Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands

A few years ago, we made a list of places we wanted to take the kids. South Dakota made the list for its variety of interesting attractions. We took the long Labor Day weekend and headed for the hills...the Black Hills to be exact. On the way, we stopped at Devil's Tower. Gavin was obviously very excited to be there.

We drove through the Black Hills and made stops along the way, hiking through trees to waterfalls and climbing on big rocks. The cool air was refreshing at the close of a hot summer.

Gavin was fascinated by this tree's above ground roots.

There were many giant birch trees along the rivers.

We drove through and stopped in Deadwood, touring its gold rush history and Victorian buildings.

The next morning we visited Mt. Rushmore. The kids had been studying presidents and U.S. history in school and we had each of them take a president from the monument and do some fact finding.

We met up with the Warnick's that happened to be visiting the same weekend.

After lunch, we spent the afternoon in Custer State Park.

We drove through the needle granite formations.

Literally drove through them.

We spent most of our time at Sylvan Lake. It was so beautiful and serene. We paddle boarded with our friends, laid in hammocks, climbed rocks, and hiked around.

The kids are at peak rock climbing age.

Raegan even found a rock bed made just for her.

The next day, we heated things up with a trip to the Badlands.

It was HOT so the kids kept searching for shade.

There was still plenty of rock climbing to do...

but it was a little slippery. Raegan did not like that.

But she later found a pretty cool fossil so that lifted her spirits.

Literally a barren wasteland. The evolution of the Badlands is fascinating.

The hike had some challenges but the kids enjoyed it.

We found a Big Horn Sheep along the way.

Ayden was brave enough to walk out on the narrow strip of rock.

This is some of the oldest rock in the Badlands: the yellow color forming from when the ancient ocean drained and the decayed plants left the rock a yellow color.

A trip to South Dakota is not complete without a stop at Wall Drug.

It was a great weekend get-a-way. Another checked off the list!