Mount Rushmore

We finally did it!!! We crossed Mount Rushmore off of our "bucket list"! What at road trip! I've never driven that far east! No offense but I don't know that I need to any time soon either :o) We went up through Evanston, WY and then east through Nebraska and then turned up in to South Dakota. And we saw a whole lot a nothin :o) except for the occasional house out in the middle of NO WHERE and a few small, I repeat, small towns! We saw a TON of Antelope! :o) Nebraska is "pretty" with rolling green hills as far as the eye can see. But we'll talk a bit more about this later... For the most part... this was my view :o)

Some times it wasn't this pleasant to be next to :o)

He did pretty well though! I was worried~ he is NOT a happy car rider!

And who ever invented the car movie player... You are a GENIUS!!!

Makes traveling SOOOO much easier!

Breakfast at McDonald's in Rawlings, WY

You can't see them, but a cute little couple sitting in the booth behind us asked us if they could "ask about our cute family" ... the nicest way yet that I've been asked if they are ALL mine?! :o) So we ended up chatting with them for about 10 minutes or so and they had all good remarks about our well behaved children ;o) We get a ton of looks, both good and "you are insane", so it's good to actually hear positive ones and the kids love to be complimented! They ARE good kids! :o)

Our 1st stop... Martin's Cove ~Friday morning

Holy WINDY! You can't tell in the pictures (we were warned of the wind, so all the girls have pony tails) but we're talking wind that you can't breathe in!

They got to experience what it is like to pull a hand cart full of "precious cargo". We didn't go clear to the actual cove, we just walked out to Devil's Gate and back but it was enough of a taste for them to know it would have been HARD!

Getting ready to set out on our adventure...

We made it to Devil's Gate. It really was beautiful! I've seen this same view hundreds of times, Rich's Grandparents served a mission at Martin's Cove, so for a gift, his family had my dad paint an oil painting of it for them. It looks JUST like it! I didn't realize that water ran through the "gate" though. I'd never even thought about it. I don't know what I thought had carved through the rock :o) but, now I do.

So Pretty!

We were only here for a few hours, but after my small taste of being a pioneer, I can't imagine what they went through even more! If I was alone, I may have been able to walk (till the first sign of snow that is), but if I had children... whole different story! Just the wind alone... Rylan (and my other small kids for that matter) couldn't even breath! We're talking panicking and gasping for air! Let alone, the constant sun, hunger, pain, exhaustion,.....! My mind can not even fathom the thought and heart ache!

This is the rolling hills of Nebraska. It really was pretty!

Saturday Morning
And our 2nd stop.... TaDah!

MOUNT RUSHMORE

We did it! We made it to Mount Rushmore! It really was cool!

So cute :o) I love sleeping babies!

A little closer :o)

It really was cool, but in all honesty :o) I feel like we had all this excitement and had wanted to go see it and talked about it for so long, and then 2 days of driving to get there.... and then you see it.... and your done. What?! Come on! I felt a little sad leaving, like I didn't fully take it in while I was there or something... like I should have stayed and stared at it for a while longer! Honestly I think we were in the gift shop longer than I feel like we were "enjoying the view" (it takes a LONG time for 10 people to pick out "just the right" souvenir!)
But would I don it again? YES!

Just had to add this one... my boys in the elevator leaving Rushmore :o)

Then we drove some more :o) ... cause the kids love it so much :o)

and we drove through the Custer State Park. So pretty! And beautiful rock formations!

These were fun! One lane tunnels! Notice the sign on the right...."Sound Horn"... you get to honk before you go through so no one comes through the other way. Jordan looked back and discovered this one... if you make the picture bigger you can see Rushmore through the tunnel... perfectly framed! We had to stop and take a picture of it ;o) Good eyes Jordan!

This easily earns the "Funnest" part of the trip award! These donkey's were so hilarious! They monopolize the road and come up to your car for food whether your windows are down or not! Then when you roll the window down, their whole head comes in! I thought they were going to eat one of my kiddo's! We weren't really "donkey snack" prepared at the time, but we came up with a granola bar to feed them. The kids just laughed and squealed! It will definitely be remembered!

These are just the 2 in my window... they were every where!

See how pretty the rocks are!

The poor trees have a beetle that is infecting and killing a lot of them so it kind of looked like fall except that the fall colors were on ever greens :o(

This was the coolest tunnel! The mountain is cracked all the way up through and you can see daylight through it. Plus it is the longest tunnel and felt like the skinniest! ~ Like pull your mirrors in skinny! I'm definitely glad I was not driving or we would have been missing some parts when we came out the other side!

The view in the tunnel looking up...

but notice the mirrors and the tunnel wall... eeeek!

Everybody suck in!

Right as you exit that tunnel is a pull out for the Needles Eye. It was cool too! Mother Nature (and God) are amazing!!!

Looking back at the tunnel we just went through

This was kind of a cool place. This is called Crazy Horse. They have been working on this for the last 50 years. It is the Indian, Crazy Horse, pointing to his lands while on his horse. When finished it will be awesome! It is also going to be huge! All of Mt Rushmore fits into the profile of his head!

The white statue is the finished model. .... we'll see if it will ever be finished in our lifetime! :o)

Breakin for dinner at Pizza Hut. We learned the hard way the 1st night that everything closes early!

The Rushmore Caves

1st time the kids or myself have been into a cave. It was kind of cool!

The LONGEST drive I have ever taken for lunch!!!

We drove 3 hours north, through the middle of NOWHERE, on a never ending straight road till we got to North Dakota... and YES, just to say we've been there :o)

Good ole Bowman, North Dakota!

... and then drove back!

We drove through a few old mining towns on the way back, and the city of Sturgis, South Dakota (ask a hard core Harley biker why this is a popular stop) on the way there, but hey~ we've been to NORTH DAKOTA now!!!

We headed home on Monday. We decided to drive the whole way all in one day and just "get'er done"! We did stop at a Little America in Wyoming that was a tradition stop for Rich's mom when she was growing up and had to make the trek.

And why you might ask....

For 50 cent ice cream cones of course!!!

All in all, it was a fun trip! The kids did really well and all went exactly as planned! We marked a bunch of stuff off of our "bucket list" and had a great time kicking off our summer!