Hiyas!  Dan here.  I noticed it had been 10 months since the last post, and we had left y'all hanging in Nebraska.  Believe me.....NO ONE should be left hanging in Nebraska.  It is flat and featureless with low speed limits and too many highway patrol officers.  Can you guess what happened in Nebraska?  That's right!  I got a speeding ticket.  Bad news:  I was stopped for 65 in a 55 when there were two cars visible, mine and the highway patrolman that topped the hill coming towards me.  Good news:  The ticket was only $85 and I was going faster than that before he clocked me.
      I was speeding for two reasons:  there is NOTHING in Nebraska worth even looking at, and we had a long way to go that day.  We had to get to Hoxie, Kansas.  My father, the unwitting patron of our excursion, was buried there, and we had a rock collection, from each of the spots we had stopped, to bring him so he could "travel" with us.  You see, Dan V had always said that, after he retired, he would grow his hair and beard out and travel the country "picking up aluminum cans" with his dog.  He didn't get to do that as he had family obligations and then passed a mere two years after retirement.  It was his inheritance and the statement he made that inspired me to take my family on an adventure. (Thanks again Dad!)

We rolled into Hoxie, KS (population 1244, SAL-LOU!) near sunset and headed for the cemetery, where we placed all twenty named and dated rocks as a border to dad's headstone.  We had some quiet reflection time at sunset and enjoyed the peaceful solitude of that beautiful town and countryside.


With the sun going down, we had one more stop to make on that day, Cawker City, Kansas.  What's in Cawker City, you ask?  The WORLDS LARGEST BALL OF TWINE!  After about an hours drive, we rolled into Cawker City at about 11 pm.  The stoplight was blinking yellow and the sidewalks were rolled up and safely stored for the night.  But there it was in all of its glory, 11 feet in diameter, on the town square, under a protective gazebo.  We paid our respects, took pictures and headed two hours away for the nearest hotel.


The next day was the final long drive home.  I look back on it as a great adventure.  There were challenges.  No one got hurt, nothing major broke, and we have memories from.....

                                   28 days and 6400 miles!

The rocks laid out at Dan V.'s gravestone

Lea powering through a long night drive.

Lea and Kaya (American Girl Doll) watching the Kansas landscape.

A Sinclair station in Nebraska

 

The vast expanse of Nebraska minus the highway patrolman. The only note I'd ad about Nebraska which is probably TMI - there are NO bathrooms. We peed outside in Nebraska more than we did camping!

Coming into Hoxie, KS

Dan V. Neal's gravestone

Neal family in the cemetery at Hoxie, KS

Dan B and Dan V

TWINE!

Cawker City's Ball of Twine — Thank goodness it was open 24 hours because we rolled in very late

The Neal family with the worlds largest ball of twine — who can have an adventure like this without seeing the world's largest ball of twine!

One last hotel stay

Everyone home safely

Thanks Dan for writing the final post, the one I couldn't seem to bring myself to write. I guess because then it was really over. What am amazing journey with the people I love.

Captain of our ship and our LEAmazing race team at the final stop.

Mt. Rushmore

I finished the last post with a description of much of the drive. The drive from Wyoming to South Dakota was the most surprising to me and filled with drastic changes in the terrain. Beautiful and long.

We reached Keystone, SD a bit after night fall on July 6. We had reservations at a cabin called Powder House. Planning the trip, I figured we'd have had enough of hotel rooms so a cabin would be a welcome break. It was quaint and quiet, but we didn't sit outside much so we could have gotten a much cheaper hotel room. However, the cabin was beautiful, clean and everything a hotel room would be with a porch swing.

We set out the next morning to see Mt. Rushmore. We stopped in Keystone for breakfast and drove past all the themed hotels and shops, but didn't visit any.   Dan was a bit miffed at Mt. Rushmore because we had gotten an annual pass for the National Parks which meant entry to the parks was free for us (since we visited 4 it was well worth it). However, Mt. Rushmore contracts with a private company for parking so we still had to pay $16 to park, but entry to the "park" was free. A stinky technicality. The whole area is infused with a strange dichotomy of national reverence and distrust of the establishment. There was much to learn about the acquisition of the land and carving of the mountains and while the story was the same everywhere there were some definite differences in HOW it was told depending on where you were (inside the park vs. crazy horse being the most notable, but each newspaper, coupon guide, shop and restaurant seemed to choose a side and tell their version).

