Mt. Rushmore Vacation!

We had the opportunity to go to South Dakota and see Mt. Rushmore with Mark’s family. We left June 7 and returned June 10. It was a quick trip but we had a lot of fun spending it with family. We were a bit nervous to see how all three kids handled a 10+ hour drive each way. We were pleasantly surprised with how well they did! Vanessa and Owen had fun watching movies on the two portable TVs and Sariah was just as good as ever. She really only cried when she was hungry or messy. The rest of the time she slept or jabbered.

Day #1:

Our destination goal was Casper, WY. We made a few stops along the way to stretch and give the kids a break from riding in the car. Our first rest area was Green River, WY., where we ate lunch at a park and played with the kids.  Vanessa was so excited that she would be spending time with Aliyah!

Owen had a lot of fun finding sticks to play “swords”

The plains of Wyoming are filled with Antelope! It was fun seeing so many. It’s what made driving through Wyoming tolerable!

Our next rest stop was Martin’s Cove. We were able to look around a bit and see Devil’s gate. What a spectacular place that is. We didn’t have time to walk through the actual cove which was a bummer but it was still nice to stop and visit a place with some much LDS history.

We pulled into Casper, WY around 6:30 p.m. The kids were so excited to get to our hotel so they could swim. They had been anticipating swimming from the moment we left Utah. Every time we stopped they would ask if we were there yet. Once in the hotel we grabbed some dinner and they changed into our swimming suits. Sariah even got to wear her first swimming suit and got to put her legs in the pool. She looked so darn cute in her suit. I just love all her rolls! The pool was a bit on the cooler side but the kids still had fun splashing and playing in the water.

Day #2:

We woke up early and made our way to Mt. Rushmore. We stopped in a city just before we entered the park and ate lunch. Their was a baseball field and the kids had fun running the bases and pretending to hit and catch balls. It was fun playing with them! Also while we were there, a lady from the city council came and asked if she could take some pictures of our family using their park. So we might have our pictures in a South Dakota city paper!

Aliyah was so sweet and packed a princess dress for Vanessa to wear on the vacation. The two girls has so much fun wearing the dresses and pretending to be princesses!

Our next stop was to see the largest rock carving in process, Crazy Horse. It was pretty cool to see.

We drove through Black Hills National Forest which was a very pretty drive. I didn’t expect Mt. Rushmore to be in the tops of the mountains but it was!We went to our hotel first to rest, which was just two miles away from the park, called Keystone, South Dakota.  We decided to let the kids swim for a bit before heading up to the night show at Mt. Rushmore. It was so nice to cool off for a bit and take a little break from driving.

We got to Mt. Rushmore around 7:00 pm. It was nice and cool and we were able to walk around the park and look in the gift shops before the night show started. The night program was different then what I thought it was going to be but still good. They showed a video highlighting each person whose faces are carved out of stone and how it was done. At the end of the program, they called down anyone who had or is serving in the armed forces to participate in the flag ceremony. That was pretty neat to see too! We got back to our hotel pretty late so we hurried and got ready for bed.

Day 3: Before leaving South Dakota, we went back up to visit Mt. Rushmore in the morning so we could get some better pictures and to see it in the day light. It is pretty amazing to see! It’s huge and it is just amazing to think that it was all carved by hand! The kids loved going to see it and they get excited about their vacation and want to talk about it. What a great opportunity we had to go with Mark’s family!

On our way back to Casper, WY, we took a detour and went to see Devil’s Tower. It’s was massive and the only thing sticking straight out of the ground for miles! It was fun to see! Saturday was by far the longest traveling day. We made it to the hotel around 9:30 pm. I think everyone was ready to get out of the car and stretch and relax.

Day 4: On the home stretch! This was are last day of vacation. The wind going through Wyoming was horrendous! We had planned to stop and tour Independence Rock and Martin’s Cove again before heading home but the wind made us cut the tour short! But we did get to go inside the Visitor Center and look around. The kids also had fun riding in a handcart before we got in the car to head back home. We got back to Grandma and Grandpa’s around 6 pm and had dinner with them. It was sad to see our vacation come to a close but we were so thankful that we got the opportunity to travel and see Wyoming and South Dakota. Thank you, Dad and Mom for letting us come with you! We love you so much!