Day 1, Friday, June 12, 2009
Today’s mission is to get to my in-laws in LuVerne. We picked up our rental car and were home by 10 a.m. We got the car packed full and realized we’d only had @2/3 of everything loaded so we had to regroup and downsize. We each removed about ½ of our clothes planning to wear them twice or wash them out in the hotel sink. We finally got everything in and left; the kids and I eating our knees. We didn’t even get out of town before my son asked, “Can I watch a movie?” The answer? “No!!!” We stopped along US 20 for a bathroom break. My son came out and announced he had a problem—the belt keeping his shorts from falling to his knees broke in two. We got to my in-laws later in the afternoon and went to dinner in Algona, about a 20 minute drive, then bought my son a belt at Kmart. My father-in-law bought a bottle of whiskey to share with us from Hy-Vee across the street.
We got back to my in-laws and instructed the kids to get on their pajamas so we could wash the clothes they wore that day to provide one more clean outfit. I helped my son to dig out his pajamas and he asked, “Can I wear my new no-show socks?” At that moment, the light bulb went off and I said, “What was the other suitcase we took your clothes out of to leave at home?” LeRoy, my husband: “The red, green and yellow one. Why?” Me: Smack my forehead, “The socks were in the front pocket.” Before my son could launch into a full meltdown, I explained that we’d wash the socks he was wearing for tomorrow and we’d surely need to buy some whiskey when we get to Rapid City so we’d find somewhere to buy more socks then. “Yes, the exact same ones.”
Day 2, Saturday, June 13, 2009
We actually got on the road ½ hour ahead of schedule—thanks to the fact we left the tub in which we brought corn-on-the-cob cupcakes at my in-laws. We stopped at Blue Earth to see the Jolly Green Giant and for @1 ½ hours in Mitchell for lunch and to see the world’s only corn palace (who else would want one)? Both were typical cheesy road side attractions but enjoyable. Another cheesy stop on our list is Wall Drug—one cannot miss Wall Drug even if you slept while driving I-90 as the first of at least 250—no exaggeration—bill boards advertising it start just after you cross the state line. Eleven hours after we pulled out of the farm, just a few arguments between the kids and stern “knock it off”s from their parents, we pulled into the WaTiki water park resort. Of course, Susan (a/k/a Tom Tom) told us the hotel was four miles further than it actually was—but I can’t really blame her because a billboard located literally right next to the hotel also said it was two more miles ahead. The first order of business was finding a Wal-Mart to buy my son socks and then a liquor store to buy whiskey. For some reason, Rapid City has a casino on nearly every corner, some even in check cashing joints, but they only sell beer outside of liquor stores and no one under 21 is allowed to step inside the door. The next order of business was the indoor water park. This went well until my husband’s prescription safety glasses fell off his face at the end of a water slide ride—not to worry though because they called the manager who called in a life-guard who dove under to retrieve them from the drain at the bottom of the pool while we sheepishly watched. I’ve never come close to losing my glass on a water slide but after that, I went up and down the slides blind nearly wiping out several other swimmers with my tube in the process.
Day 3, Sunday, June 14, 2009
A day fitting for Flag Day. We started the day at the faces on the mountain. The sky created a dark clear blue backdrop for my numerous pictures of the memorial. We agreed that I’d have to weed out the best pictures to include in my album because anyone who reviews it would wonder how many damn pictures of faces on a mountain one needs. On the way to Mt. Rushmore, I got a wrong number phone call on my cell phone as my kids yelled, “I see it! I see it!” I hung up the phone and looked around but I didn’t see it. They kept yelling, “over there!” until I finally found it. It was a lot higher on the mountain than I’d imagined. The oddest thing was from one point on the highway it looks like Teddy Roosevelt is leaning into Abraham Lincoln for a kiss—creepy. After “faces”, we toured the Borglum museum and learned all about the designer of Mt. Rushmore then we all snuggled up to a giant bronze statue of Lincoln sitting on a bench in front of the museum. After that, we walked main street Keystone then went to the National Presidential Wax Museum. This was very cool but my daughter and I were done well before the men in the family as they wanted to listen to each and every five minute bio of all 44 presidents while us girls listened to those we thought looked interesting through our digital wand and read the plaques for the others. The original wax sculptor was much better than that for the most recent presidents. Some were so real I expected them to start talking or shout back, “what are you looking at?” The most recent presidents were not nearly as good but I did expect the wax rendition of Bill Clinton to say, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinski.”
