So, this July will mark the first family vacation for my family. My last vacation was the military, some 10+ years ago, and before that while I still lived with my parents. Now that Corwyn is 5, he'll be able to keep up without getting totally worn out from any walking within a short time of starting. And Josh, who will be turning 10 a month from tomorrow, will also be able to enjoy the sights, scenery, and all that stuff..and they'll both be able to actually remember where we went, what we did. And of course my wife, who likes to be able to spend time with me when I'm actually awake, and not just getting ready for work, or she is going to work!
We'll be going up to South Dakota, to see all the main attractions, like Mt Rushmore, Wall Drug, the Corn Palace, Deadwood (where they do a re-enactment of the Hickok murder trial), and the Cosmos (cool place). We'll also see Devil's Tower in Wyoming, with a quick jaunt up into Montana to see Little Big Horn, before continuing across Wyoming to meet up with my friend and his wife, see Yellowstone, do some hiking/camping.
If any of you are familiar with those areas and have any suggestions for lesser known locations to go visit that would be entertaining or of some significant importance, please leave a comment with your suggestions!
4 comments:
Mike, Consider Ft. Laramie http://www.nps.gov/fola/ if it's not too far from the other places. It's free and interesting. You can go in most of the buildings there and end up at the saloon for frosty root beer.
Helen,
Thanks for the input, I'll definitely look into it! The biggest reasoning: Who can pass up a frosty root beer in a saloon on a hot summer's day!?!?
Sounds like loads of fun!
The closest I've been to Mt Rushmore is Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, National Treasure (see if you can get into the lost city of gold! ;)) and all the other movies its been in, but I still hope to see it in person one day.
I dunno if your kids are into dinosaurs, but I know there's a bunch of archeological digs and dinosaur and woolly mammoth (the original American elephants!) tourist attractions in the SD and Wyoming areas.
Montana is the only state on your list to which Ive been, and only to Missoula, Bozeman and Billings. Gorgeous country.
Hope you have a great time and come back with lots of pics for your blog!
Though now in Maine, I grew up in South Dakota. I lived East River (Sioux Falls), but my grandparents lived in Rapid, so I spent a lot of time out there. Don't miss the badlands! Get out of the car there and take one of the little hikes,I think it is fascinating for someone Josh's age. In Rapid City there is dinosaur park, on a hill (you'll see the dinosaurs). Nothing all that great, but you get a tremendous view of Rapid and its environs, plus the kids will love climbing the dinosaurs.
In the black hills Custer State Park and the Crazy Horse memorial are definitely worth seeing. It's also fun to get out and walk around in a town like Keystone. In Custer Park you can see buffalo, feed donkeys (the kids may like that), and go on beautiful curly roads, honk your horn in tunnels. Most important, do not miss the Needles Highway. I loved it when I was a kid. Lake Sylvan is also worth seeing, and walking around.
I guess the corn palace is worth a stop -- we went there last summer when visiting family in Sioux Falls. I can't say it's really all that big a deal, but since you'll be on I-90 anyway it's probably worth it. I'm not sure if it's still there, but after you cross the Mississippi at Chamberlain there's a little restaurant called Al's Oasis that serves buffalo burgers. I made my dad stop there when we went to Rapid so I could eat buffalo!
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