Saturday, July 9, 2011
Moving on down I-94
We ended up having a day of rest yesterday instead of seeing sites. Jacob didn’t feel well the night before and I didn’t feel well yesterday. We need to have a balance of go go go and rest. I told Rick I think we need to have two days of rest- one to do absolutely nothing and one to get things done around here- laundry, mail, trip planning, scrapbooking, etc.
We’re off to Bismarck today. We probably won’t have internet for the next few days as we make our way to Minnesota so I’ll update at the start of the week. Have a good weekend!
We’re off to Bismarck today. We probably won’t have internet for the next few days as we make our way to Minnesota so I’ll update at the start of the week. Have a good weekend!
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Are we in North Dakota? Yah, sure you betchya!
We left Texas seven weeks ago and have now been in ten states. We’ve only added 3,000 miles to the RV-wow! It’s pretty amazing what we’ve seen so far and I know there’s a lot more to come.
If you would’ve asked me what we’d see in North Dakota two months ago I wouldn’t have known what to say, but there are some things I’m looking forward to seeing. Yesterday we visited Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the north unit. The park is only 14 miles long and you have to back track to leave, but there were some interesting sites. I loved seeing concretions. I think I need some for my future yard! They look like big spheres of rock. They are created inside the bigger rocks and pushed out. The other thing I wanted to see were caprocks. We tried to take the trail to get to them, but it was washed out as it had been raining during the first part of our visit. We did get to see some formations that looked similar, so I was thankful for that. The particular caprock formations I wanted to see look like giant mushrooms with a hard cover of rock on top and soft stone below that erodes to leave the interesting shape. The other neat thing we saw was a coyote pup run in front of the car. I couldn’t get my camera up and ready fast enough to capture a picture, but it will remain a memory.
Today we toured the south unit of the park, which is a 36 mile loop. We saw Teddy’s Maltese cabin, toured a museum that included an undershirt he was wearing when he was shot making a speech running for president and learned about the man that created the national parks. His daughter Alice was born on Feb. 12 and named after his wife. Two days later his mother died and eleven hours later his wife died of kidney problems and childbirth complications. He didn’t know what to do with the baby girl so he gave her to his sister and he headed back to North Dakota. He lived in the cabin, but felt it was too close to people during this period of mourning so he moved 35 miles north and had a really nice cabin built (we saw a model of it and it had five bedrooms, a dining room, kitchen, mud room.) His daughter Alice later lived with him in the White House. She was apparently a wild child and he was asked to control her. He said “I can either run the country or I can control Alice, but I cannot possibly do both.”
In the park we were happy to see some new animals to add to our list- feral horses, two snakes and even some ants carrying off a ladybug body. Becca was thrilled about the horses, but not the snakes. We’d seen a dead one and then saw the skin a snake had shed so she was worried we’d see a real one and we did on a hike. Luckily, they were behind her and in front of me. I was lagging behind both times taking pictures- what a surprise!- so I think the snake thought all the noise was gone and that it was safe to cross the path. I got a picture of the snake too. We found out later at the visitor center that the rangers have found four rattle snakes on that particular trail. Faith once again earned her Jr Ranger badge and is keeping up with her goal of earning one in each state.
After the park we drove into the tiny, simple, clean town of Medora. We went to the Harold Schafer museum. He is best known (to us) for creating Mr. Bubbles. Faith and Jacob sat in front of the old fashioned tv and watched Schafer on What’s My Line and saw other commercials advertising his products. He also created the stencils you put on the windows at Christmas and then spray the white stuff on.
When we arrived in Dickinson we thought about spending another night here to get some things done. After two days here we haven’t even seen all the things on our list so we are going to extend for one more night. I hope we can get everything done!
If you would’ve asked me what we’d see in North Dakota two months ago I wouldn’t have known what to say, but there are some things I’m looking forward to seeing. Yesterday we visited Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the north unit. The park is only 14 miles long and you have to back track to leave, but there were some interesting sites. I loved seeing concretions. I think I need some for my future yard! They look like big spheres of rock. They are created inside the bigger rocks and pushed out. The other thing I wanted to see were caprocks. We tried to take the trail to get to them, but it was washed out as it had been raining during the first part of our visit. We did get to see some formations that looked similar, so I was thankful for that. The particular caprock formations I wanted to see look like giant mushrooms with a hard cover of rock on top and soft stone below that erodes to leave the interesting shape. The other neat thing we saw was a coyote pup run in front of the car. I couldn’t get my camera up and ready fast enough to capture a picture, but it will remain a memory.
