{"id":1804,"date":"2012-08-10T21:47:59","date_gmt":"2012-08-11T02:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/?p=1804"},"modified":"2012-08-10T21:47:59","modified_gmt":"2012-08-11T02:47:59","slug":"cathedral-spires-and-devils-tower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/10\/cathedral-spires-and-devils-tower\/","title":{"rendered":"Cathedral Spires and Devil’s Tower"},"content":{"rendered":"

I didn’t have much of a plan today besides having fun on our way to an overnight in North Dakota. I figured that we wouldn’t see all of Custer State Park and the Black Hills yesterday and that it would be nice to have some extra time to look around and possibly go on a hike or two. <\/p>\n

We started off with a scenic drive through the Black Hills, not too far from Mount Rushmore. The drive was beautiful and when we saw a trailhead for Cathedral Spires, we pulled over. I thought we might hike up the trail 15 minutes and back, but the older boys and I made it all the way to the top before we had to return.<\/p>\n

\"120719934tb<\/a><\/p>\n

Mark and Bethany with the Pinnacles<\/em><\/p>\n

The view from the top was worth the climb. I think a dream vacation for me would call for a backpack of books on some mountain trails.<\/p>\n

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View from Cathedral Spires<\/em><\/p>\n

Something caught my eye yesterday about a place called “Devil’s Tower” and I ran the calculations to see how much time it would take to sneak into the northeastern corner of Wyoming before heading north. We decided to go for it.<\/p>\n

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Devil’s Tower<\/em><\/p>\n

This igneous intrusion is one of the most impressive geological formations I have ever seen. The site was and is sacred to Native Americans and today is a favorite spot for rock climbers.<\/p>\n

\"120719956tb<\/a><\/p>\n

Devil’s Tower with the kids<\/em><\/p>\n

We didn’t climb the rock, but we did enjoy a 1.5 mile hike around the base. It was a warm day and the wrong time for Jonathan (nap time kept Kelli off the trail with him), but everyone else enjoyed the varied views from below.<\/p>\n

The park also includes a prairie dog village, and the little creatures first observed by Lewis and Clark were not afraid to come up close.<\/p>\n

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The girls with the little rodents<\/em><\/p>\n

It might look like Luke is out in the middle of nowhere, but he’s actually in the officially designated “geographical center of the United States<\/a>” outside Belle Fourche, South Dakota. <\/p>\n

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The center of the United States<\/em><\/p>\n

We ended the day in Bowman, North Dakota, the first of three planned nights in this state. With my arrival here, I’ve now been to 49 states. Since 2009, our family has traveled to all but two states in the lower 48.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I didn’t have much of a plan today besides having fun on our way to an overnight in North Dakota. I figured that we wouldn’t see all of Custer State Park and the Black Hills yesterday and that it would be nice to have some extra time to look around and possibly go on a\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}