Vermont 2021 {Getting There: Eden to De Smet}

Never did I expect to turn our magical trip to Vermont last year into a yearly thing, yet all the stars aligned again to make it happen and here we are, on our way across the country to spend a month at Jay Peak. This time we have friends coming, and family visiting, and no quarantine period to deal with, so it is bound to be a new experience, even if we live in the same spot and see the same things and eat the same donuts. Can't wait!

Another difference this year is our route to get there. Last year we came across I-80 the fastest way possible. This year, we wanted to see some new country, so we picked a more northern route (mostly I-90, but a lot off the beaten path) and took almost a week to get here. It was a like a vacation before our "vacation" and it was awesome! (We saw so many cool things, I decided to break down the journey into multiple posts called "Getting There". This one is the first and most boring. ;)

(Day 1) Thursday, 23 September 2021: Eden, UT to Rawlins, WY, to Casper, WY

We loaded up the ol' Sube almost full the evening before so Gregg could work and the kids and I could do school on Thursday morning. Around 3:00 (actually exactly at 3:00) we pulled out of the driveway and headed toward Wyoming. We made a stop right before it got dark in Rawlins to stretch our legs and use the potty and then continued on our drive to Casper for the night.

He fell asleep just outside of Morgan! (Less than
an half hour into our drive!)

Not Cal, though! She "never can sleep in a car".

We stopped at "the train park" in Rawlins,
just like we did on our way to South Dakota
three years ago!

(Day 2) Friday, 24 September 2021: Casper. WY to Lusk, WY to Wind Cave National Park, SD to Mitchell, SD to De Smet, SD

About an hour or two outside of Casper we reached Lusk and saw that the rest area had a playground so we stopped for a quick minute to stretch and play. Then we drove on to Wind Cave National Park, which we wanted to stop at since we skipped it two years ago on our South Dakota trip with the Elwoods. We were there for just over an hour and got to look around in the visitor's center and the kids completed a junior ranger booklet, but we didn't hike like we wanted to, and we didn't take a cave tour because we didn't have much time. So we want to come back, for sure!

The rest of the day was driving, driving, driving east through South Dakota. We ordered pizza hut to pick up in Mitchell, SD at dinner time (Friday night, after all!), and as we drove through town, we noticed all sorts of signs for "Corn Palace". That struck a memory from K12 school last year with Cal, where in one of the reading warm-ups, we learned about the famous Corn Palace so we made a detour to be sure to see it as we drove through.

We saw lots and lots of corn as we continued on to the edge of the state for our pre-sunset stop in De Smet (which I'll talk about in the next post!).

I didn't know anything about a Highway Beautification Act!
Who knew rest area history could be so interesting?!

I learned that the wind of Wind Cave switches directions
of flow based on the air pressure outside. It tries to equalize
air pressure so will flow out or in to balance.

Workin' on booklets at the visitor's center.

We were there and we want to come back!

The world's only corn palace! (You don't say!)

We were waaaaay too entertained by the car shaow
on the corn fields as it changed sizes as we drove along.
Just scroll down and see how the car grows and shrinks
as the terrain changes.