It is almost time for school to start and we got to end our summer with an amazing road trip west! We have done some weekend trips with the kids to Kansas City, Des Moines, etc, but have never taken a "vacation." And despite all the driving, it was a really fun trip! On Day 1 (Saturday, July 18th), we took off in the Fit and headed west on highway 2. We stopped in Broken Bow for lunch and stretched our legs many times along the way! To keep the kids busy in the car (besides a movie), I made each kid a folder with plastic sheet covers and extra paper. Jack's also had maps of where we were driving each day (which he loved)! Both kids had washable dry erase markers and we played games that I had printed from Pinterest like finding each color of car and the letters of the alphabet. Jack and Maddy had to work together to "win" and then they got a Tootsie! Another amazing idea that I got from Pinterest was to award the kids each $1 every hour while we were driving as long as they were good (not fighting, whining, complaining, etc). Generally they were to get along and have a good attitude. The money was to be used for souvenirs on our trip. It worked like a charm! And it was money we would have spent anyway. We made it to Alliance, NE during the late afternoon and got checked into our motel. The Sunset Motel was nothing fancy, but it did the job! They were having a city wide festival, so we went downtown to check it out and promptly got sucked out of $20 (see the large slide pic below? - That cost us $8 for both kids and because it was sprinkling, we had to practically push ourselves down!)
Day 2 -- We headed north of Alliance to see Carhenge. It was just as you would imagine it. Quirky and unique. :) The kids liked it and for some reason, Maddy just ran circles around it!
After that, we headed further down the road toward Crawford, NE. I've never been to western Nebraska, so it was really neat to see how beautiful the landscape is! A few of these pics were on our drive to Crawford and the bottom right three were taken while at Fort Robinson State Park.
Fort Robinson State Park -- Our next destination. There is a lot of history here from the Indian Wars to World War II. It was really interesting learning about its uses as an outpost and the death of Crazy Horse. They had a small Natural History Museum that we visited along with the open buildings around the site. We ate lunch here and I had my first buffalo burger. It was delicious!
We ended day 2 in Custer, SD, which was our sleeping destination that night. We checked into the Rocket Motel, where we stayed for two nights. As you can tell from the pics, it was a 50s theme motel with THREE beds. This was an amazing discovery as my first night of sleep with Maddy was less than amazing! I slept great with her in her own bed that night! Ha. Before going to bed though, we walked to eat supper at the Buglin' Bull and see what Custer had to offer. We also played a frustrating and rainy game of miniature golf!
The third day started with Maddy's approval of a donut and egg breakfast! We found a cafe and had an expensive, but delicious breakfast. Then we were off to Wind Cave National Park. This was my favorite part of the trip! The picture on the middle right shows the one natural opening to the cave that spans over 450 miles (and is not completely discovered yet). We took a tour that lasted about 1.5 hours seeing the amazing boxwork of the cave. The pictures we have do not give it justice. It was amazing! The kids did really well on the tour too, even when they shut off all the lights!
After the tour, we poked around the Wind Cave souvenir store and the kids spent the bulk of their souvenir money. Jack bought a neat little 7-tool gadget (compass, mirror, magnifying glass, etc) and Maddy bought a stuffed bat. She named him "Batty." :) There were no bats in the cave, but she does like bats in general. We headed to a scenic area for a picnic lunch and then did a short hike where Jack put his tool to good use! We then headed back north of Custer to see the Crazy Horse Monument. After that, it was back to Custer where got some ice cream and pie at the Purple Pie Place (also where Maddy loved on the purple pig).
After relaxing a bit and having pizza for supper, we headed to see Mount Rushmore. A friend had suggested seeing the lighting ceremony so we went in the evening to see it both in the daylight and lit up at night. Of course, we saw some amazing scenery on the way. There was a walking path around the monument we went on while we were waiting for it to get dark. The lighting ceremony was packed and not really that interesting for the kids. In hindsight, I wish we would have gone earlier and seen the museum part instead. You live, you learn! This was Maddy's favorite part as she kept asking the entire vacation if every tall rock was Mt. Rushmore!
Attempts at family pics at Mt. Rushmore. Bryan took some awesome outtakes as I vented my frustration of the "simple" task of a family picture. Ha!
After our 2nd night of sleep in Custer, we got up and checked out of the Rocket Motel, and had a quick breakfast & coffee at Bank Coffee. The kids got to have their milk in a coffee cup and Maddy thought she was pretty cool with her cup! On the way north toward Rapid City, SD, we drove back through the Black Hills Forest toward Mt. Rushmore. We got to see it one more time from the car and stopped to take a few more pics. Bryan and I both really liked the signage with its lettering.
Before we move on to Rapid City, these pictures need to be shared! Custer's main thoroughfare has multiple bison painted to decorate the street. Maddy loved them and the kids insisted having their pictures taken by each one (sometimes multiple times)!
Our first stop on the way to Rapid City was at the Cosmos Mystery Area where they say the world is just different and water runs upside down. Bryan and I are not quite in agreement on what was happening there, but it definitely messed with our minds! They indeed did get water to run uphill and you always felt a bit "off."
After our brains refocused themselves, we went to Bear Country USA. It's an outdoor scenic drive through wildlife. The beginning of the drive wasn't that exciting, but once we got to the bear area, it was worth the money! While sitting in line looking at the bears, we noticed lots of them getting up and walking in the same direction and before we knew it, they were running. The food truck was headed their way and the bears were ready. We saw a few fight over food and one golden bear chase the food truck at quite a clip! After that excitement, we had yet another picnic lunch and then went to to see all the baby animals, including baby bears! After that excitement, we went to the motel for our final night of vacation. We stayed at the Best Western Ramkota which included a water park! We went swimming for a long time and wore the kids out.
On our final day of vacation (and on our way back toward Omaha), we drove through Badlands National Park. Wow. This was also one of my favorites. We saw some amazing scenery and stopped several times to be able to enjoy the view. There were also a few spots where you could walk around and experience the land. Since we had a long drive ahead of us, we didn't do everything and missed out on some neat looking hikes. If/when we go back, we want to allow more time to walk around!
A few of my favorite pictures from the Badlands.
And to end the trip, Jack put together his top 10 favorites from our vacation. His handwriting is extra sloppy due to the car and not having a hard surface to write on. In reverse order...
We all survived the road trip although things got a bit squirrelly in the car on the final day. Bryan and I started thinking about and planning a vacation for next year, so that's a sign of a good time! :)
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