Playing guitar hero after Christmas

Burning off some energy after leftovers.

Turkeys at the lake

Just trying to see if I can load a video. this was taken at our cabin this fall......before Thanksgiving

Last day of the trip

We got in last night about 7:15 PM after a fun morning looking for sapphires. Yesterday, we didn't do much, other than drive the 10 hours from Hill City SD to Helena MT. This morning after a Holiday Inn Express breakfast, we drove about 25 minutes east of Helena to the Spokane Bar Sapphire Mine. We saw this on a TV show, Cash and Treasures, so we decided to test our luck.

It's a small place but when we got there, we were the only people. We bought a bag of concentrated dirt to sift through. The owner showed us what to do to find the sapphires. First of all, we put a small amount in a screen and then put it into the water that they had. You shake it up and down and with a rocking motion. The sapphires are heavier than the rocks so they should settle to the bottom of the screen, if you do your shaking right. Rylee was a natural at the shaking part.

Once you are done shaking the screen of dirt, you bring it back to the table, put a pad of foam over the top and then turn the whole thing upside down on the table. This way the rocks are sitting on the foam when you remove the screen. You can then look for the sapphires. They are easy to spot once you know what to look for. They look like pieces of glass that you can see through a little bit. The bag that we bought took us about 2 1/2 hours for us to go through. We picked out the easy pieces and then had to go through the rest of the dirt slowly to make sure we didn't miss anything.

After we were done, we took our find to the office and they told us what we had. We ended up with a total of 63 carats of sapphires. The biggest pieces were a little over 4 carats each. We can send them in to a person that cuts and polishes them to see if we have anything of value. He said a 4 carat rough stone can be cut down to about a 1 1/2 - 2 carat finished stone. In the picture below, the big round thing is a dime, the rest are sapphires.

We had a lot of fun doing this but the kids got a little tired of going through the fine stuff. Once they found the biggest pieces, they were ready to move on to another screen. We did decide to buy another bag of the Eldorado dirt that was dug from the same area that we got the first bag. The Eldorado B bag is from an area where they are getting bigger sapphires and we thought since we don't do this very often, we might as well go for the big ones. We also purchased a screen so that we can do this batch from home.

By the way, Rylee found a special present from her grandpa in the dirt we were going through. She's still not exactly sure how it got there but here's a picture with the proof.

We're glad to be home but we had a great time. We definitely want to go back to the Yellowstone area. Both Jill and I were really impressed with Yellowstone and can't believe that we've waited so long to go there. I know it won't be that long before we get there again.

Around the Black Hills

We had a full day today and didn't even make it to the Crazy Horse monument. We started the day with a drive to the Mammoth Site. This is an active archealogical dig that has unearthed about 58 Mammoths and various other animals. It was discovered in 1974 when a developer dug up a few bones when he was preparing the site for some houses. He stopped, called a researcher, and ultimately discovered the site with the most mammoths all in one place. They've dug about 27 feet and have drilled a test hole 67 feet and found bits of bones all the way down. It's really amazing that they uncovered this. Every July, scientists from an organization gather and they spend the month digging bones. There are a few virtually intact skeletons of wooly mammoths. Fascinating stuff! They also have a laboratory where they make items for exhibits using molds. They also have people cleaning the bones that are dug up. They sit behind a window and you can watch them work very tediously cleaning the bones using really small tools. Although it's very secure and climate-controlled, you can ask questions of the people cleaning bones, and they'll answer you.

After this, we drove back where we came and decided to play a game of minature golf. I don't think Rylee will ever make it on the pro tour. Maybe she could hit the ball a long way but when she would get on the green, it's a whole different story.

Leaving Custer, SD, where we played golf, we took a wrong road by mistake that basically took us toward Mt Rushmore. It was along a back road and we got a couple of great views of Mt Rushmore. The roads were very narrow and there wasn't any place to pull over to get a picture. We drove through 3 or 4 one-way only tunnels. We had to honk our horn before entering the tunnel to warn anyone on the other side that we were coming. We didn't collide with anyone! I wish I would have known there weren't any pull-outs, then we could have slowed down enough to get a picture. We ended up in Keystone SD.

In Keystone, we hit a couple of the tourist traps where the kids had a lot of fun. First of all was a tramway that took us up a mountain by chairlift and then we were able to ride down a concrete path on a sled on rollers. Jarret and I went first. I was trying to video tape the ride when all of a sudden I saw Jarret zoom by. He was flying..... He made it down without a scratch although he did say at one point that two of his wheels were over the edge on one of the curves. Rylee and Jill came down next but were at a safer speed.

