Writings from the Road, Part 3
Day 5: Father’s day! Greeted daddy with some cards. We love you, Daddy! Left in a rainstorm, however we soon drove out of it, as we headed West on I-90. Minnesota was more farm country than I had realized and was beautiful. The boys were quiet and behaved, which was wonderful seeing they had spent so much time in the van by this time. The we crossed over into South Dakota. It wasn’t as beautiful. The drive seemed to take forever, when in fact it was about 8 hours. We stopped at Wall Drug and let the boys get some homemade ice cream, and a souvenir from our trip. We left again in a rain storm with severe weather warnings. This was another really scray 10 miles of the trip with the rain hitting the van so hard we couldn’t hear the radio when it was on full blast. Finally, we arrived in Rapid City, South Dakota. We checked into one of the most amazing hotels we’ve stayed in as a family. The Grandstay Residential Inn. It had two bedrooms, a sitting room, and a kitchen and a spacious bathroom! It was luxury! The boys were excited about having 3 televisions, not that we were there long enough to watch very much. We basically unpacked the cooler and grabbed our jackets and headed to see Mt. Rushmore. What an amazing sight! The drive was beautiful too that none of us minded getting back into the van! We went to their evening program. Highly recommend it if you go! It was patriotic, and a nice touristy thing to do! We headed to the hotel in the dark about 10 p.m. We narrowly missed a deer that ran across the road in the dark. At last, we came home to our marvelous hotel. The boys were all asleep within minutes, and Martin stayed with the boys while the Chief and I took advantage of the late hours at the hot tub. We met some nice fellow travelers who gave us some recommendations on what to see the next day. We had a night of comfort on one of the best beds and linens! This is how I always want to travel!
Day 6: South Dakota. We decided to stay at the hotel longer that morning since it was such a nice place. After the boys had a yummy full breakfast (the Chief and I did our best to stay on Kristi approved food the whole trip), I took the boys swimming, letting daddy sleep in. Then the Chief and I worked out together, while the boys got to watch television. Then we reluctantly packed up, and headed to the Dinosaur Park, there in Rapid City. It offers a great view of the city, and the boys loved climbing over the mammoth sized concrete dinosaurs. We bought them some hot dogs and SD t-shirts, and then headed to the Storybook Island Park. A great, free family attraction for those with young kids. My older boys were patient about going and let Seth enjoy it, but they secretly loved it too! We only stayed an hour, when we could have stayed much longer but had a full agenda. We then drove down to Custer State Park where we took the Wildlife Loop. It is a 90 minute drive where you get to see free roaming Bison and pronghorns (antelope) and donkeys, and goats, and deer. The animals cross the road right in front of your car and is exciting and fun to be on the lookout for the animals. It was a beautiful day, and we drove with the windows down and the breeze blowing in! Then we decided to drive toward Jewel National cave. We arrived at 3:45 in the afternoon, and unfortunately just missed the cave tour by 15 minutes and the next one wasn’t for 2.5 hours. The boys were sourly disappointed but we needed to hit the road. We still had 4.5 hours to drive to Wyoming. And so we reluctantly said good-bye to South Dakota, with plans to return soon!
Day 6: South Dakota. We decided to stay at the hotel longer that morning since it was such a nice place. After the boys had a yummy full breakfast (the Chief and I did our best to stay on Kristi approved food the whole trip), I took the boys swimming, letting daddy sleep in. Then the Chief and I worked out together, while the boys got to watch television. Then we reluctantly packed up, and headed to the Dinosaur Park, there in Rapid City. It offers a great view of the city, and the boys loved climbing over the mammoth sized concrete dinosaurs. We bought them some hot dogs and SD t-shirts, and then headed to the Storybook Island Park. A great, free family attraction for those with young kids. My older boys were patient about going and let Seth enjoy it, but they secretly loved it too! We only stayed an hour, when we could have stayed much longer but had a full agenda. We then drove down to Custer State Park where we took the Wildlife Loop. It is a 90 minute drive where you get to see free roaming Bison and pronghorns (antelope) and donkeys, and goats, and deer. The animals cross the road right in front of your car and is exciting and fun to be on the lookout for the animals. It was a beautiful day, and we drove with the windows down and the breeze blowing in! Then we decided to drive toward Jewel National cave. We arrived at 3:45 in the afternoon, and unfortunately just missed the cave tour by 15 minutes and the next one wasn’t for 2.5 hours. The boys were sourly disappointed but we needed to hit the road. We still had 4.5 hours to drive to Wyoming. And so we reluctantly said good-bye to South Dakota, with plans to return soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment