Black Hills, Wild Bill and Buffalo Bill

Next stop, Keystone South Dakota. It was a long drive from Pike National Forrest in Colorado to Keystone, but we managed it in one day. We arrived as the sun was starting to set and we drove by Mt. Rushmore and had a sneak peak at it. So amazing! The area is called the Black Hills and it's stunning. 

Keystone is adorable. There are a lot of little shops and restaurants in town. Our favorite was a rock store. Rocks continue to be a treasure for my kids. They've collected them on all of our travels.

A wood carved buffalo bench.

First thing the next morning, we headed out to see Mt. Rushmore. I thought the entrance to the Grand View Terrace was awesome with each state represented by their flag.

It was a gorgeous day. We were lucky to have a clear blue sky as our backdrop behind the white mountain. We hiked on the trail to see a closer view of the mountain. We had great conversations about who each of the 4 presidents were and why they were important. I think the kids actually learned something. It was fascinating to read the exhibits in the museum and learn about how the mountain was made. It took 14 years and 400 men to make it. Each day they had to start their work day by climbing the mountain! 

We left Mt. Rushmore and explored some other things in Keystone (I'll talk about them in a minute), but at the end of the day we returned. Once the sun goes down, there is a presentation in the outside amphitheater. It starts with patriotic music and then a movie about the achievements of the US throughout our history, followed by an acknowledgement of all the active or former military present in the audience. We found it to be very well done and touching. Definitely worth the second visit!

Black Hills Gold is quite famous and we were in the Black Hills, so we had to try our hand at panning for gold! All of the kids found a few flecks and enjoyed the demonstrations of our expert gold panner.

Wandering around Keystone, we found a wood carver. He had his carving studio set up outside, so the kids could see his process and all his finished products.

Guy with a Buffalo!

Next we headed to Cody, SD to visit the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Scott's good friend Chris Collings went to this school for university and so we had to stop by and say hi for him. We took a couple of pictures and had a run on the track. Go Hardrockers!

We had dinner at a beautiful winery. Good wine, good food and beautiful scenery. It's a great life!

That wrapped up our visit to Mt. Rushmore and Keystone, SD. Our next destination is Cody, Wyoming. Driving from Keystone to Cody is another long day in the car, but we got to drive through some beautiful country.

Our first rest stop was in the town of Deadwood, SD. This is the famous old west town that HBO created their show "Deadwood" about. Scott and I have watched that show, so we were kinda excited to stop in the town. We went to the old cemetery and found the graves of both Calamity Jane and Wild Bill. We were surprised at how narrow Deadwood is. It's nestled between two steep hills (or small mountains) and stays in the valley. 

We found Cody, Wyoming to be a cute little town. It has a nice main street with cute shops and nice restaurants. Our hotel surprised us with a lobby filled with stuffed animals. My kids hadn't seen much of these kind of animals before, it was pretty shocking for them. Lily was overwhelmed with sadness for the dead animals. It was very sweet.

After a good night's sleep, we went to the Cody Buffalo Bill Center of the West Museum. There, we learned about the nature of this region, (plants and animals), the native people, Buffalo Bill and we saw the largest gun collection. Then we headed off to our major destination: Yellowstone National Park.

Road Trippin' in the USA!

This summer, Scott and I wanted to plan for our family a summer holiday that is distinctly American. We've been so lucky these last few years to travel the globe and see so many beautiful wonders. Now that we are back in the US, we wanted to show our kids some of the natural beauty right here in our own country. So... what to do?

Well, we couldn't think of anything more American than road tripping and camping in Yellowstone National Park. We plotted our route, chose the days that we will camp and which days we will stay in a hotel. We checked out our camping gear (we haven't used it in a while!) and hit the road!

Day 1: Austin to Amarillo

Texas is HUGE. Amarillo is green and not yellow. We loved the Holiday Inn Express in Amarillo. It was clean and the staff were friendly. There was free beer and wine when we arrived and some food for the kids. We walked around the Botanical Gardens, they were beautiful and it was great to get outside and walk after such a long day in the car.

Taken at the Amarillo Botanical Gardens.

Our home for the next few weeks. We added the car top carrier for this trip and we are totally impressed with how much we can fit up there!

Day 2: Amarillo to Pike National Forrest

Today, we drove from Amarillo, Texas to Pike National Forrest, Colorado. Our plan is to camp for two nights. Scott's cousin Andy and his girlfriend Tracy are meeting us too.

All of us experienced a bit of altitude sickness. After a day in Colorado, our fingers and lips were totally dried out and we even had some vomiting. We drank a ton of water and by the time we left Colorado, we all felt better. We still enjoyed ourselves, but probably not as much as we had planned to.

Our tent is huge. We set up 2 inflatable queen mattresses inside. Kids on one, sleeping sideways and Scott and I on the other. Our first night in Colorado, we slept with the rain fly off, so we could see the stars. It was beautiful! However, a little cold, so we had the rain fly on the tent for all of the rest of the nights that we camped.

Funny story about my Lily. Once we arrived at our campsite and set the tent up, Lily went inside and sat on her bed. She told me that she's an indoor girl and she thought that it was a good spot there on her bed and she'd be spending the rest of her time there. I laughed and said that it was going to be a very long holiday for her if she spent all of her time in the tent. Of course, she didn't and within a couple of hours she had embraced the great outdoors. 

There were these amazing red rocks in our campground. We hiked all around them and climbed the ones that we could.

Cousin Andy brought a hammock and that was BIG FUN for these little people. It inspired Scott to buy a hammock for the remainder of our trip. 

I took this picture of Lily just as we were packing up to leave. She was filthy and looked as though she hadn't brushed her hair in days. A long way from the little girl that told me she wouldn't be getting out of the tent and it had only been 2 days.

Thanks for the fun Andy and Tracy!

Next up, Keystone, SD.

Wyatt's 6th Birthday!

My BABY is SIX! Wow. When did that happen?! We measured him this morning on our growth chart and he is the tallest six year old in our family. Wyatt has been a lot taller than both girls at each age. He is still the smallest in our family. He will always be my BABY.

For his birthday, he invited a few friends over and we had a robot wrestling activity (provided by the awesome people at Advancing Robots), followed by a Plants vs Zombies water war and then some cake. He had a ball and I think his friends did too!

First the kids learned about what they had to do and then they got to work. Each team of 2 was given a robot to modify. They used legos to add their unique modifications. Each robot is programmed to seek out the other in battle mode and try to push it out of the sumo ring.

All of the children were very busy modifying their robot. They stayed focused on this for a long time.

Some of the dads got involved too!

Wyatt and his buddy with their masterpiece!

The first battle...

Victory!!

After everybody had an individual battle, there was a robot melee. All of the robots battled together.

There was some wind, so I needed the kids to help keep the candles lit.

We were so happy that Papa and Grandma could join us too! We also has special guests Aunt Dolores and Uncle Dave!!