After the ride, we went to Big Thunder Mine. This is a mine that a couple of people dug between 1890 and 1921. They dug about 680 feet back into a hill and spent all of that time and only found about 10 oz of gold. What a blow that must have been. The mine was pretty neat and is a constant 52 degrees in the heart of it. It was a cool place on a warm day.

After leaving the mine, we went to the Cosmos Mystery Area. This is an area where they've built a house on a hill with a bunch of different angles. When you try and stand straight up, it actually looks like you're standing at an angle. They also have exhibits set up so that it looks like things roll up hill. The kids had a blast and we did also. We were the only people in the tour and were able to do a lot of different things. I think they kids had more fun here than they would have had at the Crazy Horse Monument. Although we wanted to go there, we decided to skip it this time. You can get a good view of Crazy Horse from the highway.

Tomorrow we have a long drive to Helena MT. We probably won't have much to report unless I end up dropping the kids off on the side of the road because one of them was upset that the other was staring at them, making faces at them, or touching them. All which seems to happen multiple times each time they are in the car. Oh the joys of family vacations.......

Jarret has wanted to start a swearing jar..... thinking that I would be the one to have to keep putting money in it....... I think I'd be OK..... unless I had to put money in anytime I thought about swearing....

Jill's two cents about the trip so far: We haven't seen a Starbucks since we left Spokane last Saturday morning. we didn't have the car radio on for the two whole days we drove around Yellowstone, We got King Jeff a really neat present...one that he'll cherish for years to come. This part of the country has ended up being a lot more beautiful and geologically interesting than I thought it would be, and there's a lot of darn buffalo out there! Jarret had his mind set on getting a sling shot this trip, so today he finally got one. Yes, the line from A Christmas Story "you'll shoot your eye out" did cross my mind several times. Again, he is showing signs of turning into King Jeff...Lord help me. In Cody, WY where we stayed for a night, the kids went swimming in the outdoor hotel pool. I went with them to supervise, and sat down next to a lady who was watching her two boys swim. We struck up a conversation, and I'm thinking in my mind, "I wonder what far-off state she's from?" You guessed it, she was from Spokane! And her son's name was Riley. Go figure.

Mt Rushmore

Yesterday, we drove from Cody WY to Hill City SD. The drive was pretty boring. It started out pretty flat but we did end up going through a mountain pass where the elevation was about 9400 feet. We ended up in Hill City around 5:00. On the way, we passed the Crazy Horse monument which we could see from the highway.

We had a nice dinner at a place called the Desparado Cowboy. The steak and the ribs were very good. It was a neat place in an old building that had been there since the early 1900's. After dinner we headed up to view Mt Rushmore. We wanted to catch the evening show where they light up the mountain. We were able to walk the Presidential Path that takes you along the bottom of the mountain. I don't remember doing this when I was a kid. You get a nice view but you end up walking up a bunch of stairs.

The evening program started and a park ranger came out and talked about the presidents a little bit. They then showed a movie that detailed information about each president. At the end of the movie, they started lighting up the mountain. It takes a while for the lights to come to full strength. At this point, they called any people that are current or former military, down to the stage. Quite a few people came down and they had a boy scout troop lower the flag and then passed it from person to person on the stage.

It was a pretty patriotic moment. We enjoyed our stay at Mt. Rushmore and were in awe of the work they had to do to carve the monument out of the mountain.

Yellowstone North Loop

We headed out on the North Loop this morning. As we got to one of the first geysers, it started to rain a little bit. We weathered the storm and were able to view some hot springs with a lot of different colors. We continued on the loop until we came to the Norris Geyser Basin. This is a large area with many different hot springs, geysers and steam vents. In some areas, it looked like you were on a different planet. The picture below is of one of the pools in the Norris Geyser Basin.

We kept on going with the help of our GPS guide. We really liked this as it explained different things as we went. Often one of the kids would ask us a question and shortly thereafter, the GaperGuide (as it is called) would go into detail about it.

We took a drive above the Mammoth Hot Springs and came across a geyser called the Ice Cream cone. It was orange colored and water was going up through the top and then flowing down the sides. It was pretty cool.

We saw a bunch of cars stopped on the road before we made it to Mammoth and decided to stop. We asked someone what they were looking at and the said a Grizzly Bear. We had to take a better look. We pulled to the side of the road and got out the binoculars and the picture below is the bear that we saw. It was a long way away but that was fine with all of us. At least we can say we saw a wild one.

We also saw a Bighorn Sheep and a Coyote. Both were on the road in front of us and we got a couple of good pictures. In fact, about the only animals that we didn't see were a Moose and a Wolf. It's been a good trip for animal watching.

We ended up passing by the falls of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, except this time we were on the other side. I took a video of the falls.

