We recently got back from our family vacation! We went to South Dakota and had a great time. It has to be one of the best times we have ever had on vacation! It reminded me alot of the vacations I had as a kid and travelling with my parents. It had all the same elements in it. The long drive, the fighting kids, meals at rest areas, and new and exciting places and people to meet. The drive was very nice because the landscape of South Dakota seems to change without warning from cornfields to rolling hill, and from barren desert areas to lush mountain forestland. It was also fun meeting various people from around the country, but maybe more so, trying to find those travelers from Illinois who just might know where you live. We did meet one such family from Illinois. They seemed to be taking the same route we did and we kept meeting them in all the spots we stopped. (We hit alot of the road-side tourist attractions instead of passing them by this time) It was almost like we were stalking them. One of the best things about this vacation was the lack of hurried activity or the need to get somewhere at a certain time. The places to visit, while filled with people, were nothing like the mind numbing crowds you find at Disney World or places like that. There wre no huge lines to wait in, and no overly priced fees for things like food or items. We had almost a full week in one area of South Dakota, near Mt. Rushmore and we still did not have time to do everything!
On to the pictures above. I picked just a few to share. Working from the top down, is a photo of the pop-up trailer that we used. This used to be my parents trailer but I bought it from them recently. It was one that I camped in as a younger person with my parents so it was like a coming home sort of feeling to be using it again for my own vacation. The site is the one we had at the Mt. Rushmore KOA Kampground. Say what you will about KOA Kampgrounds, but you always know what to expect at a KOA. It was alway full of huge motor homes and RV's, enough so, that I felt a bit inferior with my little pop-up, but it was a nice place. We got a great place that actually made you feel like you were really camping... as long as you did not look west out of the camper windows.. We met some really great people from Winnipeg, Manitoba right next to us and got to know them quite well. We even did a few outings with them. They had kids the same age as ours so that made the stay even better! The next one is of the kids on their trail ride horses. A good 1.5 hour ride in the mountains. Up and down alot of rough terrain! We all had a blast doing this. The third one is of Julian, Gunnar and I when we were doing some rock climbing. We found a little crawl through area and had fun taking the photo. The rocks there were really fun to climb around on. The next one was a family photo at the Falls of Souix Falls, S.D. You could climb all over them and even mess around in the water, but some spots were too dangerous to get in and play. It was really a nice place to visit. It was also where we went to the movie theater to see the latest Pirates of the Carribbean movie. And finally, the last photo is of our campsite near Souix Falls at the Red Barn RV park. It had to be the cleanest, nicest, and quietest campground I have ever been to! And all for $22 a night! Populated mainly with people over the age of 55 and RV's no smaller than 20 feet, we had a very relaxing time there for the first part of our journey. (as you might suspect, the photos are out of order) Anyway, I have more photos in the part II of my vacation message.
later!
No comments:
Post a Comment