Swimming and Ice Cream

The train pulled back into the station at about 3:30 so we headed back to the hotel for more swimming and a late nap for Peanut.  She was REALLY grumpy when she woke up after an hour and half and wouldn’t stop crying. Poor thing has a hard time when her schedule is disrupted.

I tried all the tricks, but she wouldn’t stop so I finally just stuffed her in her swimsuit (still crying) and took her down to join the other kids where she cried in my lap for a few more minutes before getting down to go sit in the water on the steps.

Then Daddy helped her jump in so she was happy.

Buggy was showing me some of her new tricks.

Back float.

And underwater somersaults. She can do 4 in a row!

And here’s Boo swimming across the whole pool. 

Later, on the way home at the hotel pool she swam for real, no life jacket! I was so proud of her!  I didn’t have my phone though so I couldn’t get a video.  That pool was 3 feet on either end and 5 in the middle and she started on one end and swam across the 5 foot part to the other side!  Yay Boo!  We’ll have to take her swimming and get some video soon. 

When we were on the train we saw a big sign on the back of a restaurant called the Chubby Burger that said 99 cent ice cream cones with your train ticket stub, so that night after dinner and showers we took the kids out for ice cream in their pjs.

It had a cute little counter where they waited for their cones.

Apparently in South Dakota you have chocolate, vanilla, or “twist” instead of swirl, as we call it.  There was another place right across from our hotel called the “Dairy Twist”.

No matter what the name the kids loved it!

Nothing better than ice cream before bed!

1880’s Train

The 1880’s train was one of our most fun adventures!  It was such a neat experience!  This train was the setting of a John Wayne movie (I can’t remember which one) and more recently it was in a Big&Rich music video.

The kids were so excited!

The train travels back and forth between Hilly City and Keystone all day.  It only takes 15 minutes to drive by car but by train it was an hour.  On the way down we sat in a covered car.  It had neat stained glass windows, and was made of wood which creaked and cracked as we went along.

I don’t think Peanut understood that we were actually ON the train because every time she would look out the window she would get excited and point to the front of the train shouting, “Choo choo! Righ dere!”

She was pretty squirmy but did like looking out for animals.  We saw a bunch of deer, some turkeys, and a few pronghorn.

Bug and Boo sat on their own seat and took turns at the window.

Peanut took turns going back and forth between Mommy and Daddy.  And back. And forth. And back….

It’s a steam train, but also runs on diesel.  I’m not sure how all that works.

We had seen this cyclist at a few crossings and then a few minutes later the conductor explained that his name is Fred and he rides the 10 mile route almost every day, following the train.  We saw him over a dozen times at the different crossings, and the kids took to yelling out, “HI FRED!” every time. And every time he turned and waved to them.  He had to have been in his late 60’s but T said he saw him washing his sweaty face in the bathroom at the train station, so we think it was already his second time that day!

We grabbed a family picture before exiting the train.

Instead of making the 15 minute turn around we took a later train back so we could explore the town of Keystone on foot for a few hours.

The engine unhooks at each end, refills with water, and then goes around to the “back” of the train and pulls it the other way.  All the seat backs in the train slide so that you can make them face whichever direction the train is going.

Keystone had an old fashioned downtown with wooded porches and boardwalks. It was fun to see all the sights!  I also had to get a picture of T carrying around this oh-so-masculine purple Rapunzel backpack.  As a father of three girls it didn’t even phase him. Haha :)

The kids found this random rock and climbed all over it. :)

Sweet sisters!

We let the girls press a penny since it was only 51 cents.

I thought Peanut looked so cute peeking at me. :)

We tried to eat lunch at a local pizza place but it didn’t open until 12:30 so we settled for Subway.

Miss L found these birds on our walk back to the train station.

And Boo found a horse.

I played Skipbo with the kids while we waited in line for the train.  In a few minutes we heard it coming around the bend.

The engine was massive.  It was so neat to see it up close and watch those huge metal parts working together in tandem.

Boo said, “Look! Elephants!” and pointed to the tracks.  We didn’t know what she was talking about until we noticed these small pieces on the sides of the rails…

On the way back, since we knew the secret of the multi-direction-facing benches we pointed two together.  This time we sat in an open car.  The seats weren’t as comfortable but you could see a lot more.

The girls were all tired and soon were laying all over us. :)

The conductor pointed out all the spots of interest.  This was part of an old tin mine, if I remember correctly.

Peanut was so excited I had to keep a tight arm around her so she wouldn’t fall out!

Love this picture T got.

What a neat experience!  I would definitely recommend it!

Aaalllll Aboard! a

Needles Highway

The Needles Highway wasn’t on our list of things to do but the man that ran our hotel tell us it was one of the “must sees” so we decided to give it a try.  It was on the way to a scenic drive we wanted to take in search of more wildlife anyway.  We didn’t know anything about it or why it was called the Needles Highway, but it turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the trip! 

We were driving on normal one-lane highway-ish roads when they started to deteriorate into “no winter maintenance” roads, barely wide enough for two cars and not a spare inch of shoulder. 

After a few miles we rounded a corner and came upon this…

Such cool rocks! We found out right away where the name came from.  This formation is called the “needle’s eye”.

If I’d have known I would have worn tennis shoes and put the girls in them as well.  We were in sandals but managed to do some rock climbing anyway.  It reminded me so much of my favorite little bible camp. :)

These granite rock formations were just so neat!

The girls thought they were pretty awesome too!

We went through, I think, 8 tunnels on our drive.  The smallest was 8ft. across!  They cut these tunnels right into the rock. T actually reached out and touched the side of one tunnel as we drove.

A little down the way we found the “cathedral spires” which was a whole grouping of rocks shaped like the ones below.  They really did look like a giant’s cathedral!

There was one little crevice people seemed to be going in and out of so T climbed up and found that it opened up to a huge valley below.  These pictures don’t do it justice. It was so pretty!

The girls didn’t let their flip flops stop them. They climbed all over!

Daddy made them laugh with a “holding up the rock” routine. :)

We grabbed a family picture on our way down.

And then the girls each wanted a picture. :)

We continued on our drive.  Finding lots more tunnels.

At one point we came around a corner and there was a HUGE tatonka mere feet away from my open window.  I was too startled to grab the camera so by the time I did I only got him walking away, but it was so neat to see his huge head and sleepy looking eyes up close!

Since these were only one car tunnels you were supposed to “sound horn” every time you went through.

In one of the longer tunnels T said, “Look!  There they are!” It’s hard to see in this picture but Mt. Rushmore was visible.

If I could think of one word for this drive it would be majestic.  Everything looked so beautiful in the setting sun and really brought to life the line “purple mountains majesty”.  Gorgeous.

The next day we found this shirt in a gift shop. 

Not only did we do the Needles Highway but we came back on Iron Mountain Road.  Here’s what the visitor’s guide said about it:  Known for its “pigtail” bridges, Iron Mountain Road redefined what a road could be. Climbing 17 miles from Custer State Park to the entrance of Mount Rushmore, you’ll wind over stacked loops of wooden bridges and through one-lane tunnels that perfectly frame Mount Rushmore. Such care was taken not to disturb the landscape that some sections of the road actually divide into one-lane one-way ribbons that swoop and bound through mixed pine and deciduous forest.

It took us around 3 hours (including our rock climbing stop) to drive those 31 miles which tells you how slow we had to go!

So even though we had no idea what we were getting into we can now say we survived the Needles Highway!