Category Archives: family
Black Hills Trip Report: Day One
What to do with a 4 day weekend in February? Go to South Dakota, of course!
When things started coming together for a weekend getaway over Presidents Day weekend, I never imagined we would end up driving north. I wanted to go somewhere within a 4-6 hour drive so we wouldn’t spend all of our time on the road. New Mexico was looking to be the likely choice, but after checking forecasts for several days it looked like the weather would be a mixed bag. Fairly cold and somewhat unsettled. That wouldn’t have been a huge deal, but the weather up north was looking so much better that we decided to head that way.
I’ve only driven past the Black Hills before and have always wanted to go back and explore that beautiful slice of the country a bit more. With a Saturday forecast of sunshine and 50 degrees, the deal was done.
We boarded our dog Thursday night so we could get a nice early start on Friday morning, with the goal of getting to Wind Cave National Park in time for the final tour of the day. It turns out I botched the tour schedule on the website and was off by 30 minutes, but we arrived 45 minutes early so we were all good.
The place was empty, it being a Friday afternoon in February, and we had the awesome experience of being the only ones on the tour. The ranger was in no rush and took plenty of time with us to answer questions and tell us a bunch of cool stories and anecdotes. It was great!
First discovered opening to the cave.
The tour was only 1/4 mile, but at just about an hour long, it seemed just right. They have actually mapped 120 miles worth of tunnels and are still exploring. There are teams that head down to an advanced basecamp of sorts and spend 3 days at a time working out the new passages. Cool stuff.
The tour guide came to the part where they turn off all the lights and have you stand there in the pitch black darkness. As we were standing there talking, she told us to all be very quiet and we would experience something that the early cave explorers got to experience. The ranger was meaning the absolute silence, but after we had been quiet for what seemed like a long time with no sound at all in the darkness Jessica piped up in a quivery little voice and said – fear?? It cracked everybody up including the ranger. Jessica was so sincere, but it was too funny.
After the tour, we drove through Custer State Park at sunset on our way to Rapid City. We stopped and watched a huge herd of elk, 28 bulls total. They were taking turns sparring and put on a great show for us.
Race Report: 2012 Turkey Rock Trot 5K
Turkey Day meant doing our 6th Turkey Rock Trot 5K together as a family. This has turned into a great tradition for us, and it has been great to see the event grow over the years and generate some money for a good cause (Douglas/Elbert County food banks).
We took the wheelchair for Jessica as she sometimes has difficulty with longer distances, but she hopped out of it after the first kilometer and walked the remaining 4K herself. She was rightly proud of that!
The rest of the clan stayed together with the walking group, while Malcolm and I lined up to do the run.
We stayed together for the first mile, then I lost him in the crowd. I pulled over and jogged in place and spotted him waving me forward, so I took off and ran the rest of the distance as a hard tempo. It felt good to push things a little.
I grabbed the camera in time to see Malcolm racing down the home stretch with another guy, just edging him out at the line.
Then I circled back and ran a mile to meet the rest of the family and walk it in with them. It was a great way to start of our Thanksgiving Day!
Rally Time
While we were discussing possible plans for the weekend over dinner Friday night, I threw out the idea of attending one of the local political rallies that would be taking place. Colorado has become a key state in this election and the presidential race is pretty much dead even here. Both Romney and Obama would be holding a rally near us on the weekend. I told the kids that if any of them wanted to attend either one I would be game for taking them. Knowing that it was an important time historically, and would be a memorable occasion.
My older girls weren’t interested, but my youngest piped up enthusiastically and said she wanted to go see the president. She is in 4th grade and has a good awareness of what is going on in the world. I could tell there was a part of her that recognized this as a great opportunity, and possibly a grand adventure. She is Dad’s ‘adventure buddy’ after all.
The fact that Dave Matthews was performing was a cool bonus.
Information was scarce about the actual logistics and timing of the events. I didn’t even know for sure whether it was indoor or outdoor, but planned ahead and took warm clothes. We definitely needed them as we were out in the cool November night air for about 7 hours. I tried to shoot some video of Dave singing, but was shivering so bad by then I couldn’t hold the camera steady.
He played and sang some good stuff (“You & Me” and “Mercy” among others). During the song “Don’t Drink the Water”, Dave transitioned into “This Land is Your Land” with the crowd singing along and clapping. Very cool moment.
This video of “You and Me” is definitely worth a watch/listen:
Leaving home at 4:00 in the afternoon, we wouldn’t get back again until after 1:00 in the morning. It was a long haul with lots of lines and waiting, but totally worth it.
The running joke in our family is that a typical ‘Dad adventure’ involves some or all of the following – crying, being lost, long periods without food or drink, exhaustion, waiting, boredom, mental breakdown, and physical injury of some sort all rolled up into one MEGA-awesome experience. This outing would be no different.
Seeing the whole event through the eyes of a 4th grader was the best thing ever, something that I will treasure in my memory for a very long time. The way her face lit up like only a kid’s can with ‘HOLY COW THAT IS THE PRESIDENT!! HE IS RIGHT THERE!!’ written all over it was priceless.
It was neat to forget about all of the politics for a while and just enjoy the moment doing something unique and special together.
The Scene Begins 