Day 4- Mountain Goats, Buffalo and Burros

Our last day in the Hills was the nicest weather we had all week.  Fortunately, we had planned to do a lot of the scenic drives and outdoor activities that day.  Unfortunately, it was the worst day for Punky's bout of diarrhea.

We headed to Mount Rushmore first thing in the morning.  We walked from the parking lot to the main view point.

Upside down sunglasses are his thing

We took our family photo and had planned to walk the half mile loop to get a closer view of the faces.  As we rounded a corner, we saw a mama and baby mountain goat not far off the path.  Later on, the baby came down the hill, inches from the sidewalk.  We did all we could to get Buddy to leave the baby alone since we knew the mama was not far away.  There were some other tourists who decided to pet the mountain goat, but we did not let Buddy.

We made it about half way before Punky had an emergency and we sprint-walked back to the gift shop.  Punky decided against a snow globe and ended up with a rainbow tie dye teddy bear with a Mount Rushmore shirt.  Buddy chose a plush mountain goat that he insisted on naming "Horny".  Derek and I tried to convince him to name it something like Abe or Linc.  The only response we got from Buddy was, "His name is Horny!"  What's a parent to do?  We sat around for about 20 minutes before we decided not to hike any further.  Poor girl was having pretty bad stomach cramps.

We continued on with our plans and drove through Iron Mountain Road, Custer State Park and the Wildlife Loop and Needles Highway.  Looking back, it was probably not the best of ideas since there was no bathrooms in site.  But, to me, this is the Black Hills.  No trip would be complete without these scenic drives.  On our first day, Buddy exclaimed, "I am so excited for the Black Hills!  And I don't even know what the Black Hills is!"  Well, this is the Black Hills, Buddy.  (Although he was still confused because the trees were green).

We had a picnic lunch literally on the side of the road.  Punky's stomach issues continued and we stopped a good 5 or 6 times on the side of the road.  Luckily, I found some napkins in Grandma's van.  Punky tried to nap for the rest of the drive.

All of the souvenir buddies had to join the picnic too!

Our first animal sighting was the buffalo herds.  We also saw pronghorns, deer, and prairie dogs.  And of course, the famous begging burros were there too!

Both times we visited the Hills with the kids, we find a single burro or small group first.  We feed and pet him and decide to move on and find more.  Then we find a huge herd who is rough and pushy.  We get scared for our kids and end up leaving quickly before they get knocked over.

We did a teeny bit of "rock climbing" at the Needles Highway before driving back to our hotel for dinner and swimming.  One more post about our drive home and then our vacation recap will be complete!

Day 3- Bones and Caves

Our third day was supposed to be a rainy day, but we lucked out in that regard.  It was a chilly day though, so the sweatshirts and jackets we packed were necessary.  We started our day with a visit to the Mammoth Site.  We had never been there before, so it was a new experience for all of us!  The building is placed on top of an archaeological dig site where where over 80 woolly mammoths have been found.  Back in prehistoric times, this area was a sink hole and a bunch of woolly mammoths and other mammals fell in and couldn't get out.  There was a short tour where we listened to the tour guide through a phone system.  The kids got bored with it after awhile, so we caught them up on the major points.  After the tour, we were free to roam on our own.  It was really cool to see the fossils partially in the ground.  And as you can imagine, our little dinosaur lover was in awe.  During the summer months, visitors can see the paleontologists at work.  We'll have to check that out next time!

Most complete fossil found

tusks

Cave Bear and boy

Femur

Buddy had a complete meltdown in the gift shop.  He was determined to buy a buffalo toy (that he already owned!).  We told him no and then he wanted a dinosaur toy.  We told him no since he already had so many at home.  He left the gift shop crying, kicking and screaming and finally 5 minutes later he came back to choose something after he calmed down.

After the Mammoth Site, we had a picnic lunch and traveled to Jewel Cave National Monument.  Buddy fell asleep during our drive there, but we were an hour early for our scheduled cave tour.  We decided to take a drive a few miles up the road to a scenic lookout we saw on the map.  Little did we know, there was major road construction and the road was down to a one-way highway led by a pilot car.  We were basically driving near the cliffs edge in a slow moving line next to big bulldozers as they worked on the road.  We traveled maybe 10 miles round trip and it took us exactly an hour.  As soon as we walked through the door to the visitor center, we heard "3:30 cave tour is now leaving."  We were very lucky to have made it back.

