For our family vacation this year, we decided to visit South Dakota. Okay, I got a lot of flack for selecting South Dakota as a destination. "The kids are too little to get anything out of it," "The kids will never last in the car that long," etc. But, Alivia is 6 years old. We want to get in as many family trips to US locations we can while we can. With that said, Chris had never been to the South Dakota destinations, i.e. Mount Rushmore, etc. And, South Dakota is pretty close when compared to other places. The kids are far enough apart in age that they will never really ever be at the perfect age for a family vacation. What is the perfect age anyway? The kids were really excited to go on vacation to South Dakota even though they did not know what a vacation was or what or where South Dakota was!
Monday, May 31: Memorial Day:
We left my parents after an afternoon dessert and my nap (I worked Sunday night) at about 3 and headed to our first overnight stay, Sioux Falls. The girls watched videos on their individual DVD players eventually falling to sleep. Asher, on the other hand, was asleep rather quickly and remained asleep until we were just outside of Sioux Falls. We could not have timed that better.
We arrived in Sioux Falls about 5:30 and checked into our hotel (Holiday Inn Express Empire Mall - nice, average hotel but the free breakfast was outstanding. We would recommend it for that reason and the reasonable price we got on hotels.com). Then we were off to visit Falls Park. The water falls there are beautiful. We walked around the falls, walked over the bridge and looked over the look out tower. It was fun and pretty all in one shot. And, one could sit there all day and probably not see 2 families of the same nationality. It was a real melting pot for some crazy reason.
We then returned to the hotel for a quick bite to eat before hitting the pool. Asher scares me a lot through his fearless personality, but today he really scared Chris and I. He walked into the pool and just jumped in! He did that over and over, even after going under. Chris and I had considered getting some kind of pool this summer (a small version) until today. Now, nope, we will just VISIT pools. Asher is just to naively fearless around water. Time for lessons, little boy! Alivia and Addison had fun going between the hot tub and the somewhat chilly pool.
What a first day of vacation! What will tomorrow bring?
Tuesday, June 1
Today started off leaving Sioux Falls at 8:08am. Asher woke up REALLY hot and clearly had a fever. He did not want to eat (shocker!) and asked to go to his carseat! He then slept for at least 2 1/2 hours of the drive. We had a full day planned, but those plans quickly changed when it began raining. Grrr. We first drove through the Badlands. The Badlands are beautiful, let's just say that. But, there was a $15 per car fee, which I thought was totally crazy! It was especially crazy considering 1/2 the park's look outs were closed due to road construction! We spent 1/2 hour behind a man with a stop sign in his hand and a braid that went down into the middle of his butt. After that long wait, we entered the rock roads of the park and then fresh oil. Nice! Let's say that we thought the road construction ruined the natural beauty of the area. Wildlife? We did see Mountain Goats...which was amazing considering the new noise from the steamrollers, etc!
Next on the agenda was to go to just a couple of parks near Rapid City. Once we arrived in Rapid City, the clouds moved in. It was not raining, however, so we decided to visit Mount Rushmore ($6 per car entry). Once we reached Mount Rushmore, it was pouring! It was upsetting considering it is such an amazing place to visit. We hope to maybe go back and visit again this trip if time allow and if we get any sun. The kids were excited once they saw the amazing faces of the 4 President's carved into the mountain side. On the way out of the area, we saw deer. Gotta love nature.
Next we hit the Reptile Gardens. It was a $10 per person entry fee. It was a fun place to visit, but not worth more than the price to enter the Zoo in Omaha! An entry of $4 per person would have been more appropriate. The kids did like seeing all of the lizards, alligators, huge turtles, crocs, big snakes, bugs, and more. Lots of yucky things there!
We were all exhausted by the time we finished up at the Reptile Gardens. But, Asher really wanted to go to the Dinosaur Park. So, we stopped by this free roadside park before making our way to the hotel. It is a cool stop if you like dinos.
