Mount Rushmore and More

Wendy Woodland 6/22/23

**Note this was posted a few weeks after I wrote it.

We were pretty excited to get to our 3rd state on our trip. Ahh, South Dakota. Nick and I realized that neither of us had spent any time here. Wow…this land is beautiful! We are doing a lot of learning about geology- Nick’s favorite -and learning more about how the Westward expansion impacted everyone. In all honesty, I have a bit of unease about the intimidating sculpture that is clearly staring down the Indians. I don’t argue that the presidents weren’t important and weren’t worthy of a huge sculpture, but the placement is, well, suspect! As we arrived at Mount Rushmore, Nick commented, “You have arrived at your desecration”. We laughed, but let’s be honest…it is soooo true. We don’t need to get into political debates, here, as I am sure I would lose with more passionate foes, but it was odd. 

That being said, it was an impressive feat! It is awe-inspiring. On that, I am sure we can agree. The kids were impressed and the hike was not easy. We walked up the trail and met a nice Lakota Indian who even played us a song on his drum. He tried to get Nick to dance, but that drum wasn’t magical! 

Our campsite was once-again a Full Hook Up site, but much more spread out and actually in the woods. While we had a couple of wicked storms (too loud to hear our movie!) the weather held out enough for the visits to the required sites, a hike near Sylvan Lake and some hanging out in Custer, SD- which is really a cute town. We found a cute store in town called “A Walk in the Woods” that all the kids couldn’t help noticing Aunt Kay would love. Teagan noticed so much that she spent all of the rest of her allowance buying Aunt Kay gifts for her recent birthday. 

We are learning about money on our trip. Each child has had a moment of realization that they need to do better at deciding what to spend their money on when we stop. We had agreed to $30 a month for each to spend on extra road snacks (we always buy some, but they always needs something when we stop), gas stations slushies (they really do deserve their own category), ice cream (yes, it does too), and souvenirs. They picked 30, which sounded like a lot until after our first stop when they all had sticker shock. They have since negotiated up to $40 each for July. They have borrowed each others so much that now it is all jumbled. Also, I am a bit of a sucker and on occasion we splurge as I am a bit desperate for them to enjoy the trip, and if ice cream doesn’t make everything better, I don’t know what does! We made it about 10 days on $30, so we will see how far 40 goes. We also give money for extra chores like helping with laundry, and also for putt-putt victories (50 cents for a par on a hole or $1 for an eagle, with a bonus for the winner). Nick is making out like a bandit!

The weather has been tough. We have had 7 nights (out of 10 so far) of rain and we think we might need a de-humidifier and already ordered a moisture barrier for our beds. We are trying to avoid mold, but the weather is not cooperating. The sun is shining this morning finally as I type this at our campsite. Last night we had a severe tornado watch and started wondering what we should do if we had that encounter. Thankfully, we didn’t get the brunt of that storm, but it does make one think…