We stopped for a picnic and Evie had to eat on the cooler in the field because she did not appreciate the 8 or so flies that were hovering around the picnic table. She also gave us some more ballet entertainment.
Gorgeous girl in the backseat.
We made our way to Mitchell where we saw the Corn Palace, a site that we visited 30 years ago that made an impression on me for some reason. In my memory, from when I was 8, I thought that it was a whole building truly made out of corn. In actuality, it has murals and decorations made out of corn cobs.
We headed on to Sioux Falls where we got to walk on the rocks and Evie spent some time explaining what she would do if she were a duck who lived there.
We caught our South Dakota sign as we were exiting because there wasn't one where we entered.
We got into Sioux City, Iowa and had a delicious salad dinner from Johnnie Mars restaurant which we picked up and took to thee riverside park. Evie asked me if we could go back there some time so she could play more on the playground.
We drove on to Omaha to spend the night. Monday we headed to a Wildlife Safari Park where we spent lots of time checking out the elk that were happy to stand near enough to our car to enjoy viewing them, but far enough away to feel safe. We saw several other animals too and then headed to Kansas City. The things we'd thought about doing there were more indoors and we didn't feel quite comfortable with those and didn't want to do another zoo, so we headed on to our hotel in Springfield, MO.
Tuesday, we were going to go to the Ride Through Caverns until I called them and found out that other than having people wear masks and cleaning more thoroughly, there were no precautions against COVID, including taking the full 25 people in their ride through vehicle so it would be impossible to socially distance. So we nixed that and went to the Dickerson Zoo which was a delight. We saw several peacocks roaming about, lots of water fowl, monkeys, and a wolf that took particular interest in Evie, and we got to feed goats and llamas.
After the zoo, we drove to Rockaway Beach which was a vacation destination for my grandparents and my grandma's parents the year before they (Grandma Jeanne and Grandaddy) got married, and my dad remembered a trip there when he was about 12. We think we may have found the cabins they stayed at, overlooking the lake.
We drove through the Ozarks and got a few glimpses of nice overlooks, then settled in a hotel in Hot Springs, AR and ordered pizza.
Wednesday, we looked at some of the bath houses from outside (they were closed) and entered Hot Springs National Park, our 5th and final national park of the trip, and felt the water - I believe the sign said it was 137 degrees! We drove to Little Rock where we got Chuy's for lunch and ate it at a small neighborhood park, then we came home.
We drove 5,329 miles, saw 5 national parks, 5 state capitals, and 14 states. Evie got 11 new states on this trip. Here's where she stands on US states:
A funny I forgot from last week was after we had had to tell her no to a few things she wanted to do because there were too many people, she said, in her best teenager voice, "I thought this was supposed to be a FUN trip." I should also mention that when she couldn't go build a sandcastle on the beach in Milwaukee last week and I told her she could do it next time, she said she was concerned that "by next time, I'll be nine and I may not want to anymore."
We picked up our dogs who had been boarding at the vet and Evie was ecstatic to get to see them.
Thursday and Friday we spent unpacking and resting up. Evie has finally gotten to talk to Addie and Will after 3 weeks of not doing so, following 3 months of talking basically every single day. She was glad to get to chat with them.
It was a fantastic trip! We enjoyed the time together, all the sights, and the fun in the car. Evie's dancing and imagination added to the pleasure. And it was wonderful to get to hug and be close to each other for those days.
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