Day 5: The Great American Road Trip

I have to tell you I really had no idea that South Dakota was such a beautiful state with so much to do.  We could have easily stayed in the Black Hills area for a week and not run out of things to do.  As we headed towards Wyoming J. decided we should swing by Sturgis.  There was really not a lot to see there except for gigantic biker bars.  I mean we are talking block long bars with inside and outside seating and show stages.  This place must be ridiculous during biker week.  After we drove through Sturgis we decided to visit Deadwood.  I would not go back.  Basically it is a gambling town with casinos everywhere.  They have repaired buildings and made it look nice but it’s not for me. 

Finally we made it to Wyoming!  There were three highlights for me prior to reaching Yellowstone.

1.     The welcome center.  It was adorable and offered cute picture ops.

2.     A restaurant called the Village Inn in Gillette.  I had the BEST PIE ever!!!  It was a chocolate silk pecan or something like that.  DELICIOUS people and I am not a pie person at all.

3.     Cody, Wyoming- well actually right outside of town on the other side of a mountain is the Buffalo Bill Reservoir.  I would move their tomorrow.

We made it to Yellowstone at dusk which proved to be a great time because the animals were out in full force.

We saw a huge Bison at the mud geyser- holey stink batman it smells like rotten eggs!

We saw an elk in the water.

We passed a moose on the side of the road.

I came into this trip hoping we would see wildlife but not really expecting to, so this was a welcomed surprise. 

Our “Cabin” is small but clean and meets our needs.  I really like the location as well.  As you can tell by the delay in this post there is obviously no wi-fi for us in Yellowstone.

Day 4: The Great American Road Trip

We decided last night to sleep in a bit today, unfortunately my body still thinks we are on EST so at 5:15 I was wide awake.  Not many options when you are wide awake in a room full of sleeping people.  Everyone else enjoyed their sleep and woke up rested and ready for a fun day of exploring the Black Hills.  The theme for today was animals.  We started our day at Bear Country USA and I HIGHLY recommend this place if you ever venture out west.  It is a tourist site but not cheesy and the boys all 5 of them loved it.  It is basically a drive through zoo featuring animals of North America, literally walk up to your car!

From there we headed to the Black Hills Ranger Station to get the boy's passports stamped and pins for their road trip lanyard.  The boys learned all about Smokey Bear.

 

Lunch was at this great place in Rapid City called Philly Teds where we all had cheesesteak for lunch

Next stop was Mt. Rushmore once again to visit the museum and get the boy's passports stamped.  Each of them proudly completed the Jr. Ranger Program  and were sworn in.  A was saying all day, "I will protect the mountains."  So stinking cute.  

Did you know they built this for less than 1 million?

Silly shots are the best!

To be honest with you our next stop was my least favorite.  We went to see Crazy Horse.  The establishment was very nice but it left too many holes in why so little as been accomplished and I really walked away feeling like the Native American people just passed off this quest to a sculptor and his family rather than really helping build it.  I admit it will be impressive, someday.

You can see the sculpted head through the arm hole.

Finally we headed back to our hotel Mt. Rushmore Express Hotel and Family Suites which I have to tell you is nice!  I admit that I am somewhat of a hotel snob so booking hotels for 7 under $130 a night was a tough thing but so far we have done alright.  Most of our hotels even have continental breakfast for free as well.  

Anyways on our route back we took The Needles Highway through Custer's State Park.  It was magestic and we even continued with our animal theme.  We fed chipmunks Pringles when they flocked to our car to look at a view.  Saw several deer and even a buffalo just chillin' eatin' grass.

How cute is this?

Tomorrow is another big day on the road as we head to Yellowstone National Park! 

Day 3: The Great American Road Trip

It is safe to say that we crammed A LOT into today!  It seems like yesterday that we visited the The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota- but no it was just this morning.  For those of you who have never ventured out west, it pretty much corn fields for MILES.  So it is fitting that they have a building that they decorate each year with corn. 

Can you even believe it?  The crazy thing is, they have been doing this since 1892!  They have a huge festival each year.  Coolest corn purchase here was caramel corn on the cob. 

You can see that the boys and I had some fun at Al's Oasis where we stopped for lunch and some fun.

So basically you drive on flat farm land forever in South Dakota and then you go over a hill and boom there are mountains, otherwise known as Badlands.  This was a crazy cool place and well worth the drive through.  We saw horned sheep, antelope, prairie dogs, and heard rattlesnakes as we walked up a path. 