After the wax museum, my daughter and I rode the chair lift up to the Alpine slide and rode the slide back down while the boys had ice cream. After that we started out on what appeared to be a short drive around Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park. We pulled into the firehouse brewery restaurant downtown nearly two hours later. The kids stayed in good humor through most of the drive and though my son complained he was going to barf, he never actually did. Success!!
Day 4, Monday, June 15, 2009
Today was Badlands National Park and the supremely cheesy, overdone and over-advertised Wall Drug. We drove the loop road through the park stopping at several view points along the way for pictures. Some of the viewpoints had short resin decking board walks under which some ferocious bunnies hid and jumped out to scare unsuspecting 7-year olds. After stopping at the privately owned gift shop and visitor’s center, we ventured off on our hikes of the day at high noon. Luckily, it only got up to @80 degrees; if it had been 90 all of us would’ve been wilted and dragging, not just my daughter. The first hike was the hardest according to my plan as I read about a ladder on the trail in my guidebook. I wasn’t sure if we’d walk the whole trail but I thought we’d check it out. We got to the ladder and decided to press on. The first ½-3/4 was easy, more like stairs than a ladder but the top 10-15’ was a ladder with 4”-wide log rungs that swayed a little as we climbed. The top ledge was beautiful and the descent was much more hairy than the ascent but we made it down fine. After this notch trail, we walked window trail, a short decked wheelchair accessible boardwalk. We then walked only the accessible boardwalk portion of the next trail; as we approached the end and listened to the families heading back, I was glad to find out I was not the only one listening to hot, hungry, whining kids. The trail headed further out into the pitted rock marked with short yellow posts but by then even I’d had enough so we left for Wall. After lunching in a local restaurant we headed for the drug store. An hour after visiting the epitome of cheesy, we stopped for ice cream then back to the hotel for the water park.
Day 5, Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Due to our horse drawn wagon and cowboy supper, we stuck close to the hotel today to make sure we weren’t late. In the morning, we toured Black Hills Caverns. We were the first group and only group on our tour. We felt kind of bad for the three teenagers running the joint and worried for their financial future but were relieved when we returned to the gift shop (because all tours as you know end at the gift shop) and saw a group of sixteen on the next tour. After the Caverns, we checked out Dinosaur Park overlooking Rapid City. The dinosaur statues were kind of neat but I was more interested in the views of the city and that is where I focused my photography efforts. After hobbling up and down the stairs at Dinosaur Park because my right thigh tightened up from the ladder climb at the Badlands, we returned to the hotel to let the kids swim for a couple of hours. A few minutes before we were going to leave the water park anyway, my son was startled by the giant dumping bucket of water and fell on the stairs which left him scratched and rug burned on his arms, back, chest, knee and foot.
We got very lucky for our chuck wagon dinner as it was the only evening except our last where it wasn’t raining at that time of night. The trip to the supper’s location was scenic and the supper itself in a beautiful location. We were serenaded which a “cowboy” playing his guitar and singing songs in front of a non-existent camp fire until dinner was ready. While we were waiting for dinner to cook, the shadows took over as the sun set behind the thick trees in the meadow so I decided to trade my sunglasses for my regular glasses. But when I looked for them in the backpack we took, they were gone. The last time I remembered seeing them was on the trunk of the car when I was getting the backpack ready. My daughter told me, “Don’t forget your glasses” and of course I answered the typical, “I won’t.” I figured they’d either fell off the trunk of the car or out of the backpack and just hoped nobody drove over or walked on them. Knowing I couldn’t do anything about it then, I concentrated on trying to forget about my glasses.
