In June, we camped at Custer State Park in South Dakota. It was a great, inexpensive, place to stay while visiting Mount Rushmore.
I am in love with Custer State Park. It's like a national park that just is run by a state. It was made a State Forest in 1912 and much of the buildings, including the following (the visitor's center) were built by the CCC.
For those who don't know, the CCC was one of the social programs of the Great Depression. The Civilian Conservation Corps put young men to work during the depression. They built bridges and roads, and frequently built picnic areas and buildings within state parks and national parks across the country (my favorite Texas State Park, Garner State Park, is full of CCC architecture). They built in an Arts and Crafts style. And their designs, very rustic and close to nature, often using locally found materials, is often referred to as "National Park Rustic." Anyway, I enjoy CCC architecture and was delighted to see it in the park.
There are a lot of bison in the park and can be easily seen. This picture is not zoomed in at all. I took it out my window as we drove past.
They like to hold up traffic, too:
As do the burros. Many, many years ago (I believe in the 1920s?) you could hire a burro to take you to Harney Peak. When that service was discontinued, the burros were just set free. Now a "wild" herd of burros live in the park and beg drivers for food. When we passed these, another group of people were beginning to approach the burros with pieces of bread. The park allows it, since they're somewhat domesticated (or at least are the descendants of domesticated animals), though they tell you to "use your judgement." (Unlike the bison--everywhere you go and on every brochure/map/etc. it states "Buffalo are dangerous. Do not approach.")
We saw a lot of other animals in the park, too. In addition to the animals I mentioned in the last post, I also saw pronghorn, mule deer, a beaver (I think), and a bat. Also in the park, though we didn't see any, are big-horn sheep, mountain goats, rattlesnakes, and mountain lions. A very hard to see mule deer:
And, a hiding pronghorn:
We really enjoyed Custer State Park. It was a great place to camp, and there's a lot we didn't get to do. We just might go back sometime, notwithstanding the 6 hour drive. :)
We visited Mt. Vernon in late June. It was hot and sticky, though not as hot as Virginia can get later in the summer. I rather missed the cool-ish, arid air of Colorado. We cooled off from our walk from the parking lot inside the visitor's center for awhile and watched a movie about George Washington.
After the movie, we walked toward the house, to get in line for a tour. We spent about an hour in line, during which the 3 boys had fun playing with leaves and being silly:
The tour was a bit rushed, but interesting. (Rather than your standard tour, there was just a line of people going through the house and a "tour guide" in each room talking about the room you were in). I found it rather interesting that the key to the Bastille is displayed here, having been sent to George Washington by the Marquis de Lafayette (a close friend to Washington, practically his adopted son).
I also found it interesting that, since he wanted his wooden home to look like stone, sand was thrown onto the wet paint to make the texture of the home look like stone. On one of the dependencies, I saw this chipped corner that shows how the "stone" is really wood. Also, I'd always heard about how the Mormon Pioneers had painted the pine used in early buildings, like the Salt Lake Tabernacle, to look like nicer woods. George Washington did this too; his pine paneling in the house was painted to look like mahogany.
What I really liked, though was his "backyard." With a superb view of the Potomac, and a cool porch to sit on, it was my favorite part of the estate.
Besides, there were magnolia trees! I haven't seen my second-favorite tree (the first being really big Live Oaks) in years. I love the big, white flowers that smell so nice! I gave James and Thomas each a boost to smell this one.
We stayed until past closing time (they stop letting people in at 5, but you can stay on the grounds until 5:30 and in the visitor center until 6). And, we of course visited the gift shop and added to my bookshelf. :) I'm glad I got a chance to see Mt. Vernon!
When we lived in Maryland, I'd wanted to visit Fort McHenry, but we'd never had a chance to do so. So, while we were back east in June/July, we stopped by for a visit. Being the history buff that I am, I didn't want to miss Ft. McHenry. It was an integral part of creating the affinity for the American flag that we now have. The war of 1812 cemented America's Independence. When you think of it in its historical context, our national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, is really a moving song.
