real women use hamburger helper: September 2021

Thursday, September 23, 2021

Midwest Road Trip Part Two

This year we I decided we were going to take our time coming home from the Midwest and actually stop and see some things that we always drive past and say, "Someday we need to stop there."

First up - Mount Rushmore. Actually, we have been here a couple times before but first off, I love it. Secondly, I have always wanted to see the lighting ceremony they have after sunset.

Those four guys up on the rock never fail to impress me!

I must admit, the lighting ceremony was kind of a bust. They just light up the heads while playing patriotic music after a ranger talk. I'm not sure what we were expecting - maybe fireworks or a laser light show - maybe our expectations were just too high. Anyway, don't need to do that again.

The next day we drove about an hour south to Wind Cave National Park. We have one of those posters in the bathroom where you can check off the national parks after you visit them. I was sitting on the toilet doing my business this winter when I saw there was a national park in Hot Springs, South Dakota that we had never been to. Never even heard of it. Crazy!

Wind Cave is the 7th largest cave in the world, the 3rd largest in the U.S. It has over 150 miles of explored passageways. It was the first cave to be designated as a national park.

Mixed reviews. See me before you go because I have lots of advice for you before you go. The cave was super cool. We've been in quite a few caves but this one was really unique - it was really dry and had lots of unique formations.

This is called boxwork, it is only found in a couple of caves in the world.

We saw lots of bison and prairie dogs. I think the kids might have been more impressed with the prairie dogs than the cave.

The following day we drove through the Big Horn Mountains (saw some moose!) to our destination in Cody, Wyoming. We stayed in a super cute cabin at Cody Cowboy Village.

Went out to a Chinese Buffet that night. We have this tradition when we are on vacation that we let the kids pick where they want to eat one night and no one can complain. It was Katie's turn and she wanted Chinese. John was less than thrilled. He doesn't like Chinese buffets and he was really hoping for steak since we were in cowboy country. He had to be reminded a number of times that it wasn't his turn.

Cody is beautiful.

The next day we went to Heart Mountain Relocation Center.

Heart Mountain was one of ten relocation camps built to house people of Japanese descent who were forcibly removed from the West Coast after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It's one of the few camps with buildings that are still standing today.

There was a great little museum with LOTS of pictures, videos and stuff to read. Very interesting and well worth a visit.

After lunch we explored downtown Cody.

And after a little dip in the hot tub John got his dinner choice - prime rib, steak and ribs at Cassie's Steak House.

It wasn't Katie's choice but she loved it too!

After supper we headed over to the Cody Rodeo. They have a rodeo every night in the summer.

Katie got to sit on Mongo the bull!

My favorite was the bronc riding.

The next day we went white water rafting! John had been once before but the kids and I had never done it. WE LOVED IT!!

Red Rock Canyon - Shoshone River.

Sam and I were in the raft with three other people and the guide.

Katie and John were in a "ducky" which is basically an inflatable kayak.

We rafted for a couple hours and then stopped for lunch and then did another couple hours.

Toward the end of the trip, Katie and John were going through a narrow spot between a big rock and the shore and somehow managed to flip their boat. Our guide said it was the first time that had any of his clients had gone in the water. Leave it to John. sigh.

The next morning, we drove to Couer d'Alene, Idaho. Sam drove the mountain passes of Western Montana. I was a nervous wreck, praying from the back seat the entire time. He did great.

Went to Silverwood Theme Park the next day. No pictures because we were on rides all day. We stuck mostly to the water rides since it was 108 degrees that day. Had a blast. At the end of the day, the kids asked if we could go every summer. Answer was no.

Got home around 3:00 on June 30.

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Goodbye Summer, I'm gonna miss you.

I figured since this was the first day of fall that it would be a good day to catch up on this here blog of mine. I didn't exactly intend to take the entire summer off but it turned out that way. I briefly considered just quitting but I do really enjoy documenting my family's adventures and just regular life stuff. Someday I hope my kids look back on these posts and it brings them joy. I also hope they laugh at their hairstyles and the fact that they spent good money on jeans with holes in them.

Let's get started with a quick look back on our summer.

We started out with...what else? A road trip to the Midwest! We left at 4:30 am the day before school let out (June 10) so we could be in South Dakota for a Kramer family reunion on June 12.

Sam and Katie had never been to the WORLD"S FAMOUS Corn Palace so we had to make a quick stop in Mitchell. They were SUPER impressed; it was hard to get them back in the car! ;)

CULVERS! Oh, how I missed you.

For some reason, this is the only picture that was taken at our Kramer reunion. It is me water witching. Apparently, I had a great uncle that was famous for finding water so that farmers knew were to dig their wells. It was discovered that I inherited his talent.

No picture but I have to document that my son also smoked his first cigar on this day. We are a classy bunch.

It was super-duper hot in South Dakota but my dad, John and I got up early one morning to take a walk to the falls. My parents have a really nice walking path that goes all over Sioux Falls right across the street from their "new" townhouse.