Our Summer Vacation 2010 Day 7

Day 7-Thursday July 8

We stopped in Hardin MT for lunch.  Ate our hot dogs at a little park.  We found it right across the street from the LDS Chapel we discovered by accident. 

Display of soldier's tent

We went to Little Bighorn National Monument.  The kids thought the museum was interesting.  There were displays of old soldier costumes, as well as indian warrior costumes.  Bridger absolutely loved the dioramas of the battle.  He looked at them over and over again, and kept pointing out new horses he saw with arrows in their sides, and which soldiers had fallen off of their horses.

Some of the weapons they used

The part I found fascinating was a display about some anthropological studies they had done.  In the 80’s they found some new remains.  They used some new technologies to recreate the person’s face in 3D.  There were 2. One of them they were able to identify after the recreation by comparing his face to old photos.  The other one they haven’t identified yet.  The display had the 3D models of their faces all in color.  It was amazing.

Pompey’s Pillar National Monument, Montana.   I have always loved the story of Sacagawea.  Grandpa Harker gave me a huge book about her when I was in grade school, and she fascinated me.  I even did a totally optional History Fair project on her and the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 5th grade.  I was sad to see that we were going to miss Pompey’s Pillar because of our detour off of I90 down to Little Bighorn. But my sweet husband knew I wanted to see it and so he backtracked 30 miles so I could see it.  There was a very long stair case that was built so you could walk right up to where William Clark carved his name and the year into the rock.  He was the one who named it Pompey’s Pillar, after Sacagawea’s son who he had nicknamed Pompey.

William Clark's name

Next we drove to Billings, Montana.  We drove around the town and found the Billings LDS Temple.  It was very beautiful.


We left the kids in the hotel eating pizza, while Rex and I went to the only restaurant we could find that was still open after 10 p.m..  It was called Old Chicago, and they had great steak and shrimp.  And they had this cocktail sauce that was so spicy it made your nose run!  They called it Chipotle Cocktail Sauce.  It was great!

Our Summer Vacation 2010 Day 6

Day 6-Wednesday July 7

Drove to Theodore Roosevelt National Park South Unit.  There is a 36 mile driving loop.  There were some very nice views, some interesting rock formations.  The kids loved the prairie dog towns all along the way.  They were disappointed in the amount of wild life we saw.  Halie really wanted to see the feral horses, but we barely got a glimpse of them.  We saw only one buffalo, but did get a close up view.  The kids were kind of bored and didn’t even want to get out and do some of the short walking trails.  Seems like this National Monument was kind of a bust for them, but Rex and I liked it.  We decided not to drive to the North Unit.  It was several hours away, and since the kids didn’t seem too thrilled with the South Unit, we thought it would be a waste of time.

Rex really wanted to visit the Badlands, so we stopped at a view point where we could see the Painted Desert Canyon.  It was absolutely amazing.  There were unique rock formations as well as the different colored rocks that were layered through out the valley.

Stayed in Miles City,  where Rex and Rachel left the kids locked in the hotel watching Disney Channel while we did laundry and a laundromat across the street.  It takes a lot less time to do 4 loads of laundry when they are all going at once.  Too bad I don’t have room at home for more washers and dryers.

Kids went swimming late with mom.

Our Summer Vacation 2010 Day 5

Day 5-Tuesday July 6

Long drive to Devil’s Tower.  This little excursion was all for Rex.  We hiked all the way around Devil’s Tower.  It was  very cool.  There was a doe and her fawn right off the path.

On the path into town, the kids, especially Sumner, liked the prairie dog towns.
Drove to North Dakota, stayed in LVu Motel
Major clean out of the van.  Didn’t help.

Our Summer Vacation 2010 Day 4

Day 4-Monday July 5

Happy Birthday Sumner!!!  We checked out of our hotel and after picking up breakfast items and the local Dakotamart, we headed to the Crazy Horse Memorial.  This was so cool!  The kids liked seeing the museum with all the Indian artifacts.  The girls especially liked the beaded stuff, and seeing the basket weaving and the loom work.  Halie kept saying “I don’t know how they can do all that stuff with their own hands”.  Bridger was wild!  The kids kept stealing coins out of the little pond. 

Next went to Mount Rushmore.  It was raining like crazy by the time we got there.  Rex took the older kids in and left me waiting in the car with Bridger, Sumner and Lander, who were all sleeping.  After he got them settled watching a movie, he came back for us.  We joined up with the kids and took some pictures.  Saw a big horned sheep next to the amphitheater.  Some of the kids went on a little trail with Rex that got them to some cool viewing spots. 

Proof that Rex was actually with us

Tyler said, “Now that we’ve seen Mt Rushmore, what’s the point of the rest of our vacation?”.  I just about died laughing.  Good to know that on day 4 of a 10 day vacation, he was done.

