Devils Tower
Yet another place that I had no idea existed before we started laying out this trip.
Have you heard of it before?
Turns out it was featured in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and we may or may not have let the kids watch it so they’d be familiar with it when we got there.
I’d say they were excited to see their friends when we arrived…
But before we got there, look at this beautiful random spot we stopped at in Wyoming.
Justin just pulled off to the side and let the kids jump out to play in the snow somewhere east of Cody and West of where we were headed.
It’s these random breaks as we go from place to place that are sometimes the little highlights of the day.
Back to the Tower…to even out the Hollywood version of the Tower, and to please my educational heart, we also watched videos and read a bunch about the history of Devils Tower, also known as Bears Lodge.
30 minutes out, we read creation stories from the different Indian tribes associated with the site and compared their creation stories with our creation story, which led to a fascinating conversation.
Avett, to my surprise, went on to retell Genesis for us. Way to go Avett!
And then…there it was…nothing but plains and then this massive rock outcrop.
What in the world?
Where did it come from? How did it form? Why here? HOW???
There are three theories out there, but let’s be real…they have no clue.
It started to make my head hurt trying to figure it out, so I just stopped thinking about it.
It’s hard to wrap your mind around how a huge rock formation a football field wide at the top and a mile wide circumference at the bottom with vertical cooled lava just appeared out of nowhere.
So instead of harping on its formation, we went for a hike around the base of the tower and boulder hopped.
We even watched newlyweds repel down the side!
Justin in his happy place - climbing boulders with his kids.
As we headed back to our campsite, we caught the sun setting against the tower.
Talk about stunning. Second only to the Tetons sunset.
Look at how the tower turned golden orange.
Isn’t it breathtaking?
Back to the campsite for these tired travelers.
We were fortunate to finally have clear skies and watched a full moon rise behind mountains from the middle of the plains. It was quite the experience and like no moon rise any of us have experienced before.
And then, we did something we’ve never done before but has become my new favorite thing…I cuddled up in my bed and watched an old movie, and I mean old, with the kids.
First up?
Annie Get Your Gun, the 1950 musical about Annie Oakley and Frank Butler, featuring Buffalo Bill and Sitting Bull. I’d never seen it and didn’t know what the kids would think about an old musical, but we all loved it!
And my kids were so excited to see people they had all just learned about at our last stop! It brought history to life for them. My favorite!
The next morning, Justin and I woke up at what felt like a ridiculously early time in order to catch the sunrise on the Tower.
Honestly, it was a little disappointing.
Nothing as dramatic as the sunrise at the Tetons and not as glowing as the sunset the night before.
But, it was still beautiful to look at and Justin and I got to spend some quiet time, just the two of us, to connect and be together.
So even though the view of the Tower wasn’t as hoped for, the company made it an absolutely delightful morning.
And then we woke the kids so we could go see some prairie dogs and get on the road to The Black Hills!
How cute are these little guys?
We watched them for a bit. Listened to their warning chirps. Learned some quick facts about them. Informed Edley she could not catch one and broke it to Embry that we could not get one as a pet. And then we were off.
As quick as we came in, we were out again.
