Days 13-14 - Great American Road Trip - South Dakota

We finally said goodbye to Wyoming and hello to South Dakota.  After a long drive we parked the RV at the KOA near Mount Rushmore.  I think I have said this before, but we have really enjoyed KOA campgrounds.  This one in particular was the cadillac - two swimming pools, horseback riding, bike rental, climbing wall, water slide, "pillow" bounce and splash pad for the kids.  Needless to say, after days of complaints about no wi-fi, the kids were thrilled to see someplace they could cut loose.  We decided to spend the day just hanging at the KOA.

Mackenzie and I did one of our favorite activities and went horseback riding.

Gorgeous scenery, right?  After horseback riding, the kids were off to the water slide and pool while mom enjoyed a good book.  Ahhh, camping at its best :)

That evening we met up with my sister-in-law and her partner for the lighting ceremony at Mount Rushmore.  It's quite the patriotic affair, with a movie about America and a flag lowering with all the past and present military personnel in attendance.  I highly recommend it.

The next morning we were up early (for us that was 7:00 a.m.) to travel to the Badlands.  It was a cold and rainy day - perfect as far as we were concerned and a real change for what is normally scorching hot at the Badlands.

The Badlands are a series of rock formations that look like solidified mud statues.  They reminded us of the hoodoos at Bryce Canyon except much smaller and more accessible for climbing.  We did a lot of climbing on these.

Here's another great family picture.  We've been pretty lucky to get several of these during our trip.

No trip to western South Dakota is complete without a visit to Wall Drug.  It's hard to explain what this is, but just imagine the biggest original kitschy tourist trap you can and Wall Drug will beat that.  

 They are famous for their jackalopes . . .

  And the home of free ice water and 5 cent coffee.

The next morning we went back to Mount Rushmore one more time for some daytime views of the presidents and then it's off to Colorado.

Time to start the trek back to Arizona.

cindy

Check on the Bucket List

This summer I'm making a big checkmark on my bucket list.  The great American family vacation - that's on my bucket list.  It's a long vacation - 21 days - the longest vacation ever!  Ever since I was a kid I wanted the big western family RV vacation.  We're renting a RV and that's scary enough, but imagine a 21 day road trip with a 10 and 12 year old.  We know the kids may not enjoy every day (or any day), but we are confident that it will be a vacation they will always remember.

The journey begins in our home state - Arizona.  We're not going to see the obvious - the Grand Canyon - because we've already seen it and can with only a three hour car ride.  Instead, we'll be motoring through Utah, Wyoming, a bit of Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Colorado and New Mexico.  That's right, 7 states and nearly 3000 miles in 21 days!  On the way we'll see multiple national parks, monuments and forests and some of the most beautiful places in the United States.

Oh boy, this is going to be awesome!

cindy