By the way, Stuart made another appearance in Yellowstone. He found an interesting sign that he had to see. On closer inspection, it looks like someone messed with the sign. However, given the amount of poop that we've had to walk around in all the areas we've hiked in, this might not be far from the truth.

We ended up our day in Cody Wyoming. We're tired of driving and ready for a break. One of the things we were in awe of was the many various types of landscapes that are in the park. This place has them all. I think we definately would like to make another trip here. It's closer than you think to home and there is so much to see.

On a different note, we have a longer drive tomorrow than I thought. Somehow when I was putting all of the information together for the trip, I carefully planned out each stop with the mileage and where we would end up and how long it would take us to get there. In all of the notes I had, I figured it would take us about 3 hours to get from Cody WY to Hills SD. I got on the computer this evening and plugged in both locations to see a map of where we were going. To my surprise, it showed that it would take us about 6 1/2 hours to make the same trip. I could take the blame myself for making the mistake, or I can assume that in Wyoming, time and mileage is calculated in a different way and there is some kind of unique calculation that is different than anywhere else in the US. I choose the latter...

Old Faithful

We headed off this morning after eating a hearty Montana breakfast for our adventure through the southern loop of Yellowstone. We ran across a number of animals throughout the day; Elk, Bison, Mule Deer, and an Eagle. It's always exciting when you're driving and you see cars parked on the side of the road. I usually means that there's an animal somewhere that everyone is looking at.

We drove through the park on our way to Old Faithful. Periodically we stopped at some of the different geysers and hot springs. I'm really amazed at the amount of volcanic activity that works it's way to the surface. The other thing is that we experienced so many different types of terrain in our 130 mile journey. We were in thick forests, meadows, mountains, rivers, canyons and geyser areas. Here's a picture of Old Faithful and a geyser.

By the way, I rented a GPS tour guide unit that we've been using. It's a really cool idea. As you are going through the park, the GPS knows where you are and will point out interesting facts and tips. It's like our own personal tour guide. We're going to keep it another day as we travel the north loop at Yellowstone.

The weather has been really crazy, it's been raining, windy, sunny, cold, warm all within about 30 minutes. When they say the weather can change quickly, they aren't kidding. One stop we made was to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It's a pretty impressive sight and with the waterfall, it rivals any individual view that we had last year at the real Grand Canyon. Here is a picture of it.

We brought along a little friend with us to enjoy the sites. We're not sure what to name him although Rylee has taken a liking to Stuart. The story of this doll is that after my Aunt Esther passed away, we found this doll in her belongings. I was intrigued by it and tried to find out if it was any special kind of doll. To be honest, it's a little scary looking. It almost looks hand made but the arms move. I don't even know what the doll is supposed to be. Is it a person, or an animal or something else. Anyway, we decided to bring it along and show him the sights. I think Esther would get a kick out of it.

We're off to the north loop of Yellowstone tomorrow and will end up in Cody Wyoming. We're all doing fine and not getting on each others nerve too often. By the way, Happy Father's day to all the dads but especially for mine. I think I know how you felt when you carted the 3 of us on the family trips that we took. Those trips that we took and the fun that I had as a kid, has made me want to share that experience with my family. Thanks for being a great dad and grandfather to all the grandkids.

If you want to hear the Rylee and Jarret's take on the day, click here.

Yellowstone Adventure 2009

We left today to have our next family vacation adventure. We left Spokane with a stop at Krispy Kreme to fuel up. The drive was pretty uneventful. There was quite a bit of construction as we got into Montana but it wasn't too bad. We stopped outside Missoula for lunch at Fuddruckers. You may remember that we used to have one of those in Spokane. They have 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, and 1 lb patties. The 1 lb ones were the size of small dinner plates. They cook up the burgers on homemade buns and you put your own fixings on it. Although the kids weren't quite sure about it to begin with, they soon discovered a new restaurant that they will now eat at. Jill had the Buffalo burger and it was really good.

On the way, we saw signs advertising the Testicle Festival in Clinton MT. It gave us quite a chuckle for a while..... wondering what it cost to get in?......... is it for men only?........ is admission one per carload?.........and if so, how many friends you'd need if you wanted to make it an annual event..... All this was fun until I decided to check out the website this evening. It seems to be more than just a dining experience...... Maybe not a family event....

We got into West Yellowstone and had dinner at a pizza place. It was very good for 3 out of the 4 of us. One of the picky eaters didn't like pizza.....oh well. We walked around a little bit and then got back so the kids could check out the pool. No vacation is complete without the mandatory pool experience.

We're heading off to Yellowstone tomorrow and will post a new message tomorrow.