Monday, August 31 - Sioux City, Lemars, Pocahontas and Home!

I intended to sleep in but woke up at 6:45 and wasn't happy about it but it was actually good to get an early start.  I got ready and got the kids up and we had breakfast at the hotel. My hairdryer broke on Sunday and the one in our hotel room was broken too…very strange.  Rosie had a VERY hard time waking up…too many late nights and early mornings. At breakfast, Jack took his long john donut and stood it up and said, “Rosie, look, it’s a daemonilix!”    I LOVE this picture!

"Look Mom, It's a Daemonilix!!"

We asked our hotel clerk for directions  to the Floyd monument and found a shortcut – we must have gone a good 5 miles or more out of our way the night before, not sure who gave us directions but they weren’t very good.

We made it to the monument…just a simple, white obelisk on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River.

It’s a very pretty location. Floyd was a Sergeant with the Lewis and Clark expedition and was the only member of the Corps of Discovery to die on the 3 year voyage…that is amazing, with all the extreme hardships and dangers they encountered. He became sick early in the journey with what today’s doctors think was appendicitis, and he died from a burst appendix. He died on the river, very bravely and calmy…he simply told Clark “I am going away…”. They stopped the boats and buried him on the highest point, and marked it with a cedar plaque with his name and date. On the return journey in 1806, they came back and tidied the area and remarked it.

Two Lewis and Clark campsites are in the general area also.

View Toward Lewis and Clark Campsite from Floyd's Bluff

Our next stop was in  LeMars, Iowa…the Ice Cream Capital of the World.   I have to mention that the reason we knew about this was from one of our favorite kids' books:  Go Go America...it has all sorts of quirky facts about different places in each state. 

It is the home of Blue Bunny ice cream. We were waiting at the visitor center on main street when they opened the doors at 10 a.m. with an enthusiastic “Good Morning Ice Cream Lovers!”. The kids registered in the computer guest book and we went to the first room, which resembled an old parlor with couches and a very old TV. 

It also had display cases of Blue Bunny history/memorabilia.

The video chronicles the history of this company that is still run by the same family that started it. It also explains the Blue Bunny name…the company was having a contest to name it and a local boy was walking through a department store with his mom. It was near Easter and there were stuffed blue bunnies on display. He started screaming, “I want a Blue Bunny!” repeatedly and by the time they reached the office of his father, who worked there, he was REALLY worked about and screaming he wanted/needed a Blue Bunny now! His dad said, “That’s it! That’s the name!” and entered it into the contest, and it won.

After that, we went to the room where they simulate production of ice cream and Bomb Pops!
This is done with a video to compliment it and it’s very well done…the kids were riveted.

The last room has computer games/activities and display cases of various types of Blue Bunny products.

The Kids Made Me Play a Game

Then, of course, there is a gift shop and an ice cream parlor. They bake their own waffle cones and had just made some…you can imagine how great it smelled in there! We all had ice cream…I had huckleberry, which I didn’t know Blue Bunny made! It was very good...but just not quite the same as having huckleberry ice cream from Eddies in Apgar and walking down to the shores of Lake McDonald.  Rosie had "Scooper Hero" flavor, Jack had chocolate brownie, and Logan had birthday cake. 

As we were leaving, several police cars with lights on appeared and once screeched to a stop near us and two officers got out, somewhat quickly. We wondered what interesting thing was going on, but it was simply a funeral.

Then it was on the detour-ridden road to Pocahontas, Iowa to visit Kim, a Glacier friend. We stopped at her family’s grocery store and restocked our lunch supplies, then went with Kim to the Pocahontas statue at the edge of town. It was a quick but nice visit.

