Disclaimer: This post is LONG overdue ... but here it is nonetheless. It's one of those posts that's so big and important, that it's overwhelming. So overdue - yes, but better late than never right?
Before my parents opened their mission call, we told them Derek and I would go visit them wherever they got called. If it was somewhere we could drive to, the kids would also get to come along. So when we read "Winnipeg", a major family road trip was booked!
This was definitely the longest, most ambitious road trip we'd tackled. Up until this trip, our longest road trip was a 2 day drive, maybe 15 hours. This was going to be 24 hours. One way. But we were pumped and ready to take on this massive trip.
Not too bad considering it was 6 people for 2 weeks!
Mango, the monkey, hanging from the handle is my personal fave of this picture.
4 happy kids 5 minutes into this adventure
We decided to drive to John and Sandy's the night before we officially began our trip to get a bit of a head start. The next morning we got up early to hit the road - Rapid City, SD was our destination for day 1.
John told us about a shortcut to get there - love his map! Completely foolproof!
Except that we couldn't read his writing.
Montana - 1st state
Wyoming (trust me) - 2nd state
South Dakota - 3rd state
We had planned on getting close to Mount Rushmore on our first day. We thought the 13 hour drive would prove to be enough for one day, so we were planning on seeing Mount Rushmore the next morning. As we got closer and closer, and the kids were doing so awesome, we thought we might be able to visit Mount Rushmore that night and attend the nightly program. We had heard that every night they do this awesome program. We had ruled it out, thinking there was no way we could be there in the evening. But our 13 hour car drive was no problem, the kids were doing great, and we were rolling through Keystone, SD about 30 minutes before the program was about to start.
We were so excited that we were able to go the program! We told the kids, who hadn't had dinner yet, this program would be WAY better than eating, and we would eat as soon as were done paying homage to the presidents.
So we went to Mount Rushmore, all amped up that we were going to be there after such a long car ride and see the program. Let me just say, Mount Rushmore was incredible. It was a million times better than I expected. I thought the carving would be awesome, but envisioned a little wooden boardwalk that takes you to the best view and that's it. I was not expecting a great, state-of-the-art, total techy facility. From the parking garages, to the Avenue of Flags, to the amphitheater, to the Visitor's Centers, to the Presidential Trail, that let you see the carvings from different angles - this blew me away. We got there in time to explore everything before the program started.
The Avenue of Flags
Do you love how I'm taking a picture of Derek taking a picture?
See how much we loved it? :)
The main attraction!
Amazing.
Almost as amazing, these smiles after 13 hours in the car!
Maybe the smiles are because they're out of the car....
The program was in the outdoor amphitheater which seats 3000. They say that it's full most nights through the summer. They showed this awesome video of how the carving was done, how the presidents were chosen, and why America is the best country in the world. It certainly has you singing "I'm proud to be an American" by the end of that video! At the end they call up any current military or veterans. I was amazed at how many veterans were in a group of 3,000. I would guess about 100 people went up. Some were able to participate in the lowering of the flag ceremony. It was awesome. By the end of the program, it's dark enough that they light up the mountain. It was awesome. We loved every second.
I have become Mount Rushmore's biggest fan. Everyone should go - it's incredible. And it will make you really proud to live in America.
So I mentioned how we hadn't fed our kids any dinner - that was necessary for the upcoming story - when the night took a major turn south. So our awesome night at Rushmore was over, the kids were starving, and we pacified them by telling them we were going to check into our hotel, and then we'd get dinner from somewhere non fast-food (our first day on the road and we were already sick of fast-food, that's unfortunate). So on the road we go to our hotel that we had already booked. Already booked, not knowing the geography of South Dakota mind you. We booked a hotel in Custer, thinking it was close to Mount Rushmore - yeah, it's not. It's 45 minutes away. Just so ya know. So we just keep driving and driving, and we're starving and starving. "But we're almost there!" we keep promising. Now mind you, we left Mount Rushmore at 10:00. To drive 45 minutes. At 11:00 we get to Custer, get checked in, and the kids are about to eat each other. So Derek decides that he will go out and "hunt and gather" us some dinner. Off he goes, to the very, very quiet streets of Custer, South Dakota. Nothing is open. Nothing. So Derek does his best "hunting and gathering" he can under the circumstances - the Common Cents gas station. Derek came back with the best he could do - 3 hot dogs, 3 Hot Pockets, and a bag of chips. Poor Logan fell asleep before Derek even came back. When we saw his poor offering, all we could do is laugh. To make it worse, the microwave in our room didn't work, so we had to nuke the Hot Pockets in the lobby. I took one look at the hot dog and said, "no way. Who knows how long that was sitting out." Tyler took his chances with the hot dog, took one bite, and said, "That is not food.". Miraculously, no one got food poisoning.
