We left Rushmore View RV this morning. It was nice to be so close to everything and to walk everywhere we wanted to go in town but it was cramped and noisy. Hopefully our next place is a little more peaceful with enough space to put the awning out.

We decided to add Wind Cave National Park as an after-thought when I realized it was on our way to Scott’s Bluff. Apparently a lot of other people had the same idea because the place was hoppin’! To go on a cave tour, we would have had to wait several hours. I had researched ahead of time and anticipated this. We decided to do the self-guided tour of the grounds/natural entrance and work on the Junior Ranger badge.

The girls earned their badges and we checked out the teepee and sign outside before leaving. We hurried once we noticed the sky getting dark!

We did catch some rain while driving south to Scotts Bluff. As we were driving, we got a text from Melissa stating they were actually going to Scotts Bluff today too! I didn’t mention it to the kids and they were surprised when we pulled up and their friends were there. We were supposed to meet up for the first time this trip tomorrow in Denver.

The kids worked on their second Junior Ranger booklets of the day and 6 of the 8 kids participated this time and got their badges.

Then we wanted to drive up to see the bluff from the top. The only problem? No trailers allowed. We thought about disconnecting but then decided we could squeeze in Melissa and Joe’s 15 passenger van for the 1.5 mile climb (it only seats 8 due to some rows being removed for sleeping space and storage). It was kind of comical, especially when we unloaded. This video doesn’t even capture the 4 people sitting in the front row!

There were some great views from the top. It was posted everywhere not to leave the path. Some had more trouble with this rule than others (ahem, Asa!). Cal took the picture of the sign. Notice anything out of place?

After seeing what we could see at the North Overlook, we split up. The 4 oldest went with the dads and did the Saddle Rock Trail where they walked the 1.5 miles down to the parking lot. The rest of us checked out the South Overlook then drove back down.

Big kids and dads:

Little kids and moms:

We saw lots of cool plant life along the way. First the soapweed yucca which I was obsessed with. They were huge! The ranger said they don’t normally bloom this much but there is a superbloom this year.

We also saw black eyed susan, prickly pear cactus, vetch, phlox, cedar, ponderosa pines and red clover.

We also walked a bit on the Oregon Trail Pathway.

By this time it was getting pretty late. We had originally planned to stay about 2.5 hrs from Denver in Nebraska but with our plan to meet up with the Yatzecks in Denver in the morning, it seemed better to be within an hour of there. The place in Nebraska was free and first-come, first-serve so we didn’t need to worry about cancelling anything. I looked for a different free spot and we decided to try a Cracker Barrel.

With our long driving day, we had skipped lunch and needed to find dinner first. This was harder than we first thought but we found a Pizza Hut with dine-in service. It couldn’t come soon enough because another storm was barreling in, this one with hail and high winds.

By the time we were done eating, the storm had passed. We got back on the road towards Denver. It was turning into a long driving day. The iPads were out of battery, the kids were both slap happy and cranky, and construction and rain made the drive seem like it took longer than it did.

Luckily the gamble paid off and the manager at Cracker Barrel said we can stay. We didn’t want to set up all the beds (to set up one of them we need to take bikes off of the bike rack). We set up a different sleeping arrangement for the night and the kids liked the novelty of it.

Miles today: 361

Yatzecks post for today: https://wp.me/peTbeK-Dh