Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park and Badlands National Park with a stop at Martin's Cove

July 2009- Since Rick would soon be leaving on his mission, David and I decided a family road trip was in order. Neither of us had been to Mt. Rushmore and so we decided to go. My Mom and Dad came with us, driving their own car, so that they could leave us in South Dakota and keep on going to visit Lolly in Ohio. It was so much fun to have them with us and we loved the trip. I tacked on 5 extra hours so that we could drive up through a corner of North Dakota (who has ever been there?) just so that I could say "I have now been to North Dakota" and I could check it off my list of states visited!

We first stopped at Martin's Cove which was really on the way, and way cool! They have a friendly snake that lives in one of the trees

The kids did a Trek here last year

Eating Buffalo Burgers

Dad quite enjoyed his

My Ricky- next year to be a missionary. What a sweet boy he is!

There were gorgeous vistas everywhere. They had many different scenic drives you could take in the area and we only had time for 3 which was disappointing for me

Johnny pointing out George Washington for us!

My 60+ year old mother chasing after my kids, even though she's had 16 of her own! You look great mom!

 About 30 seconds after this picture was taken Joseph disappeared. One second I was looking at him holding someones hand and then the next he was gone. We fanned out and found him 15 minutes later with a ranger. He had headed straight back to the car. He does this all the time.

They had this path that you could walk around to the base of the mountain. It only took about 20 minutes

We took cousin Kylie with us. She is a sweetheart and was a real delight to have along.

I couldn't resist this one.

The tunnels on the scenic drive to Custer State Park are built (and the trees are cut) so you can see Rushmore in the distance. It was just beautiful.

We stopped for picnics along the way

Anna said Dad was giving them a lecture on Buffaloes. He is a history buff like myself but I think she was kidding?

This is where we parted from Mom and Dad. They went on to Ohio to visit my sister

Anna couldn't resist running out in the fields of wild flowers and Megan was right behind her. I hoped there weren't any Buffalo over the hill.

Joseph, I'm sure was contemplating on whether or not he should try running down that long, lonely road that stretched on for miles and miles!

They had wild donkeys and some kind of deer all over

It took us a while to find some buffalo but at the end of our Custer drive we finally did. Fun!

Rapid City was really flat, but I loved it. It had a good feeling to the city

Notice the brotherly love on the left.

Megan is a little fish. She would stay out in the water all day and night if she could.

Badlands National Park. An little known gem.

You can't tell but I am standing on the brink of a cliff, with the wind billowing through my hair and blowing my skirt. I always wanted a picture like that!

There were two goats just sitting there almost this close just waiting for me to take their picture! I didn't even have to get out of the car. Nice mountain goats!

Anna and Abby freaking me out. This was scarier than it looks. I couldn't look at them only long enough to take the picture.

So beautiful!

Good looking Boys!

Joseph doing his thing.

Telephoto

By this time I am getting a little calmer. We stopped to picnic here.

See, we did make it to North Dakota.

Visited Yellowstone on the way home.

Picnicing in Yellowstone with Joseph doing his thing.

David had never seen Old Faithful so we made a quick stop

It was worth it!