Inside the Mt. Rushmore park we stopped and got the audio tour (a baton with numbered buttons and a speaker — you punch the number depending on where you are standing and it explains something. We had similar ones in Carlsbad Caverns, but Mt. Rushmore didn't have child oriented talks like Carlsbad). We also picked up Lea's Junior Ranger book for her third badge.

We headed up the Avenue of Flags and looked at each state's flag. We found the flags for the states we had visited and of course Texas. We stopped in the Theater and walked on the Presidential Trail. Listening the whole way. In the Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center (named for the sculptor's son) we saw a movie narrated by Tom Brokaw, describing the carving process and the selection of the presidents — for the record it is George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. People walking around would say things like "I wonder who that second guy is." Hopefully they read all the plaques! The trail circle which took us under the mountain and through the sculptor's studio and to different views of the monument. Around the first bend was Lakota, Nakota and Dakota Heritage Village which showed how Native Americans lived with examples of teepees, bowls, tools and buffalo hides to touch and check out.

We headed back to Powder House for lunch and swam in the "heated pool" — of course you must remember that in the North this just means ice doesn't form. I went in with Lea and it was cold! It was about 78 - 80 degrees and that's cold for a pool. We met people from Minnesota. One man said "Uff da" as he got up out of a chair and I said "May I ask if you're from Minnesota?"  He said, "Yes, why?"   I said "No one else says 'Uff da'!"   Its a popular weekend spot for Minnesota families so they said we'd meet a lot of Minnesotans.

We had a bit of time after swimming so we were going to do something in the tourist areas. There were several choices from panning for gold to a zip line. Lea saw a sign for Glo-in-the-dark putt putt and asked about it hourly. We decided to let Lea choose and that meant Putz N Glo. We had a blast. It was such a break from the sight seeing. No plaques to read, nothing to learn, just good old fashioned fun — with black light and da-glo paint. They also had a wheel at a few holes to spin to add some challenge like "putt with your eyes closed" or "let your opponent take your first shot." That was extra fun. We might have to make our own wheel if we go to play putt putt around here.

Then we headed to dinner in Hill City where we found a nice place with patio where we could watch a chainsaw wood carver. The weather was beautiful.

We debated how to spend our one night in the area:  Mt. Rushmore Lighting Ceremony OR Laser Show at Crazy Horse. Well, since we'd seen Mt. Rushmore and we hadn't been to Crazy Horse we decided to do the laser show. We're so glad we did. Crazy Horse is a monument in progress, its been in progress for over 60 years ago. Started by a native American chief named Red Cloud and carved by one man Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski who walked up a wooden ladder carrying his tools and loads of rock, using refurbished equipment, but the project to this day has never taken government money. We saw a video telling us this story. It was very inspirational and even though it seems there has been so little progress on the carving in 66 years when Mt. Rushmore was completed in 14 -- its the story of the underdog and you really start rooting for the Ziolkowski family (the film said of ten children, 8 still work for the Crazy Horse Memorial). We wandered around the museum and admired the crafts. At sundown we headed to the viewing deck where it was quite chilly. We found a spot where they have actual rocks from the carving blasts (for a donation) so we got some rocks from Crazy Horse. Then the laser show started and even Lea (without prompting) went and hugged Daddy and said "I'm so glad we did this!" and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. It was very moving. My favorite part was when they played "Proud to be an American" but showed Native American heros instead of presidents, reminding us that it was not only the elected folks who were the fathers of our country. It was all presented very well and I didn't find it too heavy handed, though Dan's family, especially his dad had such reverence for Native American culture perhaps we were the target audience.

We headed home to our cabin where the power had been out twice thanks to the construction next door. Slept well and headed toward Nebraska. We didn't want to back track to go into town for a restaurant so we thought we'd find something along the way, but there was NOTHING. We had a gas station breakfast — heated up pre-packaged biscuits and hot dogs. Not our best meal. We had seen a billboard for Rhubarb Wine previously (but didn't get a chance to stop and get some), but I found some at this gas station (different brand) so I got it to share with my mom. We had it when we got back and the lesson learned is if you buy wine at a gas station, it probably tastes like gasoline! It was awful.

