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Wednesday, August 16, 2017

West. Day #4

As much as I have tried... These pictures are out of order...We arrived at Mount Rushmore this morning.

A clearer view as the morning went on.

Drews view.

Girlsies view

They are eating a pheasant jerky stick as we left Mount Rushmore. Eeeww.

The girls and Dave went on a chair lift ride in nearby Keystone, SD after Mount Rushmore.

They came back down the mountain on a sled track. Some slower then others...

Leaving the area...we saw a mountain goat! What!!

He watched us.

We watched him.

This is Crazy Horse Monument near Hill, SD. We only drove by.

The roads in Wyoming are very long and straight! I'm seeing lots of long trains again too!

Okay ...first photo of the day... Two hours of water park fun.

Lots of steps to climb.

Our arrival to Mount Rushmore..it was cloudy and drizzly.

See Our very first view..cloudy! Our view cleared very fast as seen at the top in my out of order photos.

We drive from Rapid City, SD to Buffalo, WY.

245 miles, but a full day arriving here in our NICE hotel room after dinner.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

West. Day#3

We left first thing in the morning and drove through the last 60 miles or so of MN and saw all of these beautiful windmills.

We made it to SD! A new state for most of us.

A stop at the Corn Palace. All there is to know and see about corn and touristy stuff. Thought this picture was funny because people were everywhere, but I took this photo with a whole other family in it.

I.e... Touristy stuff

SD rest stop Drewsie style.

SD rest stops are impressive, right?

The wide Missouri and a beware of posionus snakes sign at the same rest stop Drew is laying out on.

Then on to the Badlands and prairie dogs.

More prairie dogs. We though this was cool being so close. Turns out they were everywhere.

Coolness

The Badlands

Amelia and Jenna took to rock climbing of course. It was too hot for Ava. Temperatures went from 78 degrees to over 100 degrees in the park.

Gymnastics and park signs

Big horn sheep

All over the place!

Dinner at Wall, SD. And a huge dinosaur

Water park hotel, water park hotel.. Are we there yet?

Happy Drew

Happiness late night water park.

Worthington, MN to Rapid City, SD

430 miles!

Monday, August 14, 2017

West - Day #2

Day #2 began a little later then planned..we slept in... And within the first hour of the drive we found this place..Indiana Dunes National Seashore.

We walked around for a bit. Behind Dave is a view of the Chicago skyline.

We walked this long breakwater.

The girls and I walked down to the shore of Lake Erie and saw the Dunes first hand.

And the water.

Then a drive through a very busy Chicago. Lots of traffic on a Sunday afternoon..

We found the Mississippi River in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Very cool.

More Mississippi.

Drew and the river.

We were at a rest stop pull out on the river and Jenna insisted on using our ports potty instead of the bathroom that we all had just visited..come to find out though, "sometimes you can't go after all".

We were about 3 hours off course with our driving time. We drove West on I90 through Minnesota. Lots of green fields, farms, windmills and hills. We finally found a DQ for a dinner stop. Here's Millie eating a Dilly bar.

We started a new game where Dave and I give the girls 8 things to draw..the crazier the better and then they write a story with all items they drew. Here's Ava telling us her 3 page scary story that turns out was one she had copied but added in her items. (the story is only supposed to be a few lines).

We arrived at our stop for the night pretty late and drove through some crazy lightening and rain.

Elkhart, IN to Worthington, MN. 647 miles