Day 10: Milwaukee, WI...finally!

We woke up with leisurely plans to drive a short day and camp outside of Madison, WI at Devil's Lake, then the next day visit friends who just had a baby who live in Madison, before a short hop over to Milwaukee. That all came crashing down when we hear a little voice from the tent as we cooked breakfast, "I peed in my sleeping bag!", following by crying.

We have been putting her in diapers at night for this exact reason, as to avoid an accident in the sleeping bag, so I thought maybe she wet her diaper and woke up out of a dead sleep thinking she had peed through. Opening the tent door however, we realized that somehow, she had indeed peed through her diaper, through her pajamas and there was basically a puddle in the sleeping bag. Sorry for the the TMI. Clothes were quickly stripped off and the puddle and sleeping bag contained in a trash bag. That sealed the deal. We were going to make the 8+ hour drive straight through to Milwaukee.
We packed up our gear and hit the road. It was a mostly uneventful drive, lots of construction. We crossed the Mississippi River! Southern Minnesota was really boring. When we crossed into Wisconsin it was much more picturesque. Paul and I were talking back and forth on our radios as he told me things he remembered here and there as we were driving. Wisconsin has the red barn and rolling hills thing down pretty good. We arrived to Paul's Grandma's house in Mequon with little fanfare and stayed for dinner with her before heading down to his Mom's house where we were going to stay for the week.

Consequently, no photos from this day except for a car photo.

Day 9: Sioux Falls, SD

We had about a 6 hour drive today across South Dakota, so we slept in a little and had a leisurely morning and breakfast. We drove straight through with just a few breaks. Once you get out of the Black Hills, South Dakota is pretty boring. As we were coming in to Sioux Falls it started to rain. We were a little worried because we were planning to tent camp and weren't looking forward to setting up in the rain. We got off the freeway and headed through cornfields, following my Google maps directions for Palisades State Park. We drove through cornfields and soybean fields, and I was starting to doubt Google. The photos from the campground website showed a wooded area. Then the directions turned us onto a dirt road and I got a little more nervous. Suddenly a stand of trees appeared in the cornfields, and a sign directing us to the park. We got to our campsite and got out. It. Was. Humid. The sound of bugs was deafening, not sure what they all were but it was a chorus of crickets, Katy-dids, cicadas and whatever else. But it wasn't raining anymore. We set up camp and got dinner going. Our nice campsite neighbors from Massachusetts, brought Lucia a treat of microwave popcorn from their camper van. We went to bed to the sound of the bugs.

Another car photo. This is the only photo of the day. No pics of the campsite.

Day 8: Black Hills, South Dakota

We survived our thunderstorm last night and were eager to get up and explore the area. We only gave ourselves one day for a brief tour of the area. The big things we wanted to hit were Wind Cave National Park, Crazy Horse, Needles Highway and Mt. Rushmore. We took the scenic drive through Custer State Park south towards Wind Cave. We loved the Lewis and Clark Caverns in Montana so much we knew that another cave exploration was top on our list. We stopped at the Custer visitor center and saw lots more bison on our way to Wind Cave. We also saw lots of prairie dogs and a few wild burros who inhabit the park. We got to Wind Cave and had time for a snack and browsing the exhibits before the cave tour started. We ended up in a large group for the cave tour because of a crew of cyclists who were there. Still, Lucia did a really good job of keeping up and did most of the walking in the cave by herself. She was however very disappointed that there are no bats in Wind Cave. I was not disappointed. Wind Cave was very different from the cave in Montana. It was much drier, there were no stalactites or stalagmites. Instead there was something called boxwork formations that covered the ceilings and walls of the cave. Wind Cave has 90% of the world's boxwork. The other impressive part of Wind Cave was the 3-D nature of it, everywhere you looked there were offshoot passageways above, to the right and left of you.

After the cave we made our way back towards Crazy Horse where we had lunch and toured the museums there. We took the opportunity of Lucia being asleep in the car to drive the Needles Hwy and do a drive by of Mt. Rushmore before heading back to the campsite for dinner and to get packed up for the drive the next day.

Wild burros

Kiri loves bison

Wind Cave National Park

Junior Ranger Lucia with her bat t-shirt on, just for the caves!

Needles Hwy

Tunnel at Needles Hwy

Our drive-by of Mt. Rushmore

Day 7: South Dakota

Today was our longest driving day, at 8+ hours, down the mountains, across Wyoming and into the Black Hills of South Dakota. Today was also Lucia's. birthday. After the Grand Meltdown of yesterday, we were a little worried about how today would go. We reserved a cabin at Custer State Park, but still wanted to get there before dark. Paul and I got up at 5:30 and packed everything back into the car and truck. We hit the road right around 7am. No bear sightings this morning, although I was hoping I might glance over and see one. Western Wyoming was beautiful, coming down the mountains. Some parts reminded me of John Day and the Painted Hills. We were going to do a full pit stop in Casper for lunch and gas, but didn't easily see a good place to stop,  we headed north towards our turn off to South Dakota. As it turns out, our turn off took us straight through oil and coal mining country. We passed through the largest surface coal mining operation in the country. It was fascinating to see, and a little scary too.

