South Dakota

The next day we drove from Missourito South Dakota. I think this was the day we stopped at the Badlands. It is all getting so confusing trying to recap so much.  :)

Regardless of when, we did go! It would have been more impressive if I had seen it BEFORE Zion and the Grand Canyon, but it was still very interesting. Once again, the boys got to do some rock climbing and walking, and once again, I had to leave because I can not watch them do this. One wrong step or a slip, and well, next stop down is 1,000 feet. I leave their daddy watching them and Kaebrie and I go walking.

  Here they are disappearing down a cliff again.

 

 

 

We spent maybe 2 hours stopping at a few places and exploring and stopping at the visitors center. Then we held our breath and turned off the air and prayed we could coast to the next gas station outside the park without running out of gas. We did make it (barely) but that was way to close for comfort for me. Sam likes to see how far he can push a vehicle and challenge it to go farther on empty then it even has before. That is fine with me, if we are home, on base, and the nearest gas station is just up the road. NOT out in the middle of nowhere with the whole family in the car!!! My compromise was to keep my thoughts to myself about the whole situation, a process that has taken me YEARS to progress to.  :)

Our hotel was right over the South Dakota state line, but we drove back into Iowa for dinner. We went to Applebees. Now that I am thinking about it, I think I am one day off on the above pictures, but O well.

The next day we drove to Rapid City, all the way on the OTHER side of South Dakota. I think that was the day the above pictures were taken. We stayed in a really neat hotel. It had 2 beds! YAY! Nobody slept in the bathroom or a closet or under a table either. The best thing about the Best Western Ramkoda Hotel was the Water Park INSIDE the hotel. Seriously, it was really neat!

A shallow fun place for little ones.  A step up for bigger kids.

 

Then a really big step up for big kids. These two water slides curled around outside the building before bringing them back in and dumping them into the pool. They must have walked up those 5 flights of stairs over 30 times!

Kaebrie looks a bit nervous!

  They really did make a big splash!

Tiff decided to try it backwards. It was so funny watching him! He would swallow a lot of water because he was laughing so hard.

I put the camera down after this picture. Little did I know the pressure of the water had pulled his pants down to his ankles and when he stood up he mooned everyone! That would have been a cute shot!

I am so lost as to what day of the week this was. I THINK it was Thursday night.

Yes, it was. Friday we drove to Devil's Tower and Mount Rushmore and ended up for the night in Cody, Wyoming.

That story will be for the next post!