BLACK HILLS OF SOUTH DAKOTA

Jaycie’s Bunny Hoppin’ News:

By: Jaycie Lillie

7/8/23: DEVIL’S TOWER (actually in Wyoming on our way to South Dakota)

We packed up and left North Dakota heading for South Dakota. We decided to visit Devil’s Tower on the way. We could all see it from far away! It is very big & tall!

Some people were climbing it and they looked like ants! We stopped by the Visitor Center to get Jr Ranger booklet. While doing our Jr Ranger books outside it started to rain… HARD! We finished our books under the park ranger tent. We earned our Junior Ranger badge #130.

We waited for the rain to stop… and waited… it didn’t stop. So, Grandad and I stayed under the tent while the others went ahead to hike the trail around it.

I thought it was going to be muddy, so I didn’t go. The rain slowed and Grandad and I decided to go a little way on the hike. We saw prayer ties or cloths tied to trees and grandad liked them. We called the others and asked which way they started so we could go the opposite way to meet them head on.

We walked a little way and found a telescope. There were people climbing! We watched them and kept an eye out for the others.

The others found us waiting on the bench!

They reported that they had seen a Prairie Rattlesnake. YIKES! They showed us photos and videos.

I was very glad Grandad and I didn’t go that way. We all went back the way we came, the way the others hadn’t been yet. The rain had stopped.

We got back in our trucks and kept traveling on to South Dakota. We got to our destination at 7:00 pm. We were all tired and ate a quick dinner (leftovers).

We went to bed early because we had to wake up at 3 AM for our hot air balloon ride. Grandad got to sleep in.

7/10/23: FEEDING THE BURROS IN CUSTER STATE PARK!

One of my highlights in South Dakota was going to Custer State Park to feed the burrows! As soon as we arrived, it started to rain!! (It rained a lot in SD.) The burros didn’t like the rain. They were all huddled up under a tree. We brought 2 large bags of carrots and one bag of apples to feed them.

There were only 2 were brave enough to come out and get food.

There were thunderstorms at night, too. Check out this cool slo-mo video I made of the lightning.

It reminded me of Oklahoma thunderstorms! Thanks for reading!

Jett’s Wild Flight: HOT AIR BALLOON TOUR, LAKE SYLVAN, & MOUNT RUSHMORE

By: Jett Lillie, 7/9/23

We woke up at 3am and got ready. But not physically ready because Jaycie and mommy were still half asleep 😴 (But by the time we drove one hour to the site, they were awake.)

We drove one hour to the hot air balloon site (Hot Springs, SD Airport) and waited and watched as they blew up the giant balloon.🎈

We were all very excited! It is Uncle Sam, Jaycie, and my first hot air balloon flight. Mama & Daddy have flown in one before.

We hopped in the crowded basket of 6 people and took off!

Our pilot could navigate the balloon's elevation by burning the propane and releasing hot air into the balloon. The different elevations allowed us to catch & ride the wind currents. That is how she could steer it. She was constantly watching the wind speeds on her monitor.

We could see for miles! We spotted some wildlife: a rabbit, deer, and wild turkeys. There was also one other bot air balloon that launched right before us.

We floated 7 miles with our highest speed at 14 mph and we were up in the air for one hr and 15 minutes! The highest elevation we reached was just under 1,000 ft.

We splashed in the water 2 times and dipped our baskets bottom in some streams! Our pilot called it a “dash n’ splash.”

The landing was a little rough because the wind picked up and wanted to carry our balloon further.

Our pilot ended up laying our basket over and we all had to crawl out and help “milk” the air out of the balloon.

We then drove in their SUV back to the launch site and had a post flight snack.

Then we headed home to nap and prepare for Lake Sylvan that afternoon! Here's a video my sister made of our hot air balloon ride: https://youtu.be/fm044qY-HlA

We drove to Lake Sylvan and hiked around the rocky lake.

We did some bouldering.

After the hike we went shopping at the gift shop. My Dad and I went to go swim in the water and we realized that it was numbingly cold!!!!! 🥶 We quickly got out and decided to go kayaking instead because we didn’t want to get too much freezing cold water 💦 on us! We had lots of fun kayaking and rowing through the rocky clear Lake Sylvan!

We drove on Needles highway and rode it all the way to MT. Rushmore!

At Mt. Rushmore we took a lot of photos and walked the President’s trail.

I also earned my second Mt Rushmore jr. ranger badge! ( I was only 5 the first time I did it and didn't remember much.)

We watched a video then the heads of the legendary presidents lit up!

And we sang the national anthem!!!!🇺🇸

What an awesome day! Thanks for reading.

Jules’ Journal: BADLANDS FOSSIL DISCOVERY!

By: Julianne Lillie, 7/11/23

We packed a lunch, left the RV by 9:15am, and drove one hour to Badlands National Park.

We started our adventure at the Visitor’s Center where we stamped our passports, browsed the exhibits, and the kid’s earned their Junior Ranger badge #131!

We also checked out the working Paleontologist’s lab that was right there on site. This place was so cool!

We watched Lex, a Paleontologist, working on cleaning a massive jawbone fossl of a two horned beast named "Diceratherium." Jett was super intrigued and asked her several questions.

Lex also let Jett hold a real fossil.

We then learned that there are visitors who have found fossil specimens in the park before. And they told us what to do if we find one. Jett was super eager to go on a hike and find a fossil! So off we headed!

We started out hiking the Window and Door trails and breathed in the majestic beauty of the Badlands views!

We could see the layers in the rock – just spectacular! Especially with the wild sunflowers blooming everywhere!

We then ate our picnic lunch and headed to the Castle Trail to get more serious about our fossil hunting. We decided to split up to cover more ground.

Jett and I peeled off the trail about 0.25 mile in and veered left to follow the 2nd dry creek. About 42 paces from the trail, right at the base of a butte we spotted a fossil!

It was a good-sized jawbone split into 2 pieces with about 10 teeth sockets. We both got very excited! I immediately started documenting our location and took photos of the specimen next to our park pass for scale.

We also found a couple brown, shiny teeth around it that we also photographed.

We GPS’d the location and then ran to find Jason & Jaycie to bring them back and show them. They were impressed with our discovery!

We then looked around a bit more and found some interesting things. A small skull and a large fresh bone that looked like it was a wing from a large bird.

We then headed back to the Visitor Center and showed our photos to John, one of the working paleontologists. He got very excited about our find, especially when we told him we found brown shiny teeth next to it. He told us to head to the front desk to file a “fossil find report” with the park ranger. And that’s exactly what we did! The park ranger also had us fill out a press release approval form and took our photo for the press release. She also gave us each a “We did the right thing” patch to thank us for not taking the fossil, but rather leaving it right where it was, undisturbed.

She had me email my photos that will accompany my fossil find report and will help the paleontologists locate the fossil and perform an extensive dig in that area. Once the paleontologists have excavated all the fossils in the dig site and have determined its extent and what type of animal it is, they will contact us and let us know. Jett was super pumped!!!

We then went and showed Lex our discovery and she got super excited too! Based on our photos, she suspects it might be an Oreodont. The once in an artists' rendition below. But she’ll let us know once her team excavates the area. So cool!

After that we drove the scenic drive through the park and stopped at several gorgeous overlooks.

We watched as we drove further the colors of the rock layers changed to golden yellow, pinks, and purples. It was so pretty!

After we left the park, we headed onto Wall, South Dakota to stop at the famous Wall Drug store. We shopped and found some souvenirs and treasures, then filled up on ice cream!

We explored a bit more in the back where Jett found a cool T-Rex he wanted to take a photo with. And of course other oddities!

After that, we headed back to the RV to prep for a long travel day. The plan is to drive through Nebraska, stop at Scotts Bluff National Monument to explore, eat, and stretch our legs, and then continue to Colorado Springs, CO.

We only have 12 more days left and 3 more states to go! Since we’ve already spent time exploring Nebraska and Kansas (from previous RV trips), we’re going to mainly spend the rest of our time in Colorado exploring the National Park sites we haven’t visited yet. We are bittersweet our trip is nearing the end, but also excited to see our family & friends back home!