I finally lose it.... It had to happen!

Tuesday we needed to make our way from Montana into the Black Hills of South Dakota.  This was a significant driving day—which the kids prefer!?! They ask each day if we are going to have “long drives,” as this is somehow more enjoyable than the amazing places we have visited.  Go figure!

Our most notable stop today was at the Battle of Little Bighorn, of the Battle of Greasy Grass as it’s known by the Lakota Indians.  We enjoyed learning about the players in this battle, including Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and General Custer.  This site was the major victory for the Plain Indians who refused to be forced into reservations during the Great Sioux War of 1876.  Sadly, the loss of General Custer galvanized support for the war, and after an infusion of funds and people, within a year the Sioux had surrendered.  This National monument was so well done, and the kids found it to be appropriately sobering.  If you are ever near Billings, Montana, check it out! 

That evening we had planned to top off the day, after more driving, by going to the Crazy Horse memorial in South Dakota, near our campsite.  I didn’t have a lot of time to vet this location, but it seemed fitting given our stop in Montana earlier that day.  We arrived later than we wanted but I had planned to have dinner that night at their restaurant which serves traditional Native American dishes.  But, things went off the rails as soon as we arrived.  For those who may not have been here, this site is designed to be a memorial to Crazy Horse carved into rock, similar to Rushmore.  However, there is a kitchy-ness to this immediately.  We learn that there is a light show, and a fire show planned for that night, because it’s the anniversary for the Battle of Little Big Horn.  And clearly the family which supports this site planned to benefit from that.  The monument is not complete and not much progress seems to have been made in the last 20 years.  The family of the original sculptor has died and his family runs this whole organization.  They are packed for these “special nights,” but I can’t get the exploitation slick off me as we wonder around.  Top it off… the restaurant is closed.  The snack bar, which has ice cream and hot dogs, has a line a mile long.  Now I’m embarrassed that I’m here, and I’m hangry.  Brian and I can’t decided what to do.  A light and fire show will certainly interest the kids, but I do not want to spend another dollar here.  We leave.  I want to stop for dinner. Brian does not.  We don’t.  We’ve had a few days of sandwiches, and I want a real meal.  We arrive at our campground.  It’s nice enough.  But learn when cooking that it’s not level and the hot pan keeps sliding off the stove—not a feature! Then the kids have one million requests for us, within a few minutes of arriving.  One was to go bike riding.  That’s another pain of getting the bikes off the racks, finding the helmets, and getting good shoes.  The kids are being good, but I’m on my last nerve.  They bike off and I think I’ll get to work on the dinner.  Minutes later they are back, in tears, with a big crash of two out of three.  I know I should have been better, but I really didn’t have a lot, okay any, patience left in me.  I overhear Brian say to Simon, the only one not injured, “go help your mom, or she might kill you.”  After hear this, I laugh, I breathe and I try to calm myself.  So the night didn’t go as planned.  We are all here and all well, minus a few bicycle crash scratches, and we gave $30 to a scam-artist family. I apologized to my crew for my grumpiness. Live and learn, right?! 

Yellowstone!

We've been so busy that I'm a bit behind on posting.  On Monday we were in Yellowstone.  We woke up early and started driving while the kids slept-- we definitely wore them out in the Grand Tetons.  For those who have never been, Yellowstone park is the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined.  The main park is comprised on 142 mile figure-eight-like drive with tons of trails and the like to go off and explore.  Brian and I worried that we had not planned for enough time in the park, so we started early.  We drove by the huge Yellowstone Lake in the morning as the fog lifted, and, of course, Reid woke up first!  We discussed with a Ranger the best way to make use of our day at the ranger station early.  He gave us the hints on where to stop and what to skip.  We enjoyed a couple of great waterfalls, massive roiling mud pits, sulfur venting and belching earth. 

We then hit the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, with a huge beautiful waterfall, and steep canyon sides.  The visitor's center here was a great museum about the volcanic activity, or caldera, which creates Yellowstone's cool features. 

Then there were the geysers! And did we mention the animals: bears, bison, a moose, bald eagles, and more.

The vistas were stunning, and so commonplace, that the kids started to say, "another vista...great.", without enthusiasm!

