Wall Drug, South Dakota

Two more posts and then I'm done with this vacation. It takes me longer to post than to go on the vacation its self I think. Daddy keeps us busy!

Wall Drug, South Dakota is a total tourist trap. You know what? It's fun! It was a great place to stop driving, and walk around a bit.

I ended up buying the boys rock chocolates and I got Prickly Pear Cactus Syrup.

Daddy had an affair on me. No worries I was right their watching.

Mica and Isaak got to sit with a lady to. Mica was happy about that. Isaak was not!

Some Western Guy hijacked Isaak.

Riding on a Jackalobe.

 They had a lot of face plant murals.

A staged wagon. Each boy got a turn riding in it. Mica didn't want to share.

 Daddy paid for this gorilla to sing and play the piano. It reminded me of Chuck E Cheese.

Then it was time to move on. Have you ever heard of Wall Drug, South Dakota? They have signs for it all over, but I wouldn't have know it was even a place. It doesn't sound like a town's name. It was a pretty fun stop.

KOA Campground

After going to the Badlands we had a ways back to go to our campsite. I should have listened to Daddy when he said, "Maybe we should spend the night near the Badlands." I said, "No there's so much to do at the KOA we'll be at. Plus it will be a pain in the butt to pack AGAIN, move AGAIN and we'll be closer to home if we drive back to go home the next day. It sure would have been nice to stay in Wyoming a little longer.

For some reason the ride back to our campsite from the Badlands seemed shorter than our way there.

The boys had fun at the Badlands and at KOA. It kind of stank because we were gone so much during the days that we were at our campground; that we didn't have a whole lot of time to do fun things there. They have so much to do!

These are the free activities that come with the campsite fee:

• Each night ta kid friendly movie. One night we watched Brave. We saw it in the theaters the year before. Both kids loved it the first time. When we watched it at the campsite Isaak was scared.
• The kids loved the splash pad.
• They had a hay day with the jump pillow. The lady in charge did want Isaak to sit out because he was younger than the rest of the kids jumping. I said, "I don't think you need to worry about him. He has spunk! If anything he'd be too rough with the little ones." She let him on.
• There was more than one swimming pool and hot tub. Daddy was the only one that enjoyed the hot tub. Like I said we were pretty busy. Daddy used the hot tub after the kids were down for the count one night.
• They had a water slide, but it was not working properly for 2 of the days we were there. Such a bummer because the boys kept talking about how they wanted to go down it! They finally did get to go on the last day! They were excited to because they actually let them go together. At water park places, they would never let 2 kids go at once!

It ended up being too cold for Isaak, so Mica did it alone a few more times.

• They had paddle boat. Now the boys (including Daddy) kept saying that they didn't want to go. I did. They whined about going, Isaak kept slashing water up on Mica, then both boys complained when we decided to call it quits because they were whining. They wanted to keep going. We stuck to our guns and called it quits.

Waiting for a paddle boat.

They may look like they are getting along, but looks are deceiving. Whatever was in the middle, they were fighting over.

I think Daddy had an ok time.

• They had miniature golf that you could play at any time. Isaak wanted to play golf so bad. 

Mica likes to control everyone by telling them what to do. Isaak ran a head. He kept taking the ball and moving it with his hands. That's what five year old do.

Then Mica hit his ball in a hole; he was amazed that the ball ended up in an entirely different spot! They kept putting the ball in one hole and watching for it to come out a different hole.

• A shuttle ride that takes you to Mount Rushmore to see the lighting display. We didn't do this.

Other things you can do, but you need to pay extra for are:
We only ate pancakes and got a few things in their shops.

• There are shops and eating places right on the campground.
• Horseback riding.
• Fishing.
• Biking and 3 wheel biking.
• A carriage ride.
• Pancakes in the morning. It's $2.50 for all you can eat pancakes. They have other things to. We brought our own juice, yogurt and fruit along. Mica ate 5 pancakes one day! Isaak had 4 pancakes the next! They enjoyed them a little too much!

This was our view from the campsite:

I liked KOA. Especially this campsite. It's so close to Mount Rushmore. I've been to other KOA's that don't have as much to do. This one rocks!

If you do ever stay in one of their cabins make sure you bring bedding. We almost didn't thinking, Oh we're going to be in a cabin. Good thing I did get our sleeping bags! Our first cabin in Nebraska did have bedding. This one didn't. They also didn't have a refrigerator. That's another thing that makes a trip better. Their stores were a bit on the high end, but it was nice knowing you could get something you may have forgotten.

