Travel day three

It is late, we have been up and on the road since 9 AM today.   I may fall asleep doing this but will try to get it down before I crash.

We left Mitchell, S. D. for destination Wall, S.D.  It was a nice drive and along the way we stopped at a rest area to take photos and eat watermelon.   This was a very informative stop with photos of a bridge that Lewis and Clark helped with.  

Wall was aptly named as it was kind of a hole in the Wall!   The town is very small and only had a grocery store and a DQ handy to get something to eat.    We decided to go through the Badlands first before it got too hot and then we would wander through Wall Drug in the afternoon.

On the way to the Badlands we found a very interesting, well restored dugout house that the family had built a extra room on after a few years so they could have a portion of the house that did not leak.  They had homesteaded this property in the 1930's when the man was 55 years old.   Very interesting history here that I love to read....the girls....not so much.   But I did convince two of them to dress up in clothes of the time era and they looked really cute!

The prairie dogs here have been bred for so many years that the brown prairie dog has been bred out and all they have left is the white haired prairie dog with black skin.

We toured the house, barn, chicken coup and met some animals.  The photos will tell the tale for you.

Then we drove on into the Badlands.   Very beautiful and at the same time sad because no one can use this land for very much.  

We took the Badlands loop and ended up right back in Wall where we started so it was time to see what all the hype about Wall Drug is about.   We ate at the restaurant and it was pretty good.  The girls and I then walked around and checked out the sites at Wall Drug.   Almost too much selling and not so much anything else.

But we spent over an hour looking around and then we decided it was time to go to our next destination, Hot Springs!   We had an extra person with us on the trip who wishes to remain anonymous, so I will cover the face with a smile :)

Travel day two

The end of day two found us in Wall, South Dakota.   Seemed like a long time to get there.  Really we didn't have an actual itinerary for any of our days.   We did have a little method to our madness ;)
Mitchell is the home of the Corn Palace.  

The Corn Palace is pretty amazing.   They change the murals on the outside of the building each year.  The local college art director comes up with the ideas and many work together to get the design on the outside walls.   Then they put corn and other living things up to fill in the mural.   Each year they have a Corn Festival which is kind of like a county or state fair.   People come from far and wide to enjoy the Festival.  

During the school year, the high school basketball team uses the Corn Palace for their basket ball games as do the College.   The high School team is known as...you got it....the Kernals and their team color is gold!  

We then headed out toward Wall, South Dakota.   Everyone has told us you have got to go to Wall Drug.   Well, you couldn't miss Wall Drug from all the advertising along the road!   Along the way we saw signs talking about the 1880 town.   We were ready to stop for a pit stop and fill our stomachs when we saw the exit for the town.   First of all there was a train we could eat lunch in.  Food was good :)    We asked the waitress was it really worth paying to get in the old town next two them.   She said it really was and to tell the guy taking money that we were really nice and deserved a discount!  So we did and he gave us a discount.

 

The town is comprised of a multiple sided barn that was moved the new location from some 30 miles away.   The people who own this town have quite a collection of things they have bought over the years.   The town has been put together from bits and pieces of other towns that have been declining over the years and needed to sale parts of their buildings.  ie; one room school house, bank, saloon, etc.   Most things are in pretty good shape but some are in quite the disrepair.   It was still interesting to see all the things and it reminded me of many things from my youth!!

They also had animals and some of the "Dances with Wolves" wagons and other memorabilia.

 

It was really worth the stop.   Good thing we had been hungry and needed to use the bathroom or we may have driven right on by.   Just wish I had more time to look.   Some really neat things there.

Traveling

So today started off early.   We were up at 5:30AM and on the road by 7AM.    After the heat in Kansas yesterday we were ready to move on to something cooler.   It was 85 degrees this afternoon when we arrived in Mitchell, South Dakota.

It was warming up in the 90's in Nebraska.   They are working on the roads and boy do they need too.

We arrived at our hotel and were starved!   After a quick trip to WalMart it was off to the Whiskey Creek for an early supper.   Then back to the hotel where some of the girls enjoyed the water slide/swimming pool.   After eating as much as I did I don't know how they kept climbing the stairs after each trip down the slide.   I guess if I had been doing it I might have seen the fun....nah!  Looked like too much work to me!!

 

Kendalan decided to try the lemon wedge they served her in her lemonade.   Guess it was kind of sour!!

