils. Tomorrow we are excited to go hiking and scout around for fossils – who knows maybe we will find the next fossil that leads to the next “big pig dig”.