South Dakota

We have been meaning to take a little family vacation to South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore for a few years now.  I finally just reserved us a room and made it happen!  We stayed in a little motel that was in Hill City right next to the forest.  It smelled divine!  We left on a Friday afternoon and arrived with just enough time to check into our room and spend some time in the hot tub.  The next day we went to Sylvan Lake and enjoyed the first half of the day there.  There was a really neat little hike around the lake that we did.  Actually Scott only got to do half of it because Ian had a diaper situation that Scott was nice enough to take care of.  After the kids and I finished the hike we rented a canoe and paddled around in that.  We ate lunch and swam for a while there too.  It was very nice.  The kids were catching little fish in the lake.  Leah loved it once she caught a couple fish.  They were really frustrating her when they were alluding her.

 We went to Crazy Horse Monument one night and ate dinner at a restaurant there.  They had a cool laser show the kids liked.  It is a little crazy how long they've been working on the monument and how it seems like it will never be done.  Some of the tour guides said to us, "you'll have to come back in another 30 years and see how much progress has been made."  He was serious.

 That night we also drove by Mt Rushmore in the dark.  It looked cool lit up at night but the features were really softened so I think it actually looks better in the day.

We are planning on going back next year before our pass expires.  We need to go to the night lighting ceremony.  We didn't make it to that this trip.