Summer 2012 Road Trip: The Dakotas (Part 1)

We've always wanted to take our kids out to the Black Hills of South Dakota and we got the perfect opportunity this summer. Our friends the Andersons invited us to join them for part of their family vacation in the Hills and we couldn't say no to that. We decided to turn the trip into a rather quick tour of South and North Dakota, with strategic stops for rest and site seeing. In just five days we traveled across both states, saw tons of sites and spent two nights tucked away in the Hills.

Everything about the trip was amazing. The kids were really well behaved and did amazingly well on the all-day drive across S.D. We saw nearly everything we wanted to (exciting) and unplugged from most of technology for two days (relaxing.) We caught up with good friends, hiked, took tons of photos and took in beautiful countryside. We stood in awe of Mount Rushmore and chuckled at the Corn Palace. We really couldn't have asked for anything to go any better.

Day 1: After a morning of driving, we spent our first day in Sioux Falls. We visited Sioux Falls park, where we grabbed a bite to eat, admired the falls, climbed rocks and hiked around. It was beautiful.

(Side note: as we first drove into the park it was still raining and we heard a really loud crash of lightening. When we stopped at the cafe 20 minutes later, we learned the building had just been hit - during that crash. Thankfully everyone/thing was OK except the security system.)

We spontaneously (is that possible with kids?) decided to take a free trolley ride from the park through downtown Sioux Falls and back. Both kids snagged the cameras from us and recorded the adventure.

Day 2: This was the day I was most worried about. We needed to cross the entire state by early evening to find our friends in the Hills before dark. With tons of activities for the kids and several planned stops, it was a breeze AND incredibly fun.

We saw the Corn Palace in Mitchell. It was, um, corny.

We unexpectedly stopped at Al's Oasis for some shopping and burgers.

Then, on the advice of the sweet lady at the shop across from the Corn Palace, we decided to make the loop through the badlands of South Dakota. Though not as striking as the ones in North Dakota, they were beautiful and the kids loved getting out to take a closer look. Gavin kept begging us to take more photos.

Next stop? Wall Drug in, well, Wall. By this point we were just itching to get into the Hills, so we gassed up, popped in the drug store and hit the road again.

We passed through Rapid City and headed straight to Mount Rushmore. Neither Jason nor I had been there in years and we were surprised to find the memorial honored with a very fancy entrance. As you walk through the state flags and the crowd, it really builds up to seeing the mountain. We all loved it.

Back in the van, again, and we wound through the hills, through Hill City (I don't remember that being such a Mecca either) and then off into the wilderness. When Beth and Dallas said "remote cabin" they really meant "REMOTE cabin." We couldn't get cell phone or GPS coverage, so we carefully followed texted directions until we saw this spectacular site:

See Part 2 for the rest of the adventure.