Vacation Days #4,5,6

Tonight has been one of those frustrating times when I can't get the internet to work quite the way I'd like, and I find myself writing my journal entry for the second time...because it failed to save the first time. SO, it's late, I'm tired, I still have four loads of laundry in the dryer...forgive me if this is shorter than you'd like. I'm sure most of you are most interested in the pictures anyway!!

Tuesday we had to check out of the KOA in Sioux Falls by 11AM. Around 1045 Kindra and I headed to the airport to return the rental car, and Pavan took the others in the camper to stop by the RV dealer to pick up one more thing. After he picked us up at the airport, we headed to Falls Park one last time to pick up a few souvenirs and to take a few more pictures of the falls in the daylight.

We left Sioux Falls around 1PM and headed to De Smet, a drive of about 2 hours in the camper. It was a beautiful drive. A lot of people might think the endless corn fields and prairie grass is boring, but I think it's wonderful.

Once we arrived in De Smet, we took a quick drive around town to get a feel for how easy it would be to walk around the town the next day. It's a small town, a little too far from the camp ground to walk into town, but small enough to walk wherever we wanted to go once we drove into town.

Then we headed out to the Ingalls Homestead. Talk about love at first sight!! You can see from the pictures the beauty of the land and the buildings, you can see all of the fun activities we were able to experience...but what you can't see is the magical feeling of walking on the same land as Laura, experiencing many of the same sights and sounds as she described in her books that we've all read for so many years. It was awesome. I cannot even begin to describe the wonderful time we had at the Homestead, or how sad it was to drive away this morning. During the day it was great, but the evening was even better. All of the other tourists went home, the Homestead was officially closed. But we were left, along with two or three other families (there were only 4 RV sites, which were never full...and then a few covered wagons you could rent to sleep in for the night). The barns were still open, the houses were still open, some of the animals were still there (most of the horses and the big cow were taken across the road to a field at night). It was like we owned the place, and it was so amazing! One more thing I want to say about the Homestead....the kids loved it there. There was no internet access, there was no cable TV, there was no playground or swimming pool (other than the teeter totter and sandbox)...but I never once heard them complain about being bored! SIMPLICITY...that is the key to so much of the happiness we are all searching for in life!

Yesterday we drove the camper into De Smet, parked on a side road and walked around town. (and walked, and walked, and walked!) We ate lunch at a diner in town, checked out a lot of the historic homes and buildings that Laura talked about in some of her books, and visited a lot of gift shops. Once we were walked out, Pavan and Amaya went to get the camper, and the rest of us headed to the only grocery store in town...a very small store that reminded me of the one we shopped at when I was maybe 5 years old. Then back to the Homestead, where we made some new friends from Canada and had a campfire until nearly midnight.

This morning we spent a few more hours visiting with our new friends on the Homestead and then headed for Mitchell, SD to see the Corn Palace. We spent maybe an hour in Mitchell and then headed west for the Badlands and our next stop. The thing about the Badlands is that they come up so suddenly, they are such a shock! Here you are driving along for hundreds of miles and all you see is prairie and corn. Then all of a sudden you come upon the most amazing landscapes, like you are on another planet! I just kept wondering about all of those pioneers that headed west in their wagons, traveling maybe 15or 20 miles a day. Nothing but grass, grass, grass....and then suddenly these huge canyons and amazing landscapes. They were probably wondering, now what??

Ok, so here we are at the Badlands/White River KOA. We will take the scenic 30 mile loop through part of the Badlands tomorrow, which will bring us into Wall, SD...where we will stop at Wall Drug. Then onto the Hill City / Mt.Rushmore KOA.

Time to get the clothes out of the dryer...

More later

Rebecca

Update....it's midnight (mountain time), the laundry is done, the journal is finally done...and I am going to bed! I will try to get the Badlands pictures online tomorrow night, ran out of time tonight!