Rushmore Trip

We had a whirlwind trip to Mt Rushmore the past few days.  The boys had conferences the past week so Thursday was scheduled as early release and Friday was no school.  Both Jim and I got to attend their student led conferences and were happy with great reports from both of their teachers and great test scores and report cards. After attending their conferences Wednesday night we finished up packing.  Elliott had a fever that afternoon at daycare so I also got him into the pediatrician.  Normally I wouldn't have taken him in, but since we were headed out of town I wanted to get him checked.  It was a good think I did because he tested positive for strep throat!  I was able to get antibiotics for him that night and get them started.

Thursday morning we took our time getting out the door and left around 8:30.  We headed over Teton Pass and up through Grand Teton National Park.  We headed East out of the park and were quickly into territory that we had never traveled before.  We went over Togwotee Pass which was very snowy.  The road was mostly good with just a few snow covered/slick spots.  It appeared to be a very popular spot with snowmobiles.  We then proceeded to drive all the way across Wyoming.  We stopped for gas and snacks in Casper.  We originally planned to go straight into South Dakota, but when I saw how close we were to Nebraska we calculated how much longer it would make our trip to pass through the NW corner of Nebraska and it was only about a half hour longer.  So we went for it!  We saw the sunset right after entering Nebraska and it quickly got dark.  So we didn't see much of the state, but we can all say that we've been there now.

Nebraska Sunset

We got to Rapid City, SD and stopped for a late night snack at Arbys.  Then we checked into our hotel and got settle in for the night.  In the morning we enjoyed a great breakfast at the hotel and then drove to Mt Rushmore.  We were surprised by the amount of tourist traps that line the road to the  main attraction.  Luckily for us most places were closed because of it being off peak and there were hardly any people around.  I can imagine that it is a pretty crowded place in the summer.  The weather was absolutely beautiful, upper 40s to low 50s, sunny and just a little breezy.  They boys were all really excited to have the mountain come into view.  The biggest let down was that the trail was closed due to snow and ice.  But we had great views and the museum was really pretty cool. 

We spent about 3 hours there and then did a little scenic drive and a bit of rock scrambling.  We drove through Rapid City and then went out to Ellsworth Air Force Base to the museum.  It was a fairly small air museum, but still interesting.  The highlight was a B-1B Lancer doing touch and goes.  After that we went back to the hotel to rest for a while. 

The kids didn't know, but the hotel had a water park and that is how we spent Friday evening and Saturday morning.  The water park opened Friday at 4 and we just told the boys we were going to the pool.  The looks on their faces when they saw "the pool" were pretty priceless, they were excited!  There was a lazy river, a large play structure with water features and slides, and activity pool with water canons and "lily pads" to cross and 3 big water slides.  We loved it all, but Emmett and Ezra probably loved crossing the lily pads the best.

Saturday morning we played at the waterpark and then checked out of the hotel and drove to Billings.  We hadn't really checked road reports, and my weather checks of Rapid City and Billings showed that it was supposed to be cold and windy.  We were surprised about 20 miles outside of Rapid City when it started to snow and got really stormy really fast.  We were meeting cars with a fair amount of snow on them and we traveled quite a distance in snowy, windy weather.  We were hoping to take a side adventure to see Devil's Tower in NE Wyoming, but we got off the freeway and started down the highway and turned back due to whiteout conditions.  We were bummed to miss it, but it just didn't feel very safe.

We stopped in Gillette, WY for gas and a treat at Dairy Queen and our doors were caked with ice and snow.  The roads were good after that and we had smooth sailing to Billings except when we were on the Crow Indian Reservation (which is huge) and Elliott had to go to the bathroom.  There was really nowhere to stop but we finally got off the reservation and to a gas station.  (Thursday night all the boys had to go and we pulled off the highway in the dark and Ezra and Emmett picked the headlight beams as the best place to go as Jim was helping Elliott...I'm sure the cars driving by were quite amused.  I was going to tell them to move but I was laughing too hard). 

In Billings we stopped at Costco right before they closed and then had dinner at Fuddruckers.  Our hotel was a bit of a letdown to them after how new that last one had been, but they swam in the pool and we were comfortable.  We set our clocks ahead and had a good night sleep and enjoyed another good hotel breakfast.  We had a very scenic drive home through Bozeman, Big Sky, West Yellowstone and Island Park.  We saw lots of deer, mountain sheep, a moose, and various other critters.  Elliott took a nap in the car for the 2nd day straight...audio dramas still put that kid to sleep.

We were home about 4, plenty of time to unpack, do laundry, and make lasagna.  After the boys helped unpack they played outside while Jim washed the car.  Elliott was requesting the pedal bike so Jim set him up on the trainer to practice pedaling.