Finally we reached the hotel that we would be staying at for the next 2 nights (The Grand Gateway) about 5:30, ate, and went to the pool. The hotel has a nice sized water slide which is pretty fun (I would not recommend this hotel unless you are just looking for a cool pool. The rooms are small - at least for our standards. And, the hotel seemed old. It was the most expensive hotel for us - and it was not the best by far! The workout room seemed like an afterthought and nothing worked the 1st day due to a power surge. And, there is not free breakfast - which is so nice to not have to pack that! The best part of the hotel was the waterslide at the pool and wi-fi). The pool was cool - and all the kids went down the huge waterslide. Obviously, eating and swimming did not go over well with Alivia who ended the night with some stomach issues. Let's hope we all feel better tomorrow and the sun shines...because we have a big day planned!
Wednesday, June 2
We left our cozy hotel room just before 8 AM and headed out. Our first stop...did not open until 9 (Storybook Island Park) and we got there at 8:05. So, we left to go to Thunderhead Falls. We arrived at 8:30 and it did not open until 9 either! Seriously! Talk about throwing off a good schedule. Thunderhead Falls is a underground waterfall created when miners mined into an underground stream. We walked several feet inside of this carved out cave along side the rushing stream. Asher did not like the darkness, but he did okay in Daddy's arms. The falls were not as big as we expected, but it was still a neat site. It was probably not worth the $6 for Chris and I (kids 6 and under are free). But, we would recommend it.
Next, we drove to the Crazy Horse Memorial. Okay, let's just point out that I had not been to visit Crazy Horse as a kid (as I had been with many of the places we visited) and still did not want to go. Afterall, the outside appearance of the rock sculpture has not changed since the picture taken in 1980! Chris, on the other hand, really wanted to visit. In order for Chris to visit, we all had to go...at $10 a person!! COME ON! Oh, and it was a $4 per person fee to take a bus to see it up close and see his face from the front! It was becoming seriously obvious that the State of South Dakota has become one big tourist trap! All in all, the kids and I thought Crazy Horse was crazy and Chris thought it was cool. My recommendation, drive by the entrance to the actual memorial and take pictures from the outside and keep driving!
We then drove down the beautiful Needles Highway (highly recommended drive) to Custer State Park and another $15 entry fee! Cha ching! We saw a lot of Buffalo, deer, prairie dogs, antelope, coyotes, donkeys, birds and more through Custer State Park (through the Needles Highway, Wildlife Loop, Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway, and Iron Mountain Pass). Alivia and Addison napped through much of the way to the Wind Cave. We tried to stop for a picnic, but everyone thought it was too cold (in the 60's). So, we ate in the car NEXT to a beautiful park.
At 2:30, we arrived at the Wind Cave for their shortest 1 hour tour. Wind Cave is within the Wind Cave National Park and is one of the world's longest and more complex caves. They have only discovered a small piece of the cave, and it is a maze of tunnels. Scary actually if you got lost in there because without the lights - it is pitch black! We wanted to give the kids a taste of a cave without overwhelming them or us! This adventure was 1 hour with about 150 stairs, many of them wet. Asher immediately wanted to be carried, which was not surprising. But then Addison wanted to be carried. It quickly became overwhelming for Chris and I. I felt trapped as annoying people asked silly questions at the end as our kids were overly ready to evacuate. It was a neat tour, but Chris and I would have liked to take a longer tour. Maybe someday...
After that, we drove up to finish our drive on the Wildlife Loop where we saw many buffalo, donkeys, deer, more prairie dogs, etc. We then continued up to my favorite park of the day - the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway and Iron Mountain Road. The views were amazing! We even got more amazing views of Mt. Rushmore! It was just too bad this was towards the end of the day when our battery had died in the camera and our kids were more than done being in the car.
