Wild West Road Trip - Day 4

The Spectacular Mt Rushmore

Day 4 - Mt Rushmore, Keystone & Custer State Park - 16th July

We were up early and on our way to Mt Rushmore, it was a good drive out to Keystone, the little town at the base of where Mt Rushmore is. We decided we'd stop at Keystone once we had been to see Mt Rushmore, so onto Mt Rushmore we went.

On the drive up to Mt Rushmore, you can see it from a distance, which just gets you excited to see it closer, and the entrance fee was free, but the parking fee was $11, not bad considering it was valid for one year.

There was a lovely walk up to the monument, called The Avenue of Flags which connects the concession building to the Grandview Terrace. The walkway is lined with the official flags of the 56 U.S. states, territories and districts, arranged in alphabetical order.

Then once you are passed the states flags, there it is upon you, this awesome monument, 4 Presidents heads carved out of the rock by Gutzon Borglum and as said by Gutzon "The purpose of the memorial is to communicate the founding, expansion, preservation, and unification of the United States with colossal statues of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. "

And a really bizarre interesting fact too, is that President Jefferson (the principle author of the Declaration of Independence) was the author of the first Ice Cream recipe in America and to this day they are still making ice cream at Mt Rushmore using this recipe and of course I had to sample some history by having one.

Jefferson's Ice Cream

After our ice cream and it was rather delicious too, we walked around The Presidents Trail, which took us down and around Mt Rushmore, it was a lovely short walk, with fantastic views of the monument

Looking up to Mt Rushmore

Exploring a Tee Pee

The walk/trail around and under Mt Rushmore was great, we got to explore some tee-pees and learn about the rocks that are found nearby and just enjoy the walk.

Near the end of our walk - nearly a full circle

The walk was quite short and under each President it gave some information and history about each one, which was great to read. There was also a small visitors centre, that showed the equipment they used to carve the heads into the rock - it was all quite fascinating really.

The next face on Mt Rushmore....

Family Photo at Mt Rushmore

All in all we must have spent a good 2 hours there, there is lots to do and see - it was such an interesting place and well worth see.

As we were there a little longer than planned we decided to go into Keystone for lunch, it is a lovely quaint town and we found a saloon/restaurant called Ruby House, so of course we dined there for lunch.

After our lunch we decided to do the wildlife loop through Custer State Park, there was the possibility we'd see wild Buffalo/Bison, Elk, Pronghorn Antelope, wild burros (mules) and much more, so we were really pleased to see a herd of wild buffalo roaming around.

Just your average traffic jam in Custer Park 

Some Buffalo were HUGE

 We were really lucky to see a few herds of buffalo on the move, with their calves too, and it wasn't long before we came across some wild Burro's too (mules we commonly know them as) and these were not shy either.

 I kept my distance as I am not at all keen on horses/burros, but the girls we're delighted they could get up close to them and pet them, the girls followed them around for ages, it was had to drag them away.

Continuing on we also saw a Pronghorn, which is an antelope type of animal, but not classed as an antelope. we weren't lucky enough to see any Elk but we thought we did well with the wild animal spotting.

After doing the loop, at a spur of the moment (cos road trips are like that) we decided to go and see Crazy Horse also in the Custer State Park - know many of you may not have heard about Crazy Horse I certainly hadn't, but it is truly an amazing story and an amazing feat of one man.

That one man is sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, he and Lakota Chief Henry Standing bear officially started Crazy Horse Memorial June 3rd, 1948. The Memorials mission is to honor the culture, tradition and living heritage of north American Indians.

Crazy Horse Memorial will be the World's largest mountain sculpture. It has taken over 60 years just for the face of crazy horse to be sculptured, and to begin with just one man, Korczak, worked alone on this, all without any government funding, to this day Korczak (now deceased) and his family have twice turned down a $10 million grant from the US government, stating if they took the money they were sure the memorial would never been finished. Instead, work is completed as and when the money is there, they receive lots of hardware donations (such as dymanite) as well collecting an entrance fee to see the work in progress, and they generate money from the gift shop, museum and restaurant they have onsite, as well as online donations, so it all helps with the continuation of the Memorial.

More help came for Korczak working on his memorial when he had his family and still today, most of his family work on and look after this very special monument - read more about it here as it is a truly inspirational story and you can read how the memorial came about and why Crazy Horse and the location was chosen.

It won't be finished in my lifetime but I would like to one day come back and visit it to see the progress.

Crazy Horse - you can just make out the face profile

So after seeing that rather spectacular monument in progress, we made our way back to Keystone and we took the girls on an Alpine slide to finish off the day and they loved it. It was great fun.

We had had such an interesting and great day out, one of the best so far.

1880 train, Deadwood and a Dinosaur Park all to come in Day 5 of our road trip

Wild West Road Trip - Day 3

Day 3 - Sioux Falls - Rapid City - July 15th

We had another long drive ahead of us today, it's a long way from Chicago to get to the true Wild West of America and Rapid City was to be our next stop for 3 days as this is where the famous Mt Rushmore is, along with Custer State Park and Deadwood.