We finally, after about 7.5 hours, crossed into South Dakota and began climbing up into the Black Hills. They didn't seem particularly special to me at first, until we got into them, driving Hwy 16 towards Custer and you see the exposed granite up close. We arrived at our cabin at Stockade Lake a little after 4pm. Since Lucia spent her birthday in a carseat (she was ecstatic to watch Little Bear all day and eat snacks), we gave her her birthday present right away. The restored trike and helmet were an instant hit, and after a couple times around the wooden deck of the cabin she got the hang of it. When asked what her favorite part of her trike was, she said," the sparkles" which made Paul's day, as he especially picked out the red with sparkles paint color for her. Thanks to Grammy for the perfectly coordinated ladybug helmet too! The other special birthday surprises were birthday cake in the Dutch oven and new pajamas made my Mommy (with help from Grandma Julia).

Lucia in the car photo

"New" bike!

Our cabin at Custer SP, highly recommend!

Birthday Girl!

It's hard work being 3

We ate cake inside the cabin because the ranger came by to tell us of a severe thunderstorm warning with wind gusts up to 70 mph. So we brought everything inside and hunkered down. We are looking forward to a full day of exploring the Black Hills tomorrow.

Day 6: Grand Tetons, The Grand Meltdown

We didn't give ourselves much time to spend in Grand Teton NP, so we got up early again. Our plan was to drive to the southern end of the park and work our way north back towards our campground, then spend the evening packing up. We weren't more than two miles south of our campground before entering GTNP before we saw a couple of cars pulled over in the early morning fog. Paul pulled over and we started scanning the hillside. Bear! Right near the road, sauntering through the brush was a scruffy-looking Black Bear. Paul had been hoping to spot a bear the whole time we were in Yellowstone, and had conceded that maybe we wouldn't see a bear this trip, and here was one and we didn't even need our binoculars to see this one. He walked along the road for a bit, then started down a gully and back up the hillside and was gone behind the trees. That was a great start to the day!

Good Morning Mr. Bear!

We continued to drive south, but unfortunately with the fog, you couldn't really see the mountains. We hoped it would clear soon. At the very south end of the park, we stopped at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center, which looked fairly new. It had some great exhibits and was virtually empty when we arrived. Lucia had fun with the dioramas and we watched a video about the Tetons. Luckily we were ready to leave around the time that a large group of seniors with southern accents descended upon the gift store and bathrooms.

Mt. Moran in the morning

The only moose we saw on this trip

Craig Thomas Discovery Center

We had planned to stop at Jenny Lake for lunch. It was really busy, and we had to park far away. We stopped at the visitor center to check things out and that is when the Grant Meltdown started. Lucia was running all over the place, and not listening to us. She kept hiding in the clothing racks, and generally disturbing the other people in the area. When Paul scolded her and she hit him, he took her outside for a time out. Even with the time out, we could tell that Lucia was not going to cooperate. We decided that it was too crowded, and we would move on and maybe find a quieter picnic spot. We got in the car and Lucia was now mad that we were getting back in the car. Can you blame her? She has been in the car all day every day for almost a week now. Paul and I were feeling slightly guilty. Then in her frustration she threw her water bottle from her cup holder onto the floor. I picked it up and put it in the front seat with me. She wanted it back and told us so with her screaming. I told her she needed to ask nicely and she could have it back. Then, she lost it. For the next 30 minutes she screamed "I want my water cup!" Over and over and over. She was beyond reason. She finally fell asleep and we made the decision to just drive back to camp. We got to the cabin, rolled the windows down in the car and let her sleep a little while longer. When she woke up, she remembered exactly what she was mad about, and resumed her screaming. Paul was over at the main office and I was running out of ideas to get her to calm down. Paul walked in, and asked her to say, "Please can I have my water cup" calmly. And she said it. We were all fine after that, but we let her just chill out in the cabin and read books while Paul and I packed our things. Hopefully we can go back to the Tetons when the kids are older and actually do some hiking around. Tomorrow is a new day.

The Grand Tetons

The Grand Meltdown

Day 4: Yellowstone - West Thumb Geyser Basin

We slept in and got a late start to the day. Paul made breakfast, we got the car organized for day trips, packed lunch/snacks and hit the road back up to Yellowstone around 10AM. From where we were staying at Flagg Ranch it took about 40 minutes to get back to the junction at West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake and the thermal springs there. Our first look at the hot springs, geysers and other thermal activity was amazing! I love the geology and Paul loves the microbiology, so we were both geeking out big time. It was just a boardwalk loop around the basin and along the lake. Lucia rode on Paul's shoulders most of the way, which was a good vantage point for using her binoculars. Every time we came upon another feature, she would look through her binoculars and exclaim, "Hmmm...Interesting!" The people around us all giggled. After exploring the West Thumb Basin, we had lunch. We headed north through the Hayden Valley towards the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Lucia fell asleep, so Paul and I took turns getting out of the car at different vantage points of the canyon. At first, I wasn't impressed, until I got out, looked over the edge and saw how deep the canyon really was. I have never been to the Grand Canyon, but I thought this was pretty spectacular. Lots of osprey nests precariously perched. We made a stop at Canyon Village then turned back around towards camp. We got our first glimpses of bison on our way back through the valley. We also saw a pelican and a bald eagle. On our drive back we decided that if we wanted a good chance to see wildlife, we would need to get up early the next morning. We got back to our campsite around 5PM for dinner.