Dinner was delicious—baked beans with bacon and beef pieces, fried potatoes, steak and peach cobbler for dessert all cooked on an open fire. A few minutes following dinner, we returned to the parking area and as soon as the horses stopped, we all jumped out to look for my glasses which were indeed laying on the gravel next to the car tire. It was still early so we decided to attend the Mt. Rushmore lighting ceremony. We got there @7:30 and waited the 1 ½ hours until the ceremony began. The weather was good, though, and it went by pretty quickly. Our big laugh was a little girl behind us that asked her mom if they could go see “Mr. Crazy Horse” next and her mom trying to explain that Mr. Crazy Horse was not very close by. When the ceremony started, there wasn’t a seat to be found which we found amazing for a random Tuesday in June and thought if they don’t give reserved tickets for the July 3rd fireworks, a person wanting to attend would have to get there when they opened the gate and stake out their spot right away. The ceremony included the pledge of allegiance lead by a boy scout, a video, and lighting of the faces. It was inspiring per legend with the first thing amazing me the most being that all of those people—a few thousand at least—coming from all of the country knowing the pledge of allegiance saying it together. The next inspiring moment was at the end of the ceremony when every past or present member of any armed forces were invited to go down on stage to say their names, military branch, and stay for singing the star spangled banner and the lowering of the flag. I would estimate there were 200+ veterans there that night.
Day 6, Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Today was our hiking day at Custer State Park. I picked the long hike to Harney Peak but was vague with the rest of the family because I knew if they found out how long it was, they’d refuse to go. I figured once they got going, if they complained too much I’d tell them to wait for me while I did the hike. The trail head for the Harney Peak trail was at the back of Sylvan Lake. Of course, the route I picked to get there was the long, rocky part (not according to plan) as opposed to the nice flat part we discovered on the way back. We started the hike @11 a.m. and @1, we started passing people on the way back down telling us “you’re almost there,” and “not much left.” At about 3, after much whining and complaining by mainly my daughter who I’d swear was a spoiled little rich girl if only we were rich, we finally the saw the brick building that actually ended the hike—the same building shortly after we started LeRoy saw and said, “I wonder what that little building up there is.” We made it to the 7,400+ foot peak, looked around a few minutes, snapped a few pictures and headed back down before the ominous-looking clouds opened up. We got back to the car @5 p.m.; a few seconds later the rain began. On the way back to the hotel, we drove in driving sheets of rain and hail. We felt sorry for the motorcyclists we passed on the drive back. We were astonished by our great timing. By the time we got back to the hotel, we were all dirty, exhausted and my feet were blistered but it felt good to have accomplished the hike to the highest elevation between the Rockies and the Alps. Thankfully, the water park at the hotel was closed because of the storm so we showered and went out to eat where I felt I’d earned my 32 oz. Blue Moon and baked shrimp scampi.
Day 7, Thursday, June 18, 2009
Today’s focus was the last of our pre-paid package deal attractions, Devil’s Tower National Monument. We left early for the @2 hour drive. The monument was neat but a little disappointing after the long drive; the highlight for me was that I got to add Wyoming to the list of states in which I’ve been in. Being all hiked out, we just walked the short 1.3 mile paved loop around the tower in the light rain. On the way back, we stopped at Spearfish to visit the D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery, very interesting and free. After the hatchery, we found lunch and then headed back through Spearfish Canyon, Lead, and Deadwood, stopping to view a waterfall along the road and at Presidents Park which has large @ 8-10’ statues of all 43 presidents, soon to be 44 when Barack’s arrives on the 4th of July. Other than the typical fights between the kids which are a given, it was a relatively uneventful day. No lost glasses or injuries. We returned to the hotel, let the kids swim for a couple of hours and found a Fuddruckers for dinner at 9:30 p.m.
