We did take one side trip off the chosen route to go see Devils Tower. Now I was a little worried about this detour as Justin and I had a bad experience with a similar monument called Chimney Rock. (We drove through Nebraska to see it and it was definitely not worth the drive!) Anyway, I was worried that this might be the same type of let down. And with 6 children in the car I knew they would not be very forgiving. Luckily, I had no need to worry. It was a really cool place. (It is the nations first national monument. So we have now been to the first National Park and Monument!)
The kids got to complete the Junior Ranger Program and received honorary Ranger status. As part of that we took the hike around the base of the monument and got to learn quite a few things about the legends behind the tower as well as see some of the wildlife the lives there.Overall it was a good detour. I think the kids favorite part was stopping at the prairie dog town. Quincy loved those little things almost as much as the Meerkats at the Zoo.
We stopped there shortly before sundown which was a very good time, The little things were out in droves- they really were everywhere. And they were barking at us and at the other Prairie Dogs- which of course the kids thought was hilarious!Another amazing thing was how many different animals we counted on our way back to the main highway. On the way we counted 3 alpacas, 4 wild turkeys, and 132 deer near the road! It was unbelievable how many deer there were in the fields. Luckily, none of them decided to do anything stupid, like try and cross in front of the car!
It was late when we arrived, but we made it here to South Dakota. The kids pretty much all stayed asleep, so lets hope they let us rest as well! We are not sure what we are going to start with tomorrow, but I'm sure it will be another full day!
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