On our way into the Badlands National Park we hit Prairie Homestead so the kids could really see what homes looked like when people first moved out west.  A was not a fan of the mud walls, but they were amazingly cool.  My favorite part was all the prairie dogs.

Believe it or not our day was not done, we ate in another touristy place called Wall Drug.  The boys enjoyed the fountain- mind you it was about 8pm based on their wake up time today, so they were full of energy just to stay awake.

We decided to keep venturing on to Mt. Rushmore for the lighting ceremony.  I was not really a fan of this but did like Mt. Rushmore at dusk.  J got some amazing pictures!!  Tomorrow we stick around this town and may even take a train ride. 

Day 2: The Great American Road Trip

On the road again, I just can't wait to climb in the back of the van again, I'm squished between two seats with my family and my friends, I just can't wait to get on the road again! 

So today was a LOOOONG day in the car, about 9 hours to be exact when you account for bathrooms breaks, food, and sites.  It is safe to say that I do NOT have a future hidden career as a trucker.  We saw some cool stuff today as we traveled from Rockford, IL to Worthington, MN.  We decided not to stop into Madison, WI (one of my favorite cities in the country- because it was only 1.5 hours from our starting point.  ALL through Wisconsin I kept reminding my hubby of how much I love the state and what a great place it would be to live.  I told him I would probably be saying the same line at our 60th anniversary!  He didn't laugh... 


So in the travels today we crossed the Mighty Mississippi.  J and I decided we should rent a house boat on it one day!  Who wants to join us?

 

Next on our list was the SPAM museum.  People you will not believe this place.  It is an entire museum devoted to SPAM- you know the canned ham product.  By the way it was free and crazy nice.  I had NO idea that SPAM was such a popular food.  They produce 44,000 cans an hour and cannot keep up with the demand.  So what I want to know is who of you is eating all that SPAM???

I forgot to tell you I got all my Christmas shopping done with the SPAM gift sets!!

I would call this place a must see- just for the fun of it!

 As you can imagine Minnesota is pretty much farm land and wind farms for as far as the eye can see. Little did I know though we would meet HO, HO, HO Green Giant along our journey.  Check it out my five guys with the BIG guy.

So another safe day on the road with some once in a lifetime fun spots on the way.  Tomorrow we gonna meet the presidents.  Who can guess where we will stop tomorrow?

Day 1: The Great American Road Trip

We are all smiling, happy people minus the dancing!  J and his dad hit the road in VA at 7am this morning and made it to my folks house a little before 6.  The managed to dodge an awful storm that swept through Indiana and headed onto to knock out power to Virginia.  Go Team R!  After a few mishaps in my dad's packing "I can't find my glasses."  "Where did I put my cell phone?"  We repacked the mini-van, although I am not sure you can call it mini with 5 adults and 2 children, 6 carry-ons, 2 sleeping bags, two laptops, one big camera, snacks, and tons of toys for the boys!  I am happy to report that it ALL fit!!  That was a proud moment for me, and a HUGE sigh of relief! 

 We piled in and made it all the way to Rockford, IL. (about 1.5 hours from Madison, WI)  But wait, the story does not end there- I found a room that sleeps all of us on beds for $80 and includes breakfast!!  Don't worry I did a thorough bedbug check before letting anyone enter the room and sprayed down the pull-out with Lysol!  Good night!

Road Map

I cannot sing the praised of the AAA TripTik planner enough.  It allowed me to map out our whole trip using different tools for lodging, national parks, and activities!  I have used this program on and off all year planning and am excited to say I JUST PRINTED the final!  I have tons of extra sites to see on the way in case we are tired of driving and need fun stuff to do in between stops.  Here is a basic outline of our trip.

Packed Up and Ready for FUN!!

Well after a year of planning in 5 days we will hit the road for our cross country road trip!  I have been packing for this trip for months and am totally excited to see if all our things wll actually fit into the mini-van. 

 Each of my boys will have a bag hanging in front of them full of fun activities.  Items include:  Water color paint, travel connect four, travel bingo, notebooks, small toys, white boards, etc. 

 We have 20 bags full of toys.  I am going to put these underneath the back seat in small boxes so we can pull them out. 

 Grandpa and Papa also have their own bags with earplugs, Tylenol, eye masks, crosswords, and hand santitizer. 

Snack Box fits RIGHT in between captains chairs

Travel Journals!!  Watercolor sketch books.

Cereal box = Trash container

Household bin