We are home!

Home sweet home!

After November 1st it was very tricky to find an open campgrounds. We decided that we had spent enough money and it was time to come home. If money wernt a factor we could have spent at least another month in that area exploring. But I left feeling very happy. I cant thank my family enough for making this trip everything it was.

I leave Thursday for D.C. for a breech confrence and I'm looking forward to that. Then in Feb we will head South visiting lots of people on the way.

We spent the day yesterday cleaning out the motorhome and putting everything away. Today we got back to school. I can't believe how much we got done on the road. From painting Devil's Tower, Sophie finished her 1st grade math and Lola's letters are really coming along.

Sophie has lots of questions today and we are googleing everything we can- Mom can bears smell?

Bears have an incredible sense of smell because the area of their brain that manages the sense of smell, called the olefactory bulb, is at least 5 times larger than the same area in human brains even though a bear's brain is one third the size.

And what dinosaur had two brains?
When Stegosaurus was first discovered, in 1877, experts weren't used to the idea of elephant-sized lizards with bird-sized brains. That's why, in the late 19th century, the famous paleontologist Othniel C. Marsh broached the idea that a second brain resided in Stegosaurus' rump, which presumably helped to control the rear part of its body. Today, no one believes that Stegosaurus (or any dinosaur) had two brains, but it may well turn out that the cavity in this stegosaur's tail was used to store extra food (in the form of glycogen).

Badlands

So what was suppose to be a sunny day in the 70s turned out to be a day covered in fog and in the 30s. Needless to say it was very hard to see the Badlands in the fog. We waited until 10 and then drove over the Wall Drug. Which is a fancy way of saying tourist giant store.

 We left for the badlands and just prayed the fog would let up a little. We could see bits of it at first. But about half way through the fog lifted. We didn't get any amazing pictures but at least we could see it. We drove through it, stopped at the Rangers station and watched a great video.

Ryan wanted to see the cold war missiles so he took the girls over to that exhibit while I napped. Then we started the long drive home. Yes, its that time. We have spent a lot of money, and I'm heading to D.C. for a breech conference next week so we are going to get home and settled before I leave again :) Then its time for Thanksgiving, Amy's Wedding, Christmas, my sweet friend Steph's birth, and then we will be on our way to Florida. We plan on seeing Aunt Sherrie in South Carolina, The Zarankos in Kentucky, Julie in North Carolina, Kalli and family in Alabama, my family at their time share, Ryan's mom in Dunedin, and of course Paula in Savannah, and if Heather is still in Georgia we want to stop in and visit her too! So as you can see lots more miles to put on our motor home.

I have learned several things on this trip:
1. We do not need a microwave. Ha! to all you naysayers out there.
1/2. We do not need fast food on a road trip. Besides one moment of weakness on Ryan's end at a gas station taco bell we have at all homemade meals in the camper- saving a ton of money.
2. We do not need a TV. Yup this trip has been TV free and I cant count how many magical moments we wouldn't have had if the girls (and the hubby) would have lost out on if they were sitting in here glued to the TV.
3. That lovely couple we meet at Devil's Tower- when we said we were homeschooling he didn't give me the socializing bullshit and more talk- he sincerely smiled and said "good for you there are lots of way to live this life and why not live it big?" I appreciate that so much.
4. We can learn from every moment in every situation, we can do school on the road, my girls are not behind or lacking- they are blossoming before our very eyes.
5. My husband is on my side. On our family's side. He has done alot to make this trip possible and help me heal from a very hard year. He agreed to no TV, he helped me search for the motor home, he saved money, he agreed not to eat fast food, he sacrificed to take this once in a lifetime trip as a family. I love him so much.
6. At the horse ranch- I learned that I can feel things again. That I can feel happiness in the big sense. The high of happiness. Its been months... its been since I saw the pregnancy test positive. I put up walls and this trip helped me take a few of them down. I have no clarity about getting pregnant again, but I am starting to feel safe again.
7. With our next motor home- we need a bigger bed- I need to be able to stretch my feet out all the way while sleeping.

Horses and Devils

Yesterday we spent the morning at the Wild Horse Sanctuary. It was my favorite thing we have done so far. 500 wild horses roaming free. They are in the middle of a terrible drought and need help with costs of hay and other things. They too, like Cray Horse, refuse to take government money and count on donations.

I think Sophie's dreams of owning a horse are now 100 times more then before. Her favorite horse was this beautiful mustang with a heart on his forehead.

I can't explain how magical this place was. I want to stay for weeks and explore or just sit and stare.
There are places where the Indians come back to do special ceremonies. The tree of life has clothes tied to it with things the Indians are praying for. The sweat lodges are still up from the last time, and there were several tipi frames. There was also a beautiful rocks that Indians from 700 years ago drew on.

We even got to see a special accident. They have a heard that they are trying a birth control with the Stallion, Don Juan. They had been baby free for 4 years until 3 weeks ago- when a little surprise joined the heard. I guess all forms of birth control aren't 100%.

Then we drove to Devils Tower in Wyoming.

We thought this would be a special place to stay since its Halloween Eve. We could see it from miles away. We set up camp and have an awesome spot- looking right at it. Lola and I worked on carving a pumpkin, the girls played on the playground- also right next to our site. Ryan made dinner. It was really a nice relaxing night.