Day 8, Friday, June 19, 2009
Today was another day to stick close to the hotel because of the long drive tomorrow and to squeeze in every last must-see on our list. We started the day in Rapid City with the Berlin Wall exhibit and Storybook Island. Having remembered the time of the Iron Curtain, Reagan’s famous, “Mr. Gorbechev, tear down this wall,” and the fall of the Berlin wall, it was quite interesting for LeRoy and I to view two sections from the actual wall that was in Berlin. The kids, however, were not impressed and played around in the park while we looked at the wall sections and interpretive signs. My son, not getting it, asked, “Can you take my picture by it?” and I had to explain that it was not the type of attraction to take happy pictures like “look at me, I’m imprisoned by commies” but to kind of quietly observe. Storybook Island was a free fairytale-themed park geared toward younger children but I wanted to check it out. It was really cute and we all enjoyed it. We got several pictures with our favorite characters. If you have a 3 or 4 year old (or maybe even 5) and you get to Rapid City, you have to go to Storybook Island, a kid that age would love it. Walking in we passed a group of kids all dressed in the same tie dyed t-shirts; LeRoy observed, “there’s a big group” and one little girl piped up and said, “We’re a daycare, that’s why.”
By the pirate’s ship, we noticed a little boy, @3 maybe, calling out, “Mommy! Mommy!” A couple of women came up so I thought maybe he was just calling for his mommy to “come see” but they kept walking so after a few minutes, I asked him, “Do you see your mommy?” He said “no” so we started looking around for a frantic mother. After a few seconds when I was about ready to send LeRoy to the information desk, the little boy pointed and confirmed that he saw his mommy. As he ran to her, she rolled her eyes, shook her head, and mouthed “thank you” to us. My kids, thankfully, were always too wimpy to wander off but we know how fast little kids can get away.
After Storybook Island, we headed to the Cosmos Mystery Area which is basically a giant optical illusion—very fun and very cool, though. We were going to go to a gold mine next but we went the wrong way so went to the Prairie Berry winery, where I wanted to go anyway. They are very smart at that place and hand your kids graham crackers and wiki sticks inviting them to sit on a couch in front of a fireplace when you walk in the door while you taste your wine. Ten minutes and $100 worth of wine later, we left and went to the Big Thunder Gold Mine which we learned was about the worst investment for investors until Madoff came along because the miners worked for something like 16 years and only found $200 worth of gold. Our final stop was the Air & Space Museum at the Ellsworth Air Force Base. We topped off the week with Schlotsky’s deli and a few hours at the water park.
Day 9, Saturday, June 20, 2009
Today consisted of the first leg of our trip home, eight hours to my sister-in-law’s house in Spencer, Iowa. After arranging and re-arranging the trunk of our car and LeRoy threatening to never go on vacation again (gee, I wonder where the kids get their tendency toward the drama??), we got going at @7:15 a.m., Mountain Time. The kids, exhausted from the trip, were subdued the majority of the trip. I spent the first 3 hours sleeping and the last 5 revising my novel which made the trip pass quickly. We arrived in Spencer at @4:30 p.m. Central Time, had dinner at my sister-in-laws and went to bed by 11 p.m.
Day 10, Sunday, June 21, 2009
The last leg of the trip home. After eating breakfast we hit the road at a little past 8 a.m.. The kids were still subdued and quiet for most of the trip. I slept for half the trip. After stopping to eat lunch at Fazoli’s in Waterloo, I spent the rest of the trip reading. Vacation officially ended at @3 p.m. when we entered our stuffy, hot house with the noise of the Blue Angels from the air show screaming overhead.
All told, the trip went very well—a couple of small mishaps that worked out in the end and the squabbles expected by spending so much time in such close quarters, but pretty smooth overall. Though it rained some every day, our timing was great and we did what we wanted to do mostly rain-free. The temperatures were great—low to mid-70s every day creating a shock to our system opening the car doors at home to upper 80s and 73° dew point.
