And Away We Go!

My goal was to blog as we were on vacation, so that I wouldn't forget everything when I returned. I also thought, "Wouldn't that just be nice to have it done and posted just as soon as we got home?" Well, yes, that is a nice thought. However, we were kind of too busy to do much sitting and typing on the laptop we brought along (thanks Uncle C :). And when we were driving, the views were just too pretty (or I needed to help navigate) to miss by staring at the computer screen. So, I'm still not quite done writing it--maybe four days left? But Gabby helped me out some, so that moved things along. I did get the majority written here, there, and everywhere . . . but then there are the nearly 2,000 pictures to go through . . . wowza! So, drum roll please, here is Day One of our adventure . . .

Vacation planning and packing is anything but a vacation. It is astonishing how many small errands suddenly need to be run, how many articles of clothing need to be restocked, how many people no longer fit in their shoes! And when you throw in a van with practically new tires sporting a rusty nail in the unrepairable side wall . . . well, getting ready for vacation is certainly no vacation.

But, by skipping a few things on our regular schedule and with a huge amount of help from the girls, we got the bags packed (yeah, had to buy more of those too). Gabby then helped Buck pack the van (since he still isn’t cleared to lift). Believe it or not, with the 8^th seat in and one of the back seats down to create more space—the van was packed the night BEFORE departure. I am impressed with the new Kia’s storage capabilities.

During this time, Caelan was busy entering a loooooooong list of address into our GPS. I’d spent a solid week (or two) planning trip stops and adventures with the help of two thick bundles of planning guides shared with me by one of the grandmas at karate (she makes half of this trek yearly with her grandsons). In fact, my three-ring binder of triple hole punched/shiny starred/address, cost analysis, open hours, best route planning impressed the entry booth lady at Custer State Park.

“Wow! I’ve only seen ONE other person this whole year who knew what they wanted to see while they were here. I am impressed! Kids, learn from your mother, that is a gift.” (Or something along those lines :)

I digress . . .

When vacation day dawned, there was surprisingly little to do. We ate some breakfast, took out the trash, made sure the toilets were flushed, and off we went by 8 AM—an hour earlier than I intended. Ha! This meant that our stops were slightly sooner than anticipated. For instance, lunch near the pretty rushing waters in Sioux Falls would have hit at rather unlunchy time of day. But stop we did anyway, and enjoyed a warm Sunday morning wander (with a parking lot full of our church-skipping *friends* :). The quartet acquiesced to their first of probably hundreds of “Stop and smile, Mom wants a picture” requests. One lovely shot even captured a faint rainbow in the mists of the falls behind them.

After some minor rock climbing and warnings such as “don’t you dare get your shoes muddy this early in the vacation!” we headed back to our van, and our printable travel games (of which Buck provided a hearty stack). My own three-ring binder of destinations and sights to see became more of a reference than a guide. Several of the “on the way home” stops became “on the way there” stops instead. Hey, no problem . . . I’ve got plenty going both directions :)

And so, we arrived two weeks early at the illustrious Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. Ummm, but there’s no corn? Well, at least not on the first three walls we looked at. I think they must have been taking down the corn and putting up the corn, so we bought a postcard of what it looked like before we got there. Yup. There was a pressed penny machine, so that sort of saved the adventure from utter ruin. But we were pretty bummed.

Disoriented, we wandered to the van and pulled out our egg salad lunch. Nearby, on the very blustery day, we found a gazebo. The picnic table inside was at an odd angle, but we were hungry and kind of grumpy and ready for some food. I would say the chilly wind blowing our paper plates onto our laps did not improve the general mood . . . and then the sprinklers turned on.

“Who waters the lawn at lunchtime?” Buck wondered out loud. “And in September?” Not only were the sprinklers on, they were EVERYWHERE. They completely surrounded our luncheon gazebo, every exit, and every nearby sidewalk. We were trapped . . . and the wind was blowing the spray right at us.

As random as it sounds, this event broke the tension and water sprinklers became a family vacation joke . . . we even saw one on tractor wheels in the rain one chilly hike later in the week. We packed up, each chose an exit strategy (some more successful than others), made a repeat stop at the Corn Palace restrooms, and back in the van we went.

Our next stop was on my “maybe?” list. I didn’t really know much about it, but it seemed perfect for Buck and the boys. When we saw the American Pickers connection, it became a must (after all we visited their shop earlier this year). As we walked through the door, the man behind the desk blared an air horn and about scared the tourist out of us. With the admission fee safely in his possession, we were handed a map and told, “We close at 5.”

Good gravy, Marie! There was SO much to see at the Pioneer Auto Show! An original Dukes of Hazzard General Lee (one of three designed by the original creator fellow), loads of coin operated animatronics, a guitar signed by Gene Autry, old lunch boxes (Buck found his He-Man), just about anything ever invented was somewhere in that sprawling city of a museum. The car collection, housed in a series of barns and outbuildings, made Buck’s jaw drop again and again. I thought it was cool that they played radio recordings from the same time periods as the cars, so you could hear original advertisements while window shopping the displays. They also matched several old signs to the cars they were intended to sell—barn décor at its finest.

Caelan was excited about the pack of barn cats that made themselves comfortable wherever—maybe on a stagecoach or a tractor seat or a motorcycle or a convertible from the 1950s. There was one little gray kitten that seemed to act as our tour guide, always just a few steps ahead (not willing to be petted) as we followed the trail through the twenty plus buildings.

After cleaning up Buck’s drool from the various Jeep Willys and dozens of photo ops, we decided we’d better get back on the road. Graysen earned a free Frisbee by collecting stickers on a scavenger hunt. I thought the prize might be any car of his dad’s choice, but the honking man behind the desk seemed to think Frisbees were more cost effective souvenirs for 10 year olds.

Let’s see, dinner was approaching and we were not yet at our destination, but probably more than half way. We decided to stop at the famous Wall Drug for their hot beef sandwiches. Yum! Except they only offer them sometimes . . . and not that time. Instead we ate overpriced fish and chips and burgers, but got some more pressed pennies and postcards. We decided to stop back later, either on the way to the Badlands a couple days later or perhaps on the way home. Also, every member of their staff spoke with a heavy foreign accent reflecting a variety of continents; we are thinking they were part of some sort of student work exchange program, but haven't researched it further.

By the time we reached the apartment/hotel I’d booked in Hill City it was late and we were wiped out. From the outside, it looked pretty nice. I’d done a lot of research online, and found most everything in the area was booked for the upcoming buffalo round up in Custer State Park. I wanted a kitchen so we could make meals and not spend a fortune eating out. The free breakfast and indoor pool next door seemed like added perks, so even though it wasn’t my cute cabin in the woods ideal—I booked it. We should have booked it out of there!!

The entrance to our building was a driveway away, and tucked in a dark corner behind another building undergoing renovations. Our room was downstairs in this old building, windows at ground level—windows that were not locked and did not lock easily once we tried. The murky-smelling air-conditioner had a car freshener stuck to it and was filled with dirt. There was a spider in the girls' bed, and mold growing on the fridge lining. There was hair on several pieces of bedding and the boys' pull-out couch mattresses were paper thin while missing most of their springs. It was nasty.

Buck slept with his gun ready to go. In the middle of the night, Caelan cried out in her sleep and he jumped out of bed and ran to the girls’ room expecting a fight. Seriously. You can not imagine the nauseous feeling I had staying in this space for the night.

But we would take care of that first thing in the morning.