They are building a new flag pole, so instead of seeing the giant flag wave, we got to hold it while a ranger spoke about the Battle of Fort McHenry and its significance, as well as the significance of the American Flag.
I enjoyed standing on the ramparts and feeling the sea breeze coming off the Patapsco River and Baltimore Harbor. It was a nice view, too. I've been having fun with my new-found panoramic feature on my camera, can you tell? :)
The boys' favorite part was seeing all the cannons. Thomas and James were dismayed to find that this stack of cannonballs were all attached to each other, so they couldn't try and pick them up.
In the barracks, the boys got to try out holding this gun; it's longer than they are tall!
It was really an interesting place to visit. I enjoyed it a lot and the kids had fun. And, I have to admit, when they played the National Anthem and we stood to honor the American flag, in the very spot where the flag that song was written about was flown, I got teary-eyed. God bless America!
I've wanted to visit Rocky Mountain National Park since we moved to Colorado. I mean, I LOVE national parks, and this is one of the big ones! And it's not far away at all.
But, there was always some reason why we couldn't. Summers are always busy. And this is really a park to visit in the summer. We decided on the spur of the moment to take a weekend trip into the mountains to visit RMNP on one of the last weekends of August.
We drove up after the kids got out of school on Friday. We spent the evening exploring Estes Park and then went to bed. We got up early-ish the next day to head into the park.
There was a car show that we happened upon. I had to take a picture of this DeLorean. Really, would anyone remember DeLoreans if not for Back to the Future?
I am in love with the Stanley hotel. Isn't it beautiful? I LOVE historic hotels. Someday I want to stay here (though I think I'll not watch The Shining or take the ghost tour first). Anyway, I was curious, so I explored a little. The lobby is gorgeous. Someday Matt and I will come stay here. Someday...
We spent all day Saturday at RMNP. We hiked Bear Lake. The kids seemed to enjoy that until it started to rain and thunder. We saw a lot of chipmunks (one almost climbed into my lap), and the kids liked that. Henry would point at them and say "ch-mmmmnk!" The lake was so clear and pretty.
As we waited for the storm to clear out, we ate lunch and checked out Morraine Park. We saw this coyote as we drove through the campground. There were a lot of Elk. A herd was wandering through the campground, and another was in a meadow near the visitor's center.
We spent the afternoon driving Trail Ridge Road. It's the highest continually paved road in the U.S. I believe its highest point is 12, 183 feet above sea level. Here we are at one of the overlooks:
The view from one of the lower-elevation overlooks (click for the best effect):
At the Forest Canyon overlook. What makes this place neat is that you can drive to see the Tundra. At other national parks, that requires long hikes. Not here! (And yes, note the warm clothes--this part of the park is never above 50 degrees. Not even in the hottest part of the summer. At least we were here at the end of the summer--hardly any snow. It had all summer to melt. )
Just behind us is a gorgeous view of Forest Canyon. Looking down into the canyon, you can see thousands of green trees. It makes you feel like you're standing on the top of the world.
Speaking of the top of the world, while this is a fantastically beautiful drive, it's not necessarily for the faint of heart. Those with fear of heights might not do so well with the fact that in many places there is no guard rail, 6 inches of "shoulder" and then a 1000+ foot drop into oblivion. Ever hyperventilate at 11,000 feet? I wouldn't recommend it. :) Okay, I didn't really hyperventilate. But, the quicker breathing of nervousness makes for being rather light-headed at 11,000 feet.
But, it sure is beautiful up there.
I didn't get any pictures of the road as we drove, as I was a little too preoccupied. :) But, here's a video of some of the road that I found on youtube. At :39, you can see the part of the road that was both my favorite and least favorite. :) It's right near the highest point on the road. It has the best views, and the furthest drop. :) The video was taken just a couple weeks before we visited. At other times, there's more snow along the road.
We also checked out a couple visitors centers and dropped by the Sheep Lakes. We didn't see any sheep, though. And, the info booth at Sheep Lakes was closed for the season (that season being Fall--Fall comes early to the Rocky Mountains. The aspen were starting to turn. Only another month, I think, until they close Trail Ridge Road and the storms start.)
