South Dakota

July 16-21
The Black Hills, South Dakota

Nathan left at 2 in the morning on Monday along with dad, Ryan, and Brian to go fishing in Chamberlain together.  I was very glad that they were going to have this guy time together.  I wasn't super excited about making sure that everything was packed the next morning, getting Molly dropped off, having breakfast, making sure the house was vacation ready and leaving by 9 to meet up with all the women and children in Sioux Falls.....but we made it (a little late)!!!  Our first stop was at the Mitchell Corn Palace.  I remember taking this trip as a kid.  It's a stop that I think most tourists take when traveling through South Dakota, because there aren't too many points of interest as you're riding along the South Dakota prairie.  But the landscape was surprisingly different from Iowa.

After arriving at our hotel in Chamberlain that overlooked the river, we met up with the guys and all went swimming in the indoor pool.  The temperature there was 108 degrees!  Then we went to a restaurant that cooked up the fish that the guys had caught that morning!  We had our own room which was great when you have a ratio of more children than adults.  We sang happy birthday to Claire and just enjoyed all being together.

The next morning, Tuesday, we headed out and our first stop was at Badlands National Park.
Our caravan was 5 vehicles long.  And our group totaled 19 people.  There were a few more bathroom stops than usual, but it made the ride fun and worked out very well!

I was amazed at how vast the park is. The boys had fun climbing on the mountains and exploring new things.  God's creation is very impressive!

Wall Drug really brought out the best in all of us!  :)  There were all kinds of crazy things there and it was fun to join in on the fun.

I don't think the kids will ever forget this "scary" dinosaur roar!  :)

By Tuesday evening we found our cabins at the Rafter J Bar Ranch.  The location was great, the cabins were wonderful, and the weather was interesting.  Shortly after eating supper and unpacking the van, there was a hailstorm, which was actually refreshing after such HOT weather.  It was followed up with a beautiful full rainbow across the sky.  It felt like we were in the mountains.