St. Louis Fun

We had to make an overnight stop on the way to St. Louis. We were able to but hunt around the campground and call it an early night. We settled in at the campground in St Louis at the casino. It was a nice campground and very quiet except for the road noise of the highway. We had buffet at the casino one night and it was okay. E ate a lot of shrimp, he now eats shrimp… weird. B ensured that no dessert went untasted! The next morning was out trip to City Museum. The boys have been waiting for several years to come back here. We had an awesome time showing Grandma and Grandpa around inside, outside, above and below the main floors. We got Grandma and Grandpa to try everything we could. You have to really involve yourself in all aspects to really understand this place. We discovered an insect collection we didn’t see last time. E loved the stateless park. Everyone enjoyed some crafting with the Snowflake Lady. The hamster wheel was a hit and a drag. No-one was hurt other than ego. Something caught fire and was smoking so the museum was evacuated. We stood outside waiting for a while. Everything was okay and we got to go back and enjoy the less crowded museum for a few more hours. What a spectacular place to visit. If you haven’t been, you MUST!

 

Now we enter the long drive home. The summer draws to an end and we dive right back into school and 4-H in 3 days.

More Custer State Park Fun

We made several trips around the wildlife loop when we were there. The buffalo apparently broke through the boundary fence and were excited to see the fresh tall grass on the other side. They were all over the roads. This jam took us almost 30 minutes to get through. The little car doesnt have engine noise so the buffalo just wouldn’t move! We stopped and fed the burros carrots. They were a bit aggressive and they we discovered E was in the backseat waving carrots and then closing his window. We saw a lot of pronghorn. Ha

B found a dead bug but didn’t want to carry it because he was too busy. He passed it off to Mom and the thing immediately started wiggling its legs and trying to flip over. Mom was not excited!

And some random photos out of order on the camera from the Buffalo Safari Jeep ride.

Custer State Park in South Dakota

Bison Bison Bison… We got stuck in so many bison jams while traveling around the park. We had a great time on the safari getting up close to the bison as well. E was out official fire builder and maned the wood pile. We explored the Needles Highway and the amazing framed views of Mount Rushmore. The boys enjoyed some rock scrambling and hiking around the lake. They made some friends and showed them all the secret paths they found through and over the rocks. The boys had a fun time shopping at the rock shop in town and gathered some new specimen for their rock/gem collections. E got a fox tail too!

We had a good time at the chuckwagon cookout. We all enjoyed signing along and dancing . We did the hokey pokey and the chicken dance. Everyone really got into it!

Harrison, Nebraska Total Eclipse of the Sun

We were up way before sunrise and off in the car from Custer State Park in South Dakota to Agate Fossil Beds in Harrison, Nebraska.

Agate Fossil Beds had a great program and lots of room to stretch out and have our own space to watch the eclipse.

We made solar bracelets and sun prints.

We had out own little spot along the edge of a field. We snacked and talked and passed the time until the eclipse began.

We all enjoyed using our solar glasses to look at the sun.

We were able to watch the progress of the eclipse through the binoculars over a white towel. It was neat to see the crescent shapes get smaller and smaller. It was really amazing to see how quickly the weather changed. The temperature dropped about 10-15 degrees. The crickets started chirping and the bats came out. It got dark really quickly in the minute before totality. During totality you could use binoculars to see the corona of the moon. It was especially bizarre when totality ended and the sun became visible again. The colors were so muted. All the photos had this white light line.

Some photos from David’s camera. This is the morning when we arrived. Setteling in and trying to not look at the sun directly.

Shadows became fuzzy during the eclipse. If you looked through tree shadows you could see small crescent shapes too. It was all surreal.

Billings, Montana Overnight

We had a one night stop in Billings on the way to Custer State Park. We opted to go out to check out their state fair. We had a great time seeing all the 4-H exhibits.

Emmerson enjoyed a huge funnel cake. 

Mom found cheese curds! They were yummy.

Opening the oysters.

The highlight of the day was getting to open oysters with pearls in them! We each got a cool necklace to hold our pearl.