Memorial Weekend

We decided that on our first day of summer break we would go on a family adventure.  

We packed a special lunch of lots of yummy things. We drove about an hour from home to Wind Cave National Park.

Here are the cute kids ready and excited for the day...

 

Here they are again at our destination...

We saw a lot of bison as we drove through the park. It was awesome.

  

We took the tour of Wind Cave. It is called Wind Cave because wind goes in and out of this cave. It sucks inward or blows outward depending on the atmospheric pressure inside the cave and the atmospheric pressure outside of the cave.

Here is the "natural entrance" to the cave which is actually pretty small. Grown men would not likely be able to get in that way. The first explorer was a 16 yr old boy. Now we enter through a man made entrance.

This entrance (below) was where the wind would blow through giving the cave it's name. It still does this even with the man made changes to the cave. However, there was not wind blowing around us as we went through the cave.

The cave is famous for not only the wind but also boxwork. Boxwork is a rare formation found in only two places in America. Here it is folks...

 And more formations and cool rooms of the cave

 More boxwork...

 Luke was practicing his photography...

 It was as cold outside as it was inside so we did not freeze in the cave. I appreciated that!
Here is Luke working on his Junior Ranger packet. All three kids earned their Ranger badges at Wind Cave.

 Near the national park was an awesome piece of art. A cowboy lassoing a dragon. We were entertained by the random sight.

pictures taken on my phone...