There were only a couple bad experiences.

• Food is hard to come by when you are in the middle of no where. You'd think because it's a tourist spot, they have places to go to eat. Well they do, but it's mostly all greasy stuff. I don't know how anyone there does very much grocery shopping. We couldn't find much. This is odd ShopKo rules in these parts, and I didn't see one Walmart, or Target. DQ and Subway rule, but I didn't see one McDonalds or Burger King.
• I had asthma issues. It rained some while we were there. One night I swore we might have to go to the hospital. It started to storm, all the smoke from everyone's fires went into the cabins. My allergies and asthma went nuts! I took all the meds I could. I was wheezing, majorly short of breath, sneezing and coughing. I had trouble getting air in me at all. I have to say that this year in particular has been really bad for asthma. It only acts up when it's rainy, or acting like it's going to rain. I haven't been this bad since I live in Georgia; where it's rainy and humid all the time. Finally I caught a break, and could breathe again.
• Then the water slide, which didn't work much of the time we were there.

Crazy Horse

In Rapid City we went to see the Crazy Horse Monument.

Right away Daddy got very frustrated with me because I couldn't see the horse. All I saw was an ugly cartoon character that he couldn't see. It looked something like this:

We went inside and watched the film. I was fascinated by the determination of one single family. The sculptor started carving Crazy Horse on June 3, 1948! Many ask why it's not done yet? Well the sculptor refused to hand over the project to the government. He was afraid they wouldn't honor, and make sure it got done the way it should. To be honest I don't blame him for thinking this way. It's of a Native American, not of our president's faces. The sculptor had six kids. All have had a part in the carving. The sculptor passed away. Before he died he told his kids that if they chose to work on it, never to let it go. Otherwise he didn't want them working on it at all. They have kept it going. They take donations such as explosives to blast out the sculpture, and private money donations.

This was all very interesting. We got done seeing the film.

It was then that I realized my camera wasn't in my purse! PANIC! Daddy walked back into the theater, no camera, and I filled a report. I asked Daddy to kindly check where I took pictures of Crazy Horse and the car!

Well there are good people in this world. Way more good than bad. My camera holder was tied to the car door. Someone must have really taken in who we were and what car we came out of when I shot pictures that day!

Daddy and I are now even. He almost lost our train tickets to go home in Chicago and I almost lost our camera. With both situations we were so lucky! Someone turned the train tickets into the lost and found. Otherwise we would have had to pay full price for them.

Back inside we went through their museum. They have a lot of homemade Native American things you can buy. One lady tried to get us to buy a talking stick. Whomever is holding it is the one who's turn it is to talk. I love the idea, but that talking stick would turn into a fighting stick in our house. They had jewelery and homemade dolls to.

Of course things were shown that were not for sale as well.

 

This is when I could finally see the horse. Do you see it? It's pretty easy to see when the white full study horse is in front of it.

Just to see the scale.

Buffalos

WW: Mount Rushmore {Linky}

I went to Mount Rushmore some when I was a kid. I have an uncle that lives in South Dakota. It's been a long time since I've been there. I never knew about the path where you walk pretty much right in front of it!

The moment we got into South Dakota Mica wanted to see Mount Rushmore. We didn't know if you could go an evening with their parking pass, and come back the next day. The answer to that is yes you can!

I took tons of photos, and went through to edit.

They have a lot of hiking spots, as well as stop and view areas.

This is what we could see at this viewing area. A side view of George Washington.

Here's Mount Rushmore:

When you hike right underneath it, this is what you see.

 Meet George Washington

Meet Thomas Jefferson

Meet Theodore Roosevelt

Meet Abraham Lincoln

 A study done before Mount Rushmore was carved.

Here's a close up of some eyes. They actually have stone pegs coming out of the eyes to give an illusion that there is a reflection.

Here's a few of a trail we went on. We went hiking during the day, and to view the lighting at night. We all love the hiking. With the light show Isaak fell asleep before it began, and Mica kept asking when it was going to start; even after it was going on. I think it's cool to see the light show for adults, but it gets pretty late for kids.

Have you been to Mount Rushmore? 
What's your favorite president?

Mica kept trying to remember all our presidents. He called our current one Marack Obama. Daddy and I giggled.

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