Happy Thanksgiving!
Day 5: 11/25/2021
We woke up feeling extra thankful that we are able to travel and see so many incredible sites. But at the same time, it was bittersweet not being home with our family and friends. But a few phone calls home sure did help.
After eating a small breakfast and packing up the trailer, we are on our way to our official first campsite at Game Lodge Campground in Custer State Park. It was only a 45 minute drive, but it was definitely the most scenic route we have seen so far. Before we even arrive at the campground, Adam already has a plan for how we are spending the day. He found a perfect hike to do and more scenic drives to see.
At the campground, we were greeted by a group of bighorn sheep. After taking a million pictures of them, we left the camper and drove to our first hiking spot, the Cathedral Spires trail. We lucked out because on our way we were able to take Needles Highway, a very curvy mountain pass road with breathtaking views, we 100% recommend driving it! We were blessed with incredible weather over the Thanksgiving holiday. In the winter months the Needles Highway and many other scenic mountain pass drives close.
The trail was about 2.5 miles round trip, with a gain of 500 feet in elevation. Of course we had to take a picture at the top (we are going to be pros at taking timed photos and selfies by the end of this trip).
It was a perfect first hike for us and made us feel better about all the mashed potatoes we were going to eat that night. After our hike we thought there was enough sunlight left to do the Wildlife loop that was conveniently located right next to the campground. 10 minutes in, we didn’t think we would see any buffalo, but we were wrong! Three buffalo were hanging out a little ways from the road and we were ecstatic! We drove around for another half hour and got to see an even bigger herd of buffalo and a group of Antelope. We called it a success and headed back to the camper to start making our miniature Thanksgiving dinner. On the menu we had mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, ciabatta rolls, and chicken (which we agreed is better than turkey). We also attempted to make a pumpkin pie in our mini pie maker… it did not turn out as we had hoped. We laughed it off and ate some gingersnap cookies that Christina’s dad made for us before we left. Our stomachs are full and we are ready for bed. We find it harder staying up later because there isn’t much connection to watch a movie or tv and we are pretty tired from the hike. It was a different kind of Thanksgiving than what we were used to, but we are thankful to have this experience together.