Daily "Lucia in the car" photo

Looking for geysers

Thermal springs in West Thumb Basin

Thermal springs flowing into Yellowstone Lake

Excited to be exploring!

First glimpse of the canyon

Lucia face-to-face with Yellowstone wildlife (in the gift shop)

Archeologist in training

Day 3: Yellowstone!

The morning was beautiful in comparison to how the weather was when we went to bed last night. The mountains surrounding the campsite were all aglow with the sunrise light. I knew that I wasn't going to see mountains like these for awhile once we get to Maryland, so I was really taking them in.

It was only a 3.5 hour drive from Lewis & Clark Caverns to our cabin outside of Yellowstone, so we took the morning to check out the caves at the park. For a nominal fee you can join a ranger led tour through the caverns. It was a 2 hour tour, and we took the chance that between the two of us, we could hold, carry or guide Lucia through the caves. We all needed some exercise after all the driving. You basically hike a trail straight up to the top cave entrance. Lucia rode on Paul's shoulders for that part. Then you start to descend into the different rooms of the cave through series of tunnels and steps. Oftentimes ducking and squeezing to fit. Lucia loved it, despite it being quite dark and cold! The caves are wired with electricity so there is some dim lighting, but she loved that she was "just the right size" to fit all the places in the caves and she didn't have to duck like the rest of us. She thought that was hilarious. She held on the handrails and climbed either up or down the 600+ steps all by herself. The whole way. By the end the other tour members were commenting that they couldn't believe how good she as doing, not only in not being fussy but just that she kept going, like a little energizer bunny. Of course our hope was that it meant she would nap well in the car.

We arrived at the West Entrance to Yellowstone around 3pm.

On our way up to the cave entrance

Inside the cave

Cool cave formations

Our camper cabin at Flagg Ranch, Yellowstone

Lucia got a pair of binoculars for our Yellowstone explorations

Day 2: Montana

We left Moscow a little before 8 AM after breakfast, again provided by our wonderful hosts. We had a long day ahead of us. And we weren't sure how long it would take Paul to drive the truck through the mountains. We decided that it would be best to stick to the interstate even if it was longer distance-wise. We headed north and stopped in Coeur d'Alene for a quick break. I lost Paul pretty quickly through the mountains, but met up for a lunch stop in Missoula. I abhor McDonald's food, but clean bathrooms, free wifi and truck parking is a good marketing strategy.

Another day on the road

From there is was pretty smooth sailing to our turnoff to our campsite, just outside of Butte at Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park. Lots of campsites to choose from, we picked one close to the bathrooms and the playground. Win-win. Lucia had the playground to herself while Paul set up camp. Not long after we started cooking dinner, it started raining. All the RVers retreated to their vehicles and we were standing out in the rain trying to make our dinner. Luckily it was still pretty warm, despite the rain. We ended up scrambling to throw the stove in the trunk and we ate our dinner in the discomfort of our car. The rain let up enough for us to clean up and get read for bed. We climbed into our tent and listened to it rain most of the night. We were starting to wonder what we had gotten ourselves into.

Setting up camp BEFORE the thunderstorm

Girl in a landscape

Day 1: Moscow, ID

9/2/14: Still remember that pang of sadness when we crossed the Columbia River into Washington. But one of the things I remember most about the trip overall was how well Lucia traveled. She had movies, snacks, toys and books, never got fussy, was happy for the stretch breaks but wow, I love that kid!

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We spent Sunday night at my Mom's house. We had our tearful goodbyes and hit the road around 8:00 AM, heading east.

Us and our stuff, code name "Big Bird"

Since it was Labor Day there was no traffic downtown or on 84, so we got out of town quickly. We had our first stop for gas for Paul in Arlington. Lucia was happy with her movies so we just kept going.

She loves her Little Bear!

We crossed into Washington, leaving Oregon behind with little fanfare. Our two-way radios were really handy since Paul was driving much slower than I was, getting used to the truck. Every once in awhile I would stop,when we had a turn to another highway, and wait for him. It was a pretty good system. We made good time and got to our friend's house around 3pm, in Moscow, ID. Carter is Paul's friend from grad school in Wisconsin, his wife Laura is finishing her PhD at Idaho, and they have a 15 month old so , Noah. It was fun to visit for a few hours and have dinner. Laura made an amazing pear tart for dessert. We had real beds to sleep in and no packing up camp in the morning. It was great. Not really any pictures from this day except a farewell photo of Paul and Carter with the kids. They are moving to Indiana next year, so hopefully we will see them again!

Carter & Noah, Paul & Lucia