When we finally arrived back in Rapid City, it had just rained. Whew...glad we missed that! We ate at Pizza Hut (we found we were all hungry but not THAT hungry) before heading back to the Hotel to hit the amazing pool and waterslide. Now...onto tomorrow!
Thursday, June 3
Today we took it easy getting out of the hotel because our first stop was at Storybook Island Park, which did not open until 9 AM. The kids were not sure what to expect, but they liked the sound of going to a park. The park was amazing! There is an amazing castle at the entrance leading to Snow White's house, trains, a maze, The Wizard of Oz, The Cat in the Hat and even Santa! The kids just ran from all the storybook creatures and playsets. It was so fun!
Next...more drive time. Oh, the kids love that, too...or not. We drove to Wyoming to see Devil's Tower. We drove to it, took some pictures, but we did not pay the $10 park entry fee to see it up close and hike. Seriously, our kids were not going to hike! Instead, we got ice cream cones in the gift shop (at $3 a cone!). Devil's Tower was a fabulous site to see. It is just weird - out there in what seems like the middle of nowhere.
Then...onto more driving. Oh, the kids were so excited. We stopped for a picnic where the kids did not eat...again. We had a lot of that on this vacation. They were just so distracted. The next drive took us to the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway. This is an amazing drive offering 3 waterfalls. We had to talk the kids into getting out of the car because they were "busy coloring!" Seriously! The kids were completely done with scenic drives and being in the car. I remember hating that as a kid, too. They just wanted to know when we would get to the hotel to swim!
We arrived a little early to the hotel (at 4:30!) in Spearfish, SD, so we went swimming before dinner (much better than after dinner). We swam for a long time. It was a newer hotel (The Comfort Inn Spearfish)and was quite nice actually. We paid more for our hotel in Rapid City, but it was not near as nice. Anyway, swimming was fun. They had a super fast slide that I thought rocked (yes, I went down it!). Alivia...did not like it so much. It was just too fast.
After a quick dinner out to Perkins - we nearly completed our vacation.
Friday, June 4:
After a free breakfast in the hotel, we hit the road - destination HOME! I wanted to stay in Sioux Falls one more night, but Chris was ready to sleep in our bed. We drove to Wall Drug just to say we stopped (what a dump). That was the only major stop! We skipped the Corn Palace because we knew the kids could care less. The kids slept nearly 4 hours of the 9 hour drive. It was a LONG day in the car...but home at last by 6pm.
Our home looked so big and overwhelming we we arrived at home. The yard needed mowed and the landscaping was a mess after the rains. Chris said, "I want to live in an apartment!"
What did we learn on our first family road trip? Plan what we want to see but be flexible. We skipped one thing we wanted to see (Bear Country USA) because we saw enough wildlife in nature without spending the $38 entry fee into what sounded like the Safari we visit here! We felt nickle and dimed to death in South Dakota with entry fees into all their many National Parks and attractions. That got annoying. We switched up the days a bit just because it seemed easier to do things different ways to optimize our days. I learned to select name brand hotels no matter the reviews. Pack picnic items for lunch time because we were on the road sight seeing and there were few food options available. And, do not pack donuts - they all got smooshed. Remember, whatever you pack has to be loaded into the car, hauled in the hotel many times, and then unpacked once at home. Make sure you really need it if you pack it! I'm sure we learned more...but I'm tired!
We had a great family vacation and would recommend a trip to South Dakota. The kids liked the kid features best. They did like seeing the wildlife on the drives, too. The drives themselves they could do without. Chris and I liked the sights but the whining we could have done without. 3 kiddos trapped in a car can be overwhelming for any parent. This was one of those times where Chris had no problems convincing me that 3 kids are enough for us!
We had an amazing week and are already looking ahead to our next adventure!
1 comment:
Great pics! It's neat, we took that family vacation when I was a kid and it's great to see that Dinosaur Park and Story Book Island look a lot the same!
Great road trip tips too! Thanks for sharing
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