Mount Rushmore

Our charter school typically gets out a few days earlier than other schools around here, and much earlier than east-coast schools (end of May) so this year we decided to take advantage of it and go on a giant RV trip!  We set out towards South Dakota, but stopped first at Martin's Cove.  They had a lot of kid-friendly activities and we were sorry we had such limited time there.

But we had a lot of road to cover!  The kids grew quite close on the trip.

We were travelling again with our good friends the Hilds who also have an RV.   
We stayed at an awesome KOA RV park close to Mount Rushmore.  There was a swimming pool, park and tons of hiking trails.  We brought our bikes and had lots of places to ride.  The only bad thing was the weather.  It was quite cool, so the kids braved the pool much more than the moms did.  We had lots of fun roasting marshmallows, even if they didn't quite make into our mouths.

We had brought a trailer with our rhino's on them too.  We found some great trails and the kids were excited to find mud everywhere.  But it was just so darn cold!

We went into the town of Keystone several times to walk around and find places to eat.

We ended up at Mount Rushmore on Sunday, so we just wore our church clothes there!

It was amazing to hear the history behind the huge carving and see some scale models.

We even got to meet one of the original drillers.

While in Keystone, we took everyone panning for gold! It was so fun, but harder than it looks.

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We also visited Rushmore Cave, which is part of the Black Hills of South Dakota.  The tour was about an hour long and the kids loved it.

Here is a stalactite that looks like bacon!

We also made a stop to see the largest mountain carving in the world, Crazy Horse Memorial.  Now when I say "carving" I mean careful blasting with dynamite.  To keep this in perspective, all of Mount Rushmore will fit into Crazy Horse's head when it's done.

Then we went for a hike in Custer National Forest.  Sunrise had somehow made it out of the RV without his coat, so he borrowed mine.

Isn't this tunnel amazing?

Many fun/cold hours were spent on the water slide and pool.

Randall only got his rhino stuck twice.

On the way home we stopped in Lovell, Wyoming where Thunder had served part of his mission.  He got to visit with an old friend and we got to meet him too.

We also stopped in Yellowstone!  It was really pretty amazing all the mosquitoes that could brave the freezing temperatures.

We took some great hikes and ate picnic lunches in the woods.  No bears joined us.

We had to wait a while for Old Faithful to make his grand appearance.  He was actually late.

The kids all loved using their own money to buy grab bags!  Fun little treasures inside for all.

Michelle and I took the kids on a bike ride.  Even though we were nervous about getting a flat on all the rocks, everyone loved getting the blood moving a bit.

I'll never forget this game of Monopoly.  Sunshine had enough money to clean everyone out but Thunder smooth talked his way back and ended up winning.

We had to drive through Idaho Falls, so of course we stopped at Reed's Dairy!  It's got the most delicious chocolate ice cream and chocolate milk, and it all has potato flakes in it!  Mmmmmm.

Wow, did you make it reading this far?  It was such a long trip and I want to remember it all!