On the way out of the park, we stopped at the Beaver Meadows visitor center. As I walked out of the bathrooms, I stopped to read a sign about the architecture of the visitor center (designed by an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright). As I read, I heard a noise in the brush. I looked up and was surprised to realize that I was standing right next to a mule deer. Here he is:
We headed home after this, getting home around 10pm. It was a nice little weekend trip. We plan on visiting much more often!
Yeah, I didn't do most of the things on my 2009 Summer Adventure List. I got too ambitious. Here's the original list:
1. Westlands Park 2. Mt. Rushmore 3. Roxborough State Park 4. Cheyenne, WY (Technically, I've been here, but just driving through. Living so close, I'd like to check it out a little closer) 5. The Colorado State Fair in Pueblo, CO
The only one I actually did (unless you count driving through Cheyenne again, thrice) was Mt. Rushmore. But, I did have a lot of adventures this summer. New ones, even. So, I'm just going to revise my original list. :)
Here's the list I actually did: 1. Mt. Rushmore 2. Rocky Mountain National Park 3. Fort McHenry 4. Mount Vernon 5. Custer State Park
I got to visit Mt. Rushmore last month, in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota.
I had always thought it a little kooky that someone had decided to carve some of our most revered presidents into the side of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. On this trip, I found out who carved it (Gutzon Borglum), why he did it, and that it's not really kooky at all. And, by the way, the mountain was called Mt. Rushmore before anyone ever thought of turning it into a sculpture.
It was the idea of Doane Robinson, the founder of the South Dakota state historical society. Through support from Peter Norbeck, a U.S senator, it was eventually determined that it would be made a monument to our country, much like the Washington Monument or Lincoln Monument, except carved from a mountain. Gutzon Borglum and his crew blasted their way through the granite to carve the 4 presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.
There was also to be a Hall of Records, because Borglum felt that a monument to our country should hold the history of our country. Alas, it was never completed (it was to be a stone vault behind the peak). But, there are now many interpretive exhibits at the memorial, recording the history of the monument, the history of our country, and the history of the presidents that grace the mountain.
When I arrived, I thought it was just a carved mountain. When I left, I saw it as a monument to the greatness that is my country: The United States of America. I really liked this quote about Mt. Rushmore from the sculptor, Gutzon Borglum:
"I want, somewhere in America on or near the Rockies, the backbone of the Continent, so far removed from succeeding, selfish, coveting civilizations, a few feet of stone that bears witness, carries, the likenesses, the dates, a word or two of the great things we accomplished as a Nation, placed so high it won't pay to pull down for lesser purposes.
Hence, let us place there, carved high, as close to heaven as we can, the words of our leaders, their faces, to show posterity what manner of men they were. Then breathe a prayer that these records will endure until the wind and the rain alone shall wear them away."
1. Westlands Park 2. Mt. Rushmore 3. Roxborough State Park 4. Cheyenne, WY (Technically, I've been here, but just driving through. Living so close, I'd like to check it out a little closer) 5. The Colorado State Fair in Pueblo, CO
At the end of our summer vacation, we met my parents in Montrose, Colorado to see the Black Canyon together. The main thing we did at the park was a boat tour of the canyon (The tour was technically located in Curecanti National Recreation Area. Part of the Canyon is in the national park and the rest is a national recreation area). We hiked down to the Gunnison river and followed the river to the boat dock. We ate lunch at a nice picnic shelter near the dock:
The park rangers made sure we all got life-jackets. Henry was not super thrilled with his.
Then we started the tour. It's a very pretty canyon.
Henry's favorite part seemed to be the roof of the boat.
After the boat tour, we drove over to the visitor's center for Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.
In the visitor's center, we watched a movie on the history of the canyon, both its natural history and the "taming" of the canyon and the harnessing of the water of the Gunnison River. And, of course, I bought books from the NPS bookstore. James and Thomas did the Junior Ranger program again at this park. They picked up the junior ranger booklets for Curecanti NRA too, but we didn't have time for them to finish both.
