Our Attempt at Playing Pioneers

The night before we were supposed to leave for our camping trip to South Dakota, we finally got our van back after being fixed from our wreck.  We were cutting it very close!

We stopped at Martin's Cove on our way to Casper, Wyoming, for our first night.  Dustin and I did Trek at Martin's Cove, a few years ago, so it was fun to bring our kids to see it and pull a handcart or two.

It is hard to pull my son all by myself.  I am such a pioneer. Oh, except that I have shoes on my feet and plenty of food, and a nice air conditioned car to get me where I need to go, and my children and husband aren't starving and dying.  Other than all that (and more), I am such a pioneer.

We really felt like adventurous pioneers when the mosquitoes began swarming us right here by Devil's Gate.  Avery and I turned around and ran away as fast as we could.  And, I still had bites all over my legs the next day!

Notice the absence of Avery and me.  We had already ran for our lives.  These pioneers toughed it out and got past the swarm.

Independence Rock

We arrived in Casper that night, and stayed with my aunt Pam.  It was fun to visit with her and a few of my cousins that are still in the area.

The next morning it was on to Devil's Tower.  We loved Devil's Tower!  It was one of our family's favorite parts of this trip.

We took a great hike around the base and climbed up on the many jutting rocks.

We saw a snake on the trail! (Luckily, it was after we had gotten off of the rocks.  I don't even want to think of how many critters were snoozing under the rocks we were climbing on!)

From Devil's Tower, we headed south and stopped in a little Western town called Deadwood.  

We were just in time to see a shoot out in the street.  And sit in these seats.

The kids moaned and groaned as we walked (a very short distance) to see the graves of Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane.  They're smiling in these pictures, but only because we told them they had to.

And, we pulled in just before dark, set up our tent in record time, and jumped inside, just as a major rainstorm started.  The kids thought it was a great adventure, and for me, it was very reminiscent of all of the camping trips of my youth, with my family.  Like, every. single. one.

We spent the next morning exploring and enjoying our campsite.  It was called Grizzly Creek, and that first night, we thought we could hear where it got its name.  But, with more thought, and daylight, we decided that it was more likely someone snoring in a nearby campsite.

Then we headed to Mt. Rushmore.

Future presidents.

Trying so hard to keep a straight face!

These guys are better at it.

We found this fun little road that someone had told us about, and it happened to be right by our campsite.  The bridges are called pigtail bridges, and the road is Needles Highway.

There were so many fun narrow tunnels to drive through.  And the scenery was absolutely gorgeous.  We have an amazing beautiful earth!

Someone is rock climbing.  If you look closely you can see them.

The narrowest tunnel, and probably where the highway got its name.  We were a couple of cars behind a pretty big truck going through, and he stopped a couple of times, probably worried about fitting.  We could stick our arms out and touch the sides of the tunnel!

At the top of the highway was Sylvan Lake.  We got there in the late afternoon, so we didn't have too much time to swim, but the kids had fun anyway.

It had a pretty little hike around the lake.

Dustin was affectionately nicknamed "Pano Mano" on this trip.  He just can't help himself!  He loves to take panoramas.

We got back to our campsite in plenty of time to eat our tinfoil dinners, and our sleep was uneventful, with no visits from a snoring Grizzly Adams.  The next morning we headed out early to get tickets to tour Jewel Cave, and while we waited for our tour time, we drove around Custer State Park.  After a few days of being in the car together, we decided we needed a distraction.  Something to unite us.  Like mustaches.

 The mustaches actually helped our moods a lot.  And the kids loved getting strange looks from people as when we stopped to take pictures of these lovely animals.

 And these.

 These are wild donkeys that will stick their heads right in your car to eat your carrots, if you'll let them.  And we did.  As my friend Jacque said to me, "Your kids have let goats kiss them on their lips.  They wouldn't care about a donkey's head in their laps."

 Still sporting a 'stache.  You can't see me or Dustin in these pictures, but we also still had our mustaches.

 We stopped for lunch on the route somewhere.  We kept our cooler in our car, which made it nice for being able to stop and eat whenever we were ready.  And cheap.  And convenient, because there wasn't a plethora of restaurants in South Dakota.

Finally time for Jewel Cave, the third longest cave in the world.

 We saw some big horn sheep while we drove.

We took the kids on an Alpine Slide at a nearby town.

 Grant is leading the pack.  In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have been put on the fast track...

 Walking around the little town.

Back at the campsite.  This hammock provided tons of entertainment for the kids.  And opportunities to fight with each other.

 More tinfoil dinners and smores.

 Not to brag, but I made the perfect marshmallow.

 We went back to Mt. Rushmore that night, to see it all lit up.

 And we drove home for 10 hours the next day.  I felt pretty proud of us, for surviving 4 days of camping, by ourselves, with no showers or flushing toilets, and no parents with a camp trailer.  We had to start our own fires and plan for and cook our own food.  Maybe we are pioneers after all!