The next day we headed off again - first stop, Wall SD. Wall is famous for the Wall Drug Store. This thing is a tourist's souvenir paradise. It's 76,000 square feet of all the cheap junk you can handle. They also have a "backyard" for the kids to play on. I wouldn't go out of my way to stop here, but if you're passing through it's worth walking through.
Their café served buffalo burgers - which Tyler really wanted to get once he knew we were going through South Dakota. This makes up for the mysterious hot dog the night before right?
Our next stop that day was going through Badlands National Park. Neither Derek or I had ever been there, so it was fun to drive through. It's like no place else. When I go through Yellowstone, or Arches, or Badlands, it amazes me how these type of places exist.
The best part of the Badlands happened to Derek. On the drive there, Derek told us how much he wanted to see a bighorn sheep. It had been on his Bucket List for a long time, and considering what an outdoorsman he was, he was shocked he'd never seen one in the wild. He then regaled us with tale after tale of times when people promised he'd see a bighorn sheep if he went to this certain place, at this certain time, or people who had just seen one minutes before Derek showed up - only to be disappointed. So he had really high hopes of seeing a bighorn sheep while we were in the Badlands.
On our first stop out of our car, we were out walking around, when Bailey said, "What's that?" I look over and see some animal. I didn't know if it was an antelope or what, but I was really hoping it was bighorn sheep. I overheard people talking, and they were saying it was a bighorn sheep. So I run and get Derek - and tell him there's a bighorn sheep. He starts running over to it, but all the while telling us there's no way it's a bighorn sheep. As we get closer we see it definitely is a bighorn sheep. We're all so happy that Derek finally got to see his bighorn sheep. Check it off the list!
Then, from across the road, comes 5 more bighorn sheep! They meander across the road, on to our side, and walk RIGHT in front of us! They just stood there, some even laid down. There was a big crowd of people, all of us with our jaws hanging open. It was so awesome to see them so up close.
North Dakota, our 4th state
Now here is why Derek is such a fun dad. After driving and driving we pull into Bismarck, tired, hungry (again!) and super sick of the car. We start calling around for hotels, and everyone we call we make Derek asks if they have a pool and what time they close. I'm so tired, I couldn't care less if there's a pool - but Derek is a man on a mission. And it turned out to be harder than we thought. One closed really early and one was closed for maintenance. But Derek was not to be denied his pool time. We kept driving around to different hotels until we found one that had a pool. We checked in, and the 5 of them hit the pool. I did a pizza run. But it did turn out to be an awesome pool, and just what the kids needed after such a long day.
The next day we were Canada bound! We were super excited - this was the day we got to see my mom and dad! We stopped for lunch in Grand Forks, ND and realized we were only across the river from Minnesota. Of course we popped across the river to add another state to our trip. Logan was the proudest - he didn't say one word the entire time we were in Minnesota! A full 3 minutes!
Minnesota - 5th state
Next stop - the Canadian border!! As we pulled up to the border crossing, my kids were nervous as cats! I don't know what they thought might happen, but they were worried! We pulled up, answered a few questions, showed our ID's, and were happily on our way.
Back on the road again .... but this time in Canada!!
2nd Country!!
And ... Manitoba - 1st Province
1 comment:
Great narration of your trip. I love the pictures and the fact that you would to Canada to see us. We were so excited to see you. We loved it!
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