Sometime last year, we decided to spend a few days at a mountain resort with Adam's family this June. Then a few months ago, we decided that since we were coming all this way, we may as well take some extra time and make a big trip out of it. So we left on Wednesday after work.
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| Road Trip - day one |
We drove to Sioux Falls (with a stop outside of Mankato for Gabe to play at a park for awhile), where we spent the night. After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we hit the road again.
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| Road Trip - day two |
We made a stop at a rest stop for lunch (we decided to just pack a bunch of sandwich stuff and snacks so that Gabe could have a chance to run around for a bit during our stops). We drove through part of Badlands National Park, stopped at the Visitor Center to get our National Parks Passport book stamped and to get a couple souvenirs. We made a few more stops in the park to take some pictures - actually a LOT of pictures, but Adam needs to process them before I can post most of them, so hopefully I will do that when we get back home.
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| Badlands National Park |
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| Gabe outside the visitor center at Badlands National Park |
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| Gabe & Adam at Badlands National Park |
After going through the park, we made a stop at Wall Drug. I had never been there and Adam wanted a bumper sticker for his banjo case, so we stopped for a bit and had a snack, since we knew it would be quite a while before we got to our campsite and had dinner.
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| Gabe at Wall Drug - totally not sure what to think about this.... |
Next we made a stop at Mt. Rushmore, walked around some, got our passport book stamped and some souvenirs, then headed on to our campsite.
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| Mt. Rushmore |
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| Add caption |
At our campsite we got unloaded quick and made a fire. Roasted some hot dogs over the fire. Then it was getting kinda late, so figured we should get to bed. But, Gabe was WIDE awake and in no mood for sleep. Adam tried to get him down while I did dishes and cleaned up outside. Then I went in and tried to get him to go down. No luck. He would not stay in bed - usually one of us can lay down with him and eventually he'll drift off, but not this night. Eventually, Adam ended up going out to the van to sleep because it was about 11 or 12 and he was exhausted. So I stayed in with Gabe, trying everything possible to get him to go down. Eventually I kind of gave up and just put him in bed with me and I dozed some while he just sat there playing / watching his iPad. But I don't think he fell asleep until probably close to 1:00 a.m. our time. It was a rough night. And of course he was wide awake by 6:30. ugh...
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| Our camping cabin at Custer State Park. Really nice area - would love to go back someday and spend some more time there. The cabin had 2 sets of bunks and could sleep up to 5 people. Also had a small table and bench inside. It was super convenient and made packing for our trip a lot easier - not having to worry about bringing a tent and everything that goes along with it. |
So, we all got up and went to take showers - helped Adam and me to wake up some, then came back and made breakfast, ate, cleaned up and loaded up the car. We drove south through more of Custer State Park in to Wind Cave National Park. We saw a ton of wild buffalo and antelope all over the place (pictures coming later once Adam has a chance to process them). We stopped at the Wind Cave National Park visitor center, got our stamps and souvenirs. They had tours of the caves, but the first available one was a few hours out and we didn't think that Gabe would be very cooperative on the tour, so we decided to hit the road. Once we got out of the park, we headed southwest in to Wyoming. It was a beautiful drive and fun to see all the sprawling ranches and all the little towns along the way - including where the Oregon Trail started. In Wyoming we got on the freeway and headed south to Denver. We got to our friends' house on the south side of Denver around 8:00 Friday night and Gabe was thrilled to be out of the car and able to run around (despite 3 girls chasing him around). Saturday, Katie & I hit up some garage sales - lots of great stuff, but I couldn't really but I couldn't really buy anything since we have a full van already. But I did find a punch bowl set for $2, so did have to get that (especially after almost buying one for $10 at another sale). I went and got a massage a bit later - had some horrible knots in my back the past few weeks and the car ride aggravated them horribly. The rest of Saturday, we just hung out around the Moberg's house
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| Sam was a little tired - fell asleep standing up watching a movie. So cute! |
Sunday, after breakfast, we went to a nearby park that had a splash park as part of it. It was the perfect day for it. Gabe had a great time and didn't leave the water area. The girls were all over the various playground areas as well as the water area.
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| Splash park! |
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| Sam was everywhere and nearly impossible to get a picture of. She was loving checking out everything. |
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| Zoey loved the ropes playground |
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| Water! This is the coolest place! |
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| Stick that tongue out |
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| Splash! |
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| So much fun! |
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| Presley having fun on the playground |
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| Keep up Katie! Sam is on the GO! |
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| Aunt Erin showed up to see Gabe. Then, Presley decided to come sit by me. Then she decided to sit on my lap. She was in a cuddly mood. :-) Unfortunately, it was a bit warm for that... so we went and played in the water instead. |
After the park, we spent the rest of the day lounging around the house. My little shadow, aka Presley, sat down next to me while I was working on some pictures and ended up falling asleep on me. So I finished my pictures and took a nap as well. It was a great, relaxing day. It has been such a fun weekend catching up with these wonderful friends. I've especially loved seeing how much the girls have changed and how they are thriving here. We all had a rough time for our short times living in CA but suffering through it together made it easier.
Gabe has been having a lot of fun with the girls - which I am totally surprised by - he has had a few breakdowns because one (or more) of the girls is in his space, but far less than I anticipated.
Tonight, Katie and I are sitting at the kitchen counter, both blogging and having some celebratory wine - 1 year ago, we both got to leave CA and move on with our lives.
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| Celebrating! Forever friends! |