This is the visitor's center as seen from the overlook we walked to:
Dad had checked out the overlook while the boys were doing their junior ranger stuff, so he watched Henry while the rest of us hiked down to the overlook.
The way that the late afternoon sunshine filtered through the canyon was so pretty. It's so hard to capture on film the panoramic views of a canyon in the way you see them in person. Especially not with a point and shoot camera! So, this picture is a poor representation of how gorgeous Black Canyon is, but it's the best I've got.
The overlook, as seen from the porch of the visitor's center:
While on our summer vacation to the Vernal area, we drove up to see Flaming Gorge. It was a scenic drive. The road from Vernal to Flaming Gorge is educational, too. As you drive past rock formations, signs tell you which geologic era the formation is from and what fossils are likely found in it.
We checked out the dam and the visitor's center. We didn't spend too long. We could have taken the dam tour, but didn't have time.
For some reason I didn't take very many pictures. Here's one of the two I took:
We started out the day with a hike. We'd seen a few on our auto tour that we wanted to do, but had run out of time for hiking (well, that and the fact that while we were doing the tour it was mid-day and hotter than hades).
So, the first hike we did was to Swelter Shelter. It wasn't a very long hike (you could see the rock shelter from the road), but it was an interesting Fremont Rock Shelter with petroglyphs and pictographs in it. I can totally see why the archaeologists who excavated it named it Swelter Shelter. It was only 9am but the sun was already baking the shelter.
Also baking in the sun, all over the park, were lots and lots of lizards.
Here's Ms. Archaeologist with an archaeological site. I bored my children mightily throughout the trip with talks of petroglyphs, basketry, pottery, bifaces, and atlatls. Someday they might actually be interested.
James, however, was interested in this little cave near the site.
Next, we hiked a bit around the Bassett homestead. There were two trails. Both went to box canyons. The first one was rather sunny and hot and the boys got tired of it quickly, so we never got to the end. We stopped at a picnic table under some trees that Josie Bassett planted to have lunch, after which we did the other hike. It was much shorter and completely shady. Much more pleasant with three little boys.
Henry even fell asleep while we hiked.
We sat in the shade to eat the trail mix I'd made that the boys had been begging for and took some pictures. James took this one.
All the hiking made for tuckered out boys, all of whom slept on the drive back to the visitor's center.
When we got there, James and Thomas perked up and went to a Children's Ranger Talk so they could pass off that part of their Junior Ranger program. They finished their booklet, took the Junior Ranger pledge, and got their badges. They thought that was pretty fun.
The next evening, we drove out to Dinosaur National Monument for the last time. We waited until the sun was quite low in the sky to do the Fossil Discovery Trail. I was impressed with James and Thomas for hiking as far as they did. We hiked about a mile and a half. We got up pretty high, too. You can't tell here, but, Thomas is standing on a little ledge carved into the side of the rock so he could get high enough to touch this dinosaur bone.
This one was closer to the trail. There were a lot of dinosaur bones in this wall of rock.
The big thing at this park is the fossil wall that the visitor's center is built around, but since it's condemned, we didn't get to see that wall. But, this one was still pretty cool. Here's the visitor's center as seen from our hiking trail: Before we left the Monument for the last time, I took a picture of the boys in their dinosaur t-shirts that we bought them (at Target!) for the trip.
I was impressed with James and Thomas for hiking as far as they did. We hiked about a mile and a half. We got up pretty high, too.
You can't tell here, but, Thomas is standing on a little ledge carved into the side of the rock so he could get high enough to touch this dinosaur bone.
The big thing at this park is the fossil wall that the visitor's center is built around, but since it's condemned, we didn't get to see that wall. But, this one was still pretty cool. Here's the visitor's center as seen from our hiking trail:
Before we left the Monument for the last time, I took a picture of the boys in their dinosaur t-shirts that we bought them (at Target!) for the trip.