See those mountains over there? We just drove through them and it was frightening. More hair pin turns, hearing the transmission strain against the steep climbs, 100 ft. drop offs at the edge of the highway and multiple spots where in the winter the major US highway is just closed for months. Not my idea of a dream home. However, it was nice to drive through once. It was more mountainous than any other part of our trip I believe.

Lea was set and ready to "watch for falling rocks"

Powder House cabins & restaurant.

Cabin at the top of the hill.

Mt. Rushmore (from the parking lot!) It was smaller than I imagined driving up. Impressive once we got out of the car and walked toward it, but from the parking lot, a lot smaller than I thought.

Inside the park ready to hike around the boardwalk

Getting closer and closer.

Lea listening to the audio tour. We learned loads of tidbits about each president, native Americans and the carving process.

Cool view of George from a crevice along the path.

Native American exhibit. Teepees, tools and more.

A look up some fine noses.

Family fun on the Mt. Rushmore trail.

Lea's third and final Junior Ranger badge. Junior Ranger extraordinaire.

Glow in the dark Putt Putt!

Putt Putt. They had this wheel to spin before some holes to add challenges like: "putt with eyes closed" or "move an opponent's ball." That was really fun!

Putz N Glo - not kidding that was the name. When Dan made reference to he didn't want to be a Putz they had no idea what he was talking about. We found that extra funny. http://www.putznglo.com/

Family fun at the glow in the dark putt putt.

Our favorite hole with glow in the dark Homer! There were different decades from the '50s to the '90s.

Dinner in Hill City on our way to Crazy Horse Monument.

Tickling at the table. I can't take these two anywhere!

Our view from the patio at the Hill City Grille.

From the patio where we had dinner, we could see the chainsaw art (it was a franchise, they had one in Keystone too, same name). We didn't get to stop by because we wanted to have enough time at Crazy Horse to look around before the laser show.

Lea at Crazy Horse waiting for the Laser show.

This was the view from the deck at the Crazy Horse monument. The arrows show what has been carved (the face) and what will be carved next - the horse's head and the finger pointing). Progress has been very slow, doesn't seem they've made much headway in 20 years, but after the presentation you really believe in the project and the people. We were more moved by the half carved rock than the completed Mt. Rushmore.

Crazy Horse himself: the scale model of what the mountain will look like one day.

Yellowstone! Just another stinky hole in the ground?

We entered Yellowstone on the 4th of July from the North Entrance. Lea did a school project on Old Faithful in Third Grade so we knew some of the science, including that Yellowstone is in a caldera or bowl shaped volcanic crater ringed by mountainous rim. As we drove toward the North Entrance we crossed a vast grassy prairie with a river running through it. It struck me as as runway to the park. Once we entered the park we still had an hour and a half drive to where we were going to stay the night (West Yellowstone, MT). But we stopped to dip our feet in a beautiful river, passed a ranger station/lodge where elk were wandering the grounds and did the walking tour of Mammoth Hot Spring which featured Minerva Terrace which to me looked like a stalagmite waterfall. It is actually a thermal feature waterfall that deposits white rock in tiers. It was very beautiful. What no one tells you about the thermal features (hot springs, mud pots and geysers) is that they are stinky! Smelly holes in the ground.

Having seen Carlsbad Caverns and the Grand Canyon, we joked that this was our tour of holes in the ground, so Old Faithful was just a noisy, stinky hole in the ground.

Our journey through Yellowstone on day one was met with some crankiness on Lea's part. It had been a long trip and appreciating nature was not high on her list, she just wanted to read (poor us as parents who can't get our daughter's nose out of a book, right? Well don't be fooled, she read comic strip anthologies most of the trip, in Yellowstone it was mostly "Foxtrot.") Dan and I decided if Lea didn't want to see a feature, she could stay in the car. While watching our first geyser that we stumbled upon, she hang-doggedly strolled out of the car after about five minutes of being on her own to join us as we stood watching the geyser steam and eventually blow.

