A Grand vacation! Wind Cave, Badlands and Theodore Roosevelt National Parks plus lots more!

This ended up being such a great trip!  We saw so many awesome things.  We thought these parks might not be too grand, but they were wonderful, and so were the many other great things we saw too!  It was well worth the nearly 3,000 miles we drove to see them. (Oh, yes...we started the vacation the night before by going to see The Importance of Being Earnest up in Cedar City.  It was hilarious!)  

Wednesday, July 23rd, we started on our journey to make it to New Castle, Colorado, to spend the night.  Along the way we stopped by Colorado National Monument to do their amazing 23-mile Historic Rim Rock Drive.  It was spectacular!  We just wished we would have had more time to do some of the hikes along the way.  We may need to make a return trip when the weather is a bit cooler and we have more time.  It was so worth making time for it in our agenda for that day.  

That evening we stayed in New Castle, CO, at the Wingate Hotel.  It was good and very close to Glenwood which is where we found Culver's to eat dinner and then enjoyed walking/driving around to see the historic sights and the amazing hot springs pool they have there.  It was a good day.  We drove about 550 miles.  The next morning we took a river walk in Glenwood where we saw the confluence of the Roaring Fork and Colorado Rivers.  It was beautiful and got us the exercise we needed to get our day started.  

Thursday, July 24th - This day we drove to Custer, South Dakota where we stayed for 4 nights.  We used it as a hub for the many places we wanted to go in that area.  That night we had dinner at the Purple Pie Place.  It was really cute, but the food was not quite as cute as we had hoped, but good enough.  Afterwards we went on a beautiful forest drive in Custer State Park.  This park has so many awesome drives and beautiful scenery and more.  This night we got a week-long pass for $25 and went to Sylvan Lake and took the hike around it.  Such a gorgeous mountain lake with cool rocks and beautiful forest around it.  Just wish we could have kayaked or swam in it!  Custer State Park became our go to place in the evenings after we got back from adventures and sometimes we did some daytime adventures there too when we had some spare time.  It was so worth the pass price for what we got out of it.  

Friday, July 25th, - This day we went to Mount Rushmore and then in the afternoon we went to Wind Cave NP.  We did a beautiful drive through Custer State Park and the forest to get to Mount Rushmore.  The forests are FULL of ponderosa trees and green grasses and flowers covering the ground.  They were so beautiful! Along the way we stopped at the Peter Norbeck Outdoor Education Center.  It has amazing stonework.  It wasn't open at the time, but we enjoyed walking around it.  Also along the way we saw what you call pigtail bridges that were invented to fit the twisty road through the  mountains along the way to Mount Rushmore.  At Mount Rushmore we did the Presidential Trail up to the base of the bottom of the hill with the carvings.  It was a good hike.  We also did the Visitor's Center film/tour and listened to a Ranger Talk about the carving of the faces and learned some new facts.  It was a great visit. 

Then we went on to Wind Cave NP.  We had time to eat a picnic lunch and see the Visitor's Center info while we waited for our reservation time.  This cave is unique because of the honecomb shaped boxwork formations that it has in it.  We did the Fairgrounds tour that's about 2/3 of a mile with 450 stairs.  It was great.  This is a really big cave, but it felt very different from most caves we have visited because of the lack of stalagmites and stalactites.  It was formed in a different way and the boxwork are the main formations you see in it. We took a little hike after the cave tour to see the natural entrance to the cave.  

After we go back to Custer that evening, we had some time after dinner to go for the Needles Highway drive in Custer State Park.  This is such a beautiful forest/stone drive!!!  We loved every minute of it!

The last tunnel you go through is so narrow you don't know if you are going to fit...it feels like going through the eye of a needle.  And then you come out and see the actual Needle formation and...WOW!  So cool!!!  

Saturday, July 26th, - Jewel Cave National Monument, Crazy Horse Memorial, The Gordon Stockade, the Custer State Park Visitor Center, the Wildlife Station Visitor Center, the Wildlife Loop and the Bison Center.  Along the way we saw bison in the road and also wild donkeys that weren't very wild.  They loved to be fed carrots.  We loved Jewel Cave. It was so much prettier and Wind Cave, but smaller.  There's a lot that is still being explored though.  We took a little hike around when we got their because it wasn't open yet.  We were the first tour of the day.  After the tour we went on a little drive to an old cabin and stairway that the CCC built for the natural opening of the cave.  We didn't do the natural opening tour because it was shorter and by lantern light only.  We did SO many stairs in this cave.  It was a work out, but so worth it.  Our guide was also fantastic.  We had a picnic after we saw the cabin and natural opening.  Then we continued on to Crazy Horse.  

