Chicago

Even though we didn't get to the hotel in Rochester, MN until after midnight, we had to leave early in the morning on Tuesday to head to Chicago.  We had tickets for the Cubs game that started at 1:20, and we had a 6-hour drive ahead of us.  We tried to leave by 7, but had a little trouble waking up some very tired kids.  We didn't leave until 7:30.  By the time we got checked in to the hotel, met up with Emily's sister, Katie, and her cute little boy, Harrison, we took the train to the game and got there a few innings late.

 We got the kids some hot dogs.  We tried to take a picture of Mia eating her hot dog, but she hid the hot dog under her napkin and gave us this look.

 Then she decided to comply.

 The kids love their little cousin.  Mia spent most of the game playing with him.

 Here we are with Wrigley Field in the background.  It was a fun game.

 It was a slightly rainy day in the Windy City.

 We went to Lou Malnati's for some Chicago-style pizza, which was very good.  Katie's husband, Keith, was able to meet up with us for dinner after a busy day at school/work.

 What are the odds?  Patrick's friend, Wendy, from his BYU days ran into us in downtown Chicago.  Patrick and Wendy work for the same firm in different cities.  It was good to catch up for a few minutes before we had to go on our way.

It was a nice, short visit to Chicago.  It was fun to see Katie and her family, but the kids are excited to head home.

Car Trouble

When we were in Olympic National Park, we went through a tunnel.  There was a group of motorcycles coming the opposite direction.  Each of the motorcyclists honked their horn on the way through the tunnel.  Patrick was sure that they were telling him that his lights weren't working.  Emily thought they were just saying hi to their friends.  So, when we came out of the tunnel Patrick pulled over to check out the lights.  Here is what the headlight looks like:

The yellow light, the two circle lights, and the bottom left high beam were working, but the white light on the top left wasn't coming on.  The headlights seemed normal to Emily, but Patrick was convinced that the light was out.  We stopped to get some gas and there was a Napa Auto Parts across the street.  Patrick ran and bought the light bulbs, but we didn't have time to replace them then because we had to catch the ferry.  When we got to Canada, Patrick had time to switch out the lights.  He then realized that he got the wrong ones.  So, we found another Napa Auto Parts in Canada and Patrick exchanged them.  After putting in the new light bulbs, the lights still didn't come on.  Puzzled, we continued on our way.
When we got our oil changed in Montana, Patrick asked the auto guy at Walmart about the lights.  He, too, was puzzled at first.  Then he tried the hazard lights, and the mysterious light bulbs were working fine.  Good to know.

It was a good thing those hazard lights were working fine.

 We were about 30 miles outside of Sioux Falls, SD, when we felt our tire go flat.  There was a 3-inch gash in the side of it.  Patrick hurried and got everything out from the back of the car so he could work on changing the tire.  While it was fortunate that we were close to a big city, it was getting late and we were concerned that there wouldn't be a shop available to help us get a new tire.  Patrick changed the tire, start to finish, in 20 minutes.  Not too bad considering we had a car full of stuff.  Although, after we had everything on the side of the road, we realized that we only needed about 12 inches of space to access the spare tire.  Oh well.  We needed some more exercise anyway.

There was a really nice couple that stopped and offered to help.  At that point, we were almost finished, so we told them we were okay.  Instead of driving off, they backed up about 100 yards and turned their hazards on to help keep us safe.  They stayed there until we were all back in the car.  We were very impressed with their kindness.

We were able to find a Walmart that was open until 9, and they were able to replace the tire while we got some dinner.  We had planned to get to Rochester, MN around 10, but didn't arrive until midnight.

Badlands

The kids have been feeling deprived because we haven't spent too much time at the hotels, so they haven't been able to watch very much tv.  On Monday morning, we let them sleep in a bit and watch some tv, so they were pretty happy.  

We stayed in Rapid City, so we had an hour drive to get to the Badlands.  We had never heard about the Badlands until planning this trip, and we didn't know what to expect.  It was pretty close to the freeway, and we could drive through the park on our way home, so we decided to check it out.  This view was only about 8 miles from the freeway.    

 Here you can play I Spy to see how many sheep you can find on the mountain.

 Did you find 4?

 The contrast in the scenery was amazing.  Notice all the grasslands as we walk back to the car.  The name "Badlands" comes from a Native American word.  They called the rocky areas the bad land, compared to the good land in the grasslands.

 We stopped at the Prairie Dog Town.  There was a huge field with mounds everywhere.  The prairie dogs kept popping out of all the mounds.

 We continued our drive through the park.  Here are a few pictures along the way.  Hopefully you can see the various colors in the rock.  It was pretty amazing.

 At our last stop before the visitor's center, we let the kids get out and explore.

 Patrick wanted to climb on top of the rock, so the kids followed right behind.  We hadn't really planned to do any hiking that day, so the kids were all in flip-flops.  But they managed pretty well.

 Fortunately we didn't see any rattlesnakes.

 Here are the kids running down a hill.

 Mia was a little hesitant.

 The kids were able to complete the Junior Ranger booklet here as well.  We thought the Junior Ranger programs were excellent.  They helped the kids have fun learning about each park.  They were so excited to get the booklets, complete them, and get their badge or patch.  The rangers would quiz them in order to get their badge, so it really made them pay attention to the activities they were doing.  Brian ended up with 5 badges (Mount Rainier, Olympic, Glacier, Mt. Rushmore, Badlands), 2 patches (Yellowstone and Night Ranger from Glacier), and 1 dog tag (Banff).  Andrew and Mia got all the same as Brian except for the one badge from Olympic.