It wasn't long on the road, when we saw a sign to Mitchell, home of the World's only Corn Palace so we had to stop and take a look, and it was truly bizarre, as the Corn Palace is still in use, serving as a mutli-use center for the community and region. It hosts stage shows, sports events and much more.

What makes it unique is the exterior decorations (made entirely of corn, grown specially for the palace) are completely stripped down and new murals are created each year. Inside there are murals too made entirely of corn.

After our brief stop to see the Corn Palace, we carried on the highway to Rapid City, but on the way we discovered a fantastic 1880 town, so we popped in for a look and it was a great 2 hours spent, seeing how an 1880 town was, how small the houses where in them days, and how live revolved around the community and the saloons. We took a short horse and wagon ride, where our lovely rider allowed the girls to sit up front with him and they even each got to take the reigns of the horses and drive the wagon, it was the highlight of their day/world.

After this impromptu stop, we carried on our journey to Rapid City, along the way and before we got to the Badlands, we stopped to see and feed some Prairie dogs, that were ever so cute.

It wasn't long before we were driving through the Badlands - an absolutely wonderful place, it reminded me a lot of the Bungle Bungles in Western Australia in certain parts, it was very spectacular, an amazing place, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

From there we stopped at this amazing little town called Wall, it became famous because of a couple who back in 1936 needed to find a way to get people to come to Wall and spend money at their drug store (pharmacy) named Wall Drug, they had bought in 1931 and were trying to make a go of it. So they decided to offer free iced water to all the passing highway traffic and it worked and today they still offer free iced water and the town is booming with visitors.

The famous Wall Drug

We even helped their economy by having dinner there, and buying the girls some cowboygirl boots

Mr C on this very bizarre rabbit with antlers 

Leaving Wall and driving onto our next stop was beautiful, it was dusk and the scenery was so pretty, it didn't take the girls long to fall asleep, after our few impromptu stops we were later getting into Rapid City than anticipated, but it was great we got to see the things we did along the way.

And Rapid City was our destination for the next 3 nights,  our gateway to explore Mt Rushmore and much more.

Wild West Road Trip - Day 1 & 2

Day 1 - Chicago, IL - Cedar Falls, Iowa - 13th July

By some miracle and coffees in hand we set off from home around 10am as planned, we knew we were in for a few days of long car rides, we had over 300 miles to travel on our first day so after 3 hours on the road, we stopped for lunch at Denny's before continuing on, we drove through Illinois into Wisconsin and finally into Iowa, a new state for us all, and where our stop for the evening would be, in Cedar Falls, but before we got there, Mr C had discovered that en route to Cedar Falls we would pass the baseball field where they filmed Field of Dreams, so we stopped off for a visit.

And it was busy, people were playing baseball, walking through the corn, even a coach turned up with a bride and groom and all their guests, it was truly bizarre, but we got the photos taken, bought some postcards and drove away happy.

Outside the Field Of Dreams House

In The Corn Field

After a promised ice cream stop it wasn't long before we got to Cedar Falls, where the girls were excited to find out our hotel for the night had a pool and free breakfast, the priorities of kids eh? so of course after dinner, we took the kids for a good swim and play in the pool.

Day 2 - Cedar Falls, Iowa - Sioux Falls, South Dakota - 14th July

We'd had a relatively early night, so we were up early, we'd had breakfast and we were on the road to Sioux Falls, our next stop, by 8.15am not bad really, it did mean, we made great time and after our coffee and cinnamon roll stop, I took over the driving, the roads are so straight, I had cruise control on, the music was playing and the kids were busy with their little white boards (so far these have been the best buy and most used item) - happy days

As we were making good time, cruising along, we spotted a sign for the Jolly Green Giant - you know the green giant from the adverts - Ho Ho Ho Green Giant - think canned peas and corn - well we couldn't pass up this chance to see this beauty now could we, so after a little detour off the highway we got to see the jolly green giant - so surreal.

The Jolly Green Giant - ho ho ho

It wasn't long before we were leaving Iowa and into Minnesota for our drive to, another new state South Dakota, where Sioux Falls would be our stop for the evening, again this was just a stop for the night but we did find Sioux Falls (from which the city was named after) and we had a good couple of hours looking around.

Sioux Falls

Our evening accommodation was a rather nice place called Staybridge Suites - it was absolutely lovely and a pool too of course for the girls, we had dinner out at a favorite restaurant of ours Ruby Tuesday - Ruby loves it for obvious reasons, she's called Ruby, but she was also born on a Tuesday.

More exciting things to come.

Our Wild West Road Trip

I'm glad the girls had camp this week, even if it was only for 3 hours a day, it did give me chance to pack, sort and make things for our Wild West Road Trip.

We leave tomorrow and we're heading West, and we'll be visiting 6 states, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota. we'll be visiting The Badlands National Park, a Dinosaur Park (just for Tilly) Mt Rushmore, Yellowstone Park and so much more. I'm really looking forward to Yellowstone. We'll even be stopping at the "field" where the film The Field of Dreams was made just for hubby.

