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Cindy's World Trip Blog

July 30, Month 2

I Wish I Had a Bronzed Chipmunk

At the end of our USA travels I am happy to say it was tons of fun. I was afraid that we had planned too much time to spend with our family and that they would really be happy to see us go (they may have been... in fact they would be crazy not to have been happy to have five, poor house-guests go), but we really had a great time with them and we are glad it turned out as it did.

I haven's shared anything about our natural park adventures yet so I will start there. First, we made it to Mt. Rushmore. Never seeing Mt. Rushmore before, I was so amazed with how huge the busts of the presidents really are. I knew that they were big, but was a little awestruck. The girls enjoyed learning the tools and techniques used to carve the busts and Sophia thought it was fascinating to learn that the reason Rosevelt's face is further inset is because the carvers had to dig deeper to reach good stone. The busts are visible from many points which we all enjoyed seeing again and again except for Ellie who tired of having it continually pointed out after a few days, "Mt. Rushmore again?" she would say. Our campground near the park was nice and even had a pool for us to swim in.

We drove through Custer State Park and saw lots of wildlife from our car including buffalo and we were amused when our little 6 pound Yorkie started growling at them. We couldn't believe that he was trying to pick a fight with a giant buffalo.

Another highlight included a ride down the alpine slide. It starts with a chairlift to the summit (the summit had a nice view of... you guessed it - Mt. Rushmore) and then a ride in a wheeled sled down a big cement slide to the bottom. That was very fun, but before we were allowed to ride, we had to sign the normal waver of rights statements and because the driver has total control they advised multiple times to use caution or serious injury could occur. All the warnings freaked my kids out a little, but they WERE extra cautious- so extra cautious that they held up the line of riders behind them. That alone was entertaining.

The other big outing while we were in S. Dakota was a quick trip to N. Dakota (see Richard's post). It was one of those things that just had to be done. When we arrived and got out to take the picture by the sign, I teased Richard that he should run down the side of the road for a little bit just to make sure that he really had been to N. Dakota and to have some kind of experience there (to make it count). So we did. There were huge rolls of hay by the side of the road and after we had run for a minute, a farmer popped our of nowhere on a quad. We felt silly, turned around, went back to the car, and headed back for S. Dakota. Our souvenirs from the trip were pictures, tons of bugs on our car, and we left a souvenir for them too... Gizmo took a leak. It was then official. We had been in N. Dakota. Richard had reached state number 50.

The next big stop was Devil's Tower in N. E. Wyoming. It is the geographical site featured in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a Steven Spielberg movie released in 1977 (I hadn't seen it, but I watched it when we arrived to visit family). Walking around this gigantic rock, it reminded me of an enormous petrified tree stump. I took pictures of it from many angles each giving it a new look.

I think Richard said something about the Jr. Ranger programs at the National Parks in one of his blogs, but I will mention it too because I am so impressed. Each has educational, fun activities at little or no cost. The activities are divided by age so that they are age-appropriate. At Devil's tower, Ellie's activities mostly involved spotting plants, different wildlife, and features of the site. Amber and Sophia's involved puzzles and learning activities. It really helps the kids make the most of a visit. The kids all took away a Jr. Ranger badge and certificate which they were very proud of.

When we arrived at Yellowstone, we were once again amazed at the kid park programs. Ellie did the Jr. Ranger program and Amber and Sophia did the Young Scientist program. They learned so much and had fun using the great loaner tools that measured heat put off by the hot springs and other cool stuff. Amber and Sophia ended up with a nice key ring and Ellie ended up with a nice patch along with new hands-on knowledge the kids wanted to learn and we didn't have to cram down their throat. Amazing.

Our next stop was Grand Teton National Park. We only passed through, but I wish we would have stayed longer. I have a special love for the place because I worked there one summer in college. I could stare all day at the peaks and not get tired of looking at them. They are so beautiful! It was fun to reminisce of my days working there, visit with an old friend, and show the kids around. We were pretty tired by that point in the trip though and anxious to see family.

I didn't realize just how tired all of the traveling had made us until we ended up at my parents a couple of days later. We were pretty big slugs for a few of days. Two of our kids ended up with a mild virus so we had to be slugs, but besides the illness I think we were all glad to have to take it easy for a few days.

While we were with family we still did some pretty fun stuff. Went on a hike, went mountain biking. Took in a museum, played in pools, celebrated my dad's 80th, took in a few of the sites in Vegas and enjoyed some great bonding. Time is getting closer for us to leave. I am nervous and I don't quite know what to expect. I feel good about going and I am excited to go... I just can't think about the whole trip all at once or it freaks me out a little.

Before I sign off, I have one last odd story to share. On our last Sunday with my parents, a funny noise came from our car on the first turn to go with them to their church. It sounded a little like the power steering fluid was low, which was upsetting because nothing was said when it was checked at during our recent oil change. We continued to hear the noise with every turn of the wheel until we opened the hood at the church to find a puff of short white fur scattered near the pump and the belt. Astonished, Richard looked around until he found the cause. A small, deceased, little chipmunk lie below the engine caught on the inside of the front bumper. Richard dug the poor little sucker out with my dad's fishing pole (don't tell my dad) and some pliers. The next day when the noise remained, we took the car to the mechanic to find out that the power steering fluid pump had been damaged and had to be replaced. Near as we can figure the little guy got scared when we approached our car, hopped into our engine, got his tail caught in our serpentine belt, and rode what Richard called a "roller coaster to heaven" - damaging our pump. My Dad thought it was hilarious. He just kept looking at us laughing and saying, "a chipmunk?!" My sister-in-law wanted to know if it was Alvin, Simon, or Theodore. We just couldn't believe our bad luck! I guess the chipmunk's was worse though :(. After we learned how much it was going to cost us to repair the car we joked that we should at least go pick the little guy up from the church parking lot bronze him and use him as a hood ornament. At least then it would seem more worth it. I hope we are done with expensive, odd happenings. My sister says things like this usually happen in threes so I guess that means we are done for a while. We'll cross our fingers and our toes.