Hey! Do you want to see a ton of pictures from our vacation?! I hope so!
We woke the kids up pretty early the morning of July 2 and I was thrilled they all fell back asleep at least for a little bit. Kase was thrilled with his new Pokémon book to help pass the time!
The kids were such good riders. Our first real stop was at the Corn Palace! Kase was ready to spend his souvenir money immediately but I convinced him to save it.
Hilarious!
Our next stop was the Badlands!
You guys, it was HOT. I had visions of spending a bit of time there, hiking around, but it was just too hot.
We did a quick little walk/hike- Kase wanted to go back to the car as soon as he saw this sign about rattlesnakes!
But we did at least climb this fun log ladder.
Next stop, Wall Drug! Like everyone else, I think the kids were confused about what this place really was and why it was worth a stop- ha!
We got to our hotel in Rapid City and the kids were ready to swim!
They loved the water slide here. And I was happy the hotel was new-ish and very clean.
We went for dinner in downtown Rapid- what a cute city!
Kase got cold/bored/tired during the meal.
But we had a fun walk around downtown!
These president statues on every corner were pretty cool. Kael knew so many of them- I was really impressed.
Then we went mini golfing!
We went three times during our trip at different places but this was by far our favorite.
Hotel fun!
This day was probably our favorite of the trip- we got an early start at Bear Country!
It was so cool seeing the bears up that close! Several were right beside our car and walked down the path in front of us as if they were leading us. So neat.
This one looked a little rough- we joked that it had a COVID haircut (in other words, not a haircut at all and in desperate need of a trim or at least a brush!)
The cubs climbing the trees were so fun to watch.
Next up was Reptile Gardens! My sister had gotten us a pass here and had a great time with her family when they came last summer. We loved it too!
Petting these giant tortoises was a highlight.
We were walking in the dome and a guide asked us if we liked snakes. Some of us said no but Kylee said yes so the guide pointed out this snake crawling out in the open right about Kylee's head! Yuck!
We also "fished" (fed) crocodiles and gators!
All three kids pet a python!
We stopped by Dinosaur Park on the way back to the hotel. I read that you can see for 100 miles in all directions from the top of this hill!
Next up was Rush Mountain Adventures! We waited in line for awhile to do this Soarin' Eagle but the boys loved it.
Far and away, the highlight was this Mountain Coaster! The kids actually said this was their favorite part of the trip! We must have gone on it a hundred times between all of us!
By the end, Kase was brave enough to go by himself! He was just barely tall enough but he had so much fun.
The kids also had fun on this ropes course.
And there was a 7D Gunslinger movie/video game that was super fun!
The next day we went to Custer! The Needles Highway drive was gorgeous.
Kase had fun going thru the tight tunnels while looking out the sun roof!
We stopped at Center Lake and Kylee caught some minnows by hand!
We had a picnic lunch before heading out on our Buffalo Jeep Tour!
Jeep hair, don't care!
Our guide was so awesome! We saw TONS of buffalo! It was really fun.
We stopped at Sylvan Lake with intentions of spending the afternoon swimming and hiking but the weather had other plans. It started raining when we got there and honestly everyone was pretty tired anyways so we headed back to the hotel.
Well, we stopped for ice cream first since it stopped raining by the time we got back to Rapid City!
Later that night we went to Keystone and mini golfed and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant.
Kase got a hole in one- this was a very tough course!
That night we saw fireworks as we drove back to our hotel- I had never seen that many fireworks in all different directions at the same time. We were even able to see them from our hotel room when we got back! So cool!
I honestly can't even remember where this picture was taken but Kase had his heart set on a pop gun and looked at them everywhere we went.
July 5th we went to Mount Rushmore! My original plan had been to go there the first day of our trip but Trump was there and we wanted to stay away from all the political stuff so we went this day instead.
The President's trail was closed since they were still cleaning up from the Fourth, but we spent some time walking around and Kase had fun doing parkour on all the rocks.
That afternoon we went to Rushmore Tramway Adventures and did this huge tube slide down the side of the mountain! We all had fun racing.
Then we had lunch at the Mountaintop Grille where there was this fun photo opp.
Next it was time for our Zipline Tour!
This was another highlight for sure! Such cool views from up there!
You could see Mount Rushmore from all five lines that we went on.
Afterwards we loaded up and moved on to Deadwood! Kase finally got his gun.
Then we checked into our new lodge- some workers around the ranch had a dog that Kase loved immediately.
Here was our home for the next three days! It was probably a little bigger than we really needed but it was so nice to have the space. We just loved the firepit and hot tub!
And that view!!! Every night and morning we spotted deer on the hill.
That night we grilled out and did s'mores.
The hot tub was so fun in the morning too in the nice cool weather.
The next day was our all day UTV rental! The kids didn't know about this so it was a super fun surprise.
We found some awesome trails and actually almost got stuck the first half hour into our ride. What an adventure!
We loved going up to the top of this mountain. Such an amazing view.
Kent had been super excited for this day and he did a great job navigating!
Kase kept us safe- ha.
Back in Deadwood we needed ice cream (again) then watched a street show shootout.
We spent the rest of the afternoon on the UTV then had dinner downtown and saw this cool double rainbow!
And back to the lodge for more hot tub fun.
Deer spotters.
Cat lover.
He even made this "comfy spot" for the cat.
Our last morning started off with a horseback ride! Our guides were great, the weather was perfect and the scenery was amazing.
After lunch we went to Spearfish and saw some waterfalls.
Then we went on a hike to Devil's Bathtub!
This was a highlight for everyone!
A funny thing happened on our walk back though- I was carrying our cooler of bottled water and took a wrong step and fell over right into the water! I got soaked! I didn't even have my swimsuit on and my phone was in my pocket- I was so thankful my phone was fine and I wasn't hurt. Kylee was the only one who saw it happen since the boys were ahead of me but they all wished they had seen it- ha!
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