The morning after our soggy evening at Mount Rushmore, we headed out early to explore the Badlands. We hadn't originally planned to visit them but I read that they were a must see. I have to say it was one of the highlights of our trip. It is by far one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my entire life. Pictures don't do it justice. We were in awe.
My 11 year old was being grumpy. If it's before noon, she is not on board with life. We stood at the edge and admired the beauty of the formations. My husband and I were freaking out. "OH MY GOD! This is so beautiful! Isn't it amazing?" Our 11 year old shrugged with her arms crossed,
She did start to come around as the day wore on. We drove through the Badlands and stopped at all the lookouts. She gave me her phone and made me take Instagram pictures. "Ok, mom. Wait until I'm in between those two things and make sure the rays of the sun are shining good. Don't take the picture until I tell you to." Oh my God! Her photography instructions were exhausting. My 9 year old was excited. She climbed the formations but didn't try to fall off of the edge like she did when we were in the Rockies. I was grateful.
When we got to the end, we stopped for lunch. We sat by the window that overlooked the Badlands. Just unbelievable. I ordered an Indian taco. It was fry bread, which I had heard about and never experienced. It was like a taco shell made out of a sugarless funnel cake. It was spread with re fried beans, seasoned ground buffalo, and all the fixings. So yummy.
After the Badlands we made the drive out to Deadwood. I was so pumped to go to Deadwood. Deadwood is infamous. I mean, HBO made a whole show about Deadwood. We arrived at our hotel around dinner time. Part of the hotel was a casino with bars and restaurants and there was an entertainment venue. The Avett Brothers were playing that night and we wanted to go but tickets would have been $300 for all of us. No thanks, I'll just listen to the CD.
We had to take an elevator to get to the hotel part of the resort and another separate elevator to get to our room. The whole trip my damn kids fought over who would press the elevator buttons. I am not kidding you. Middle school children. They would push each other out of the way. My oldest wept. She got on the elevator and actually cried. "It was MY turn to push the button." I looked at her like she had lost her damn mind.
"You are about to be 12 years old next month. Really? Really?" We had to set up a system where we kept tabs on pressed the button last. "Okay, it's Ws turn next..." we'd remind them. Super annoying. I could not deal with it.
We were tired but still decided to walk into town for dinner. Our hotel was a block from main street. It was bustling with tourists and lots of biker types.
We ate dinner in a restaurant above a saloon that was once a brothel, because we're shitty parents. We waited in this little corner that had pictures of "girls" in negligees holding cigarettes. They were not Pretty Woman type of ladies, they looked like they should be in Metallica's "Turn the Page" music video. There was a history of Deadwood's brothels hanging on the wall. The brothels in Deadwood weren't shut down until 1980. "You came 36 year too late honey," I said to my husband. He chuckled.
We had a yummy dinner on the rooftop and then we went to the restroom before walking back. We walked in and on the wall was an antique photograph of 5 or 6 nude women dancing. You know, because we were hanging out in a former brothel. They had their legs cocked to the side so you couldn't see their baby making area but they were topless. I decided I wouldn't acknowledge it. I'd just be low key. The human body is not a horrible thing.
My kids had to talk about it. My 9 year old said, "Why are these ladies dancing naked?"
I shrugged, "Maybe someone paid them alot of money." Bad mom award.
My 11 year old turned up her nose, "Their boobs are kind of saggy."
I was a little offended, because they were looking better than me. I ushered them out of the bathroom before they could comment further on the photo.
When we got back to the hotel, I took my 9 year old swimming in the indoor pool and I relaxed in the hot tub. It was bliss.
The next morning, we went horseback riding. It was a little weird. We drove up with mountain and there was a house with a bunch of horses. We have been horseback riding before so we kind of had an idea of how it would go. Her credit card machine was broken so my husband had to drive down the mountain to get cash and come back. It was convoluted.
Once we paid and put on helmets, she took us around the side of the house to meet our horses with her 14 year old farm hand. She told us a little bit about the temperament of the horses and she turned to me and said, "You are going to ride Doc. We call him Deranged Doc. He can be a little crazy. Make sure he stays away from this brown one here. He doesn't like him. He'll bite and might try to buck you off." I was like, WTF? How am I supposed to ensure that he stays away from the other horse. I'm basically am amateur. I was scared.
She lined up the horses and we got on. The kids first, then my husband, then me. She gave us instructions about how to control the horses and off we went up the mountain. It was beautiful, except that my husbands horse was literally farting in my face the entire time. Seriously, with every step it was: poot, poot, poot. We laughed so hard. That horse needed some Bean-O.
We stopped at several lookouts and the lady got off her horse and told the kids stories about how Deadwood came to be and about the gold rush, she talked about the local wild life and what it's like living in South Dakota. It was awesome. After the ride she let the kids help take the saddles off and feed the horses. She pointed out the horses that she planned to breed that afternoon. "Are you going to light candles and play romantic music?" I joked. My 11 year old shot me a dirty look.