 

 

 

 

Happy 4th of July!

Okay, if you checked our blog for the 4th of July post and didn't see it.   You are not loosing your mind.   I just posted this on Monday, July 6th.   Sorry just a little behind.   I am sitting here looking out our south window watching the clouds roll in.  We are in for a thunder and lightening kind of night.   Hope we just get that and no wind or other things with it.

Fourth of July we were in Lebo early for a swim meet.  I know, we all thought it was silly to have it on a holiday too.   There were quite a few more there than we were expecting and the swim meets help the small towns bring in money to help keep the pools open for the kids.  

The girls were excited that they would have better chances at winning and we came home with quite a few ribbons!   We are proud of them no matter what color the ribbons are.

The meet was over by noon and we stopped to buy a few fireworks.  Then we were home to shower and off to Overbrook for their annual fireworks.   It was the perfect weather for the 4th, it actually felt a little chilly to me after the sun went down. 

As usual, the fireworks did not disappoint us.   But Zora was not happy to sit all morning at the swim meet. 

Happy 4th to all and thank you to those who serve and protect us!

Summertime!

School was out on May 12th and we picked up the pace from there on out.   Zora and Jordis have been playing volleyball on Monday mornings.   They had 4 games on Monday nights.   We missed the first Monday because we were in Kansas City saying goodbye to Iris, Yoyo and Ava.   Last Monday Mom missed the game which was in West Franklin, due to work.   However, this Monday the game is here in Carbondale and I will be able to go!   Plus Carbondale has air conditioning which the last gym did  not have.   Both girls are getting better at volleyball.   Serving is the hardest for both of them but they have been hanging in there practicing and I think they will get better the more they play.

Overbrook Swim Team has been practicing since the first week of June.  Their first meet is at Lyndon on the 27th.   Jordis has two sisters and a special friend who have joined her this year.  Tessa and Kendalan are both swimming and their friend Haven is also on the team.   Mom is looking forward to watching them all have a successful year.   The first two weeks were a test to see just how dedicated they really were to be on the team.   It was cool and the water had not warmed up much.  So they were getting out of the water with their teeth chattering and their poor lips and fingers were blue.   But it has made them stronger and more ready for winning!  No these photos are not from swim practice but you get the idea that playing in water is fun :)

RaeAnne has been keeping busy being in drivers education!  She has her instruction permit now and can drive with a licensed driver at her side.  Dad has been doing a lot of that because Mom doesn't have nerves of steel, but today I took a chance and she drove me home from Overbrook.  Other than having her keep the vehicle more toward the center of the line, opposed to driving too close to the ditch she is getting better.   She still put a few more gray hairs on my head!

We were very sad to see Iris, Ava and Yoyo go back to China.   They have been a joy to get to know and it just seemed like time flew by while they were here.   We hope to see some of them again as they are planning on coming back to the USA in the near future.  And who knows?  We may make it to China in the near future!   We picked them up from the Kansas City airport, they took us out to eat at Joe's Crab Shack and then we took them back to the airport.

And I almost forgot...we celebrated Kendalan's 10th birthday April 24th.  Double Digits!  Our baby girl is growing up.  Doesn't seem possible that she has been with us 9 years now, of course she will never let us forget it :)   She will be a 5th grader this coming fall.  School will start August 25th.  Just two more months and they will have to put their noses back to the grindstone.

In the meantime, we are having a great summer so far.   We have reservations in South Dakota this July.  We will be traveling across S.D. to see Mount Rushmore, Wall Drug, The Corn Palace, and hope to sneak over to Wyoming to see Devil's Tower!   What a trip!  Our special friend will be going with us there too!  :)

Mother's Day was nice.   I had worked several days in a row, so I was tired but the girls made it fun as usual and they didn't disappointment me for a gift.   They are the Awesome ones!  I can't imagine our lives without them.

How could I forget that today is Father's Day!  Nicholas drove down from Manhattan to take Mark out to lunch.  Big Brother also asked RaeAnne to go back to Manhattan with him and spend the week with Shelby and him.   RaeAnne packed up all her stuff and told us goodbye!   I hope she has a great time!   I took the girls out driving around to find a wheat field to get their photo in.   We finally found the perfect one by Vassaar.   Then we all went to Red Robin "Yum!" to have supper.   We filled ourselves to the stuffed category after eating three helpings of their never ending FF.