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.