Today we are heading up Devil's Tower. And that's all we know we are doing... haven't decided where to go from here yet.

Relax

So after an evening of relaxing we have decided to sleep in tomorrow. Then after lunch take the two hour drive to see Devil's Tower. We are also going to the wild horse place.  Plus how cool will it be to spend Halloween Eve in Devils Tower? After spending the night there we will go to Rapid City and then off to the Badlands.

Great Weather

Today has been our first day of warm weather. It feels fantastic too. From what I head its a mess back home with the hurricane so I was happy to have a warm fall day. We started off this morning sleeping in, showers, and school. Then we headed too Hot Springs. But on the way we saw a sign for Wind Cave National Park and decided to stop.

Wind Cave was great. We took the one hour tour, talked to the rangers, heard lots of history, and on our way out bumped into another family and started talking about their dog. They had 3 daughters and were also home schoolers. We compared notes on where they have been vs us, home school lessons, and all the girls ran and played. It was a great afternoon. We saw more buffalo, lots of prairie dogs, and more mule horn deer.

We made it to the Mammoth Site and started exploring. Wouldn't you know it all the mammoths that died in the sink hole were males? Some say that's because the females knew it was dangerous and refused to get close- where the stubborn males went to eat the grass and couldn't get back out. There were so many jokes here I cant fit them all in this one post. The girls got to touch a lot of bones, ask alot of questions- considering we were the only one in our tour group, and it was a great afternoon for us. I highly recommend it for kids who love digging in the dirt.

We are now camped at a KOA. I'm making spaghetti for dinner, Ryan is tackling laundry. We are trying to decide if we should go to the wild horse place tomorrow. Its really really expensive. For the same price we could drive to Devil's tower and spend an afternoon hiking there. Anyways not sure what tomorrow holds for us, but that's part of the fun. I am starting to miss my bed, but my bed will still be there when we get back so I'm not worried about it.

Never Forget Your Dreams.

Today we went back to Crazy Horse. It was very moving. So much to learn, so much to see, so much to do. The museum there is the biggest Indian Museum in the world. The tour took us right up to the base of the mountain. The movie that you watch when you first walk in even kept the girls attention.

Did you know that it is not funded by the government? The family was to afraid to take government assistant in fear that they could shut the project down. The mountain carving is funding purely on donations.

Korczak worked on Mt Rushmore and then received a letter from an Indian Chief who wanted the white people to know the Indian's have hero's too. Korczak agreed and started to work. Then he married Ruth and the couple had 10 children 8 of whom still work on the mountain. It is truly a family passion. Crazy Horse is also the biggest monument in the world. It will also be an monument that when finished is carved all the way around 3 sides.

Crazy Horse was an Indian Chief  and chosen to represent his people because of his bravery, his courage, and his tragic death.  The memorial is him pointing out to the land and replying to a white man who asked "Where are your lands now?" and Crazy horse pointed out and said, "My land is where my dead lie buried."

To be honest I cant wait to return one day with Ryan and our girls- and maybe their children and husbands to see how different the mountain looks. I see now why my Grandma is so captivated by this mountain.

 

 

 

 

Custer State Park

 

 

After our visit to Crazy Horse we drove to Custer State Park to drive on the wildlife loop. I was very excited to see the Buffalo. We had a contest going to see who was going to see a buffalo first. We stopped a scenic overlook and took some pictures and then drove about an hour an a half through the park. It was awesome!


Tree Huggers

Custer State Park

The buffalo roam around freely. There were also plenty of turkeys and deer. We also saw prairie dogs, birds, pronghorns, and mule deer.

Another great day on our adventure. Tomorrow we are hoping to go to Mammoth Site. I think the girls are really going to love it.

Best Day Ever

My sweet Lola is always yelling "Best Day Ever" and today I want to scream it from the top of Mt. Rushmore. We didn't get to any of the museums today that we wanted to go to because they were closed for the winter, but it doesnt even matter. We started the day lost looking for Mt Rushmore on a back road with lots of turkeys and deer. It was an awesome being lost road. We finally arrived in Keystone and realized the museums were closed so we just kept on going to Mt. Rushmore.

Amazing.
Breathtaking.
Inspiring.
Gravy Baby.

We took pictures. And what I thought would be our Christmas card picture- however now that I'm looking at them we are totally going back tomorrow and trying again thanks to Lola's growling face :). We went on the trails and saw a mountain goat. We did some shopping, talked to the Rangers, walked through all the exhibits.

Then we went to a gold mine in Keystone and did the tour. It was interesting. Ryan related to the honeydipper. Yuck. The girls walked through the cave and honestly I was happy when we were all back out in fresh air.

After that we drove by crazy horse on our way to our campgrounds. In the little town we are staying in it was trick or treat so the girls and I went out. This makes a perfect day even better. The girls had fun and I'm happy to mix a little Halloween in with our adventure.

Then we ended up going back up the road to Crazy Horse for dinner. We will be going there in the morning for some amazing photos, but tonight was fun just for the hour we were there. We are home now and the girls are begging to watch more Little House on the Prairie, so I'm giving my computer over to them.

Tomorrow: Crazy horse and Custer State Park- we are suppose to see lots of animals and have some great hiking.