Day 2

We got up and had breakfast at the hotel. I got up with the kids and got them breakfast. We had a busy day of Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park along with a long car ride. We started the day off driving to Mt. Rushmore and watching the video of how it was made. Casey got the book to get a Jr. Ranger badge and his Aunt Laura helped him complete it. Casey was so excited about his Jr. Ranger badge. We took some pictures and then headed to Custer.


Mema, Papa, Laura, Josh, Casey & Ky

Casey &
Aunt Laura doing the Jr. Ranger book


Ky checking out the display


Casey making his first smashed penny.


We stopped here on our way to Custer


Mt. Rushmore from the overlook



At Custer we looked for buffalo. We drove around the lower 1/2 and all we saw were antelope and deer and one donkey (Burro). Casey kept calling the antelope, cantaloupe. I don't think they're as tasty as cantaloupe. We got to the other entrance and asked the ranger where the buffalo were. They told us we had to go on the dirt road and we would see them. We turned around (with some protest) and found the road we were supposed to see the buffalo on. We were ahead of Laura, Mema and Papa. We got a buffalo spotting on the walkie talkie and turned around only for the buffalo to head off over the hill. We were all bummed out. Little did we know that there were four buffalo waiting for us down the hill. They were running next to the road and then on the road. We thought that was pretty sweet and then we came around a bend to 100s of buffalo. I decided to take a million buffalo pictures and take a picture of every buffalo I saw on vacation. Our Custer trip was complete. We didn't see the burros that we saw last time we were there. Casey was bummed about that cause I told him how they put their head in the car window. The only donkey we saw just stood at the side of the road.



Cantaloupe


Donkey

Deer

Evidence of buffalo but no buffalo to be seen...

That car better watch out!!!!

Baby buffalo

Ky was sleeping at this point in the car ride and we decided to wake her up. Usually she's really crabby when we do this but she saw all the buffalo and just said, "Ohhh. Wow!"



After seeing the buffalo we drove a little bit and stopped for lunch by a stream. It was nice to get out of the car for a bit.

Lunch out of the back of the big red truck




She is such a monkey!!!

After lunch we kept driving on the needles highway. That was a cool drive. There were a lot of switch backs and the scenery was awesome! We drove by where the filmed part of National Treasure Book of Secrets.


The needles





We got back on I-90 and kept on driving. We took I-90 to 16 through the Big Horn Mountains. We hit the mountains about dusk and it was AWESOME!!! We saw 4 moose (even saw a bull moose) and deer and elk. We pulled off the road to have a snowball fight at the end of June! Snow and Crocs are NOT a good combo!












Ky saying she's cold. "I cold!"




Fun in the snow







Mountain sunset





After our snowball fight we headed to Graybull where the Antler Motel awaited us. We were cruising along going about 75 mph. That's what the speed limit was most of the way on I-90 but we were on a little two lane in the middle of nowhere at about 10 pm. We came up on the highway patrol. He pulled off and then pulled back on behind us with lights flashing. Nice! That's all we needed on our trip. We were driving a rental car with Illinois plates so when he saw Josh's Wisconsin drivers license he gave a little look. We quickly told him it was a rental and he headed back to his squad car. There we sat on the side of the road in Wyoming. Casey was with Mema and Papa and Ky was sleeping so at least they didn't have to sit through that. The Highway Patrol Officer came back with a WARNING!!!! Thank goodness! He told us the speed limit was 65 mph, NO MORE!!! I'd just like to send a huge thanks to Highway Patrol Officer Smith for not ruining our vacation!!! We headed on to Graybull and the Antler Motel. Mema and Papa already checked in. We had the family suite which consisted of two sets of homemade bunk beds and a queen bed. It was actually surprisingly quite nice (until both kids decided they wanted to be in my bed)! So if you're ever headed to Graybull and need a place to stay I'd recommend the Antler Motel!



The bunk beds (obviously very well made cause Josh got the top bunk) ;)

Ky did NOT get the whole queen bed to herself. Mema and Papa slept there.

we hit the pillow hard cause we had another busy day ahead of us.

Hitting the road

So we hit the road today for our week out west. After a little dispute with Budget rent a car we ended up with a Toyota Rav 4. We didn't want to pay for gas in the Avalanche so I rented a full size car. When I picked up the car at the Milwaukee airport it was a Ford Fusion. I asked them if they had anything else cause that car looked a little small for a full size car. They told me that was all they had so I took it home. I looked on their website and it said that the Fusion was an intermediate car. I called Budget and they told me that at the Milwaukee airport it was considered a full size. I told them that they couldn't have the car listed in two classes. When I reserve a full size car I expect to be able to fit everything in it, including the two kids. They would have been squashed in that car. I decided to pack up the car to see if everything would fit. No surprise that it didn't. I called Budget again and was told they didn't have anything. Arrrrrr. Josh called and finally got through to someone at the Milwaukee airport and we ended up with a SUV. I wasn't too thrilled cause I wanted something with decent gas mileage but it turned out that the Rav 4 was a 4 cylinder so we got pretty good gas mileage! Not the best start to vacation but we got a vehicle that we fit comfortably into and wasn't' too bad to drive.




We actually got on the road at about 5:30 and made it to LaCrosse, WI for breakfast. After a nutritional McDonald's breakfast I realised that we didn't have a sippy cut for Ky and that would make for a messy car ride. I ran into Target and bought two cups and a Backyardagains CD to keep the kids happy for 30 min. Back on the road. The drive in S. Minnesota isn't that great. I-90 sucks! it's so fricken bumpy. The kids were in the back making going over the bumpy road noises. Nice! We stopped for lunch at the Des Moines River rest area in MN. It was nice to get out of the car. The kids played on the playground and we ate sandwiches. Then it was back in the car.

Good sandwich



Lunch



Play time

We made it to a pull off overlooking the black hills and ran around for a few minutes. The wind was blowing hard and I was freezing even though the temp was still in the 70s. We didn't drive through the black hills. Maybe next time. We eventually made it to our destination of Rapid City. We stayed at the Days Inn. I used Priceline to get us two rooms and we we got in our rooms there was one bed. That wasn't going to work. The only other rooms they had were smoking. Josh's parents and sister took a smoking room and we got a roll away bed for the kids. It worked but I did learn to call the hotel to confirm your rooms after you reserve it through priceline (which I love by the way). After we checked in we went to dinner at a bar/grill place. It was pretty good! After dinner it was off to bed cause we had a busy day planned!



The Black Hills

Ky ready for bed