Day 8 - 6/28

Today we spent the morning enjoying the water park one last time. After that we packed up everything, checked out and drove to Governor Dodge State Park in Wisconsin. A little later we arrived at the Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota which is also the company headquarters for Hormel Foods. The museum displayed the history of Hormel and Spam since its debut in 1937. There were game shows and even a station where one could "package" Spam. After watching a short film about Spam, a lady came in with free bacon-flavored Spam "spamples". The exhibit ended with its gift shop. It sold everything from baby Onesies to Spam costumes to iPhone cases featuring the iconic Spam logo. This quirky museum was extremely fun to visit and is good for all ages. During the drive we passed through Iowa and saw lots of corn felids, farm equipment and barns. Even though the scenery was very repetitive, the Iowa landscape was pretty and enjoyable to look at.
When we arrived at the State Park, we learned that ticks lived everywhere. This knowledge caused most of us to be hesitant to get out of the van. It didn't help that Dad told us they burrow under your skin and lay eggs, which is false. Rachel was so frightened that she had her pants, coat, and hat on most of the night. We thought the ticks would be the worst aspect of the camp. We were so wrong. Little did we know that raccoons had infested the entire park and were a great nuisance to all the campers. When we were eating our dinner, the little rascals kept approaching us and scaring the little girls. When two hikers came and asked us for directions, we looked back at our table and saw three raccoons fighting and ripping our garbage bag open and scattering its contents. After packing up everything and putting it in the van, we settled down for the night. There were two bathrooms. One of them was nice-ish and was far away. The other bathroom had a plethora of flies buzzing around and giant spiders crawling all over the walls and floor. To offset all of the bad occurrences, we watched My Fair Lady starring Audrey Hepburn for an hour or so. 

Day 7 - 6/27

Today was a day where we relaxed and recuperated. For breakfast, they had a buffet, which we took advantage of. Many of our waiter and waitresses have Minnesotan accents. The TV also played the Twins baseball. It was weird not seeing anything related to Seattle. Although, one shouldn't expect anything related to their hometown in another area. The water slides were especially fun. One of them was a traditional one where the user would sit down facing forward and slide down. Of course that method wasn't really exciting enough. So, we would face backwards, do flips, and other stunts to jazz it up. The other slide was one where one can go alone or with a partner and ride on an innertube. On the twists and turns if you leaned hard enough you could flip over completely. I took Emily on it because I thought she would like it. She was hesitant at first, but after the first ride, I had to run to catch up with her to ride again.

Dinner was a fun experience. Usually having nine people in your family is enough cause for a chaotic meal. We had two waiters serve us because the manager was training a new waitress. The guy had tattoos all over and spoke in a higher register. The girl smiled a lot and called everything "beautiful" and "gorgeous". Even though both of them seemed a little weird in their own ways, they really made for a memorable and fun dinner.

Day 6 - 6/26

Today we left Mount Rushmore for some small towns in Minnesota. We went to visit cemeteries where our ancestors were buried. Our first stop was Mapleton. There, we went to the Calvary Cemetery where Edward Fogarty and his wife were located. Edward Fogarty was my great-grandma's grandfather. In addition to the Fogarty marker we found many other family names of the Irish who came to America. In preparation for this activity, my mom bought a grave rubbing kit. To use it, one tapes this special kind of paper to the grave, and then use wax to rub on the paper. We created imprints of lots of graves despite the constant wind. I'm sure I'll be grateful later in life when I have the opportunity to have a picture of my ancestors graves. After visiting the Calvary Cemetery, we traveled to Good Thunder to see the St. Joseph Cemetery. Here, we saw more relatives of the McCarty family buried here. Both of the cemeteries were beautifully kept and were very peaceful to be in.

Later we drove to Owatonna Minnesota to stay in our hotel. The hotel had a water park with two slides, a lazy river, deep end, and a small kid play area. It was African themed and had many African animals that spouted water. It was fun to see Julia stick her hands in the water only to have the water splash her face and shock her. Emily is also learning how to swim so she spent most of the time with a kickboard paddling along.

