Our Adventures in South Dakota

This July, we set out on a big vacation to South Dakota.  We decided to go because Brian had work in SD, and we decided to tag along.  One perk of him traveling some in going to new places.  We were gone a week, so I warn you this post will be long and full of fun pictures from our trip!

Friday:  July 5th - up at 6am headed to airport.  Woke up 2 kids, got them dressed, and headed to the airport.  Of course traveling in airports is full of lots of walking, people, ticketing, security etc.  Kids did great through it all, and were excited!  Allie has always loved to fly.  This was her 6th plane trip, and Hunter's 2nd (his 1st was at 9 months old).  Both are excellent on planes!

Once we arrived in SD (layover in Chicago), we grabbed some lunch, and headed to our hotel.  We got settled in, rested for a bit, then headed to Dinosaur park.  It's a little place with Dinos all around ontop of this Mountain area.  Nice small place for kids to run around and climb on some of the Dinos.  We then went back to the very cool indoor hotel pool.  Think waterpark inside of a Ramada and that's what we were at!  Kids LOVED it, then out to dinner.  Busy 1st day!

July 6th - This day was full of sight seeing.  1st stop:  Mt. Rushmore.  What a neat area, and so glad I was able to see it.  Allie liked it, and Hunter called it the Top of the Mountain with faces.  Then, we drove to Crazy Horse, which is the Indian Monument area.  This place is huge, and with lots of work left to do, I wonder what it might be like it Allie's lifetime.  After dinner, headed back to the awesome pool!

This is Hunter worn out after Mt. Rushmore.  We are headed into the Crazy Horse museum, and Hunter only wanted to sleep.  Good thing Daddy was good at carrying him!

The face of Crazy Horse.

The white is a small replica of what the monument will one day look like 

July 7th - Drove about an Hr. to Hot Springs, SD, where the kids got to participate in a kids Mammoth dig, and then we took a short tour of Mammoths that have been found in this area. I thought it was a neat part of our trip!  Then, we took a sight seeing drive on Needles Hwy, which was unreal.  We stopped to see Buffalo, and some gorgeous scenery.  One regret is not enough pictures of the twisty roads etc we drove on through this beautiful mountain.  Just unbelievable.  BUT...we were headed to Bear Country USA and the scenic route was a little longer that we had planned for, so we had to move on.  Bear Country the kids absolutely LOVED!  After Bear Country, we then drove about an hr, to our 2nd hotel.

Digging for Mammoths

Inside the museum of real mammoths skeletons that have been found.  Very Cool!

Time to see some buffalo!

Probably my favorite picture.  The 3 of them looking at the buffalo in the distance

One scenic stop

Bear Country USA!  

Lots of fun for everyone at this place

What 2 kids look like asleep after a long fun filled day!

July 8th -   Brian had to work.  It was Monday, so the kids and I were on our own.  It sort of looked like rain in the morning, and we had a water park on the itinerary, so we had found a park to go to instead.  The park was BIG, and there was a creek the kids loved throwing rocks into.  Before lunchtime the weather was much improved, so we ate, and then headed to the water park.  It was BIG, and very nice.  Allie had a blast and I managed to keep my sanity watching 2 kids in a large place like this in water!  Once Brian got off work, we headed about 20 miles down the road to Deadwood.  Deadwood is famous for where Wild Bill Hickcox was killed with the dead's man hand (A's and 8's)  We had a great dinner, and Brian was even picked to be in the little show the salon puts on about Wild Bill and his death.

Brian in the show!

Deadwood - Brian even played cards there, just for a few minutes

July 9th - Tuesday was a day of LOTS of driving.  Didn't start off great...we realized we had checked out of our 2nd motel, we had left a necklace Allie had bought in the breakfast area.  We drove back, which added 1 hr. onto our long driving day, but found the necklace.  So, then once the driving started again, we drove a little ways and made our pit stop in Wall, SD, were Wall Drug is.  This place is famous for serving free ice water to people.  We shopped a little, had lunch and were back in the car.  We then took a little scenic route to drive through the badlands, which are neat Volcanoes that erupted long time ago.  Beautiful place and many stops along the way for pictures.  Once out of the area, we drove long straight roads filled with corn stalks and hay bails, until finally later in the evening arriving at our 3rd hotel

July 10th - We were only at this hotel for 1 night, so that Brian could work at a school on Wednesday.  While Brian worked I took the kids to this place called Storybook Land.  Just a neat little park with slides, and a few rides based all on storybooks.  Brian met us for lunch which was a nice surprise and finished early that day, which was nice because we had a 2+ hr. drive to our 4th and final hotel.

On the train ride that Hunter wanted to ride on so bad.  Too bad he wouldn't smile :)

July 11th - Brian worked this last day at a 3rd school while the kids and I took a 40 min. drive to a nearby town and went to a wonderful Children's Museum.  GREAT DAY...just so much fun!  The kids played 5 hours in this place, and didn't want to leave.  The both slept in the car on the drive back to pick up Brian.  We got back to town about 15 min. early, so I treated myself to a McD's ice cream and sat in a quiet car while the kids slept.  :).  After dinner, we went to the town pool, which really was a mini water park compared to pools in VA.  There was a diving board, slides, and more in the pool.

Allie just loved dressing Hunter up!  Guess that's what big sisters are for 

Helping Hunter fish

Fun evening at the pool

 The trip was awesome.  Our children are awesome little travelers.  To be 7 and 3 we could not have asked for them to be any better.  AND...that's what makes these trips we take so great.  We get to be with Brian for the week instead of being at home, travel to a new place and make great memories!