In an effort to finish visiting all 50 states, I put together a very fun family trip to the middle states. The state with the most to see and do is South Dakota. I looked up a ton of fun things to do that included seeing the National Parks in each of those states. It took months to plan every single aspect of this trip and I loved it!!
School ended on Wednesday for both boys so they started their summer vacation with doing absolutely nothing for the day. I picked up the rental car Friday morning with a tiny delay but it was fine. I picked up my boys and then headed over to my dad's house to get Landon, Logan, and my dad. We left at about 8:30 AM. I drove the entire trip because my dad is getting older and Landon is an "under age" driver because he is only 23. We had a smooth trip all the way to Nebraska. We stopped to eat dinner and decide if we wanted to keep going. There was nothing to see but corn fields in Nebraska. It was totally flat.
We decided to keep driving and made it all the way to South Dakota in 13 hours. We booked a cheap hotel in the heart of town and we all went straight to sleep. I woke up early and went for a glorious four mile run along the river. Then we headed over to our new hotel where we would stay for the next three days. We waited for Kendra to arrive before we headed out to Mount Rushmore. Mount Rushmore was incredible to see!! I was shocked at how small it appeared from far away. We did a little hike around the park and then got some ice cream. We headed back to hotel to swim at the water park but lightening shut down the park so we played games in my dad's hotel room.
All the kids LOVED the water park. I went down all the slides along with my dad. We had so much fun just swimming around and sitting in the hot tub. I am so glad it was included in our stay at the Homes2suites in Rapid City, South Dakota. Sunday morning we headed over to Badlands National Park. It was really cool. I had planned a little hike that went up a ladder to a look out. My dad actually made it up the ladder and stopped when his blood pressure rose to an unsafe level. He was such a trouper. We went to a few look outs and then went back to the hotel to swim again. We played games again and I actually won Aquire!
On the way home, we stopped at Wall Drug and had a delicious piece of Apple Pie! Worth it!
Monday morning we woke up early to head to Jewel Cave and Wind Cave National Park. I had everyone book a tour that was in their comfort zone. My boys and I did the longest cave tours because they enjoy being under ground. I think Jewel cave was my favorite cave because it had a huge rock that looked like a piece of bacon!! It was so cool. We drove an hour over to Wind Cave and went through Custer state park. We saw bison and winded through the beautiful country side. I think everyone loved the caves. It was a perfect stop.
After the caves, we did family photos outside the hotel. That wasn't my plan, but that's fine. We did get a group shot and that was what I wanted. I wish the lighting was better and that we didn't have hotels in the background, but I'll take what I can get.
Tuesday morning we woke up early to drive to North Dakota. I realized in the middle of the night that Bismark was in a different time zone than Rapid City. So we had to leave an hour earlier to make it to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I was in a bit of a rush but still enjoyed the three and a half hour drive to North Dakota. We drove through the tiny town Medora, North Dakota and then entered the park. There really wasn't much to see in the park. We saw Teddy Roosevelt's hunting cabin and some deer. The highlight of the park was watching Logan rescue Kendra's kids from the side of a cliff. They had climbed to a place they couldn't get down from so Logan rescued them by having James jump into his arms. I really thought we were calling 911 to get them off the cliffs. Thankfully, we didn't have to do that.
After our tiny hike, we went to a pizza place to get lunch. I had rushed the server and told him to just give us water and pizza as fast as possible. The very young female server brought over water and my dad made a joke that she didn't understand because she is Russian. He said, "If I poke you in the armpit will that make you drop all these waters?" She did not laugh. After she dropped off all the waters my dad was trying to pass the waters to all the kids and he spilled one of the waters. The girl came back to clean up the waters. A few moments later, I noticed my dad was up and talking to the girl. Our pizza came out and I ate one piece before three large Russian men came into the restaurant and said, "Sir, we need to speak to you outside!" I jumped up and yelled, what? why?! I went outside with them and they said that my dad had sexually harassed the waitress and purposefully knocked his water on to her then tried to pay her $20 for sexual favors!! I died!! I DIED!! So we had to explain what happened and they said they would watch the video and see if he touched her inappropriately. They asked for my dad's ID and then I went in and paid for our lunch and left. I told everyone to grab their pizza and get up. It was terrible.
We drove to a place to get some souvenirs and then drove to Dickenson airport to drop off the rental car. After we dropped off the rental car, Kendra drove everyone to the airport. We arrived with about an hour to spare. It was perfect. My dad was very sad the last hour of the trip. We walked into the airport and he decided he wanted to check his luggage, except we didn't pay for it. So he was asked to pay $40. He tried to argue with the gate agent and I had to put a stop to it so that he could get on the plane. As we walked to TSA I worried that Logan and Landon didn't have the right ID. I was right. They did not. I asked them before we started the trip, but they didn't understand what I meant by a "real ID". SO my dad just rushed through TSA while Landon had to go down and pay and extra $45 to get through TSA. I told Edward, "you're the adult now" and he laughed. Landon had a bit of a meltdown but he made it through TSA. They all made it home with very little incidence. Phew!
Wednesday morning we woke up in Bismark, North Dakota and went to the zoo. That was a fun stop. We walked through the zoo and pet the animals before we hit the road and stayed in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Sioux Falls was beautiful. It was small but had a cool look out. By this point in the road trip it was just Kendra and me. I drove this entire trip except for one hour! Which I loved. It was fun to just see the states from the road.
Thursday we woke up and just hit the road. We had another 12 hour drive to St. Louis, Missouri. We stopped in Iowa at a Candy shop and we stopped at a Louis and Clark look out. We drove down to Kansas and stopped at the confluence where the Missouri and Kansas river meet. It smelled so bad. No one like that stop. We jumped back in the car and drove to St. Louis where the kids swam at the hotel pool. Ellie forgot to put water in her ramen so she caught it on fire in the microwave. Kendra acted fast and put it in the sink but the smoke had already done damage. We had to air out the hotel room in order to sleep.
Friday we headed over to the Gateway Arch National Park. We had a 9:10 AM elevator ride to the top. We barely made it. I should have got Kendra's kids up earlier. Either way, we made it and it was a very cool experience to ride up the arch in a tiny 5 person elevator. Everyone had to sit on these tiny chairs as the elevator was pulled up to the top of the arch.
After the arch, we went to the St. Louis City Museum. This was the big hit of the whole trip. Nolen loved it!! It was so cool!! There was so much to do. There were 5 floors of mazes and caves and fun. We also got to stick our hands in a tank where the fish swam up to eat the dead skin off your hand. It felt so crazy. Kendra and I toured the entire museum and even climbed on the metal cages outside. We went down the 5 story slide and then had lunch. We stayed at the museum until 4:30 before Nolen and I headed to the airport. We flew home exhausted. By the time we got home, 11:00 at night, we were ready to fall asleep. This was a FANTASTIC trip!! I just loved it. We saw so many states and national parks. That is what I love. I love being with family and taking the time to visit some cool stops along the way. I also hope we made some good memories with family.