Checked into the Comfort Inn and got a suite.  Ran to the market and got frozen pizzas and little cupcakes and ice cream for Summie’s birthday.

Rex and I went to the Chute Rooster's for dinner.  Rex had the buffalo steak, and I had the regular steak.  I just couldn't try the buffalo.  Ick!

Chute Rooster's Restaurant

Took the kids back to the Crazy Horse Memorial to see the laser light show against the Crazy Horse mountain.

Our Summer Vacation 2010 Day 3

Day 3-Sunday July 4

Happy Independence Day!  Visited Rebecca Winters' grave in Scottsbluff, NE.  I hadn’t seen it since they had moved it, and the kids had never seen it.  It was amazing.  I got very emotional, as I do any time I hear pioneer stories where they suffered.

Historical Marker

Descendants of Rebecca

Mattie

Bridger

Sumner

Halie

Tyler

Annie and Lander

Lincoln Heights Elementary School

Went to Sacrament meeting at the Scottsbluff Ward.  Due to 35 years worth of changes to ward boundaries Rex didn’t know any one there.  He really enjoyed seeing where he had gone to church as a child, and shared his testimony about being baptized in that building.  He had a great time touring the town and pointing out places of interest to the kids. We drove by his grade school, his old house, and some of his friends' houses.

Drove to South Dakota.  It was a long drive that seemed to take forever.  We tried to see the Wild Horse sanctuary, but didn’t want to get on the school bus and take the tour.  Halie was very sad to not see the wild horses, but we did get to see some Bantam chickens and some horses in a pen.

We finally arrived in South Dakota.  We decided to stay in Custer, SD because it was late, and it was close to both Crazy Horse Memorial and Mt Rushmore.  We tried several hotels, but found no vacancies.  Finally, we found a little motel that had 2 units next door to each other.  Kind of a little dive, no hot water, but clean.  We got to watch fireworks on the front lawn.

Our Summer Vacation 2010 Day 2

Day 2-Saturday July 3

We visited the Wyoming Frontier Prison in Rawlins.  Rex really wanted to do the hour long tour, but by the time we got all the kids out of the car and into the building to pay, we discovered they only took cash...which we didn't have.  The tour was starting in 5 minutes, which was not enough time to try to get cash from an ATM.  So we toured the little museum they had.  It was very interesting, and the kids enjoyed being prisoners, even if just for a moment.

Next we drove through Laramie and saw a giant dinosaur scultpture on the University of Wyoming campus. Bridger thought it would be “Awesome if the T-Rex ate us!”   Rex wanted to see the stadium, so we drove around War Memorial Stadium.


Went to the Iron  Skillet truck stop for lunch.  Got lots of looks when the kids came in.  The manager brought a bag of salt water taffy to give to the kids.  Someone paid for one of our adult and one child’s meal.  Funny stuff.  It may have been the couple sitting at a nearby table.  They commented on the fact that we had 8 kids.  As they left, they said we were a bit nuts.

Our Summer Vacation 2010 Day 1

So after a pathetic attempt to keep a blog, I am trying again.  Here is some stuff from our recent family vacation.  More pictures to be added soon.

Day 1-Friday July 2

Left home WAY late.  Tried to leave at 8:00 am.  Failed miserably, despite my staying up all night. Oh, well.  I should know by now that I am a terrible judge of how much time my projects take.

First stop, Fort Bridger, WY.   Fort Bridger  had some interesting exhibits.  There was an old building that was set up kind of like a mercantile might have been, and had quite a bit of old authentic stuff.  There were some hats and shawls, as well as old cans of food.  There was an old cash register and several pistols and rifles. 

The family at the Ice House

They had the carriage house, the ice house, the old school, and the old guard house/jail.  There was a recreation of the trading post that Jim Bridger started.  It had a gift shop that the kids went gaga in.  They wanted everything they saw.  The boys really wanted one of the toy wooden rifles and pistols that they had.  I took one away from Bridger about 10 times.  There was another building that was a museum and small gift shop.  They had a replica handcart and the kids were amazed at how small they were.  “We wouldn’t be able to fit our stuff in this”.  They had a couple houses set up to show the officer’s quarters, and the commanding officer’s quarters.  They lived so simply.  Makes me want to get rid of half of the stuff we have in our house so our house can look so clean and streamlined.  Seriously. 

Bridger at Fort Bridger

Bridger thought it was “awesome” that he could see his name on some of the signs.  Of course, I think he can really only recognize the “B”, but it was so cute to see him so excited.   On our way East on I-80, hit some extremely slow traffic due to an accident, and spent the night in Rawlins WY.