We got to West Yellowstone before sundown and checked into our hotel (with a pool and waterslide). West Yellowstone is an actual town outside the park's West Entrance. Once you leave Yellowstone you are no longer in Wyoming, but Montana. So we popped back and forth between states for two days. We headed to the "downtown" area of West Yellowstone for dinner, choosing a restaurant by the name and crowd — Three Bears. We enjoyed a cocktail (huckleberry margarita for me, Moose Drool beer for Dan and a Shirley Temple for Lea) while waiting for our table. The whole restaurant was hustling to get the staff out in time for fireworks (not that the service was bad, just everything was rushed). We went back to the hotel, grabbed our chairs and walked across the town that was less than half a mile across from city limit to city limit. We were told about where the fireworks would be and walked in that direction. We ended up 3 blocks from the hotel at the small Catholic Church with a little concrete porch/walkway. I had sidewalk poppers for Lea and she enjoyed that until it was dark enough for fireworks — about 10pm in whatever time zone we were in. She got sleepy and cuddly. There were small fireworks all around us, including some big bottle rockets right next door to where we were sitting at a small motor court hotel. I'm pretty sure it was the owners setting off the fireworks. Finally the big fireworks came and they were worth the wait. Lea said they were the biggest she'd ever seen and I said they were nowhere close to as big as Portland, Maine last year, but we could say they were the biggest West of the Mississippi! It was Grandma Bubbie's birthday and we were missing her!

The next morning we took our coupons for free breakfast to the Trapper Inn and got our free breakfast. Better than the normal bagel and waffle, actual cooked eggs, toast and hash browns.

Then off to Old Faithful. Lea had a renewed spirit and was excited to earn her Jr. Ranger and Jr. Scientist badge. For the Jr. Ranger badge we had to "hike a trail" which consisted of walking the board walk around a feature. We chose the Lower Geyser Basin with the Fountain Paint Pot feature. The paint pots were not too bright, I suppose because of the time of year. The color is all dependent on bacteria living at different temperatures. I guess when its hot in the summer only the hot bacteria can thrive. It was still beautiful. Many geysers, mud pots and bubbling bits of ground. We met a woman who had been to Yellowstone 70 times and was at least 80 years old. She started going when she was a little girl on the train from New England. We sat and talked with her, I was fascinated.

After seeing the Lower Geyser Basin we drove to Old Faithful part of the park. We ate at their cafeteria (very, very slow lines!) and missed the first blow of Old Faithful. I thought I had it timed out, but Old Faithful is as on time as I am — give or take 15 minutes! We took turns racing outside the cafeteria to see the eruption. We checked in to get Lea the Jr. Scientist kit which included a stop watch, digital thermometer, a bacteria wheel (you spin it to match the color or temperature to identify what bacteria grows in what temperatures), colored pencils and magnifying glass. She had to fill out a booklet with her observations. She loved taking the temp of the ground, we were limited to where we could reach from the board walk. The highest temp we recorded was 184 degrees F! While observing some thermal features and hoof prints we experienced Old Faithful erupting from a distance. The boardwalk/hike around the the Old Faithful area is really a very big loop around the Old Faithful cone.

There was the chance we could got to Catholic Mass in an outdoor amphitheater in Yellowstone and as amazing as that sounded, it was another hour and half from Old Faithful and another hour to two hours back to the hotel. We spent our time wisely exploring Old Faithful and went to church back in West Yellowstone (where we watched fireworks). Before church Saturday at 7:30pm, we stopped for dinner at the Running Bear where I had chicken fried steak with brown gravy -- a very strange mix of north and south. We had a few minutes to spend so we swung by the souvenir shops on the main strip, bought a magnet and then headed back to church. Our Lady of the Pines was amazing. It was like a log cabin with everything rough-hewn wood. Our Lady of the Pines is run by a nun and all the ministers of the mass, except music, were visitors. The Eucharistic ministers that gave communion were visitors who served at their own parish and the readings were done by visitors. The nun asked for volunteers before mass and no one piped up to do the second reading so I volunteered. Lea wanted to help, but since she has not been confirmed she couldn't. She was very excited that I was reading. I also did the "Lord, hear our prayer" intentions. It was very exciting and was an amazing experience to be part of a mass that was all tourists who participated, like we created the mass. Even the priest was a visitor. I had been to a church in Orlando, FL that was also made up entirely of visitors, no home parishioners but in Disney fashion it was gilded and gigantic with hundreds of people and very little soul and spirit. The Lady of the Pines was all spirit and soul and a beautiful experience. It was a treat to visit other parishes in San Diego and Portland, but especially this little church in West Yellowstone.

