South Dakota Day 4 9/1

South Dakota, Day 4!

Visiting Mount Rushmore!

Eating ice cream at Mount Rushmore

Hiking around Sylvan Lake

South Dakota Day 3 8/31

South Dakota, day 3!
First up, a tour of Jewel Cave.
I did not like the light before the flash, so I kept turning my head during the pictures!

Jewel Cave's most popular tour, the Scenic tour, provides an opportunity to visit chambers decorated with calcite crystals and other speleothems along a paved trail with electric lighting. The tour lasted about an hour and 20 minutes. The cave temperature is 49 degrees year-round.

The tour route involves walking up and down 723 stair steps along a 1/2 mile loop, (equivalent to 40 flights of stairs, which Mama carried me the whole way because backpack carriers were not allowed). During the tour, we saw the "jewels" of Jewel Cave. Known as dogtooth spar and nail head spar, depending on their shape, these calcite crystals line the walls on the Scenic Tour route. We also got to see boxwork, cave popcorn, flowstone, stalactites, stalagmites, draperies, and a long piece of cave bacon (Daddy's favorite).

Here I am helping Daddy as he was trying to fit through the Spelunking test area. Mama finally made it through, but it was a really tight squeeze
(8-1/2"H x 24"W)

Next up: Old time photo and a beer at the Saloon! This is the third dollar Mama and Daddy have posted on the walls in the Saloon. Apparently the other two were relocated, but we couldn't find them.

This is one of Mama's favorite parts of the trip...the begging burrows!
Those guys are not shy!

I thought it was pretty cool that I could put my feet
up on the back of the front seats!

Last up: a hike up to Lover's Leap. I took a little snooze while Mama did all the hard work (which is why she's so flushed!).

South Dakota Day 2 8/30

South Dakota, day 2 (and also Mama and Daddy's First Anniversary)!

Here I am up and ready to start the day after a decent night's sleep (I woke up in the middle of the night because it was a bit cold in our cabin) and a good breakfast. Check me out in my big girl car seat...even though I wasn't one yet, Mama said there was no way that we were going to be in the car for that many hours and have me facing the opposite direction.

This buffalo was sitting outside of our cabin

There's our little cabin on the right!

Here we are in an old fort by the fireplace

Some of the cabins were "townhomes" and had a window between them.
Here we are peeking at Daddy!

On the first night in our cabin I was playing on the bed, which was bumped up against the wall. I was holding on to the low window sill and my hand slipped. It did not feel very good and Mama felt so bad that I got my first injury above my eye!

For Mama and Daddy's big anniversary dinner, we took an old fashioned wagon ride. We sang songs with Cowboy Keith, played instruments, and had a Cowboy Cookout! I LOVE baked beans! Here I am rockin' out with the tambourine!

I fell asleep on the way back, I was so tired. Everybody on the wagon sang "You Are My Sunshine" just for me. That's the song Mama always sings to me when I'm sad!

South Dakota Day 1 8/29

Mama and Daddy took me on my first road trip to South Dakota at the end of August. I did pretty well in the car, but at the very end I was very cranky and sick of being in my car seat. We made lots of stops along the way so I could stretch my legs and have a snack. First tourist stop..the Corn Palace!

Daddy had to hang me upside down so I'd look at the camera. There was just so much to see!

Next stop: Visiting the Prairie Dogs in the Badlands!

This is the first of MANY buffalo on our trip!

My Teeth : Aug 23/24 (9-1/2 months)

Just a couple quick pictures to show off how big my teeth are getting! So far I only have the bottom two, but I've been drooling so much lately, there may be another tooth in the near future!