Head Underground in South Dakota

When we were planning our travels from west to east, at one point we considered skipping both of the Dakota's entirely. Now that we are done that trip, I can say I am so happy that we made the time to see South Dakota - and we spent a lot of time there as well. It's definitely a state worth stopping for.

To be quite honest, the only thing that came to mind for me when thinking of South Dakota was Mount Rushmore. At the time I wasn't as eager to visit the historic site, and I was completely ignorant to the rich history and incredible wonders of this state. Did you know that some of the coolest things you'll find in South Dakota are actually beneath the earth's surface? It's absolutely true! Our family agrees that the best part of our time in the state was visiting the two caves that are part of the National Parks Service; Jewel Cave National Monument and Wind Cave National Park.

I honestly had no idea about them until we began to do more research about the National Parks Service sites in the state. As you may know from previous posts, we are on a mission to visit as many sites as possible and Halle's collecting Junior Ranger Badges. That meant heading underground in order for her to get two.

Going down, down, down at Wind Cave

Now, I'm quite claustrophobic, but thankfully these tours are pretty safe for those scared of small spaces. Both cave tours leave you plenty of space to move around, just remember to stay on the paths and keep your hands to your self (though your tour guide will remind you). For those feeling more adventurous, you can volunteer to do some exploring below, as they still have not yet discovered the entire network of caves. These positions can mean spending a few days in the cave and involve long crawls through some very tight spaces - definitely not something I could handle!

The most important thing you need to know though is arrive early, especially if you want to make it down into Jewel Cave. You'll need to arrive first thing in the morning when the ticket booth opens, so check online for times the day before you plan to go. They sell out quickly (especially in the summer months) and are on first come, first served basis. Our first attempt was a fail, as we arrived in the late afternoon. The next day we were there first thing in the morning, and managed to get ourselves onto the third tour of the day. It worked well for us, as we were able to help Halle complete most of her Jr Ranger Booklet before we made our way underground.

In the "landing room" at Jewel Cave

The caves are quite different, so if you can do both, we recommend it. If you can only make it to one, we would suggest Jewel Cave. The crystals, and other formations found here are sights worth seeing... especially the Bacon! Yup, Bacon! Definitely our favourite feature in Jewel Cave. Oh, and don't forget a jacket or sweater as well, believe me, you'll need it!

If there are sights that you need to take our word on, these caves are it. Despite the awesome uplighting, there is no easy way to photograph these caves and capture how truly impressive they are. You absolutely need to get down there and experience them for yourselves! 

I wish we had, had more time to explore aboveground at Wind Cave, but we had arrived late and caught the last tour, so by the time it was over we were ready to head back to the trailer for dinner. We did have more time to walk around above ground at Jewel Cave and it definitely has some beautiful views.

After visiting these two caves, I'm excited to explore more as we continue our family adventures! Next on my list? I'd love to see Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Has anyone else gone cave exploring? Which family friendly caves would you recommend for us to check out in the future?

Unplanned Adventures

The Grand Canyon was by far the largest planned visit on our trip - we knew we wanted and needed to see that, so anything afterwards we considered a bonus. We had no plans leaving Williams, other than to make it back to BC in time so that we could do a couple of things before catching our flight to Florida.

The day we left Williams, we had some high expectations of getting as close to Zion National Park as possible. After reviewing our National Geographic Road Atlas, we decided to take a little detour at Sunset Crater National Monument, where there was also a vista point for the Painted Desert. This is part of why we love our Road Atlas! It has been great for finding other nearby points of interest, and has helped us to plan detours when necessary. We do have a GPS, but the Road Atlas is an invaluable tool on this type of road trip.

Sunset Crater was one of those unexpected beauties we stumbled across during our travels. It was visible from the road, but when we turned off the main road and onto the scenic bypass its beauty was more evident. I wish I was able to get some good shots of the Volcano itself, but we never got out of the car as we were still trying to make good time. I was able to get a few photos of the lava fields as we drove by, but they don't quite capture just how impressive they really were. They stretched on for ages, and I wish we had been able to join those exploring them on foot. 

As we continued on, we drove past the entrance to the Painted Desert Vista point and needed to find a turn around point. This is the part of the trip where we realized we were having some brake issues. The trailer brakes weren't working properly, which was putting a lot of strain on the truck brakes. Once Brett was able to stop us, the truck brakes were smoking and stinking - so we let them cool off for a bit before making our way back towards Flagstaff. Brett had noticed some brake fluid on a rear tire, so we stopped at an O'Reilly's Auto parts for a new rear brake Caliper and during that stop made some lunch. 

After leaving Flagstaff for the second time that day we knew we would not make it as close to Zion as we had hoped, but we decided to give it a good try. That afternoon, we drove through the Navajo Reservation, which is the largest land area retained by a U.S tribe. The reservation covers a total 27,425 square miles, occupying parts of northeastern Arizona, southeastern Utah, and northwestern New Mexico. The hills were beautiful and the majority of the land was untouched. It was a natural beauty that we enjoyed the entire drive. Many times Halle would exclaim, "Look at that!" from the backseat. I was thrilled that she appreciated the natural beauty almost as much as we did.

Just as you leave the Navajo Reservation, you enter the small but pretty town of Page, Arizona. We made it to the edge of the town where we crossed over Glen Canyon Dam and National Recreation Area. We thought it would be a nice place to stop and see, and it was also getting late, so we decided to turn around the park overnight at the Wal-Mart in town where we had seen many other RV's stopped for the night. It seemed like a nice small, safe town and it meant free camping for the night. Surprisingly, it was one of the best sleeps I'd had in a long time as Nolan also decided to have some nice long stretches of sleep that night.

The next morning after breakfast we stopped at Glen Canyon to take in the sights of the Dam and learn a few things at the visitors centre. Halle earned two more Jr. Ranger badges there for Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and for Rainbow Bridge National Monument. 

The Dam itself is a concrete structure, similar to the Hoover Dam and stands 216m, while Hoover is 221m. It was an impressive site to take in and Halle enjoyed learned about the area. We'd love to go back one day and actually hike there, as well as visit Powell Lake in Page.

Arizona has so much beauty to see and between our two visits to that state,  I feel that we have barely scratched the surface. There is so much to see and do there, we will most definitely return for a third trip in the future. 

Have you visited Arizona before, or do you have any tips on some of your favourite places and spaces? Where should we go the next time we're in Arizona. We need some "must see" spots!