Sunday, May 26, 2013

South Dakota

A "quick" weekend trip turned out to be a little more than we bargained for with A LOT more driving than we anticipated.  We arrived at our hotel very late on Friday night/Saturday morning (1am).  Judith woke up at 7am, so the rest of us had little choice but to greet the day with her.  We had breakfast, went to the awesome indoor pool (with slide!), and headed to Mount Rushmore.


This was a cool interactive thing in the museum at Mt. Rushmore.  You could push the handle down and blow up a section of the faces just like the workers did when they were creating them. 


 Part of the path in front of the faces was closed due to snow, but we were able to go directly under them and then back up to the viewing deck. 



 Jonas took this picture of Mike and me.



 Jonas pulled his arms into his shirt to be "just a head" like the statues. 


 We had a picnic at Horse Thief Lake. 



 Then, we ventured on to the Crazy Horse Memorial.  Although not completed, the whole operation was pretty impressive.



After Crazy Horse, we drove through Custer State Park.  We saw some deer and got to feed some wild donkeys.  



 We also saw lots of buffalo and calves.  The lady at the park entrance said that 3 calves were born the day before we arrived.



 It also happened to be my birthday and I enjoyed a lovey birthday dinner at Olive Garden with my dear friend Elizabeth and her husband Kevin, friends from our time in Italy.


 After a night of much needed rest, we checked out of the hotel and drove through Badlands National Park. 


 It was incredibly windy and we were trying not to lose a kid over the cliffs.




 We saw some mountain goats scaling the canyon walls.



It was a lot of driving in just a couple of days, but the kids (and Mike) loved Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse.  We always love a road trip and a visit with friends!!


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