Lea and I walked from the church to the hotel, about 3 blocks. It was 8:30, but the pool was open until 10 so..... yes we put off bedtime and headed to the pool with a very fast water slide. Dan joined us since that was likely to be the last time there was an indoor pool with a hot tub. We had some fun family pool time before drifting off to sleep.

Our last day was more "free" breakfast from the Russians at the Trapper Inn, packing and then heading out of Montana on the longest route possible. We drove across the middle of Yellowstone and couldn't help stopping for some souvenirs and more natural wonders. We saw the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and for some reason Lea was very excited that we saw the Yellowstone River, she'd been disappointed the other rivers were not the Yellowstone. We stopped at the ranger station and got Lea's Junior Ranger Badge (a different badge from the Junior Scientist). The Ranger who gave Lea the Junior Ranger Badge heard that she was a Girl Scout and that we'd been to multiple National Parks. Thanks to her, Lea was awarded a special badge that she earned by spending 10 hours (more for Lea) in National Parks exploring, discovering and studying. Since we had averaged 8 hours per day in Carlsbad Caverns and Grand Canyon, spent two days in Yellowstone, and had Mt. Rushmore yet to come, it was easy to say Lea had put in 10 hours collectively. It was very exciting for all of us that Lea earned such a special badge on this trip.

As we drove out of Yellowstone the terrain changed much to my surprise. As we crossed the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone it flattened out and there we traveled a long time along the edge of a lake that had very little shore. Hard to explain, but the lake looked like a cup filled to the brim. There wasn't an easing in shore, there was just earth filled to the brim, but perhaps that was because we were in the thaw. Sure it was July 5, but there was still snow on the ground in many places in the shade. Then after passing the lake the trees and mountains heaved up in front of us. Crossing out of Wyoming and into South Dakota we passed though multiple terrains. As we left the mountains that rimmed the park, large volcanic red rock formations shot up in rounded corner stones. Then we passed through flat prairie land including a road called Little Crazy Woman Road with one house on the road, I decided I didn't want to liver on that road. Then into the most winding roads in gigantic mountains passing "road closure signs" used when the snow comes. We just imagined living there where the entire Interstate just closes for months at a time and you'd better have what you need. A middle of nowhere that I didn't think existed in this day and age. These steep mountain roads and hairpin turns had me white knuckling much of the ride into South Dakota.

We had lunch in Cody, WY next to what seemed to be the Republican Women's Brunch Committee. There was much talk among the women of local politics and it was a shame we didn't have an extra day because the Cody Rodeo was going on. I also had wished we could stop in Deadwood, South Dakota because they have a gun fight at different locations almost every hour though the day in summer, but we were going to arrive well after dark as it was and we'd had a series of long days, so on to our cabin in Keystone, SD.

Headed into Yellowstone. Long drive. Everything in Yellowstone was about an hour drive from each other. The park was much bigger than I imagined.

The north entrance to Yellowstone

A river and mountain goat. We had to stop and soak in some of the natural beauty.

Even Dan got his tootsies wet.

Lea got wetter than anyone.

Elk!

The walk up to Minerva Terrace

No one tells you the geothermal features smell like sulfur! Stinky hole in the ground.

Minerva Terrace

Yellowstone!

Dinner at West Yellowstone. A huckleberry margarita at the Three Bears restaurant. Our bartender and female friend were very fun to talk to. We took a nice normal picture with the bartender too, but this one just shows how funny and friendly he was.

Moose Drool beer at the Three Bear

Lea with her poppers at 4th of July on the steps of the church.

Fireworks in the Big Sky. West Yellowstone, Montana (the majority of the National park was in Wyoming, but our hotel was in Montana). We had city fireworks, bottle rockets set off at the motor court hotel right next to us in the street and about four other independent blower-uppers-of-things.

