We left for vacation in the Black Hills on June 21st. About two weeks before we left, Monroe got word that we were going to be seeing turtles and other reptiles while on the trip. From the moment she heard about turtles, they were all she talked about. With ten days to go, I couldn't take it anymore. I made her this link chart to help her visualize the days until we left.
The day we left.
The trip up to Deadwood was long. It took us 12 hours to get there. Both Monroe and Josiah were amazing in the car, even though Monroe didn't take a nap.
Our cabin was beautiful! The first three pictures are of the game room and our bedroom downstairs.
The living room
Kitchen
Loft
Hot tub (we used it all but one night)
The first day we went on a walk/hike around the cabin. The area was beautiful!
Josiah, Dustin, and Julie
Monroe asked Grandma to hold her hand while we walked.
Our cabin in the daytime
That night, we went to play mini golf.
Yum!
These two had so much fun together!
The winning team
The second place team :)
I had to take a picture of our score card because Zach and I tied with the lowest score. We even had the same scores on the front and back nines.
After mini golf, we went to ride the go-karts.
Melinda
Lea Ann
Doug
Derek
Dustin
Monroe and Zach
Day 2
On the second day, we went to Reptile Gardens so Monroe could finally see turtles.
We started our visit at the alligator and crocodile show. Monroe loved it!
Monroe touched the crocodile without much hesitation.
She also willingly touched the snake.
The original five
Leading up to Reptile Gardens, I had told Monroe that she would get to ride turtles. It turns out that about ten years ago, they changed their policy, and the giant tortoises cannot be climbed on, sat on, or ridden.
We had a great time at Reptile Gardens. Monroe took home a stuffed turtle named Tyler as a souvenir.
After Reptile Gardens, we didn't know how much time we had left with happy kids. We decided to go to Storybook Island, which is a huge, free park that is covered with characters from nursery rhymes and children's stories.
Old MacDonald's Farm
Raggedy Ann and Andy
Pooh's Tree House
Day 3
There were deer in our yard in the morning.
While we were getting ready in the morning, Melinda was asking Monroe what she was going to take with her in the van. Monroe told her she wanted to take her baby and books. Then, she said she wanted to take her baby stroller. Melinda told her that we would probably have to leave the stroller at home because she couldn't take the stroller on the slides we would be going on. Monroe thought about that for a second. Then Monroe looked at her and said, "Can we work something out?" Melinda didn't have an answer for that one :) The brain of this two-year-old amazes me daily.
We started out the day at Mount Rushmore.
I had been to Mt. Rushmore before, but it was neat to see again. We watched a video while we were there about how the monument was made that was very interesting.
After Mount Rushmore, we went to the Alpine Slides.
We rode a chairlift up and then ate lunch at the Summit Grille
Future Presidents
Then, we rode the Alpine Slide down.
Monroe and I rode together because I didn't mind going down slowly.
Melinda
Zach
Doug
After the slide, we kids got harnessed up to do the Aerial Adventure Park.
Rather than try to explain what the Aerial Adventure Park is, I copied the following from their website:
"The adjoining Aerial Park is full of sky-high obstacles in a ropes course setting - it's the ultimate Black Hills' nature tour! The park consists of several courses of varying degrees of difficulty, each color-coded to designate its level. Novices and seasoned climbers alike will find seriously stimulating excitement in traversing these treetops. Built above-ground in the pine trees are more than 60 platforms connecting 60-plus fun and increasingly-demanding elements. Included are suspended ladders and bridges, trapezes and tubes, cables, rings and even 5 integrated zip lines."
Dustin
We started on the green course, which was a good introduction for all of us. When we finished, everyone wanted to move on to a blue course. I wasn't keen on the idea, but I went anyway. The blue was much harder. There were a few challenges that were quite frightening.
Julie
Zach and me
Zach fighting with the rings
Lea Ann doing the single wire walk. This was the hardest part of the blue course. There was one wire to walk on and one to hold on to. We guessed that the wire was at least 60 feet long and 60-80 feet above the ground. The Alpine slide went under the wire, so it made it even scarier.
Here are pictures taken from the ground of Zach and I walking across the single wire.
Julie and Dustin doing the zip line
Derek
When we finished the blue course, Julie and I bowed out because of physical and mental exhaustion. The other four went on to the black course. As you can guess, it was scarier and much more physically difficult.
I took pictures from the ground.
Here's a picture of Zach doing the hardest challenge of the black course.
A close up
Derek
Dustin
After the ropes course, we went to Hill City for dinner. The restaurant we went to had been recommended to Dustin. There were only two things on the menu for supper: filet mignon and a vegetarian pasta. We all ordered a filet, but we didn't get to choose our sides or even our salad dressing. The lack of choices didn't stop people from coming to the restaurant, though. The place was packed on a Tuesday night! The food came out quickly, and it was delicious! While we ate, the waitress brought the dessert menu. There were probably 20 different desserts to choose from. Because our steaks were so cheap, and the desserts sounded unique, we all ordered a dessert. I got creme brule (my favorite) and Zach ordered a German chocolate waffle. We all left the restaurant stuffed and glad we had eaten at this unique place.
Day 4
On our last day in South Dakota, we rented a pontoon and relaxed on Lake Pactola all day.
The lake was beautiful. It was surrounded by cliffs, rocks, and trees.
We rented a pontoon with a slide, so that we could have some water fun. As you can imagine, though, the water was really cold. Monroe wanted to try the slide, so she went down with Zach. She hated the water.
She did like kicking in the water off the back of the boat.
While on the lake, Julie, Dustin, Lea Ann, and Derek swam to shore to cliff jump. The cliff was 65 feet high. They said the scariest part was that you could see rocks below the water's surface.
Before Jumping
After jumping
Monroe got in a quick nap on the boat. (About 20 minutes)
We had a wonderful time on vacation. We packed a lot into four days, but we did a lot of relaxing too. I would recommend a vacation to the Black Hills to people of all ages. There is so much to do!
Thank you, Dustin, Julie, Lea Ann, and Derek for sharing your pictures. I used a bunch of them!
Great pictures! Your vacation looked awesome!
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