The trip West 2019 - on the road

I adopted a new strategy for this road trip.   4 hours in the morning driving, then a 2 hour break someplace outside for lunch and some activity, then back for another 4 hours.  It has worked really well.   I think the secret has been the 2 hour break outside. It is something to look forward to, as well as wearing out small people.

     Our lunch stop on day 1 was in Austin, Minnesota, at the Jay C Hormel Nature Center.   It's just off the road, and has acres of beautiful forest and native praire to explore on trails.  You do have to bring your own chocolate chip cookies.

Catching frogs hopping along the trail were a big draw for Ephraim.  Sylvia enjoyed taking photos of the beautiful wild flowers in bloom.

     While Sean went to sketch a log cabin, I rented a pair of kayaks with the kids, so we could explore the river that runs through the property.  It was fun, but not exactly the relaxing adventure I had hoped for.  We ran into really shallow spots we had to walk through the mud, it started to rain, and I dropped my camera into the water and it died. Thus, no photos of us epic kayakers.   The stop was a good find. We didn't even take time to explore the inside of the center, where they were showing kids how to tag monarchs.  I would definately stop here again.

This trip is a camping -free trip. Ephraim enjoyed the hotel life. Pools and a waffles at the hotel breakfasts... he thinks he is in heaven.

 The first night in a hotel, Ephraim discoverd a Bible in drawer, "Hey!  They have a Holy Bible in here!  This must be the spiritual desk!"  and the he proceeds to talk about what a great hotel it is if they have a bible in the desk.  The next night, he checkes the next hotel, and sure enough, they have one too.   It was funny to see how excited he was about that fact, and that he wanted to read a verse before he went to the pool.

Day 2 on the road had us stopping for lunch at Cascade Falls, south of Hot Springs, South Dakota.  This was the best spot ever!   I read online that it is the local swimming spot for residents, and that tourists all go into the badland national park, or onto Mt. Rushmore. It is slightly off the beaten path, but well worth the 10 minue detour.

It is a lush oasis, in the middle of the badlands.  You park at a dusty, sagebrushy parking lot, then hike down to rushing river, mixed with natural hotsprings, so the water is a nice pool temperature, with a slight sulfer smell.

   We had the place to ourselves for over an hour.  It was beautiful.  Between the upper and lower  waterfalls are a little man-made concrete swimming hole, about 4 feet deep.   We had so much fun here.

The curent is strong, and it tries to push you over the ledge of the pool barrier.  There is a gap in the barrier,  and the foce of the water kept sucking Sylvia down.

She loved laying there, like a mermaid, with the river rushing over her, carrying her hair downstream.

    Sean enjoyed his art time, and we all went back to the car refreshed. It will be fun to stop here in the future, as the kids get older. There was a cliff ledge that you could jump off, in to a deep swimming area below the falls, but without somebody older and stronger to haul up people on a rope that may get stuck, I wasn't willing to risk it. You have to climb directly back up the falls to get to the top of the cliff! An adventure for another year.

 Day 3  We stopped to eat lunch  on the side of the road with the beautiful Tetons in the background.  Unfortunately, the place was so overrun with tourists at that we couldn't find a good stopping stop to play and relax. I'll have to rethink how to make this leg of the trip more fun in the future. After a bit of rock hunting, it was back in the car and over the pass to Grandma's.

 Without a wiggle break, Ephraim was more than ready to go walk Jagger.  The drive out was a fun adventure, but we are also excited to be with family!