Mount Rushmore

In the middle of our long drive to Mount Rushmore, we found a church service to attend in Sheridan, WY.  (We often wonder what people do in all of these little towns.)  We didn’t have an iron the night before to iron Patrick’s church clothes, so he just wore a golf shirt and jeans.  The rest of us looked pretty ragged as well.  Mia had been sleeping in the car, so we carried her in without shoes.  And we were running about 10 minutes late.  We were a little embarrassed to walk in as we were, but when we walked in we were met with many smiling faces who helped us find a place to sit.  We were impressed with their nonjudgmental welcoming.  The speakers spoke about having a Christ-centered home.  We got some great ideas to implement when we get home.  It was a very nice service.  We just stayed for the first hour, and then continued on our way.

We stopped for dinner at a small diner, the Purple Pie Place, about 20 miles before we got to Mount Rushmore.  Mia thought the pink and purple decor was fun.  Our poor server had to service all 9 tables by herself.  Some of the other patrons were not too kind.  She was literally crying as she was trying to help everyone.  We felt sorry for her.  The food was pretty average, but the pie was great.

After we left the diner, we saw these deer at this house around the corner.  We saw a few more deer on the ride to Mount Rushmore.  Emily was nervous that they were going to jump in front of our car.

If you can see past the glare on Patrick's jacket, you'll see Mount Rushmore in the background.  The mountain looked smaller than we expected it to, even though the faces are 45 feet tall.  

Here are the kids with the Hall of Flags and Mount Rushmore in the background.

In the visitor's center, they had a plaque for each president on the wall.  They only posted one quote from each of the presidents, but we felt like the quotes were a good representation of each president and the spirit of America.

We got to Mount Rushmore later than we had planned, but it worked out to our advantage.  At the outdoor amphitheater, they have a ranger-led program at 9 pm, followed by a movie and lighting ceremony of Mount Rushmore.  The kids were able to get and complete their junior ranger booklets before and after the program.  

After the lighting of Mount Rushmore, they invited all active or former military to come to the stage to lower the flag.  They had each of them introduce themselves by name and their service branch.   

The whole Mount Rushmore experience was one of the most patriotic experiences we’ve ever had.  It made us proud of our country and also made us think about what more we can do to contribute.

Yellowstone

We left the cabin Saturday morning and drove to Yellowstone National Park.  A few miles in to the park, we saw this bison next to the road. There was a park ranger making sure traffic kept moving.

Our first stop was the Fountain Paint Pot Nature Trail.  The parking lot was crowded.  The trail wasn't very long, so people were constantly flowing in and out.  These two pictures are of the Celestine Pool, a beautiful hot springs.  Notice the dark blue center and the various colors created by microorganisms.  The dark blue is the hottest point, and then the different colors coming out show the change in temperature.

This is the Fountain Paint Pot, one of many mud pots in the park.

Here's Andrew in front of the Red Spouter.

We think this was the Spasm Geyser.

We then drove to Old Faithful.  Finding a parking spot was a little tough, but luckily we got out to the viewing area about 5 minutes before the geyser erupted.  The kids were all impressed.  

There are many other geysers in the park, some of which are bigger than Old Faithful.  But Old Faithful is the most consistently predictable and accessible, so it gets the biggest crowds.  It goes off every 88 minutes.

We attended a short presentation led by a park ranger afterward who explained to the kids how geysers work.  
This is what Mia learned:  “I forgot everything about it.”  Emily asked: “What kinds of things does it need?”  Mia: “It needs water that comes from the sky.”

Andrew: There’s lava under the ground.  And then there’s water on the top and it forms into a geyser.

Brian: A geyser works by having a big pool of water and then it goes through a plumbing system.  There’s a bit of friction on the top so it keeps trying to spit out but it can’t.  Eventually it has enough pressure to spit through.

We continued to drive the loop around the park.  We found a little pit stop next to Yellowstone Lake with a little hike down to the lake.  At one of the parks the kids learned that while hiking it's good to occasionally make loud noises so the bears stay away from the trail.  Andrew has taken this to heart and is happy to make very loud noises during the entire hike.  If anyone needs a bear scarer, Andrew is available for hire.  The sand was more like little black pebbles.  And, of course, the kids had to get in the water.

Notice the big animal bone in the water.  Kind of cool.  Kind of gross.  We’re not sure what it was.

We had a few minutes of playing in the sand and skipping rocks – one of our family’s favorite pastimes.

As we continued on the road, we found a herd of bison.

Here we are at the brink of the Upper Falls.

A view down the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

We continued on the loop around the park and were disappointed to not see too many animals.  Our friends visited the park last summer and had a big bull moose walk through their picnic area so we had high expectations.  Yellowstone is a big park and we were only there for a day.  We're sure we would see more if we stayed there longer.  The kids got their junior ranger badges and have really enjoyed working on them.

We saw these few elk on the side of the road as we exited the park.  

This is not a great picture, but it's the only elk we saw with antlers.

We then went back to the cabin, made a quick chili dinner, and tried to get the kids to bed earlier (9 pm).  They’ve had so many late nights that they had a really hard time trying to go to sleep before it was dark outside.  We’re still worried about how they’re going to adjust when we get home.

On Sunday morning we woke up early and got on the road to drive to Mt. Rushmore – a 10-hour drive.  We drove through Yellowstone on the way east.  We saw a few more bison on the road and in the fields.

A tail-gating bison.

Here is a picture of our drive through Wyoming.  Patrick was expecting it to be completely flat, but we found the scenery to be pretty variable.