Crazy Horse Memorial is really great.  It really helps you see the native American's story and how so much was pretty much stolen from them as they kept remaking reservation boundaries and then people kept ignoring them.  

The host at the Wildlife Station Visitor Center told us what great mushroom, swiss cheese, bison burgers they had at the Blue Bell Lodge, so on our way back home after the drive, we stopped in and had them and more great food there.  They even had live country music while we were there.  It was really nice! 

Sunday, July 27, it was time to go to church in Rapid City.  We attended the Mount Rushmore Ward and enjoyed a great meeting there.  I especially enjoyed watching the way the deacons helped a handicapped boy do his part of passing the sacrament.  The whole ward was so great and seemed to just love that boy.  He was cute and very friendly.  His sister gave her mission farewell talk as part of the meeting and told about how she had spent the summer taking care of him and told how much he had taught her that would help her on her mission.  It was sweet.  After that we headed over to Badlands NP.  It was super crowded.  Lots of motorcyclists were there on their way to the Sturgis rally that is coming up in August.  It was a cool park, but not my favorite of the 3 we came to see.  It just seemed so monotone in color. We did enjoy it and made stops and did a little hike.  It has a rich fossil history and I can see that's why it needed to be preserved.  We did the scenic drive and the Visitor's Center things.  Then we headed back to Custer for our last night there.  We had saved our motel breakfast in the fridge and had it for dinner that night.  It was very good!  That evening after our dinner we for a drive in the Custer State Park and saw the "Badger Hole" cabin.  It's the cabin of a famous South Dakota state Poet Lauriat, Charles Badger Clark.  It was a really cute cabin he built and lived in.  There was a hike in the forest around it that had lots of info about him and his poetry.  I really enjoyed his poetry that was shared on some of the signs on the interpretive trail about him.  The after that, we did a beautiful little hike around Legion Lake at sunset.   

 Monday, July 28 - We have now come 1638 miles as we leave Custer to head up to Theodore Roosevelt NP.  We left via the Sylvan Lake Road to enjoy that beautiful bit of Custer State Park one more time.  Then it was a long drive to the Painted Canyons Visitor Center at the south section of this park.  We had some misty, rainy weather along the way and lots of open prairie driving.  It is so VAST and green and flat!  We looked around at the very small visitor center and then did a terrible muddy nature hike there.  At the end we found a water spigot, thank goodness, so we could get our shoes and the rest of us cleaned of from the very slick, sticky mud on us!  I did some slip sliding and really got muddy!  As we went on we did  the scenic drive another a few more hikes that we really liked and saw more herds of bison!  It turned out to be a beautiful park and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it!  That night we headed to Watford for the night and came into North Dakota along the way there.  

Tuesday, July 29 - Leaving Watford and coming back down to the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt NP.  We loved this section of the park as well.  We enjoyed the scenic drive and a Caprock Coulee hike and a nature trail too. We especially liked the Cannonball mystery rocks!   After that, we made the drive to Devil's Tower in Wyoming.  Wow, was it worth the drive! It's so cool and unique.  We did the hike around the base of it and did the Visitor's Center.  We totally enjoyed it even though it was a bit out of the way.  Then we drove on to Casper/Evansville to stay the night. We had some great hamburgers for dinner here.

Wednesday, July 30 - We just sort of  looked around for what was interesting in the area for this day.  We stopped by Independence Rock and did the hike around it.  It's cool.  We went up on top on one side.  We read all the information about it.  Then down the road a while we came to Devil's Gate and stopped at the viewpoint above it and did the interpretive walk there.  Then we drove down to the Church Visitor Center for Martin Cove/Devil's Gate and toured that site with a missionary and then watched the movie they had.  We even saw a rattlesnake there! Afterwards we did the 2 mile hike to see Devil's Gate up close.  It was all very nice.    I was glad to finally see this place.  Then it was time to start the drive home.  We drove and drove and did the terrible traffic in SLC to Jay and Brynn's for a great dinner and fun evening with them.  It was good to see them and we enjoyed visiting. We had a good sleep and then got on the road for home the next morning.  (The one picture I took of them didn't turn out unfortunately.)  

Thursday, July 31 - Time to head home.  We stopped in at Beaver for gas and ice cream to celebrate the end of our trip at the Creamery.  We got home at a very decent time and ate dinner at home for the first time in a while!  It was good to be back to our own bed, but our motels for the trip were actually very comfortable and convenient.  At one place we had a room that was really for a wheel chair, but it was still good, just not much counter space and a hand shower.  

