Our Trip from Dexter's View

Here are the pictures that Dex took:

Crazy Horse

Jewel Cave

In the blueberry @ jewel cave

Mt. Rushmore

Our cottage

Devils Tower

Not a bad little budding photographer!

Jewel Cave, Our Cottage, the Bad Lands, and to Home

We also went to Jewel Cave.  Oh what an adventure we had there.  We helped Dex do his Junior Ranger badge and patch requirements which included talking to a park ranger, walking along a trail, and taking one of their guided tours of a cave.  

We took the Discovery tour where we went down in an elevator to a big cave.  It was pretty neat down there.  

The cave has no stalagmites or stalactites.  It is just covered in these crystals (thus it's name).  

While here, after the park ranger was done giving her shpeal, we had a few minutes to just look around.  I was very diligent to keep Juiliette and I in the middle, and if we did venture to the edge I made sure to pull her binky out of her mouth so she wouldn't spit it over the edge.  Well I let my guard down to take a picture and as I snapped it, she spit her binky over edge.  Brett took a picture of it.  I still need to get it.  Fortunately, it landed not to far away and was an easy walk to get. We told the  Park Ranger and she was so sweet and kinda excited about it.  It meant that she got to go off trail to get it.    

Outside, they have this fixture that you can try to go through.  If you make it through, then you can go on certain tours of the cave.  Dex tried it out.  And he fit!

On our way back we had to go geocaching.  I took a picture of the smallest stop sign, ever.

Back at our cottage.  JJ was playing with Dex's truck we found at Pamida in Wyoming, sitting on his new car mat.  She looked cute.

Here is where we stayed.  Whispering Winds Cottages.

Our cute little cottage.

The rest of the place

They have a fire pit that they lit each night.  We finally got to enjoy it on the last night.  We made some smores and chatted with another couple that was staying there.  Funny thing, though.  They were from Omaha (originally, they now live in Tennessee).  The owners were originally from Omaha too.  It was fun to talk about familiar places and hear about what it used to be like.  The gal from Tennessee was actually an audiologist and had worked at the same clinic that we currently take Dex to.  Such a small world.

We rented this giant blueberry of an expedition so we could all ride together.  I think it was one of the best decisions we made.  We had a lot of fun in there.

We made a make-shift bed for Jules and she was so tired that she fell asleep like this.

Outside playing

We also saw Big horn sheep!!!  They are wild, just tagged and rather shabby looking because they are shedding their winter coat.  They were on the side of the road on our way home from dinner.

We also found the yummiest ice cream shop just down the road from where we stayed.  It was so very good!

Sweet Marla took our picture before we left.  She and her husband owned the place.  They were the absolute best.  So very kind and helpful.  We truly enjoyed our stay!

We said our goodbyes to Brett and McKenzie and made our way to the Badlands.  I didn't know what to expect, so it was kinda neat. 

There were beautiful yellow wild flowers in bloom.  It made for a beautiful scene.

We stopped and got our squished penny and passport stamp and tried to get a Jr. Ranger badge but Dex was ornery so we had to go.  

We stayed the night in Mitchell and drove by the Corn Palace.  The outside of the building is created out of corn.  Pretty cool looking and very talented.

The next morning, Ashton wasn't feeling very well so we didn't make anymore stops.  I drove if that tells you how crummy he felt.  He loves to drive.  One stop I do wish we had made was this one.  Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead.  I adore all the Little House books and it would have just been so cool to go see the little house on the prairie, but I had to take care of my family.  I made Ash get a picture of the sign and I just took in the area as we traveled through.  It wasn't at all what I had in my 10 years old mind's eye.  Fortunately it was better.

We made it home and as always, there's no place like home.  Ash had a couple of days before he started his first rotation in, yep, his fourth year of pharmacy school!  WOW!  We are on the home stretch now!