The packing side of things was relatively easy, as much as I love my kids picking out their own outfits every day, this road trip I have done this, they still get to pick out their own outfits they'll just be a little more organized, which is always a plus on a road trip.

I've also made 2 of these and I nearly used the exact same fabric combination but in the blue/grey I have stashed away, it's part of the Bella range by Lotta Jansdotter, but as I couldn't be bothered to find my interfacing, I went with a heavier weight cotton - this one is from the Outside Oslo range I picked up at the Needle Shop here in Chicago - I just love their range of contemporary fabric they even stock Prints Charming fabrics too bonus....

And in preparation for our road trip, I treated myself to some new Summer clothes, but my favorite buy of the Summer are my Merrells, I was after a pair of walking type sandals that didn't look Grannie-ish but looked nice enough to wear out to dinner, and were comfortable, yes I'm

getting old, and I found the perfect pair The Agave - perfectly designed for a women's foot and they are the most comfortable shoes I have ever had.

As we won't be relying on iPads or DVD players to keep the girls entertained,I've been looking at ideas to keep the girls entertained & busy in the car. So we've been to the library and got some books out, including some audio books, they have their markers & coloring pencils, journals to draw/write about our trip, plenty of white paper, a car i-spy/hunt, and our lovely friend Anna has lent us some other great books/games to play with in the car, there will also be plenty of games of I-Spy too, so I can say (fingers crossed) they have plenty to keep them entertained. 

The girls and I also went to the dollar shop and picked up this little pile of goodies all for $10 - now I really think we'll have enough to keep them entertained.

The girls have packed their own little suitcases of the items/toys they'd like to bring - a few things they can play with in the hotel, Rummikub is definitely coming too - it's a great game the girls love and we love playing it with them too.

With the girls being only 6 & 4 we don't do long stretches of driving in any one go - we found last year 2-3 hour skints max, but this year we'll push it out a bit more where we need too, if the kids start to get a little car crazy, a little park or ice cream stop usually works.

All the necessary supplies are packed away into their travel cases for the trip - I picked these up at Michaels, they are great for storing all the girls stuff, but double up as a table too.

As for me, I have my knitting bag sorted out, I've got my needles, my latest project that I'm finishing off, and a Debbie Bliss knitting book, I borrowed from the library. 

The first aid kit, kitchen roll, baby wipes, corkscrew, tin/can opener and tea bags are all packed, along with a couple of tubes of my favourite paw paw ointment, I never leave the house without this product, it is the best topical treatment for everything, insect bites, cuts and bruises, rashes, chapped lips anything and everything this ointment is truly the best and it's a shame it's not widely known outside of Australia.

We are packed, we've just got the car to load in the morning, a few jobs to do, then we will be all ready to go and enjoy our next road trip in America and have some fun.

More Knitting & Sewing

I love the Saffron Craig Fabric

During the month of May, I had a busy month enjoying myself knitting and sewing, our little friend Elodie turned 3 and we had Teacher Appreciation week.

In advance, I had already decided to knit Elodie, a Kina Cardigan,  I saw the perfect colour for her in a yarn shop, it was a lovely blue (duck egg colour) and I knew it would look great on her. Along with the cardigan, which I finished and blocked just in time for her birthday, I also made her 2 simple elasticated skirts that would go with the cardigan, but would also be great for summer, I even made the button for the Kina from the fabric of the flowery skirt. A perfect present for a gorgeous little girl.

Perfect for all seasons

I love the Skirt and Cardigan go together

 
As it was also Teacher Appreciation Week in May - I decided to make Ruby's school teacher Ms Scott a lovely zippered pouch  - I had seen a tutorial ages ago by Make it Perfect and knew it was the one I wanted to do, it's called the Easy Peasy Zippered Pouch and it was so easy to make.

I got Ruby to write Ms Scott in her own handwriting and I embroidered over it - it won't be long though before Ruby will be embroidering herself as she is enjoying learning sewing crafts.

All the fabric used (except the pink gingham) is from my favorite Aussie fabric designers Prints Charming - I just love their collections 

All Ready To be Sewn Up - Personalized by Ruby

The zippered pouch tutorial was so easy to follow and it didn't take long to rustle up the pouch and I was so pleased with the result, I just know I'll be making some more.

One Finished Zipper Pouch

My own jumper project - The Boardwalk Jumper still on the go - I've decided this will be my jumper for Fall, I used the Rowan Felted Tweed as my choice of yarn, and decided on blue as that would look nice with Jeans, and on my needles at the moment is a lovely little vest called Blue Skies which I'm making 2 of for twins boys due very soon and soon after, I'll make a couple more up for another baby boy due in August.

My Boardwalk Jumper slowly being knitted

1 Down 1 to go for the twins

I've also discovered a little treasure, my local library, just last month I got 4 knitting books out and I'm enjoying trying to decide what my next project will be.....watch this space

I do love having little people to knit for.