Afterwards we went to lunch outside of a saloon. There was a guy playing live music and as we walked by he said, "Today is kids day. All the beer they can drink.... Hey! It's not my liquor license." We had to eat there. Bad Mom Award. We listened to him play and ate. It was a beautiful day. Afterwards, we explored the visitors center that was once the train station. That evening we went to Mount Moriah cemetery and visited the graves of Wild Bill, Calamity Jane and Seth Bullock and then it was back in the pool.
We had a full day planned the following day. First on the agenda was Old Time Photos. I've ALWAYS wanted to get old time photos done. When I was a kid, I'd walk by the Old Time Photo place on the boardwalk and think One day, I'm going to get those done. We walked down to Woody's Old time photos and took a look around. They had 25 scenes to choose from and we settled on a bar scene. Good parenting. We went down to the costume room and they had people there to help us dress. "What kind of look are you guys going for?"
"I want to be like the lady that runs the brothel with my wayward children and my husband to be an outlaw."
Worst Mom ever. They picked out an off the shoulder dress for me, a cowboy outfit for my husband and some slightly skank outfits for my kids. Whatever.
We went up to the scene and our photographer was so funny. He was fabulous. He stood and looked at us for a moment with his hand on his chin and thought for a minute. Then he arranged us. He handed my husband a gun, me a bottle of liquor. Then he asked the girls what they wanted. My 9 year old wanted a pistol and my oldest daughter a fan.
He told us to look this way and that. "Okay, now look serious. Okay, now smile slightly. No - not you dad." For the next photo he put me on the bar. "Hike up that skirt and let's see some of that leg, mom." That was the least sexiest sentence that has ever been uttered in the history of the world. After the family pictures, he took pictures of just the girls. He gave my youngest a shot glass and a bottle of Crown and my oldest some other bottle of liquor. They posed. I leaned into my husband, "I feel like I should feel like this is wrong, but it's just kind of funny." Worst parents. It was so fun, everything that I thought it would be.
After the photos we walked to the Adams house which was an amazing restored Victorian. My husband and I are suckers for house museums. We love them. We have dragged the kids to every plantation house, they have toured Monticello, Montpelier, the Biltmore, and Mount Vernon with us. Poor kids. It was an amazing house. One of the highlights for me. I wanted to move in.
After the museum we drove half a mile to Broken Boot Gold Mine and the kids panned for "gold" and we got a tour of the mine. Our guide was a hilarious 16 year old kid. It made it really interesting and we learned a lot. It was crazy to go underground and explore the mine. Later we walked back into town, picked up our pictures and went to watch a Hoe Down in the haunted and historic Bullock Hotel. The music was amazing.
Deadwood has an acting troupe that does re-enactments and shootouts throughout the day in the city and the Hoe Down was part of that. We watched a shoot out before dinner and then waited in Saloon 10 for the re-enactment of Wild Bill. They asked for volunteers to help with the show and picked out our 11 year old.
She was so excited. They put her in a long coat and hat and sat her at the card table with 2 other kids. The show was really interesting and entertaining and followed with the shoot out and capturing of the "assassin".
The evening culminated with a play about the Trial of Jack McCall. Our 9 year old was part of show in the jury so both kids got to participate. We were pooped by the time we got back to the hotel. It was an amazing day.
The next morning we got up early and headed out to explore Spearfish Canyon. We got out to see the the waterfalls and explore. It was breathtaking. Then, we made the LONG drive back through Wyoming and to Denver.
We were ready to go home the next day but we had one more stop. My aunt and uncle live in Littleton, right outside of Denver. The kid's middle school has an anti-bullying campaign that is inspired by one of the girls that was killed at Columbine High School and they tell her story every school year.
We drove over to the Columbine Memorial in the morning and it's nestled in the corner of this park. There were baseball games going on all around and we walked over to it. There was a team of landscapers watering the flowers and lovingly wiping down the the memorial. We walked quietly and read the quotes and the bios of the kids and teachers that were lost on that day. We found Rachel's memorial and my 11 year old read it quietly.
The memorial is at the bottom of the hill and there is a path up the hill. I walked up and to the left was the high school, and the mountains were wrapped all around. It was a beautiful and a quiet place. A peaceful place believe it or not. I didn't go to the top because there was a a group of people up there - a wedding!
As I walked down the hill, the bride was walking up. It was her aisle. I walked though the grass to get back down but I still think I might have photobombed her pictures.
We made it to the airport and many, many hours later pulled into our driveway. It was the middle of the night and we were exhausted. It was so good to be home. We had an amazing wild west adventure. I feel like it brought us closer together. I especially feel like it brought our girls closer together (except for the elevator buttons). We crossed items off our bucket list and we made lots of awesome memories. That's what this crazy life is all about, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment