Posted in: Exploring South Dakota, Museums & Tours, Sightseeing, YouTube Video Link

Day 2 Of Travel

On to our next stop! (June 10, 2020)

Most of the truckers that had also used the casino’s overnight parking last night were gone by the time we left. Let me tell you something; I feel huge when we are driving and towing the RV. However, when we pull into a gas station with truck pumps or park next a semi truck, I feel a little small.

We started early again to get the most of our day. We had left the slides in and everything put away for the one night, so we had much less to do in order to leave. We hadn’t even unhooked the RV from the truck. Our next stop was also in Iowa, although right near the South Dakota border. It was another casino, Grand Falls Casino. This one had an RV park with full hook ups for $35/night. We also had access to their outdoor pool.

It was pretty standard driving, no sudden storms this time. There was some construction, but nothing eventful. We did see lots of windmills and water towers. One water tower was even painted yellow and had a smiley face on it! We found a pay phone at a rest stop in Iowa. Seriously! Blue frame and all. We became card carrying rewards members of Kum & Go.

Once we arrived at our destination, I had to go into the hotel check-in desk to get the key to the electric box and our designated spot assignment. We also got the wristbands for the pool. The campground was all pull through spots, with full hookups. The RV park was towards the side of the property (road behind us and the driving range in front of us).

We grabbed some dinner, and this time it was pretty much what I expected. I did get to make a nice salad though!

The boys enjoyed the pool for a few minutes before it got too crowded and we left. We have noticed that not very many people are wearing masks in Iowa or South Dakota. There are signs “recommending” wearing masks, but nothing requiring people to wear them. We are one of the few, other than employees, and we are still trying to maintain a social/physical distance. The night ended with the boys filling in our travel map*. We have one on the kitchen wall and one in their room for them to fill out. (Thank you Denny & Gabe for the map, the boys love coloring in where they’ve been!)

Saturday we explored the area a little bit and went to the pool again in the evening.

We began Saturday morning with getting bagels from Bagel Boy. They were pretty good (and reasonably priced when compared to back home).

Will really wanted to see some oddities/quirkiness on this trip (things like the biggest ball of twine). We checked on AtlasObscura.com and RoadsideAmerica.com and found a few options. After seeing how far they were from us, we decided on Mr. Bendo, a large statue holding a tailpipe outside of a muffler shop. He was pretty large! According to roadsideamerica.com, in 2018 the city said he could no longer hold his tailpipe, as it acted as a sign for the business and was too tall. When the city’s people heard about it, they were upset and got the city to reverse their decision. Since it had not been considered a sign when it first began in the 60’s, they said it was a work of art instead.

Our next stop for the day was extremely out there. We went to Buffalo Ridge 1880 Cowboy Town. This one was definitely an experience. It was out in the hillsides, and this man has created quite the livelihood. He was very nice as he showed us around. He had a two pump gas station, a souvenir shop, the cowboy town, buffalo (also sold buffalo hides, skulls, and burgers), had several billboards on his land (both for rent and to advertise the cowboy town), and offered overnight parking. What an entrepreneur!

The town consisted of several buildings/exhibits: a gold mine, antique farming equipment, a saloon, a sheriff’s office, etc. There is an upper walkway so you can view the town as well. The other option to get a bird’s eye view is to climb the tower. You can see the buffalo herd sometimes from here as well.

The town had many hand-painted signs explaining what each exhibit is about. There are mannequins in each location, some of them are animatronic and speak or move. It was certainly an experience! The town is a little run down. It is a huge undertaking for one person. He also said he is still cleaning up some tornado damage from a few years ago.

Some of the robots still work, although they are a little worn. The town does sit out in all of the elements, so there is some weathering to the paint, wood boards, signs, the mannequins and their clothes. Some areas smelled a little musty, so I didn’t stay in there too long with my allergies. You could tell that a lot of work had gone into making the town, although I’m not sure exactly how historically accurate some of the information was.

I would definitely stop and check it out if you like finding oddities and things off the beaten path. When we went it was $8/adult (12+) and $4/kids. We did a quick video of some of the exhibits, if you want to check it out!

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Posted in: Exploring Ohio, Hiking, Sightseeing

Caesar’s Creek State Park

Caesar’s Creek State Park is located in Ohio. We didn’t stay in the Caesar’s Creek campgrounds as the full hookups were completely booked. We do know several people who have enjoyed camping there though. Our campground was about a 15 minute drive to the hiking areas, so we ended up making several day trips. Most of the trails are really well maintained, some with gravel paths.

NOTE: Some of the trails had a No Pets and No Bicycles restriction.

Our first time venturing out into new hiking trails, we were trying to find the waterfall, but ended up taking the wrong trail. However, we did end up seeing a mom and two baby raccoons!

We stopped at the damn and saw a few boaters and a kayaker on the lake. It was a beautiful day. The boys loved the hike and we only saw a few other people out. (It was great for social distancing!) We walked through the fossil area and all of the boys added a rock to the tower that had been started.

We have tried four of the Caesar’s Creek trails:

Caesar’s Trace: This one was our first trail. No pets or bikes. It had a few spots where the trail went close to a creek. The boys had lots of fun climbing around the banks and over tree roots. It was on this path that we saw the raccoons. We were both minding our own business and ended up startling each other. They ran up a tree to watch us, while we stood on the trail and watched them.

Horseshoe Falls: We started on part of this trail and must have crossed over to another one. I want to go back to finish as it looks like there are several cool features. We ran into the fossil collection area as well. When I actually used Maps from the All Trails app (we just use the free version for now), it got me to the right parking lot! We loved this trail. In fact, it was just the boys and I since Ben had a meeting. I think this one is one to go back to so Ben can hike it too. The path was nicely compacted dirt, just a few muddy spots that were easily dodged (it rained a few days ago), and wide enough that I didn’t feel like I had to turn sideways to make it down the path. There was plenty to see along the trail; a glimpse of the lake, a creek, tiny waterfalls, a cool rock wall, then finally the falls (now granted, they are not like Niagara Falls, but still pretty darn cool and beautiful). You can stop there, or if you walk up the trail a little bit more, there is a rope bridge and a path that you can take to cross to the other side of the falls. Nick found out the hard way (probably the 100th time) that wet rocks are slippery. Luckily he only scraped the side of his leg a little bit, and may have some bruises.

Gorge Trail: We liked this trail a lot. If you take the path one way, you go up a somewhat steep set of wooden stairs. If you go the other direction to begin the hike, you will end up walking down the stairs. There was a pond, several bridges, and the water runoff area was pretty cool to see. To help wear the boys out, they ran up the steep hill that makes up the side of the dam (this is by the water runoff area).

The hill from the dam and them stopping halfway up for a break

Fifty Springs Loop Trail: I would skip this one. This was not as well maintained or marked. It was supposed to be an orange marked trail, but because of organic pigments in the sun, had faded in many places to yellow. It crossed an actual yellow marked trail, so it was easy to get on a wrong path and not end up where you wanted to go. Much muddier after the rain than the other trails.

~Sarah

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