Mt Rushmore and Rapid City

Oh my goodness, I am behind.  We have wasted all our time having fun and not blogging.  Hahahaha…

We departed Cody and parted ways with mom and Ed and our beloved dog, Iva.  She was a crying mess when we were around.  It was better to make a clean break so we said goodbye to mom and Ed and didn’t get to say good-bye to Iva. 

Our destination, Rapid City, SD.  We took the “scenic route.” This included lots of two lane roads, dirt roads and construction.  We passed through the Black Hills and due to our pace, took in quite a bit of the sights and dust.  Again, lots of beauty and wholly different than other scenery so far.  We headed up into the mountains and over a pass that was at 9500 feet.  It was cold and there was snow on the ground.  This picture was taken fairly close to the top. 

And this one is of some really large granite blocks.  Hard to see but they were huge and very impressive. 

The only thing we scheduled to see this day was Mount Rushmore.  We passed a few really interesting things but we were gunning for the end goal; hotel and pool.  The only thing that I am sorry we didn’t get to stop for was the Jewel Cave National Monument.  We were right there and just drove by…it was almost painful.  If the roads would have been better perhaps we could have worked it in but the trade off was all part of the trip. 

We got to Mount Rushmore around four.  It has changed a lot since I was there last.  There is a huge parking structure (that costs $11.00 to park in and you don’t have a choice). There are also about four new structures with an amphitheater in back.  The museum is quite good but the movie, made in 1988, made us all giggle.  It’s amazing what technology has done over the past 30ish years.  It looked really old.  The kids learned all about how the mountain was carved and at the end Kees got another pin.   We left about six.

Another half an hour and we arrived in Rapid City.  It’s quite a cute town.  The kids were dying to eat out so we settled on TGIFridays.  Not a good choice and sad since we had been going on the cheep and having sandwiches and the like.  Such a waste of our “big night out.”  On to more important things….the hotel.

The kids were very excited when we got to the hotel; it had a three-story water slide!  They went as fast as they could to get their suits on and then back to the pool where they slid for an hour and wore themselves out. 

First thing in the morning they were back at it.  We had spent quite a bit of time on the road and they needed to get some energy out Bob was anxious to get on the road and I told him that this is where we needed to let the kids take the lead.  If they are not happy the trip gets to be miserable.  He acquiesced.  We let the kids swim until 10:30 and then we hit the road. 

Thursday, July 3^rd – next up? Sioux Falls SD.