Today we went to a lot of exciting places and views.one place was a canyon with a valley "hundreds of feet below" and most people in the family thought it was a mini Grand Canyon!
And in a wildlife preserve we saw 3 buffalo!(my favorite animal) well, thats it for today bye!
Saturday, July 30, 2011
DAY FOUR - by Lauren
Today we went to: Walls Drug Store, Badlands National Park, Mount Rushmore, and Iron Mountain! It was so cool! Walls Drug Store is definatly the place to go for souvenirs! :) the Badlands to me was like a giant desert! I see why they call it the "bad"lands . Mount Rushmore was a beautiful as ever! And Iron Mountain had some of the best views I had ever seen! It is so cool to think that God made all of what I saw today! I thinK my new favorite state is South Dakota.....<3 :)
DAY FOUR
1 - Mount Rushmore at night. It. Is. Stunning.
2 - Seeing buffalo, antelope, and prairie dogs within minutes of arriving in Wind Cave National Park.
3 - Carter and I feeding a horse an apple under the "Welcome to South Dakota" sign. He followed us along the fence line like a puppy so we ran to the car to get him an apple. Fun memory!
4 - Stepping out of the car this evening to NO HUMIDITY and 62 degrees. It felt amazing. Texas I love you but you could learn a thing or 2 from South Dakota and their weather.
5 - Cheesy Carhenge. That's just funny. I don't care who you are.
2 - Seeing buffalo, antelope, and prairie dogs within minutes of arriving in Wind Cave National Park.
3 - Carter and I feeding a horse an apple under the "Welcome to South Dakota" sign. He followed us along the fence line like a puppy so we ran to the car to get him an apple. Fun memory!
4 - Stepping out of the car this evening to NO HUMIDITY and 62 degrees. It felt amazing. Texas I love you but you could learn a thing or 2 from South Dakota and their weather.
5 - Cheesy Carhenge. That's just funny. I don't care who you are.
Friday, July 29, 2011
DAY THREE
Today is Day 3 of our road trip. After a too-brief stay at a mediocre hotel in North Platte, NE we are headed to western Nebraska. Our 1st stop is Bayard, home to Chimney Rock, Courthouse Rock, and Jail Rock. From there we will angle north to Alliance, NE. What's in Alliance? More on that later.
Have I mentioned the importance of laying down the Fodor's and Rand McNally books when traveling on a road trip? Instead think "outside of the box". If you truly want to SEE America, you gotta get off the interstate im sure I sound like "Sally" in Cars 1, but she makes a great point. If we had been on the interstate, we would've missed meeting the fun waitress in Grainfield. We would have not seen the World's Largest Hand Dug Well. And we would've missed today's other stop....CARHENGE in Alliance, Nebraska.
Have I mentioned the importance of laying down the Fodor's and Rand McNally books when traveling on a road trip? Instead think "outside of the box". If you truly want to SEE America, you gotta get off the interstate im sure I sound like "Sally" in Cars 1, but she makes a great point. If we had been on the interstate, we would've missed meeting the fun waitress in Grainfield. We would have not seen the World's Largest Hand Dug Well. And we would've missed today's other stop....CARHENGE in Alliance, Nebraska.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
The World's Largest Hand Dug Well?!?
Huh?! What a bizarre stop on a road trip! If that's a place that you wouldn't stop then remind me to never road trip with you. Stops like that are Americana and kitschy. You can always meet interesting people at bizarre stops like that.
The well was....well it was huge. And it was hand dug. And it is the world's largest. That's all there is to it, really. God bless America!
The well was....well it was huge. And it was hand dug. And it is the world's largest. That's all there is to it, really. God bless America!
DAY ONE
We left Bartlesville around 9 am. We are stopping for lunch in Wichita before heading to Dodge City. Today's final destination is North Platte, NE.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Lauren's First Blog
I am SUPER pumped for this DeKelSki Road Trip! I can't wait to go see Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone and so much more! It is really hard to believe that we leave tomorrow! After months of waiting we are now down to these last few days of packing and cleaning! :) I will be blogging as well as the rest of my family so make sure to read read read! Can't wait for this fun filled 2011 vacation!
Elijah's 1st blog
Road trip 2011,the silver bullet is going to Yellowstone,Mount Rushmore,Car henge,Olympic training center and many others. In Yellowstone we'll see water shooting up in the air,mountains,canyons, petrified wood, bears,wolves, and elk.I can't wait for road trip 2011!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Making a list and checking it twice....
How does one go on a road trip for almost 3 weeks? Oh and did I mention that the temperature range is 22 - 103? And that we need to be able to eat at least 2 meals/day out of our cooler? Make a list! I've been adding to "the list" for almost a year. And now that we are less from 48 hours from departure that list is in my hand constantly. We have a staging area set up in the dining room. I would show you a picture but it is pretty overwhelming right now.
The kids travel binders and journals are ready to go. The border surprises (more on that later) are all wrapped and labeled. The laundry is done. The food is purchased.
On tomorrow's agenda:ask bribe Lauren to vacuum the car, clean the house, make lists for the housesitter (she's the BEST!), transition the "piles" of stuff into actual bags, and follow up on some last minute details, reservations, etc. We are getting so close to our ADVENTURE IN THE SILVER BULLET!
The kids travel binders and journals are ready to go. The border surprises (more on that later) are all wrapped and labeled. The laundry is done. The food is purchased.
On tomorrow's agenda:
Monday, July 4, 2011
How to make a road trip eduational
As a homeschool mom, I am always looking for ways to make everything educational. Lauren is quick to point out "my mom makes everything into school". But life is our classroom and the American roads are our teachers.
Using the book "Cantering the Country", a website called Enchanted Learning, and other internet resources, I am creating notebooks for my kids. They will each have their own binder with their own
"assignments". This serves 2 purposes. 1) It helps them keep up with where we are on the trip, how many miles we will travel each day, possible stops along the way, lodging information, etc. and 2) they will learn about where we are traveling.
I am in the process of printing out all their worksheets for the trip. The binder is divided by day (Thursday, Friday, etc.) Their are word finds, crossword puzzles, maps, a license plate game, car bingo, etc. in there. Some activities are fun and not required while others are educational in nature and a requirement.
The other fun idea that I'm working on today is wrapping up small border surprises. Every time we cross a border they receive a small surprise. When we cross into Oklahoma they will receive travel diaries, Kansas = fun money to use as they wish during the course of the trip, Nebraska = new DVD's, etc. Still working on the rest of the states. I was going to tailor each gift to the state but my brain just wasn't willing to work that hard. LOL
Using the book "Cantering the Country", a website called Enchanted Learning, and other internet resources, I am creating notebooks for my kids. They will each have their own binder with their own
"assignments". This serves 2 purposes. 1) It helps them keep up with where we are on the trip, how many miles we will travel each day, possible stops along the way, lodging information, etc. and 2) they will learn about where we are traveling.
I am in the process of printing out all their worksheets for the trip. The binder is divided by day (Thursday, Friday, etc.) Their are word finds, crossword puzzles, maps, a license plate game, car bingo, etc. in there. Some activities are fun and not required while others are educational in nature and a requirement.
The other fun idea that I'm working on today is wrapping up small border surprises. Every time we cross a border they receive a small surprise. When we cross into Oklahoma they will receive travel diaries, Kansas = fun money to use as they wish during the course of the trip, Nebraska = new DVD's, etc. Still working on the rest of the states. I was going to tailor each gift to the state but my brain just wasn't willing to work that hard. LOL
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Our travel mates....
This road trip is actually a 2nd road trip for the DeKelSki family. We are obviously the "De", our friends Steve & Gayla Kelley are the Kel's, and the Ski's are Jason and Jana Soroski. They are fun traveling mates and our kids are all best friends which makes it more funner! :)
You can follow the Soroski's blog here. I think the Kelley's are setting one up as well but I don't know her blogger address yet.
You can follow the Soroski's blog here. I think the Kelley's are setting one up as well but I don't know her blogger address yet.
On the road again....
I set up this blog so that friends and family could follow us on our Summer 2011 Road Trip. Okay, okay...truth be told....I set this up for me. So I wouldn't forget a single fabulous minute of our trip. I'm so excited!
I will have some guest bloggers (perhaps you know them?) as we travel. I am also taking an amazing photographer along with me (perhaps you know him?).
We leave in just a few short weeks! So excited!
I will have some guest bloggers (perhaps you know them?) as we travel. I am also taking an amazing photographer along with me (perhaps you know him?).
We leave in just a few short weeks! So excited!
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