Kanarra and Hidden Haven Falls

 It has been years since we hiked Kanarra Falls.  Now days you have to have a reservation, so I got us one, and this morning we did it!  It was beautiful and not as hard or long as I was anticipating.  There was plenty of water to make all of the waterfalls look great.  Since the last time we did it, there was a metal stairway to go up instead of an old rotting log at the first big falls.  That made it much better for me.  I never made it up the log last time.  This time we were able to get clear to the "last" waterfall.  To go any further you need climbing gear and they don't really want you doing that.  It was wonderful and walking in the water was very refreshing!  

We didn't see any of these little birds this time, but they do love to hang around waterfalls.  I was glad to see that someone had memorialized them in a poem!  They are so cute.  

After we got done at Kanarraville we drove up to Parowan and then on to the Hidden Haven Falls hike.  It's a really nice hike that ends at what is sometimes a very nice waterfall.  Today, it had less water coming down than we have ever seen it have. You can't even see it behind Paul in the picture. It's this dry summer probably.  After that, we hiked another little loop hike to an overlook and back.  We had never done it before.  Glad we did it.  Even though the waterfall was a bit disappointing, the hike was still very nice.  Between our morning walk and these two hikes we did about 9 miles today.  

July Birthdays - Jem, Beacher, Supe, Kai, Ellie

 It's a busy month for Supe and Beacher's family with 3 of their 4 birthdays happening.  It started with a party for Jem over at Beacher's folks house.  From our family we had Moss and Chrisite and kids and us able to attend.  They started out swimming and playing in a bounce house they rented and then we had picnic lunch and presents and cake.  Jem was pretty excited for this #5 birthday and got lots of loot!  I think his favorite thing was a toy grappling hook!  He loves all things super hero and dressing up as different ones.  Happy #5 Jem!  We love you.  Supe and Beacher's #39/35 come right on the heels of Jem's, so we gave them their present too.  They are such a cute family!  Love them all!  Kaia has to wait until December to celebrate.  

We went ahead and gave Beacher and Supe their July 6th and 13th, #35th and #39th birthday present too.  We gave them an awning in a combined present.  Hopefully they will enjoy using it on their outdoor excursions.  Happy Birthday you two!  We love you!  

Makakai Moss Lillywhite "Kai" is turning 8 this week.  We will be out of town for it, so we took his presents over early.  He's such a cute kid!  Pretty exciting that he's going to be 8 and will be getting baptized.  Times flies!  Happy Birthday Kai!  We love you!  

Ellie's was the last of the July birthdays on the 18th she turned 19 and old enough to go on her mission.  We went up and joined the fun and had dinner and visiting with her and the family.  She got her very own pink luggage to take on her mission (she actually picked it out)!  I made her a leaving home G'ma Poulsen apron.  It won't be long until she has her farewell and pretty soon she be out there sharing the Gospel!  Happy 19th Ellie!  It's a big one!  We love you and we're proud of you!  Her apron is the bright one on the right.  I've made 2 more now - one for Eden and one for me.  

Tushar Campout!

 Monday we got things ready and headed up to Beaver/the Tushars for a great campout...and it was!  I don't know if it was because it was Monday or not, but almost no one else was out there camping.  We saw some people by Lebaron Lake and later found some other people very hidden away, but that was pretty much it.  Of course there were parked trailers around as usual, but no people with them.  The best thing was that our favorite camp spot was not one of those as it has been most every time in the last many years.  We had it all to ourselves!  We had a spot of trouble on the drive in losing a leveling leg of the camp trailer, but it is something that can be fixed and we were able to work around it.  We got set up and Paul made us a delicious pork chop/mashed potatoes and gravy dinner!  After dinner we had time to take an evening walk and enjoy the amazing scenery.  One thing that really stood out on this camp were the amazing purple lupines that were SO abundant and beautiful.  We can't remember ever having seen so many in bloom any other time we've been here.  There were lots of other beautiful flowers mixed in too.  

Tuesday was a full day!  In the morning after breakfast we decided to make the drive up to Big John's Flat.  Along the way we explored some other possible campsites and found some good places.  We stopped and "chatted" with a mule and some horses too.  We hiked around a little bit at the top of the mountain.  We could see that there was a forest fire quite a ways off in the distance. We topped out and then found a good lunch spot that even had a picnic table there and then we drove the heinous road down the other side of the mountain to Marysville.  Sadly, most of that side of the mountain/canyon had been burned in a forest fire since last time we'd been there.  So many beautiful trees burned up.  At Marysville we saw some cool sculptures as we drove through town.  We decided to drive up to Boullion Canyon and explored the old mining stuff there.  Then we made the steep hike up to see Boullion Falls...we were glad to get there!  On the way down we found an old cabin/outhouse that we checked out.  Pretty cool.  We got a little numbered guide to sites along the canyon road and did that on the drive back to Marysville.  When we got there the artist of the cool sculptures was out and we stopped and talked with him.  Really interesting.  Then it was time to head back up the mountain to our camp via the Junction road.  We got back and had a great chicken soup/grilled cheese dinner.  We took a little walk and then drove over to check out the Anderson Meadow Campground - very nice.  It was right above Upper Kent's Lake.  We walked around the lake some and it was crazy because the fish were jumping out of the water everywhere to catch the bugs!  It even made me want to try fishing!  Time for bed then.  

Wednesday we slept in a little and then took a morning walk down to Lebaron Lake and came back and had a great breakfast.  Then it was time to get packed up for home.  We got everything stowed and the trailer hooked and left at about 10:30.  We hated to leave the beauty all around, the wonderful cool mountain air, and the peacefulness, but our campout time was at an end.  We stopped in Beaver for some cheese and got home with no trouble.  It was one of the best campouts ever I think!  

Picnic at Lava Point and over the mountain evening

 We had a busy Saturday and then we made the beautiful drive up to Lava Point for a picnic with amazing views!  Then we continued the drive over the mountain and back down through Cedar to home.  It was wonderful!  So much beautiful scenery except for the smoky views of our wonderful Pine Valley Mountain on fire still.  They are making progress on the fire, but what we need most is rain to put it out.  

A Grand "Edventure" with Jem!

One of the presents we got Jem for his birthday was a butterfly house kit.  He turned 5!  Today he came over to have Grandpa help him build it!  They had fun nailing it all together and painting it.  While it was drying Grandpa took Jem out to drive his forklift. They seemed to have a good time.  After that Jem put stickers on the butterfly house, and then we went to Wendy's for frosties and French fries!  After we got back Kaia and Supe and Beacher came over (Kaia had been taking her nap).  We brought them frosties and French fries too! Zade and Trigg happened to come over then too.  It was fun to have everyone come over!  Jem and Kaia had fun playing with our funny toys for a while and then it was time to call it a good "edventure" so Jem could go to karate.  Love having these "edventures".

Escape to Cedar Breaks!

 Today we decided to escape the heat and go up and do a few hikes on Cedar Mountain.  We started at Cedar Breaks.  The Wildflower Festival is going on right now up there and it is so beautiful.  We did the Along the Rim to Alpine Pond Lake hike and it was truly a festival of flowers.  The whole place is just full of color right now everywhere you look.  The meadows are either shining with yellow flowers or have a purple haze of flowers covering them everywhere.  My pictures just can't do it justice.  We loved the hike along the rim and then past the pond and then back.  It's a loop hike and it was so cool and beautiful.  We came home to 109 degrees this afternoon.  Up there we were in the 60's.  I even got a little cold sitting in the shade for our picnic lunch.  Now that so much of our wonderful Pine Valley has burned and is still on fire, Cedar Breaks may turn into our to go mountain place.  After lunch we drove around and hiked to Aspen Mirror Lake.  It was beautiful, but sadly the stream that runs out of it is almost completely dry.  I have never seen it so dry before.  We need the monsoon rains to come soon.  Everything is so dry.  But, it was a beautiful day away from the heat and I loved every minute of it.  Oh, on the way home we also stopped by and hiked up to the Kid's Pond at Wood's Ranch.  I had never been up there before.  I didn't get a good picture of it unfortunately.  

4th of July time!

 The week of the 4th included lots of things - a surgery on Wednesday. It went seamlessly and with no after pain.  I'm still waiting for the results of the tests, but hoping for all negative.  The day of the 4th we went for a beautiful drive over Cedar Mountain - it was covered in wild flowers - and then on over by Bryce to check out a possible family camp site for next year.  We stopped and picked up Bean to go with us.  We had a really nice picnic there - Pine Lake Campground/Lake and then drove home again over Cedar Mountain.  It was beautiful again!  That evening Ferf and Torin and a friend of Ferf's and the Randalls came by to watch the fireworks from up on the hill.  Our Blake neighbors put on just about as good a fireworks show as the city did!  We had a great view of both of them!  Didn't get much in the way of pictures.  Oh, yes, it has been a busy week in the yard too.  Paul is working on a small stone patio under the mulberry tree out back.  I have been busy pulling weeds everywhere.