A late night for Pumpkin and Pumpkin daddy. But a good view of the fireworks. Lea said they were the biggest she'd seen until I reminded her of last year's Maine fireworks which were unbelievably big, so we decided they were the best fireworks west of the Mississippi.

Free Breakfast from the Russian mob at the Trapper Inn connected to our hotel. All of our waiters had a Slavic accent and there seemed to be no business other than our breakfast service so we started making up wild stories. The food was good enough and our waiters were very nice.

A waterfall along the road to Old Faithful.

Firehole Falls.

Ready for our nature walk to complete one step on the Junior Ranger badge program. We took a walk along the Lower Geyser Basin at the Fountain Paint Pots. The colors were not as dramatic as in the post cards.

Near a geyser we met this woman who had visited the park 70 times and talked of taking the train from Connecticut when she was Lea's age. She and her family (both as a child and her own children) back country camped, riding horses to their campsite. She was sitting waiting for a geyser to blow. She was fascinating to talk with.

Family photo. Look at the hat.

There goes the hat, taken with the wind. An Asian tourist ran out beyond the rails to get Lea's hat, which was very dangerous. The ground is unstable and can collapse or blow to reveal boiling hot water at any time so visitors are instructed to stay on the boardwalk. I was ready to bid farewell to her hat, Dan had a plan to get the umbrella and use the hook to retrieve it, but the daredevil lady saved us the trouble (she did not know she was being a daredevil). 

Lea working on the Junior Scientist Badge. Timing the eruptions of Old Faithful to predict the next eruption.

Hoof prints in the geyser basin. We believe these were Elk, but there was a decaying buffalo hide and another set of bleached bones off in the distance. A ranger later told us that the buffalo come here in the winter and often fall victim to the geothermal heat or fall through the unstable ground (that the Asian woman didn't know about!). Bears come to the geothermal features right after hibernation because it is an easy spot for a quick meal.

Lea recording data for her Junior Scientist Badge.

Lea observing for her Junior Scientist Badge.

Possibly Castle geyser erupting on the trail around Old Faithful area of the park.

Junior scientist measuring the temperature of water. The color of the bacteria gave us a clue to how hot the water was. Different colors lived in different temperatures.

95 degree here. The hottest we recorded was 185 degree. We could only measure what was near the boardwalk. Obviously we didn't want to end up like the dead buffalo!

The chipmunk that ran into Lea. Everyone was standing around taking photos of the little guy and he got freaked out, darted along the boardwalk and almost ran into Lea's foot.

Lea earning her Junior Scientist Badge.

A stop at a river before we headed home. The water was so beautiful and clear. Lea ended up getting soaked.

River selfie

Mom and daughter up a creek.

Chicken Fried Steak at Running Bear cafe with BROWN gravy! It was good, but weird.

The pool with a really, really fast waterside at the West Yellowstone hotel.

Lea in the pool with a really, really fast waterside at the West Yellowstone hotel.

West Yellowstone hot tub. Our last indoor pool at a hotel. The only time Dan swam with us, he was usually too tired. A real treat and fun family time staying warm.

Packing up to leave Yellowstone.

Lea being sworn in by our favorite park ranger of the whole trip. Ranger Jennifer who informed us Lea was eligible to earn a special Girl Scout badge as well as the Junior Ranger and Junior Scientists badge.

Lea with her Yellowstone Junior Ranger badge AND a very special Girl Scout patch that can only be earned by 10 hours of service and study in National Parks. Lea certainly qualified after visiting 5 on this trip. Amazing!

That big white blob above the water is a snow bank! There were huge patches of snow on the ground, but none where we could touch it. The snow was more abundant on the East as we drove out of the park.

The Neals at the Yellowstone Grand Canyon (no relation to the Arizona Grand Canyon)

Lea, after the gift shop, with her huckleberry lollipop and Swiss army style Yellowstone knife.

Lea sawing with her new Swiss army style Yellowstone knife — Saw attachment.

The Lake on the east side of Yellowstone. Truly every environment imaginable inside Yellowstone. Amazing.

Watch for falling rocks as we head through the mountains into the Black Hills of S. Dakota. This was the most treacherous, windy, mountainous drive of the entire trip.