Chicago and Indiana Dunes

Monday we drove near to Chicago, and took a train downtown so that my wife and daughter could visit the American Girl place, and have lunch in the cafe. My son and I grabbed lunch at a nearby Subway, and looked through some other stores while we waited.

 

The Indiana Dunes was the first Jr Ranger program that my kids weren't able to complete. It took a lot longer to get there than I thought, plus we slept in too late Tuesday morning, so we didn't leave the Chicago area as soon as I wanted.

It looks like National Lakeshores and Seashores are between Parks and Monuments in terms of size and activities. The Indiana Dunes has a couple of Visitor Centers and several historical sites to see to complete the Jr Ranger program. It didn't help that some pages were missing from the package, which kind of messed us up. If you're going there, plan on spending at least half a day, if not more. The Rangers did say we could complete the Jr Ranger packet later and mail it to them so the kids could get the certificate and badge, so we'll try to finish it later. 

From there we drove to Lansing, Michigan, and spent today visiting friends and doing the wash and getting the oil changed and that kind of stuff.

Minnesota and Iowa

We left Pipestone and traveled east to a second Laura Ingalls Wilder site, Walnut Grove, MN. 

Then we veered north to Bloomington, to check out the Mall of America. It's a pretty nice mall, but apart from the Camp Snoopy in the middle, it's just a really big mall.

Yesterday we traveled south, stopping at the last Laura Ingalls Wilder site on our eastward journey, Burr Oak, IA. While living here, the Ingalls family took care of the Masters Hotel. They lived in Burr Oak for less than two years. It was a depressing time in their lives, and Laura left it out of her books. The visitor center was in an old bank across the street.

Then we visited the Effigy Mounds National Monument, where early Americans built mounds of earth in the shapes of animals overlooking the Mississippi river. We didn't get to hike around much, as it started raining hard. Also the visitor center was crowded, as the park was hosting a bird-watching event.

We drove over the river to a campsite in Wisconsin.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

After a buzz by the Corn Palace, we left Mitchell and headed up to De Smet, SD, where Laura Ingalls lived several years. We've bought several of the Little House on the Prairie box sets, and the kids often watch them while we're traveling. However, while the TV show is set in Walnut Grove, MN, in reality the Ingalls moved around a lot, from Wisconsin to Kansas to Minnesota to Iowa to De Smet. Much of what occurred in the TV show actually happened to the Ingalls when they lived in De Smet. That said, unless you're a huge fan, I wouldn't go out of the way to visit the town.

We left De Smet and entered Minnesota, stopping at the Pipestone National Monument. It's a pretty small park, but nice. It's a quarry where native Americans mined a clay rock that they used to make pipes and other trinkets. 

Right now we're at an RV site across from the National Monument in Pipestone.

Minuteman Missle NHS

Wednesday night we walked through the world famous Wall Drug, and stayed at a campground a few blocks away.

Today the kids earned their Jr Ranger badges at the Minuteman Missile NHS in Cactus Flat, SD. The site is a very recent addition to the national park system, and they're still figuring out what it's going to be like. Right now they only give tours, limited to six people at a time. We met at a trailer, where they gave a brief overview site, then caravaned out to a launch site, and went down into an old launch bunker. Then we drove a couple of miles to a missile silo. It took about 2 1/2 hours for the whole tour. Pretty interesting stuff. 

Then we drove east to Mitchell, SD, where we're staying tonight. We stopped at a visitor center when we crossed the Missouri, and there was a small exhibit about Lewis and Clark. We probably won't be hitting too many national parks or monuments between here and DC. Right now, we plan to swing north to see the town where Laura Ingalls Wilder grew up, then go into Minnesota to see the Mall of America before heading down to Chicago.

The Black Hills of Dakota

Two days later, and the kids earned Junior Ranger Badges at four of the South Dakota parks, as well as visiting the Crazy Horse monument. We thought Crazy Horse was a bit of a tourist trap. It has been under construction for decades and won’t be finished for decades more.

But enjoyed seeing Mt Rushmore. This monument to the American spirit, featuring the Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt, took over a decade to carve out of a South Dakota hillside. It is located in the heart of the Black Hills of western South Dakota, an area which is surprising lush with green pine trees, not the grassy hills I was expecting.

Unfortunately we got to Jewel Cave too late in the day to do a cave tour, but we checked out the visitor center and finished the Junior Ranger program. 

Last night, we drove through nearby Custer State Park to Wind Cave National Park. We camped at Elk Meadow, where we attended a ranger campfire talk on Elk, and then went on a cave tour this morning.  

In the afternoon we drove through the Badlands. We watched a video about the Badlands at the headquarters of the Buffalo Prairie Grasslands in Wall, South Dakota (the main visitor center at the Badlands was being remodeled).

Little Bighorn & Devil's Tower

From Yellowstone, we headed to Billings Montana, where we camped at the first KOA. Today, we drove from Billings to Rapid City South Dakota. It was a long day, but the kids earned Junior Ranger badges at both Little Bighorn National Battlefield and Devil's Tower.

I really enjoyed the Ranger talk at Little Bighorn. It lasted for a full hour and mentioned many aspects of the battle known as Custer’s Last Stand, or Greasy Grass. Located in hilly grasslands, this is a remarkably haunting yet peaceful site.

The area around Devil's Tower is very pretty, with lots of pines, and there's a prairie dog town near the road that's kind of fun to watch. The tower itself was made famous in the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. We spotted dozens of white tailed deer as we drove east from it, including a couple of bucks. The kids earned Junior Ranger badges at both sites.

Yellowstone

We left Grand Teton NP and headed up the John D Rockefeller Jr Memorial Parkway into Yellowstone, stopping at the Grant Visitor Center before turning west to Old Faithful. The kids had done the Junior Ranger program when we visited earlier in the year, so we spent our time seeing things we hadn’t seen during our first trip.

After we watched an eruption, we continued north and stopped at the Madison Visitor Center and the Norris Canyon Museum. We then turned east to see the Upper and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone near the Canyon Visitor Center.

On our drive to the Fishing Bridge campground, we stopped to hear a bull moose bugling. This morning, we drove out of the park via the Gardiner Gate at the north entrance. I would have like to exit to the east, but that road is under construction.

Heading East

Earlier this year, we decided to home school the kids and drive our new RV across America, so the kids could see the country. They enjoyed doing Junior Ranger programs at the National parks we have visited in the past, so we figured visiting some would be a great supplement to their education. A few days ago, we began our journey. We headed east through Oregon and Idaho, and after a brief overnight stop, reached Wyoming.

We stopped for lunch in Jackson Hole and visited the Grand Teton/Yellowstone Visitor Center, then drove into Grand Tetons NP.

We picked up a Jr Ranger program at the Moose Visitor Center and hiked up to Jenny Lake before finding a campground at Colter Bay. 

 

Yesterday morning, the kids finished their program at the Colter Bay Visitor Center, earning their first Junior Ranger badge of the trip.