Me and Kim

The Kids and I at the Pocahontas Statue

Then it was on the road home…more detours/road work but we got home shortly after 6 to very happy dogs and dad!
© 2009 Tara Morrison

Sunday, August 30 Scottsbluff, Nebraska to Sioux City, Iowa

It had been a long night of waking up to frequent train whistles. Why does the AAA campbook never mention that campgrounds are near railroad tracks?!? I woke up at 6:15 to rain drops on the tent and looked out to see ominous skies (déjà vu!). I woke the kids and we sprang into action. I must say I was impressed with how they all pitched in! We had everything taken down and loaded within 25 minutes…that’s pretty darn good for that huge tent and all our stuff!  We drove to the Scottsbluff National Monument.

and had breakfast at the picnic area ( I don't usually feed them donuts, really...it was an impulse buy since we hadn't been able to cook breakfast). It was a VERY cold morning…not a good one for having cereal outside, but they wrapped up in blankets and dealt with it.

We went to the museum at the visitor center and then drove to the top of the bluff (I don’t remember being able to do that when I was there when I was about 11).

The View Looking South

Looking Southwest

I could see Chimney Rock far in the distance, another Oregon Trail landmark.

View SE From the Top of Scotts Bluff

I was on the alert for Prairie Rattlesnakes…they make it sound like the place is infested with them!

The Oregon Trail Went Through This Gap

We left there and drove to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. (You can see why we get our money’s worth out of our $80 annual parks pass that gets us into every national park, national monument, national historic site, etc.). I think we usually save at least several hundred dollars. They are a bargain!

Agate Fossil Beds is literally, and I am quoting the ranger, “the middle of nowhere, Nebraska”. The land, fossils and all, was donated by the family of James Cook, the rancher who owned the land and first discovered some interesting fossils there. Subsequent digs and studies by various institutions uncovered previously unknown mammal fossils and many other interesting things.

Original Fossil Discovery Site

Daemonilix Fossil

St. Patrick and Snake Sign

Area Where Daemonilix Fossils Are Found

This Shows the Burrow to the Side of the Daemonilix

One really interesting discovery was something called daemonilixes…these curvy things that are corkscrew shaped. The first man to discover them couldn’t figure out what they were and then 10 years later someone else discovered that they are actually fossilized burrows made by a type of prehistoric beaver. Some also have the nesting chambers off to the side. It was really interesting!

Ornery Logan

Ornery Logan giving St. Patrick a Ride

Coyote Scat

Jack's Bug

Fossilized Sand Dunes

Close-Up of Sand Dune Fossils

Bone Cabin

The fossils were fascinating but the man who owned the ranch had an entirely different part of his life that was fascinating... he was a very close friend of Chief Red Cloud, who was well known in the late 1800’s during the time of the Indian Wars.

When he and his people were put on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, they would get a pass every summer (a written document, I saw a copy) to leave the reservation and go stay at the ranch.

A Beautiful Place

Here, they could almost live in their old ways…they hunted and gathered, did their Sun Dance ceremonies, etc.

One of the Camp Areas Near the Ranch

Red Cloud and Cook had a very unique, special relationship. The visitor center has a shirt that Red Cloud gave to Cook that is normally on display, but due to a break-in they had many things off exhibit for renovation. I was disappointed, I really wanted to see it. However, I did discover one of Charlie Russell’s (one of my favorite artists) illustrated letters – it turns out he and Cook were very good friends! 

After leaving here we needed to put on a LOT of miles so we bypassed some other interesting things such as "Carhenge". And I have to say, NW Nebraska has some really beautiful spots…it looks a lot like the badlands/black hills in places. I wasn’t expecting that. We had sandwiches for lunch and McD’s in the car for dinner. I was channel-surfing on the radio and discovered the NPR show “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!” and they were having a “best of” night. We all laughed until we cried…I had to literally slow way down at one point and wasn’t sure I would continue driving. It was really fun.  One thing they talked about was this:

"Frosty the Coal Man"   -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5DR1oyr4g8

We still didn’t make it to our hotel in Sioux City until 10:15 even though we made very few stops. I thought we were maybe seeing a few UFO’s at one point and was disappointed to find out they were just towers with lights on them.  :)