This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
Vacation 2016, Part 1
Nov
29
2016
Here’s a recap of our summer vacation. This year, it was driving to Mt. Rushmore.
Day 1
The first day was just a long day of driving. Made it to Des Moines, IA. The hotel there was fine – standard chain fare that meets our requirements (pool, breakfast, sleeps 6 per room, has a fridge, etc.). The main item of note with our stop in Des Moines was that our hotel was within walking distance of a Pizza Ranch. My wife had memories of visiting Pizza Ranches in her younger days, but I and the boys had never even heard of it.
If you have never been to Pizza Ranch, you need to change that. Especially if you have growing boys who like to eat. It’s an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet, with additions such as fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, corn, and – my favorite part – dessert pizza. It’s a good thing we walked across the parking lot, because we needed that walk back to burn some of the calories we gained in the restaurant.
After a bit of time for digestion, we spent some time in the pool, then watched some TV because that’s tradition on vacation now, and then off to bed.
Day 2
The second day was just a long day of driving. Made it to Sidney, NE. Home of Cabela’s. The hotel there was great – it met our requirements and then some. It was called a lodge, so it had timber throughout the lobby and hallways to make it look lodgey. Our room was the closest one to the breakfast area, which was convenient. It was one of our favorite hotels of the trip.
We got there around dinner time. I took the kids to the Cabela’s store, which was about two buildings over. It was not as impressive as the newer Cabela’s back home, but it was a fun distraction after being in the van for 8 hours. We got back and had dinner than my wife had made in the room’s kitchen.
After a bit of time for digestion, we spent some time in the pool, then watched some TV because that’s tradition on vacation now, and then off to bed.
Day 3
The third day was a few hours of driving. Days 1 and 2 had been all interstate, but since I was driving and I made the itinerary, I chose the more direct route that was all local highways. Mainly one lane in each direction. I made sure to fill up the gas tank in Sidney because once you head north out of there you don’t see much.
After a while, the boys got excited when they saw a town, because they were few and far between. I pointed out a Nebraska skyscraper to them. They were disappointed when they realized it was just a silo. Although I think one of them thought it was funny.
After lunch in the van as in other days, we ended up at our intended waypoint – Wind Cave National Park.
First order of business was to get our free pass to all the national parks. That was what prompted our vacation to go this direction – free national parks this year.
It worked because we had a 4th grader. Relatively little paperwork, too. So we all got in free to the Wind Cave tour.
Here is the walk to the start of the tour:
The ranger gave introductory remarks and warnings at the pavilion, then we walked to the site of the discovery of the cave, where he gave another talk.
Then we went into the airlock and down the steps to the cave. Thanks to the CCC, the hour-long tour had concrete steps and walking paths.
Here’s another shot of the amiable ranger talking about the cave some more.
The walk back to the visitor center was a decent length, so I’m glad it was nice out.
After Wind Cave, we drove to Custer, which is a town near Mt. Rushmore. Due to various reasons, I chose the Bavarian Inn in Custer. It was fairly scenic on first glance.
But the inside of the room was less impressive. There wasn’t anything necessarily wrong with it, other than there was no lock on the bathroom door. But things were either outdated or mismatched. Two biggest complaints: no lock on the bathroom door and the extra bed to sleep the extra people was a futon. Now with the complaining out of the way, good things: the place was clean and both the indoor and outdoor pools were heated. There was a swingset that the boys took advantage of and also a walking trail that let them expend some energy. We liked the place better at the end of our stay there than we did upon arrival. Plus the owners are friendly and attentive. I think they live above the lobby. We called with a problem, and the owner guy came to our room to fix it. And then I saw him watering the flowers later.
Here’s the view from our door. We were at the end of the upstairs outdoor hallway.
We had planned on going out to dinner this evening, but the place was closed that day so we cooked something in the room’s kitchen again.
Some more pool, some more TV, then bed time.
To be continued…
So Ephron’s field, which was in Machpelah, which faced Mamre, the field and cave which was in it, and all the trees which were in the field, that were within all the confines of its border, were deeded over
Genesis 23:17
This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 6:39 am and has been carefully placed in the Travel category.