The cave tour was interesting, but I don't think the kids got it at all.  We took an elevator ride 250 feet below ground, walked through some pressurized doors (like the Metrodome), and saw one huge cave room.  After the park ranger talked for 10 minutes, we had a chance to ask questions, and we took the elevator ride back up.  There were some sparkly rocks to look at, and some big dropoffs to keep Buddy away from, but other than that, the kids had no clue we were so deep below the Earth and that the cave was actually hundreds of miles long.  They do offer a 2.5 hour walking tour that we'll have to think about doing when the kids are teenagers.  Of course, 15 minutes into the tour, Punky had another bathroom emergency, so I was glad the tour was only 20 minutes long.  Poor girl.

 

Day 2- Bears and Snakes

We spent our second day in the Hills at two popular tourist attractions.  The weather forecast for the entire week called for some rain showers and thunderstorms.  We were nervous to plan our activities, but in the end, we lucked out every day.  That morning, we headed to Bear Country USA.  Like last time, we unbuckled the kids and let them sit up front.  This time I decided to sit in the back, but once the kids were situated, I completely forgot about the car seats.  It was an uncomfortable ride for me, but the kids had fun!

The binoculars from Grandma and Grandpa's Easter baskets came were handy!

 

After the drive through portion, there is a walk through area.  Here there are smaller animals like raccoons, fox, skunks, and the baby bears.  Buddy was so impatient.  He'd take one peak in the cage, and want to move on.  I was obsessed with this adorable (yet sad) little baby bear, so Buddy wasn't too happy.

We headed to Keystone to look at souvenirs.  Buddy got frustrated because he couldn't find a "squishy dinosaur".  And we realized Punky wasn't feeling well.  All week long, poor Punky was run down with a bad case of diarrhea.

We ended the day with a trip to Reptile Gardens.  This was our first time visiting.  Reptile Gardens is the home to every kind of reptile imaginable from snakes to crocodiles to giant tortoises.  There are also tropical birds, prairie dogs, and an eagle.  I don't know why.  Our favorite part was the indoor portion where you can walk amongst the reptiles (think Como Zoo conservatory with lizards everywhere).  Buddy was so tempted to hold and pet the animals, but we told him he couldn't.  Because we were there before Memorial Day (the busy season), they were not doing the bird show and the crocodile wrestling.  We did get to watch a snake show which the kids loved!

Komodo Dragon

We visited the gift shop.  Buddy chose a toy crocodile and Punky found a snake necklace.  We headed back to Rapid for dinner, swimming and bedtime.  More tomorrow!

 

Day 1- Dinosaurs

Two years ago, we took the kids on a road trip to the Black Hills.  We had so much fun, we decided to do it again this year.  We headed out of town the week before Memorial Day because (a) it is much cheaper for hotels and (b) this is the last year we'll be able to do that since Punky will be starting school.  This year we extended our trip and were there for four days.  On Sunday, we drove to Grandma and Grandpa's farm, spent the night, and borrowed their van for our trip the next morning.  

Derek and I started playing the license plate game as soon as we got on the interstate.  By the end of the trip, we had found 45 US states, 6 Canadian provinces, and 1 Mexican state!

Our first stop was Wall Drug.  We were there to stretch our legs mostly.  But the kids were excited to watch the "roaring T-rex".  Last time, when Buddy was one and a half, he was terrified of the dinosaur.  He talked big, but this year was no different.  Poor guy!

The kids each chose a souvenir.  Buddy got a big dinosaur and Punky chose a plush horse.  After a few more fun photo opportunities, we were on our way to Rapid City.

As soon as we arrived in Rapid City, we headed straight for Dinosaur Park, a giant hill overlooking the city with concrete dinosaurs.  Buddy was so excited to see what was next, he hardly spent any time looking at what was in front of him.  All week long, we had a hard time convincing him that we had enough time to look at everything and to enjoy what we were doing at that moment.  Again, more cheesy photo opps.

Before heading to the hotel for the night, I made everyone walk down a hidden alley downtown.  I wanted to recreate a photo I had taken of the kids two years before.  They must have been preparing to change the graffiti walls, because a lot of the walls were painted white.  We saw a few people working on sections, so we must have hit it at the wrong time.  I was using a different lens too, so the photos aren't exactly the same, but it is still cute!

2012

2014

We checked into our hotel room, found a restaurant to eat at, and headed back early so the kids could swim.  Most nights we were back by 6 or 7 so the kids could swim for awhile before bed.  Check back tomorrow for Day 2 of our vacation!