A Little Cheese with that Laura??

I continue to be amazed at how the Lord blesses us in our bumbling journey. It really worked out well, in the end, to abandon our campsite and leave Yellowstone a night earlier. Because we had done that, we were able to spend more time at Mt. Rushmore than if we'd had to do it yesterday, on our drive to De Smet, SD. And because we had that extra time, we had time for some silly stuff, like a visit to Wall Drug in Wall, SD, a leisurely drive through the Badlands, and a brief visit to the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD, before we arrived at our covered wagon in De Smet!

So literally, within 100 miles of our stopping place in Rapid City, we pulled into Wall, SD, to visit the place we'd seen signs about for miles. I've never stopped at South of the Border off of I-95 in northern SC, but I'm sure it's similar. There was a lot of cheese to be had, and we're not talking French brie or anything like that! Skipper would not sit on the 6 foot jackalope, but he did condesend to stand at the fake covered wagon for a picture. We've got more cheesy snapshots than we need, but it was certainly memorable. We also got in just ahead of the lunch rush, and those of us who wanted to were able to eat a bison burger before we continued our trip.

Just south of Wall, we entered Badlands National Park, and we were again amazed at the surreal beauty of God's creation in our very own country!! (make sure you notice the OHIO that we performed at the precipice of one of the cliffs). Skipper was once again thrilled to be able to sit through another 20 minute film about the Badlands (it seems so long ago that he was ticked about seeing the film about the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest!).

Moving along, we were compelled by memories of our niece from Seattle's recollection of her stop at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, 10 years ago this summer. We just HAD to stop and at least buy her a post card (which is written, but still stuffed in my purse...). We made sandwiches for dinner in the van as we drove the last little bit into De Smet and something I've wanted to do since I was a little girl: visiting the Laura Ingalls Wilder spots there.

Some of you may snicker at my somewhat obsessive-compulsive planning (I had some of the reservations for this trip booked since last September), but because of this, I was able to book one of the 4 covered wagons on the Ingalls Homestead to stay overnight in! However, after assessing the situation (this particular wagon only slept 4; we are a bit uncertain how it actually was supposed to do that), we decided that the kids could sleep in the wagon; we would set up the tent for me and the Professor. We prepped our site, and were able to have a look around on the viewing platform at the homestead, before heading over to the field adjacent to the homestead to watch the pageant. For 39 years, the townspeople of De Smet have kept their pioneer history alive, first by a radio drama, then by an outdoor pageant reinacting portions of Laura Ingalls Wilder's life, as told in her famous children's books. This year was the premier performance of an adaptation of "The First Four Years." Although it probably could've been shorter, the heart that the townspeople have for the story is impressive. There are over 100 volunteers who help with the performance, which takes place for 3 weekends every July. After the show, we went back to our covered wagon and, after some time stargazing under the amazing SD sky, tucked everyone in, then climbed into our tent.

The funny thing about a prairie is the lack of trees to block wind, and boy, can it whip across the prairie!! Our tent shook and flapped and jingled (zipper pulls) allllll night long!! I think we may actually have gotten less sleep last night than our cold night in Yellowstone. We finally took the rain fly off at about 6ish, and were able to watch a beautiful sunrise over the prairie.

We packed up, then spent the morning exploring the homestead itself. We were able to pet the brand new filly, born during the windy night. After some pony riding, we took a wagon ride (Ginger was able to drive the team of mules) to an old schoolhouse to learn what it was like to go to school in the late 1800's. We returned from the school and did some rope making, corn husking, and corn husk-doll-making. We washed and wrung out clothes and saw what a dugout was like. It was a terrific morning.

We then headed into the town of De Smet, about a mile away, and had lunch at DQ/Subway (that was about the only show in town), and took a drive by the other Laura sights before heading to Sioux Falls, SD to a Best Western with a water park. The kids have all had a great time playing--it's the perfect size for them--and we've been able to relax before our LONG driving day tomorrow. We're hoping to get as close to Springfield, IL as we can tomorrow, so that on Monday we can visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library/Museum as Mr. Moose recommended. We'll then head on to the Howells and our doggie in Ohio Monday evening. We'll stay there until Thursday; my family is having a summer picnic on Wednesday before we head home.

It looks like we might hit some bad weather tomorrow; prayers are appreciated!! Also, I'm having some issues with uploading the photos onto the blog; there will be more later, I promise!

*Note: we did have bad weather, but it wasn't nearly as long as I thought it might be. PTL.

Hope you like the new pics.