So the kids and I got home from Kansas late night June 30. Our friends the Rasmussen were coming up from Fort Collins for the 4th on the night of July 2nd, Aaron was flying in late night July 2nd. Unfortunately thanks to Hurricane Alex Aaron was stuck in Houston until the afternoon of the 4th.
We headed off to the Badlands, so named as they are "bad lands" to try and farm (catchy right? nothing gets past the Dakotans), where we hiked, picnicked and suffered a little bit of heat exhaustion due to hot weather and only 3 water bottles between the two families.
View of the Badlands
Kids and I at the top of one particular hike.
On our way home we stopped at Wall Drug. Anyone (all 5) who have been through South Dakota knows about Wall Drug because there is a billboard for it every 3 miles across the entire state (not joking). Here is mile 131 - 110 on I-90:
wait for it...
wait for it...
wait for it...
almost there...
NOW!! exit now!
It's a giant drugstore complex with shops, cafes, wild west trinkets:
it says "Homeland Security, Fighting Terrorism since 1492"
And DELUXE accommodations
You can even ride the Jackalope.
Let me tell you...South Dakota does NOT disappoint!
So Aaron was still in Texas when we finished our Kansas vacation so I decided to see some of the sights on our way home. Two places I particularly wanted to go were to Winter Quarters in Nebraska and The Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD.
I've noticed that sometimes when you go to a Visitor's Center the people there have their "schpiel" that they usually say. I've also noticed that no matter how often you tell them you don't have a ton of time and still have about 8 hours left in your drive, you are going to get the entire "schpiel". Thus our visit to Winter Quarters went from a quick 30 minutes to 2 hours. The kids only complained as I went through the cemetery but did stand long enough for a picture or two.
By the way, for those of you who don't know Winter Quarters is the place where the pioneers stayed over the winter in really terrible conditions before their trek west to Salt Lake City. Most there had been forced out of their homes previously so food and supplies were scarce and there was a lot of sickness so many, especially kids, died there.
Kids pulling a handcart. Alex mentioned that this was so easy that pulling it to Utah would've been no problem.
Kids loading their wagons.
Memorial to children who died at Winter Quarters. You can almost feel the enthusiasm.
Although long, it was a great experience and the kids actually learned something so we have that going for us...which is nice.
So back in the car and 5 hours later we pull up to The World's ONLY Corn Palace. That's right, there's only one and lucky us it's in South Dakota.
Since none of you know, The Corn Palace was built to advertise that corn grows in South Dakota and to entice farmers to either move here or stay here instead of relocating to Iowa or Nebraska because hey...we have so much corn we're building palaces out of the stuff.
Apparently it didn't take because to this day South Dakota still does not have 1 million people in her borders.
They start decorating for the next year in July so it's not as corny as it could be.
World's Only...too bad I didn't get in there myself.
So our summer vacation is only half over and already the kids and I have traveled 3830 miles (by van). Since we have been all over doing and seeing different sights, I am attempting to do separate blog posts for each "vacation".
Aaron recently started the Flight Medicine training and was sent to Texas for his first two weeks of class. Since I was on my own I decided that now was as good a time as any to go visit my brother Scott and his family in Topeka, Kansas.
There are a few things to know about Kansas before you go to visit:
1. Kansas has humidity and if you are pregnant and haven't been in humidity in about 4 years (since Ohio) you are going to sweat... A LOT! Your kids will also complain that they are"hotter and hotter and hotter than ever!"
2. Kansas has no regulations concerning the 4th of July. Anything and everything is legal right there outside your front door so long as you are exploding your fireworks during the approved days (this year June 27 - July 5)
3. Kansas gets a bad rap about being boring BUT there was a ton to do and it was gorgeous! We were there a week and literally ran out of time before we got to everything
Here's a peek at what Kansas had to offer the Petersen Family:
Sydney playing with the puppies at the libraries bookmobile
Camryn at Shawnee Lake park
Sydney at the Topeka Zoo - she almost got bit on this one
Camryn and cousin Skyler fighting over the Bear Chair. Gotta love 2 1/2 - 3 year olds! I mostly picked this picture so you can see how hot Cammer was!
Sitting in "school" at the Deanna Rose Farmstead in KC, KS. Although we did end up in KC, MO by accident on the way home.
Alex riding the tractor track at Deanna Rose Farmstead in KC
This is the other side of Shawnee Lake. They've built a beach with water slides, sprinklers, and basketball hoops.
Alex, Sydney and Cam with cousins Skyler and Carson.
