Badlands National Park & Minutemen National Park - Saturday July 15 - Sunday July 16

 

Second stop, Badlands National Park and Minutemen Missile National Historic Site.  The Badlands were beautiful.  And the kids were excited to find out that they are a fossil rich area.  We even spent our first full day in the park on a fossil talk with one of the rangers.  After the talk, the kids looked everywhere for fossils.  And Rylan in particular found fossils everywhere he looked.

 The bridge adjacent to the campground was a breeding ground for some kind of bird.  Their nests lined the bridge.  And there were so many of them that they looked like a bunch of bats.

Kids with the sky full of birds

Prarie Rattlesnake that was almost stepped on by Emilie!

Bird Nests

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site is the smallest national park museum that we have ever encountered.  It wasn't even really a museum.  Just a small trailer with a video about the cold war and the work that was done on the site.  It was a nice to hear about the history of the Badlands from a different perspective.  I had no idea any thing like that had taken place in the area.  Apparently there is a tour of the missile silos and the grounds, which sadly we missed.  It was late in the day and they were getting ready to close when we stumbled upon the museum, which was located in the gas station parking lot.  Interesting find.

Vacation - DeSmet South Dakota Thursday July 13 - Saturday July 15

So I am really behind with the blog.  Very busy summer.  Lots going on.

Our now annual BIG vacation with the Humes family commenced on July 13, and ended way to soon on July 29.  These next few posts will catch everyone up on our best vacation so far.

So here is the vacation re-cap posted on a location by location basis.


Vacation Stats:

New States: South Dakota, Wyoming & Montana
National Parks: Badlands, Wind Cave, Minute Man, Mt Rushmore, Devil's Tower, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons
Photos: 1732

After leaving home early on Thursday, we traveled from our home to Council Bluffs Iowa.  Council Bluffs was not a new stop for our family.  It is minutes from Omaha, Nebraska, where we have stayed several times while Wade worked.  We have even spent Thanksgiving Day at the movie theater which was in walking distance from our campsite.   So even though it wasn't new, we were still on vacation, so the kids and I walked over and explored Bass Pro, and Wade hit the Casino.

The next morning, we left at dawn for DeSmet, South Dakota. 

The Laura Ingalls Homestead in DeSmet was our favorite spot for stop number one.  It was the original site that Laura and her family settled on as a claim in DeSmet and it is the subject of the majority of her books.  It was a very kid friendly, and was worth the admission price.  Everything was included.  The kids rode ponies, drove a team of mules on a covered wagon ride, made rope, made cornhusk dolls, etc.  Definitely a great stop.

Covered Wagon at Laura Ingalls Homestead in DeSmet, SD

Sofie and Rylan making cornhusk dolls at the Ingall's Homestead

Sofie and Elise making rope

Noah

Noah "playing" the piano

Sofie riding the pony

Rylan taking his turn riding the pony

Laura's School

In the town of DeSmet is the original home they lived in as well as the school Laura attended.  It had a few kid activities, but was more along the lines of a museum.  The kids enjoyed playing school in one of the replica school houses.  We also walked down main street and saw the bookstore from the books.

Rylan teaching school

Sunset in DeSmet, SD