Thank you Lebanon Hills MN

Maybe only RV'ers would get this but this weekend we really, really, really needed a good RV park and thankfully we found it at Lebanon Hills in Eagen MN.  Clean park, full hook-ups, easy to find and get into, great hosts, TV, internet (that actually works) and a mountain biking park that is like Disneyland to mountain bikers. We reserved this spot for 2 nights but quickly booked another after we got here.

A little tire trouble but the awesome dudes in Adrian MN fixed it.

The fertile ground in this area grows some amazing crops

Biking at Lebanon Hills Recreational Park

Good and Bad things at the Badlands

What a beautiful and desolate place all at the same time.  We all felt a sense of awe as we came from the flat lands of Wyoming and a long drive day, into Badlands National Park.  I have a growing sense of anticipation of the National Parks, now, after we've visited so many. There is good reason why they've been preserved and valued. They truly are some of the most beautiful and unusual areas in America.  Badlands is no exception.  Striking jagged mountains among beautiful prairies.  Very "Dances with Wolves" like.

Matt having a moment

The kids holding up pelts of local animals (we are very good hunters)

I must include one story that had my heart pumping.  Without internet, I wrote about it on Word one night.

Badlands Story: 

Highly emotional day in the park.  What a fantastic place to allow my kids to explore, climb, jump and slide down the interesting hills surrounding us.  However, later on in the afternoon, while I was reading a book and listening to their gander, my mommy radar went off when I heard, “Elise, come up here!”  I looked behind me and discovered I couldn’t see them any longer.  They must be just on the other side of the hill.  I decided to go check out where they are.  Tanner was coming down the hill and said, “Mom, Elise is stuck!”  My mommy radar is going off in high gear as I begin to climb the hills to find Alex and Elise.  Tanner directs me to a section we had not explored.  I climbed up 30 feet and began to shimmy my way towards them.  My heart sank when I looked over to see my small six year old curled up against the dirt of the downward sloping ledge barely one foot across, looking down on a cliff.  Now, my pounding heart went into overdrive as I saw Alex about 5 feet ahead of her, also paralyzed with fear on the small ledge of dirt.  Anger rose up and I began to lecture him on why he should NEVER get his sister into such a predicament, that he was in so much trouble and on and on. Then, I began to see his quivering lip and realized my reactions were not helping him at all.  One of those truly terrible mommy moments for me.  I was terrified as I inched my way towards my whimpering six year old and began to realize that I was becoming stuck myself.  My feet were slipping, my heart was racing and all I could think was, “we are going to fall”.  I had just been reading up on the sudden storms that overtook this area in the summer, and a gust of wind came and blew my hat off.  I couldn’t go forward, I couldn’t go backwards and there was a storm coming.  Suddenly, there was another voice and I heard Alex call out, “we need help!”.  Two men appeared and one turned out to be a teenager who was a cook at the local lodge.  He quickly scaled the hill and began to talk very calmly to us.  He slowly made his way out to Alex and was able to help him get off the ledge in the opposite direction.  Then he made his way back to Elise where he put himself and his 12 foot tennis shoes on the outer rim of the small ledge, protecting her little body and he coaxed her to the wider part of the ledge.  At this point, Matt, who had been working in the RV, appeared around the hill and quickly climbed up to my stiff body.  He calmly directed me to hold on to his pocket as we made our way off the ledge.  I told myself not to look down and somehow my shoes did not slip off the edge.  The other older man had been calmly directing and encouraging his teen cook and our family as we slowly made our way down the steep crevice.    We were all able to slide on our behinds down the steep hill and thank our rescuers.  The older man was the manager of the local lodge and invite us in for ice cream.  I was so grateful for his kind and encouraging words and the fact that he took notice of our predicament and reached out.  His teen cook had more courage than I could muster at the moment, and without a care for his own safety, took care of my kids.  I am forever grateful.  We had a family meeting afterwards to talk through what had happened.  We hugged and I asked for forgiveness for yelling out of fear.  Alex told me that he kept praying for a rewind, that God would grant him a “do over”.  Tanner quickly added that he had prayed continuously for God to get us off the ledge safely.  I am so grateful for kids who turn to a Lord that hears our prayers. 

Leaving Badlands and the Black Hills

Yesterday we took Curvy (the Honda CR-V... get it?) on a tour of the Black Hills.  We visited Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer State Park and had great pizza in the town of Custer.  The kids earned another 2 Junior Ranger badges. After staying at Cedar Pass Campground and seeing what the Custer area was like we decided if we came back we would stay over there instead. Gorgeous country to say the least. We left early this morning and probably ticked off all the campers in the park with our loud diesel engine.  Oh well.  Makes up for all the loud Harley riders everywhere around us.  I have to say, now that I've experienced a little bit of what its like to be around Sturgis during the rally, I'll be happy if I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever see another Harley Davidson again.

(Mental note: Don't forget to close sun roof on car. When it rains at night apparently water comes through that big hole and soaks everything.)

Exploring the campground

Hiking the weird Badland structures

Our camp

Kids being monkeys of course

The Oath

Rushmore in the fog

Custer for Pizza

Leaving Badlands at 6am

Nearly a week into it....

Okay, it's been six days....where do we stand, or sleep at this point....

Day one:  Grangeville, ID.  Beautiful farming land of Idaho.  Stayed at a farm that was sold and redesigned as an RV stopping ground.  Run by a younger couple who employ older couples who are full time RVer's and get to stay for free while taking care of the place.  Great system for all and as you can imagine, it was extra clean. 

Sunset on the prairie

Day two:  Lolo Hot Springs, MT.  I was particularly excited about this stop as it sounded so amazing.  It was no so amazing.  It was run down and the "hot spring" was an old pool that made me wonder about certain bacteria looming on my skin.  "Let it go, Cassie, let it go."  Okay, we did meet some interesting people who made it more enjoyable.  In particular, a family from the Ukraine who had 17 children!  Loved listening to the language!!

Split Creek Bridge on Lochsa River

Day three and four:  Big Sky, MT.  Absolutely breathtaking scenery.  I begin to wonder why more people aren't populating these amazing natural beauties.  We stayed at Moose Creek Campground with no hookups with my brother Ryan, wife Shauna and niece, Makena.  They tented it by the river, living the simple life but did enjoy the generator for good coffee in the morning.  The boys mountain biked Big Sky resort, while the girls and kids explored all over the amazing resort.  There were so many things to do, some free and some costly, but two days was no enough.  A place we will definitely return to.

Kena helped Leesy lose her tooth

When in Montana . . . shoot guns.

Movie time