Our long and eventful day ended with a last minute, poorly thought out decision, by Brian and I.  We decided we wanted to leave the park, and start to make our way to Montana, because our planning and paid for campsite was on the other side of this huge park.  We should have taken note that this particular park exit road had almost no RVs, an ominous sign, even though they are ubiquitous in these western national parks.  It turned out that we had inadvertently stumbled on to one of the top scenic byways in the world, known as Beartooth Highway.  This is closed in the winter, which means it just opened five weeks before.  It turned out that this crazy, windy, nail-biting, mountain pass was likely the most notable part of our trip for Brian and I.  The RV's engine groaned as we got to the one of the highest paved roads in North America at 10,947 feet!  There were 30 foot snow banks at the top!  In June! And again, some really great vistas.  We had, wrongly, assumed that 69 mile stretch of road would take us about an hour and a half.  As we realized the choice we made, and learned that this road was in numerous travel books we had brought along for our trip, we discovered that people were to expect 2-3 hours in a CAR.  Our RV took us over 4 hours.  We had to put the kids to sleep while driving-- which was not in our initial game plan, and luckily found a state park campground on the other side of this crazy pass.  We enjoyed a quick beverage to calm our nerves and all crashed out after this long and nutty day! The pictures do NOT do this justice, but here are a couple.

Off Grid!

Our last three days have been fully off-grid as we explored the great parks of Wyoming and the mountains of Montana.  We reemerged into cell service this morning.  It's almost hard to explain how awesome these few days were for our family.  We resorted back to paper maps, no texting, no iPads, no work and lots of outdoor time exploring the glorious outdoors.

Our trip into Wyoming was gorgeous, filled with rolling hills, big sky and lots of cattle.  It was a full travel day, and we finished a family audio book.  We stopped to climb some cool rocks mid-way and arrived at the Grand Teton's that evening. 

The Teton's were gorgeous, which is a complete understatement but the best word I can come up with.  We took a beautiful morning rafting ride down the Snake River, and hiked to waterfalls at Jenny Lake.  The lakes with the huge Teton range as the backdrop was stunning from all angles in this huge park.  It was a spectacular day.  (I should mention that we have had great luck with the weather--- so keep saying good wishes to the Sun Gods for us!)  Mid-day we stopped for a massive pile of nachos, a family favorite, to keep us fueled up.  We were finally able to have a campfire, since much of mid-west was on fire restrictions or our days had been too action packed.   

The next day we totally mastered Yellowstone! More to come on that.... 

Colorado

We had so much fun in Colorado.  When we got to Denver, we embarked upon a fun activity, thanks to Kara Saranich.  For my birthday, she gave us a fun Puzzling Adventure through the downtown Denver area, which is a mix of a race, a scavenger hunt and a trivia quizzes. We learned a bit about the city, and got to view a lot of cool art!  Thanks Kara!

Blue Bear outside the Denver Convention Center

Denver was a slower, relaxing, time for us.  We even took a bike ride through one of the city's large parks.  We needed this after a bunch of days of go-go-go speed!

We had a huge treat of traveling into the mountains outside Bolder to visit one of Brian's friends from middle/high school.  Sarah kindly allowed us to park our huge RV in her driveway-- after we made it up the mountain, and even do some laundry! We got to enjoy a great evening in Colorado at her gorgeous log cabin home meeting her son Jayce and her husband Paul, who cooked us up quite a feast.  We caught up on almost 15  years of life that evening; we hadn't seen Sarah shortly after our wedding!  Simon enjoyed thinking about what it would be like to live in the mountains, which is just a wee-bit different from our Shrewsbury suburban neighborhood!  And to top if off, Sarah's family has a hot tub, so the kids relished in another "pool" day! While we took off early the next morning to make our way to Wyoming, we had a great time in Colorado. 

Kids really enjoyed the dogs never-ending love of fetch! 

Fun to visit "old" friends!

Wow! Kansas!

I never would have thought that Kansas would have turned out to be so memorable.  After staying the night in East Kansas City, we went right in the morning to Topeka.  We are getting good at learning how to eat on the road.  Everyone now knows to hold their bowls/plates with one hand.  I can lean into the counter and keep my stance wide, and I stand in the kitchen to make food.  Very cool. 