Now here's an interview with Blake:

A: "What did you think of the grave rubbings?

B: "It was fun to see our ancestors who they were and I still don't know anything about. But it was fun to rub wax onto pieces of paper on the gravestones. It came out better than I thought it would."

A: "What was your favorite part of the hotel?"

B: "My favorite part was the water park. The tube slide and body slide were fun to slide in. Dad and I almost fell out of a tube slide at the end."

Day 5 - 6/25

Today we went and visited Mount Rushmore. Last night was the lighting ceremony, but today we learned more extensively how it was built and who was involved.  We met up with Dad's friend and his family again and toured the exhibits together. The sculptor of Mt. Rushmore was Gutzon Borglum. They built models and used a point system to recreate the image on the mountain. The point system was where they would scale the model using ropes and weights and translate those measurements to the actual rock. The project was started in 1927 and was completed in 1941. As a part of the National Parks, kids (and teens) can complete a packet and receive a Junior Ranger badge. All of us (except Julia) got one! After saying one more good-bye to Mt. Rushmore we headed off to Sioux Falls.
On the way we passed through Rapid City where my Grandpa Byrd was born. We also went through Wall, South Dakota. This small town is home to the famous Wall Drug Store. It was established in 1931 and remains a popular tourist site today where tourists can buy merchandise and drink some "free ice water". We got ice cream and enjoyed looking around. After traveling some more we passed by the Corn Palace. We did not have enough time to see it, so we kept driving on.
Finally we arrived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We went to the historical center to see a free laser show that tells the history of Sioux Falls while lighting up the waterfalls. It was very captivating and did not bore us. I would highly recommend attending it if you ever travel through South Dakota.

Day 4 - 6/24

This morning we said good-bye to the Tipi and loaded up the van.  After being so hot the day before it was crazy how cold it was at 5:30 in the morning.  But since we had to make an early start it did help make everyone move faster than normal.  Our destination: Mt. Rushmore. Today, was basically a travel day. However, we did stop to see some sites. One of them was the Battle of the Little Big Horn. This was where Custer and his 7th Calvary were massacred by the Indians who were led by Sitting Bull.

Custer's Last Stand has personal connections with our family. Michael Caddell was my mom's great-great-grandfather. He was a sergeant at the time, and was friends with a soldier named Archie McIllargy. He and McIllargy fought together in the Civil War. They were both from Ireland. Michael Caddell was stationed to watch over supplies. McIllargy was under Reno, but he died with Custer on the hill because he was taking a message to Custer about the number of Indians. Before leaving for battle, McIllargy asked Caddell that if anything happened to him, he wanted Caddell to watch after his wife, Josephine and two children. After McIllargy died in battle Michael Caddell married Josephine and raised the two children as his own as well as having eight more children with Josephine. The anniversary of the battle is on June 25th.

Later, we arrived at Mt. Rushmore just in time to see their lighting ceremony. There, we met one of Dad's friends from Utah State and his family. The program the Park held was fun. They had a park ranger talk about the history of Mt. Rushmore and a video show highlights from each president's term. To close the program, they had everyone who currently serves or served in the past in the U.S. Military come on stage and introduce who they are and what branch of the U.S. Military they served in. The very last one was a elderly gentleman who landed at Normandy. He came to this country all alone at the age of 16 from Italy. Just four years later he was serving his adopted country fighting against an enemy located in his homeland. It was a very humbling experience and it really helps one appreciate all of the freedoms we have today because of the selfless sacrifices of so many.

Day 3 - 6/23

Today we spent an exciting day touring the ghost town in Bannack, Montana. Our family first took a general tour of all the buildings. One of them was the Hotel Meade. It was a fancy hotel with lots of rooms and has been rumored to have ghosts of people who drowned in the nearby creek haunt the place. Another building was the jail. It was just like a stereotypical western jail. It had the bars on the window and a rectangular hole where prisoners got their food from. Another home served as a place where people who were sick could live and not spread the illness to other people in the community. It had a yellow door on it to warn people to stay away.  Many children died there from diptheria and other diseases.  People have said they have heard the sound of crying children there. One of the homes we visited belonged to a guy who was part of a gang that would rob and plunder people on the road side. The sheriff of Bannack, Henry Plummer, led the gang. Plummer and two of his deputies were eventually hanged. We also saw the old church where every week members of the Methodist Church could gather and worship. The wooden seats were plain, but relaxing to sit in. The schoolhouse was also fun to see. The girls took turns playing teacher while the rest of us sat in the old fashioned desks. On the board were written some of the rules the teachers had to follow in 1915. My favorite was that teachers may not loiter in the ice cream parlor. The floor on top of the schoolhouse is a meetinghouse for Free Masons. We got to see their chairs with their symbols engraved and even the Masonic dishware.

After the general tour, we took a tour that showed the mill where gold was extracted. To get up to the mill, we rode in a 1931 Model-T Ford. During the tour, the guide explained a lot about how much chemistry went in to the mining process. It was great to hear him, because since I took a year of chemistry, I could understand most of what he was talking about.  Later in the day we went panning for gold. They had washtubs filled with water, where people could use pans filled with dirt and try to find gold within. I wasn't so lucky, but Dad found a couple specs. Will it make us filthy rich? No, but the experience was fun. There were a lot of garnets in the dirt that we found and collected. The ghost town overall was a very interesting place to explore.

Day 2 - 6/22

The next morning we set off for Bannack State Park in Montanta. On the way we passed by Silverwood Theme Park. I just went there on a band trip, so seeing it brought back great memories of riding on Aftershock and other rides. There's a very good reason why Montana is called Big Sky Country. The forested Rocky Mountains go on forever. The hills here seem like they are mounds of dirt covered with a grass blankets. The clouds also look like they were brushed across the sky with a paintbrush. When we stopped at a rest area to eat lunch, a large truck drove in. It was carrying a windmill blade. It was much larger that what I expected it to be.

After getting back on the road, about twelve Porches past us. At first we thought it might be one or two in the group. But it was fun to see for the next ten minutes porche after porche passing us. They were from Washington too. After about another four hours of travel we arrived at Bannack State Park. Bannack, Montana was an old mining town and is now a ghost town where people can pan for gold and take a tour of the mill where gold was extracted. For sleeping, we got to sleep in a Tipi. It was about 18 feet tall and 10 feet wide. Julia had a fun time in the tipi, rolling the duct tape down a mattress pad. Blake, Lydia, Rachel, Emily and I went hiking up a nearby mountain. The view was amazing. One could see the entire campground and rolling mountains for miles. There was also lots of catcus' (and lots of foot injuries). Of course, sage brush was everywhere. But in a place like Montana, what else could grow there? Unlike the camp ground we stayed at in Farragut, Idaho, Bannack has lots of mosquitos and bugs. It was much hotter than Seattle too. I guess our white skin will turn darker...or redder.

Day 1 - 6/21

And off we go! After packing last minutes items and saying final goodbye's we set off for Farragut State Park in Idaho around 11 AM. Our first planned stop was a rest area to each lunch, however it was closed due to repairs. I hope that doesn't foreshadow the rest of our trip! On the way, we saw a boat that had fallen off of a car into the median of the highway. Traffic was backed up for a while. The boat wasn't even a small one. It was bigger than the truck pulling it. We also saw a white stretch limo--extra extra stretch. However, it wasn't just seeing the actual limo that was unusual. On the back there was a bike rack with a bike attached! After a couple gas stops and lunch in Moses Lake we finally arrived. The park was very beautiful. It was created to be a Naval Training Base for the U.S. Navy. Now the question is, why would the Navy want to train people in the

middle of the Rocky Mountains? In 1967 there was an International Boy Scout Jamboree and now people come from all over to camp there. The weather was perfect and perhaps best of all there were minimal bugs and mosquitos. There was a playground nearby that the girls enjoyed playing at. Meanwhile, the boys and I had a brief pinecone war that ended as soon as Mom was almost hit with one. It was cute to see Julia running around in her little sandals throwing pinecones as well.