And the race to New Jersey started

Places we visited

We woke up early-ish the day after Badlands to start our trek to New Jersey. We had to get there by the 29th so John could drive to D.C. for work. On the 27th, we drove from South Dakota and made it halfway through Wisconsin. The following day we drove through Illinois, Idaho and party through Ohio. We were stunned at the cost of the tolls! Driving a 35' RV and towing a car wasn't cheap. We finished the last leg of the trip pulling into my parents' house late on the afternoon of the 29th. Driving nonstop was challenging for the kids but we were able to stop for breaks so they could run around. They loved doing school work on their iPads and also kept occupied playing Minecraft which is their newest obsession. Here are a few random pics from the road and a map for reference.        

The boys and The Stuffed Brigade

    

   

Unreal!!

Finally!

 

Badlands National Park

We packed up and headed east to Badlands National Park. Saying it was impressive is an understatement. The boys were excited to dig for fossils and then mad that they could only "learn" about them. Their mood improved at the Visitors Center where they got more trinkets and a few more stuffed animals for The Stuffed Brigade, including a stuffed rattlesnake.

According to NPS.gov, Badlands "contains one of the world’s richest fossil beds. Ancient mammals such as the rhino, horse, and saber-toothed cat once roamed there." To learn more about the park, click here Badlands National Park. 

Here are a few photographs from our brief visit. We would have loved to have stayed longer but we had to get to NJ by the September 29th. After leaving the park, we drove a few more hours to a nondescript RV park and crashed for the night.

   

   

      

      

   

Mount Rushmore, Wind Cave and Jewel Cave in South Dakota

We left Grand Teton, Wyoming to this:
 

which quickly turned into this...scary seeing a F250 truck spun out at the side of the road:


And thankfully turned into this:


Before we arrived at our campsite:


We took a wrong turn heading to Mount Rushmore and ended up in Custer State Park. The boys always love to see Bison and Prong Horn Antelope.

Seeing these Hawaiian born boys in their hats is super cute!

Pronghorn antelope



 this guy was RIGHT at the side of the road less than 25 yards from us. We got to see him cross the road.


Mount Rushmore has also been on my bucket list for years. It was pretty amazing and even more awe inspiring to realize how difficult and how long it took the workers to create this. The boys loved the exhibit at the Museum where they could "blow up" different areas of the monument on the screen.
Click this link to learn more from the National Park Service about the history of Mount Rushmore: history and the men who created this amazing feat Gutzon Borglum and historic photos photos


Because it was raining, we decided to hit the caves instead of braving the weather outside. Wind Cave National Park was the first real cave the boys have been in. Not as dramatic as Carlsbad Caverns but still pretty impressive. They weren't 100% thrilled when the Ranger turned the lights out for 5 minutes and we were in complete darkness.  Click here to learn more about the formations at Wind Cave: Wind Cave and here to learn more about the interesting history of the park: history

Jewel Cave National Monument wasn't as exciting for the boys as Wind Cave. Our tour options were: 15 steps down to a large "room" to learn about the formations for 20 minutes -OR- 783 steps up and down for 1.5 hours and children were not allowed to be picked up. We chose the shorter option. The boys were bored but the "jewel" formations were interesting. Click here to learn about the history of Jewel Cave: History  and here to see more pictures of the cave: cave formations
                                                                                    

Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks

Yellowstone National Park is simply amazing!! It has been on our bucket list of places to visit for years.  Click here to read more about the History of Yellowstone National Park.

We had planned on spending two days in Yellowstone and a day at Grand Teton National Park. However, this plan was changed due to snowstorms in September and road closures so spent 2.5 days in Yellowstone instead. Unfortunately, we could only see a small portion of Yellowstone because most of the roads were closed.

Bison at the side of the road, elk, geysers, hot springs, snow covered trees, mountains and rivers were pretty impressive! Our Hawaiian born boys were in awe of the wildlife. A stop to the Old Faithful Visitor Center was a must for #allthetrinkets (patches, postcards, hiking stick medallions, an ornament and stuffed animals for the boys). Old Faithful did NOT disappoint... such an incredible sight to see!! We did a short hike to Kepler Cascade falls. The boys enjoyed playing in the snow because this was a new experience for them. We didn't have enough warm clothes for them so at one point I put plastic baggies on their hands to keep them dry. The geysers and painted pots were impressive. Instead of heading to Grand Teton on the 3rd day, we saw the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone National Park. It was pretty incredible but the boys were cold so the sightseeing was cut short. If you ask the boys, I think their favorite part of the park was the wildlife. The bison are so massive. We saw several herds of bison and some were at the side of the road.

         
         
 
 
   
        

   

   
 The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

 Yellowstone Falls


We stopped in the town of West Yellowstone for a visit at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, click here to learn more about it... pretty amazing!! Grizzly Discovery Center  All of the animals here have been saved and are unable to live in the wild. The boys learned so much from the movie about wolves shown and the bear exhibits. The grizzly bears and wolves were pretty impressive to see.

    

We packed up the following morning and headed to Fireside Buffalo RV Park in Moran, WY near Grand Teton National Park. It was a bit of a snowy drive. We have been cursed with bad weather this whole trip (fog, smoke, rain, haze, snow) and it is a little discouraging :(  The next morning it was raining. So we hung out in the RV until it cleared. Mid afternoon we headed to the park and were able to see some of the mountains. It was too cold to hike so we learned what we could at the Visitor Center and called it a day. At least we were able to see the leaves starting to change color... something we haven't see in 8 years on Oahu.