In Topeka we went to the Brown v. Board of Education National Park site.  This is the school that Linda Brown attended when her father was one of the plaintiff's challenging segregation in public schools.  We had the most amazing tour/discussion with a park ranger named Dexter.  He did an amazing job bring the story of this important case to life for the kids.  He was engaging and challenging.  Reid and Simon dove right in.  The NAACP wanted to include this Kansas school in the class action suit for a few particular reasons.  First the black school, Monroe, had just as nice of buildings and resources, better qualified teachers, most of whom has Master's Degrees, and no support of the teachers for integration.  What was beautiful, legally speaking, was the inclusion of this school district with a bunch of really terrible ones from more Southern states, challenged the notion of separate but equal squarely.   It wasn't about equal resources.  Social scientists were able to show that separate schools created a sense of inferiority for black students, and superiority for white students.   I was so proud of how the kids engaged.  Dexter gets major points from me! 

Kansas is a huge state!  It's beautiful and flat.  We enjoyed that a totally flat part of Kansas was a town called Manhattan, and that a dirt road was called an Avenue. 

Manhattan, Kansas

An Avenue in Kansas

Our next stop was a salt mine 650 feet underground in Hutchinson, Kansas.  While the hoist down was a big small, the excavated mine spaces were huge!  It was incredible. There was a museum which explained that all of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas used to be part of the Gulf of Mexico.  The huge salt deposit under Kansas dates back to this time, at least 50 million years ago, and the eventual evaporation of the water.  We donned hard hats, learned about mining, took a ride on a train used to transport salt, and got to experience complete darkness of being this far underground!  Fun for everyone.

We had more driving after this, and enjoyed a nice swim at the end of the day.  All the RV parks we have stayed at have pools.  We are now on our way to Denver and just crossed into the Mountain Time! :)

City Museum

I decided early in our trip to stop in St. Louis after my sister-in-law Kristen mentioned that the City Museum was worth a visit.  Wow, was she right.  This place really isn't a museum; it's more of a mix between a playground built out of former industrial parts and an interactive art display.  Within just a few minutes Brian and I realized that keeping things in our pockets was a bad idea.  After climbing up into an enormous tree house, crossed with an under-the-sea themed whale, Brian and I were following the kids through a small spot.  Brian's wallet and the RV keys fell out of his pockets and dropped three stories down.  Brian could barely move, he was in such a tight spot.  We sent the boys, in different directions, to go and retrieve the items.  It was almost impossible to know how to get their quickly! A nice women had picked them up and was holding them until the boys arrived.  Reid won.

After that Brian went and put all our valuables back in the RV.  So I only have a few photos.  There were caves, a 10-story slide, an huge tree house structure, so many cool slides everywhere, lots of re-barb to climb, colorful mosaics on every surface, and reclaimed artifacts from all sorts of industry (printing, baking, etc.).  People who are experts at this place show up with head lamps and knee pads. A truly unique experience! If you are ever in St. Louis, you must go!  Here's a couple photos:

Father's Day Weekend: Falling Water, Caves and Kentucky

We had a great Father's Day yesterday.  We hit Falling Water in the morning- and this was a surprising hit for everyone.  While driving there in the morning, Brian asked Simon to read from wikipedia about Frank Lloyd Wright's life and career.  Little did we know that we would have to talk about philandering and abandoning of children!  That was fun. 

The tour was good: Reid decided he wanted to build our house over a water fall.  And Claire told me that we should have a guest house that "matches" our home. 

Then the kids gave Brian some Father's Day gifts, and we were back on the road.  We learned that this trip will cost even more than we thoughts-- while gas prices are cheaper out here than in the Northeast-- we discovered that we get a whooping 6.7 miles to the gallon!  We have spent plenty of time at gas stations.  Getting this rig over the hills (mountains) of West Virginia makes you wince, as you keep the peddle to the medal to get over these obstacles.  

