We drove through Custer State Park, which had lots of beautiful scenery and some tight squeezin tunnels! Our first night in town we went to the sunset memorial at Mt. Rushmore. They did a little tribute, played a film and then as they sang the song America the Beautiful you slowly saw the Memorial being lit up! It was very beautiful and of course I cried. Like I always do!
We had a lot on our schedule the next day! We went back up to Mount Rushmore for more pictures during the day. We then stopped at Bear Country USA. It is very cool. You stay in your car as all the animals are out in the open and you drive through the park. They have Elk, Reindeer, Mountain goats, Longhorn sheep, BEARS, Wolves, Mountain lions, and some buffalo. It was very cool to just be driving along and bears walk right past your car and wolves are sniffing bumpers. Brayden was loving every minute. My mom made fun of me because I would only roll down the window an inch at a time to try and get pictures. I was so afraid one would pop right up in my face as I was taking a picture. LOL At the end they had a few animals and baby bears you could get out and look at. The babies were adorable!
After Bear country we headed over to Reptile Gardens. This of course was lots and lots of snakes, crocodiles, alligators, birds, and turtles. It was fun to see how freaked out my mom and husband were. We got to pet snakes and a baby croc!
That night we had dinner and headed back to the hotel for a relaxing night of swimming!
The next day we headed out to see the Badlands. It was an area known for fossils and crazy rock formations coming up out of the land. It was pretty cool. We also stopped at this place called Wall drug. It is this little tourist "trap". It was a cute little stop. They had lots of little shops and some random things for the kids to see. Like a huge Jackelope and TRex.
After we got back to Rapid we stopped at a cute little park called Storybook Island. It was this huge FREE fantasy theme park for kids. Lots of things to climb on, run thru, and play on. All having to due with nursery rhythms or disney characters. Great place for kids to run off some steam! I actually wish we had more time here!
We then headed over to Old MacDonalds Petting Farm. They had a pig races, Pony rides, and a train. You could pet every animal and feed some too! It was great and perfect to enjoy for a couple of hours.
We were wiped out that night and just got dinner and headed back to hotel.
Monday we stopped at Dinosaur Park on our way out of Rapid. Totally random place but Brayden loves his dinosaurs and loved this. They were life size and OLD. Could use a little upkeep but hey it was free! W
We then began our drive home. Back through Custer but a little different route. We took the wildlife highway this time and got to see quite a bit of deer, buffalo, and antelope. We stopped in Custer at the Flintstones Bedrock City. Again, totally random, but totally cute. And it got Brayden out of the car for our long ride home. He had lots of fun even though he has never seen the cartoon. It brought back lots of memories for me though!
We made it home by about 10:30 that night. It was a fun trip and I never knew there was so much to do in South Dakota. Definitely a kid friendly vacation and a place we will totally visit again! Cheap and close to home! Totally doable!
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| A photo album by Smilebox |
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