South Dakota at Last! ( Part One)

 

I say "at last" because we had been anxiously anticipating this trip since Santa gifted it to us at Christmas.  Thank you Santa, wink wink.  Here are 2 of the happy travelers, ready to go at 7 am!

We decided to break up the trip with a stop in Sioux Falls and took in their local zoo.  It was really fun.  Peanut even got to ride a camel!  This is the same kid who was a bit too nervous to indulge in the pony ride last summer.  How he's grown.

Sister didn't seem to mind that her camel ride was a bit more stationary.  At the time she didn't mind anyway.  She seems to have given it some more thought however because since we've been home she had asked me repeatedly if she can also ride a camel someday.  Like at least 10 times she's asked!  

So in true Sis fashion when we roll into the hotel around 3 she proceeds to announce, "It's my resting time" and crawl into bed.  The hotel had a waterpark on site and I offered to let her join the boys who were planning on checking it out right away.  Nothing doing.  She just said, "I will go after my rest." So she rested, and I actually ended up going to the waterpark with Peanut so Best could catch up on a few work emails and relax a bit after driving.  She did make an appearance in her watermelon bathing suit later and got her toes wet...literally.  We had fun though and had a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant where the kids got free ice cream AND about 5 things each from the treasure box.  What a life those two!

We got to bed early and everyone slept well which was good because day 2 was probably our busiest day of the whole vacation.  First stop Wall Drug.  (You'd never know it was coming)  ha ha

This kind of quirky fun is right up our alley and Peanut loved this piano playing ape!

And Sis was very brave posing with some giant animals too!

Lots of souvenir shopping here too.  Peanut got a really cool helicopter and Sis finally settled on a drum.

And then we had ice cream.  Because we always do.  Always on vacation at almost every stop. Smile.

Our second stop of the day was Bear Country USA.  I had really enjoyed it when we went almost 6 years ago and knew the kids would get a kick out of the proximity of the animals.

 Those binoculars are getting lots of use Grandpa Chuck!

And we're training Sister in on a junior model.

It was so awesome to see these beautiful creatures up close.

These huge beasts just look so soft and cuddly!

These two always have fun together and I love to hear Peanut instruct Sis on where to look and what to do.  She does what she wants but its just so sweet that he doesn't want her to miss a thing!

I couldn't believe how great everyone was doing come dinner time on our 3 stop day.  I really don't remember if we squeezed in a nap for Sis but I can assure you if she was able to she did!

The Cowboy Dinner took place at a little place called Fort Hays.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't ever a real "fort" but they have lots of authentic looking buildings there and it's where part of Dances With Wolves was filmed along with many other westerns.  There were plenty of opportunities to learn about how they did things long ago such as making your own rope!

Peanut was very excited about the challenge of pumping and worked up quite a sweat on this rig.

While Sis preferred the shade of her surrey with the fringe on top!

Dinner was great and we were in the second row for the show.  Our table companions were some seniors who got such a kick out of the kids and they were so nice to visit with.

Peanut really enjoyed the lemonade out of the tin cowboy cup.

 I wasn't sure if the show would be too loud for the kids but they loved it.  Peanut was singing along to Johnny Cash and Sis was standing on the bench dancing! The musicians were talented and funny and we had a great time.

We headed back to the hotel with 2 tired kids and had a good nights sleep.  Again, I was so happy everyone slept well because the next day was the long awaited trip to Mt. Rushmore!  More to come...