We drove much of the yesterday and for the first time put the kids to sleep while driving. We pulled into our campsite at Mammoth Caves at about 10pm.  It was hot and humid.  But we woke up the kids to take them outside.  We couldn't help it! The lightening bugs were insane-- there was no way to get a photo, but when you looked up at the 40 foot tall pine trees, they almost looked like Christmas trees, twinkling with the little bugs glowing butts!  

This morning we enjoyed a great tour of Mammoth Caves, lots of geology lessons and an amazing tour guide.  

Now we head to St. Louis!  

RV-ing with Kids: Pack your Patience!

So what's the secret to RV-ing with three kids.  Patience, Distractions, and lots of Humor.  The kids have been great, but it's funny to travel with children. 

For instance, we made a rule that everyone had to take off their shoes when they enter the RV, to help keep it clean.  Some of you know that Brian doesn't have a lot of patience when he wants to get going (especially if it's to a bathroom).  So my requiring that the kids take off their shoes, its means that many times a day we find ourselves imploring the kids to put their shoes on, with a guarantee that someone has lost a sock, another will have kicked a siblings shoe outside, and a third will want change their shoes selection! And then sometimes, someone just decides that this is the best time to brush their teeth! 

Distractions help us pass the time.  I haven't played this many card and board games in 30 years.  We are having a blast!  Audible books are also a big hit.  Claire could do arts and craft projects all day, so that's a great fit for this trip!

Then I had a funny moment driving today.  Brian was napping.  Reid was my co-pilot.  We were leaving Mammoth Caves where the cell reception was totally non-existent.  Reid wanted to listen to Ed Sheeran music.  Not thinking that my Amazon Music account wouldn't work without cellular connection, I told him that he could put it on.  Grabbing my phone, Reid quickly encountered problems.  The Amazon app redirected him to "offline" mode.  Now the music was not able to play.  I found myself,driving the RV across the state of Kentucky, trying to talk him through going to "settings", by hitting the "home" button, and scrolling to find the "Amazon Music settings."  Reid was trying to read the various prompts from the phone, but garbling the long words.  It was ridiculous!  It took us a solid 15 minutes to finally get the music to play.  I had the thought," go wake up your dad!" about 5 times.  But then I realize that we had 400 miles to figure this out.  No real rush.  No real reason to be frustrated.  I laughed to myself, and we kept going.  When the music played, we sang along together at full volume! 

Pennsylvania

So.... the RV is not fast!  The four hour trip for the first day ended up taking about 5 and half hours.  And in two days we've gone to Walmart twice!  Did anyone see the amount of stuff that we packed?!  And we need to shop, again?  :)

So we arrived in the Poconos at our first RV site after dark.  Brian did a great job of backing in the 33 foot RV, plus an additional 3 feet of bicycles, and learning how to hook this big rig up!  RV'ers are a great group of people-- two of the neighbors came to help and he made it through.  The kids were excited to all sleep together in the big bed over the driver's seat....meaning that no one went to sleep until midnight!

Day 2 involved one of the more bizarre places I have ever been, called Roadside America.

This place has not changed one bit since 1963- it's a miniature village, sit with trains, rivers, waterfalls, a coal mine, a 1880 village, and a 1950's town.  So that was cool...

I mean I like minurature stuff as much as the next person.  But then, it quickly got weird.  The demonstrate nighttime, by shutting off all the lights, and the whole thing is all lit up.  Then they begin to plan nationalist music, including an incredibly loud God Bless America.  They light up a full size flag, and they project a huge Jesus Christ on the wall.  Huh?

Simon points out there are lots of churches in this mini-world.  He's right.  And is it a wee bit racist?Oh yeah, definitely.  All white people in this huge scene.  Except of course for the glaring Native American village in the corner, who are coming down to attack the white people.  Sigh.  I decided this was an opportunity for more learning experiences.  Long discussions followed... after we made it through the proselytizing gift shop to leave!

Odd side journey, a stop at a sheepskin seller~  the owner was the designer.  He gave the kids strips of brushed sheepskin and taught them how to make them "dance."  That was cool.

Tonight we land close to Pittsburgh and we hit Falling Water, the Frank Lloyd Wright house, tomorrow for Father's Day.  The kids keep remarking that this is the best vacation ever, so we are still very happy with our choices.