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.
