Jewel Cave National Monument

We woke up with the sun again today.  I guess that is okay since we go to bed with the sun.  It is amazing how quickly the kids fall asleep when it is dark outside.  At home with all the lights they take FOREVER to fall asleep.

They wake up ready to go though.

 Breakfast this morning was yogurt and fruit.  Next time need to think about something to warm us up in the morning.

 

As we drove to Jewel Cave, we stopped at an old homestead.  The kids were ready to run.

 Checking out what their house could have looked like in the 1800's.

 

 Pretty sturdy looking door.

 We finally made it to Jewel Cave.  We got our Junior Ranger books and got right to work.  We had some time to work because the tour didn't start for about an hour.

 First, we checked out the exhibit room.  I loved their examples.

 Finally, it was time to go down and down and down to the cave.  We first took an elevator ride down 20 stories.  Then we had to walk down some stairs.

 Good thing we listened to the Rangers and took our jackets.  It was a little chilly.

 Mudflows

 The cave was wonderful and so totally different than Wind Cave.

My favorite part of this cave, the Ranger sat down on the floor with the kids and went over their books with them.  He checked each and every page and made corrections when needed.

 To warm up after the cool cave, we took a hike around the Visitor Center but first we had to stop for a snack of sourdough bread and apples.

 Cairn loved this tree.

 After Jewel Cave, we started driving in the direction of home even though we weren't ready to go home yet.  We stopped in Guernsey again so that Cairn could see the Oregon Trail tracks.

 

 As we were walking back toward the car, Dad heard a rattle.  He looked and there was a rattlesnake coiled and ready to strike if he took another step closer.  Andrew was with him, the girls and I were ahead - we had taken a different route.

The boys climbed to a higher vantage point to see the snake.  I was a little worried though because it was still within striking range of the snake (2/3 of their total body length).  So, if he was 3 feet long, he could strike within 2 feet.

After our stop at the Oregon Trail, we headed down the road to find our next camp spot.

Brace and returned home

Monday started way too early for all of us even though we weren't together.

Dad and everyone had a miserable night trying to sleep through the wind and freezing temperatures.  Cairn and I were up early to get ready to go but shortly after we were up Dad started calling.  "We might be heading home, what is the weather going to do?"

The weather didn't look promising but they decided to tough it out a little.  They had breakfast in Torrington where Skylar ate her weight in hash browns and Andrew ate his weight in oatmeal.  Then they headed off to Fort Laramie.  They had to earn their Junior Badges you know!!

Well it was still very windy!!  So they walked in the wind...

They walked in the cold

They stood in the rain..

While they were in Guernsey they stopped to see some ruts on The Oregon Trail made by the hundreds of wagons they went through the area.  Poor Cairn missed it.  She has studied the Oregon Trail and would have loved to see this.

While they were out seeing the sites, Cairn and I were home running errands, cleaning the house and waiting for her appointment time.  Finally, it was time.

The appointment took all of about 5 minutes.  We were in the waiting room longer then in the doctor office.  Cairn has a buckle fracture and since she is older now they just gave her a brace, told her to be careful, don't do anything with wheels.  Wear the brace for 3 weeks and then take it off - she will be fine.  No need to return to the office unless it still hurts.

Cairn had a buckle fracture of her left arm when she was 3 and had to wear a cast for 6 weeks that went from her thumb past her elbow.

We went home to wait to hear from Dad, they still hadn't decided whether or not they were heading home.  At 3 PM, Dad still didn't know but I told him, we would wait until morning to drive up.  Cairn was getting really anxious about going on the trip since she couldn't do a lot and she was worrying about the weather.

At 7 PM, Dad and the crew arrived home.  Maybe another time.