Today we toured the south unit of the park, which is a 36 mile loop. We saw Teddy’s Maltese cabin, toured a museum that included an undershirt he was wearing when he was shot making a speech running for president and learned about the man that created the national parks. His daughter Alice was born on Feb. 12 and named after his wife. Two days later his mother died and eleven hours later his wife died of kidney problems and childbirth complications. He didn’t know what to do with the baby girl so he gave her to his sister and he headed back to North Dakota. He lived in the cabin, but felt it was too close to people during this period of mourning so he moved 35 miles north and had a really nice cabin built (we saw a model of it and it had five bedrooms, a dining room, kitchen, mud room.) His daughter Alice later lived with him in the White House. She was apparently a wild child and he was asked to control her. He said “I can either run the country or I can control Alice, but I cannot possibly do both.”
In the park we were happy to see some new animals to add to our list- feral horses, two snakes and even some ants carrying off a ladybug body. Becca was thrilled about the horses, but not the snakes. We’d seen a dead one and then saw the skin a snake had shed so she was worried we’d see a real one and we did on a hike. Luckily, they were behind her and in front of me. I was lagging behind both times taking pictures- what a surprise!- so I think the snake thought all the noise was gone and that it was safe to cross the path. I got a picture of the snake too. We found out later at the visitor center that the rangers have found four rattle snakes on that particular trail. Faith once again earned her Jr Ranger badge and is keeping up with her goal of earning one in each state.
After the park we drove into the tiny, simple, clean town of Medora. We went to the Harold Schafer museum. He is best known (to us) for creating Mr. Bubbles. Faith and Jacob sat in front of the old fashioned tv and watched Schafer on What’s My Line and saw other commercials advertising his products. He also created the stencils you put on the windows at Christmas and then spray the white stuff on.
When we arrived in Dickinson we thought about spending another night here to get some things done. After two days here we haven’t even seen all the things on our list so we are going to extend for one more night. I hope we can get everything done!
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
South Dakota rocks!
We enjoyed the evening program at Mt. Rushmore on the 3rd of July because they didn’t have an evening program on the 4th. They didn’t have fireworks because of the beetle infestation in the trees surrounding, but it was still a nice program in a beautiful setting. The rock looks just like it does in pictures, but still it’s spectacular to see in person.
The project was estimated to take a few years and $250,000, but it took fourteen years and nearly one million dollars. The sculptor, Borglum, felt the funds could be raised without government funding, but that didn’t work out since the project was ongoing through the depression and lasted so long. The government ending up paying for nearly all of it. Borglum also felt the monument should be free, so it is, but you have to pay to park. The parking structure is really nice though and you can return within the year on the one fee.
Four hundred people worked on the project for fourteen years and no one died. That’s incredible, especially when you think about the little swing seats they were sitting in way up there!
For the 4th of July we barbequed burgers and enjoyed a quiet day. I worked on places to see in future states, Rick read about RV stuff, the kids watched tv or played video games.
I have been really conflicted with all the Native American history we’ve been around the past few weeks. I know we (Euopeans) came in and took their country so it seems hard to celebrate the 4th of July this year. We’re thankful for our independence, those that serve(d) to protect it and all the national treasures in our country.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time in South Dakota. I was looking forward to seeing all the sights. Now we are off to North Dakota- there's some fun stuff there too!
The project was estimated to take a few years and $250,000, but it took fourteen years and nearly one million dollars. The sculptor, Borglum, felt the funds could be raised without government funding, but that didn’t work out since the project was ongoing through the depression and lasted so long. The government ending up paying for nearly all of it. Borglum also felt the monument should be free, so it is, but you have to pay to park. The parking structure is really nice though and you can return within the year on the one fee.
Four hundred people worked on the project for fourteen years and no one died. That’s incredible, especially when you think about the little swing seats they were sitting in way up there!
For the 4th of July we barbequed burgers and enjoyed a quiet day. I worked on places to see in future states, Rick read about RV stuff, the kids watched tv or played video games.
I have been really conflicted with all the Native American history we’ve been around the past few weeks. I know we (Euopeans) came in and took their country so it seems hard to celebrate the 4th of July this year. We’re thankful for our independence, those that serve(d) to protect it and all the national treasures in our country.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time in South Dakota. I was looking forward to seeing all the sights. Now we are off to North Dakota- there's some fun stuff there too!
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