Our Great Plains Vacation, August 12-17, 2010

This was our first family trip somewhere other than a grandparent's house. Our kids are 12, 11, 11, and 5.

Our itinerary:

Day 1: Fort Pierre National Grassland

Day 2: Minuteman Missile Silo contact station, Prairie Homestead, Badlands National Park (hiked Cliff Shelf and Notch Trail), Wall SD

Day 3: Mt. Rushmore, Ellsworth Air Force Base Museum

Day 4: Jewel Cave (Scenic Tour), Devil's Tower

Day 5: Theodore Roosevelt National Park (hike to Petrified Forest)

Our Lodging:

Day 1: Wilderness camping in National Grassland

Amazing! Nice mowed area for campsite.

Day 2: Custer State Park: Grace Coolidge Tent Area

Nice setting with a creek & waterfall behind us, but there was Sturgis traffic all night on US16A right in front of the site.

Day 3: Custer State Park: Blue Belle Campground

A typical family campground (lots of kids besides mine making noise) with the nicest camp showers I've ever seen. The Blue Belle Lodge Restaurant is very close. We had dinner and breakfast there. Too bad there is no playground. Big horn sheep were grazing in the campground in the early evening.

Day 4: AmericInn in Belle Fourche, SD

City is the geographic center of the US. I like AmericInn anyway, and this one was very nice with a lodge feel, a chess board, lounge with books, etc.

Day 5: TR National Park Cottonwood Campground

A beautiful setting surrounded by the Badlands and the Little Missouri River. The sinks had drain stoppers--a big plus for contact wearers. Lots of water spigots. The ranger had a campfire and gave a great nature program on a big screen. The campground stays fairly brightly lit and we could hear I-90 traffic and trains all night. Camping is first come first served, but there were plenty of open sites on the summer Monday we were there.

When we camp, 11 year old son & I set up the tent. Then our daughters unroll the bedding. We sleep all 6 in one tent on self-inflating foam mats. In the morning, husband rolls up bedrolls then 11yo son & I take tent down.

My Single Best Experience was being out on the open prairie with a 360 degree view of the sky and no sight or sound of people except two radio towers far away on the horizon and a rare airplane overhead. It was fun walking through the varying grasses.

Things that Surprised me

• South Dakota is not flat.
• Mt. Rushmore is carved into a small part of a large hill.
• Wall Drug is like an entire downtown.

What the Children Enjoyed Most

• The Notch trail in the Badlands: A log-rope ladder, a tiny bit of rock climbing and an amazingly high lookout. They love rugged hikes, and our 5 year old handled this well.
• Seeing Mt. Rushmore
• Eating buffalo burgers and buffalo stew
• Earning Junior Ranger badges/patches at each National site
• Being in Jewel Cave (sparked an interest in caving for my 11 year old son)
• Devil's Tower (All loved climbing in the boulder field, but the tower seemed to be thought provoking too. Our 5 year old told his Grandma about the painting of the bear legend right after he told about "the heads" (Mt. Rushmore). Our older kids noted the prayers placed around the tower and discussed how all people and cultures are spiritual, and right and wrong ways to share the Gospel.)
• The Petrified Forest: 5 yo climbed on rocks while older kids studied the petrified trees. Something for everyone, eh?
• Their favorite museums were the Theodore Roosevelt visitor center (history of the park, Mr. Roosevelt, guns, and ranching are all explored) and the Ellsworth AFB (looked at many planes, walked through a flight simulator, and sat in a fighter jet cockpit. 11 year old daughter especially liked the wall text. They learned about the Berlin Wall and more about the Cold War.)
• My older daughter and son planned a trip they're going to take in college that includes a repeat of Mt. Rushmore, more time in the Badlands, climbing at Devil's tower, the spelunking tour of Jewel Cave and some of the tourist stops we didn't make (the midwest's largest maze, a water park.) They'll take their little brother with them.

If I could have done only one thing, I would have gone to Theodore Roosevelt National park. There is prairie, forest, badlands, wildlife (bison, prairie dog town)--everything you really need to see when you visit this part of the U.S.

If I take another trip to the Dakotas, I would

• spend more time at Wall Drug! I wanted to buy some shirts or souvenirs and browse more. In fact, I would maybe try to arrive Saturday evening, spend the night, go to church then move along to my next stop.
• visit the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and spend a couple of days.
• spend a whole day in the grassland.
• I'm glad I saw Mt. Rushmore once, but I don't need to go back. I would visit Devil's Tower again if it was on my way somewhere, but otherwise once is enough.

Other thoughts:

• I'm glad we all wore hiking boots everywhere.
• I could have brought fewer towels.
• Always bring extra warm clothes--even when the forecast is in the 90's! (It was surprisingly cool the week we were out there.)
• Now I know why people say Indiana is a boring drive. ND and SD are long, but interesting.
• My town is small & rural by Northeast Wisconsin standards, but would be a major city in ND. However, I think I could adapt to life there easily if I moved for a job.
• The 723 steps in Jewel Cave were easy because the tour was so interesting and the pace was relaxed.
• You must call as early as possible to get into Jewel Cave or Minuteman tours.
• We were prepared for rattlesnakes but didn't see a one. 5 year old freaked out when a grasshopper landed on his knee, though. Most of us got chiggers or some other bug bites under our clothes. The mosquitos weren't too bad.

Book Review: The Hiding Place

by Corrie Ten Boom, 1971. The (true) story: A watchmaker and her family become involved with the Dutch underground during WWII and are eventually arrested.

I read this very interesting book at the recommendation of my sister-in-law. Everyone knows about WWII, but this is the first time I've ever considered domestic life in occupied Europe. The book has a lot of evil in it, but she doesn't go into many graphic details of the violence around her. (PG-13, suitable for a middle-schooler who is comfortable with the subject matter.)

To me the primary theme was Acts 5:29--we must obey God rather than men. It some situations it is impossible to avoid breaking a commandment. The characters struggle with this--especieally those who think they're fairly righteous.

The book has religious overtones. Corrie and her sister come to identify their sufferings with Christ's. The Ten Booms are devout Reformed Christians, but her book is not sectarian. In fact, while worshiping with other women in the concentration camp toward the end of the book, Corrie says she knows "that in darkness God's truth shines most clear." The truth the prisoners are seeing, despite different denominational traditions, is that we all come to God empty-handed and weak, and our only hope is for His mercy because of Jesus.

Issues Etc Two year anniversary

Sharing some of my favorite Issues Etc segments since their return.

How do you "get right with God"? If I think I have to do something for Him, it is like looking at a crucifix and saying, "That wasn't enough for me, Jesus." Thursday, January 7, 2010 (Pastor's Roundtable on Justification)--this is a heavy theological segment but it explains in detail how God has reconciled us to Himself.

Have you ever met a Christian who thinks she's doing well and doesn't struggle with sin anymore? Has someone looked down on you for needing forgiveness or wanting to come to the Lord's Supper?

In this segment Pastor Rottmann talks about our spiritual weakness.

Our own strength is worthless against sin. People who think they are being strong, resisting sin and doing good on their own, are probably puffed up with pride. God fills us when we are empty. 2 Corinthians 12:9--"My grace is sufficient for you.My power is made perfect in weakness." Jim Barton, my pastor in college taught about this verse often. Many college students feel weaker than they ever have--they struggle with grades or their major; they dealing with their own health problems; they hear of sickness or death in their families who are far away. He introduced us through Paul to life under the cross.

Change in the Church

http://issuesetc.org/2010/01/12/2387/

I like change. I like to go new places and try new things. I rarely cook the same meal twice. I adopt new technology. I even embrace new policies at work when everyone else is grumbling. But I have no use for a god that changes. I want a Rock, not shifting sand.

People who want to retain the historic Liturgy (aka Mass or Divine Service) are accused of fearing change. I do like to have variety in worship, but not "change."

In this segment, Pastor Lassman explores the ultimate implication of tearing down traditional worship and rebuilding with a new focus:

changing from

Gospel-centered worship (what Jesus has done for me)

to either

Law-centered worship (telling me what God wants me to do as someone He created--but if I'm honest I know I can't)

or

Seeker-centered worship (acknowledging and praising a Creator but not delivering the forgiveness, life, and salvation that are found in Christ alone).

How to make a mitered sampler blanket

1. Create a center. Use a rectangle about 3/4 as wide as it is long. (for example, 9" wide x 12" tall) for a standard blanket shape. Use a different shape if you'd like different afghan proportions (such as center square to build a square throw or baby blanket). Bind off on all edges.

2. Make mitered corners to begin strips

Version A--cast on 4st

Row 1 (RS): k1, (increase twice), k1

Row 2 (WS): k2,p4,k2

Row 3: k2, (increase twice), k2

Row 4: k2, p6, k2

Row 5: k3, (increase twice), k3

Row 6: k2, p8, k2

Continue increasing twice at or near the two center st in this manner.

Options for the increases: (k1-row below, k1) twice; kFB twice; (yo, k2, yo); if working a lace panel, work a k1 in place of a ssk or k2tog in pattern near the center line.

Version B--Cast on 3st.

Row 1 (RS): k1, (double increase), k1.

Row 2 (WS): k2, p2, k2

Row 3: k2, (double increase), k2.

Row 4: k2, p3, k2.

Row 5: k3, (double increase), k3

Row 6: k2, p5, k2

Continue adding a double increase in the center of the piece on each RS row in this manner. Options for the double increase include (k1, yo, k1) in one st; (yo, k1, yo); m1 on each side of center st

I begin working partial repeats of my pattern as soon as I have enough st.

• Allow 2 garter st, then begin the chart/pattern row at the right edge of the work.
• Skip any stitches that don't exist yet because you haven't gotten to the increases. Don't forget to increase twice on the RS rows.
• After you pass the center st, work the appropriate number of st on the left edge of work from the END of your chart/pattern. (This is easier for me with charted stitch patterns).

If you don't want to do this or are working a very narrow or complicated pattern, you can work in plain stockinette or garter st until you have enough st to work full pattern rows.

Increase until you have twice the number st needed for your pattern panel, plus 8st.

Arrange as follows:

2 garter st - (pattern) - 2 garter st - 2 garter st - (pattern) - 2 garter st.

(There is a selvedge of 2 garter st on either side of each pattern panel.)

3. Work strips

Divide at center. Proceed with pattern back and forth in rows. (k2, work across a right side pattern row, k2; stop at center and turn work; k2, work across a wrong side pattern row, k2.) Join a separate piece of yarn to remaining st another panel.

4. Assembly

Continue until each is panel is the appropriate length. (If working a rectangle, the panels will be different lengths to match the dimensions of the center.) Sew together. You may wish to lightly block panels before sewing, especially if the neighboring stitch patterns are very different in stretchiness (e.g. a lace next to a twist-stitch pattern). It is a good idea to sew as you go. It is hard to measure the width/length needed if you have many unconnected strips.

Repeat with more stitch patterns and colors. All following strips must be long enough to sew to the rectangle plus the previous pattern strip.

When blanket is desired size, add an edging or fringe if desired around entire outside, or just leave as is.

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Originally I was going to work each strip to the piece before it in the manner an edging is joined to a blanket or shawl as it is knitted. I ran into some gauge disasters.

The afghan I am making is for DSTwin. He declared that mitered corners are cooler than lapped corners, so this is not a true log cabin design. I think having two matching sides meeting in the corners gives a neatly layered frame effect and keeps the sampler from becoming too random. The strip construction also makes it portable.