Vacation to the Black Hills

We knew we wanted to go somewhere this summer before baby was born.  We really wanted to camp in our new camper in a place we haven't been.  Matt lined up our vacation to South Dakota.  We left on Sunday the 26th of June.  

In Northwest Nebraska we finally started a movie for them.

I love their little looks.  They did great on the long drive.  As we drove into the park, we saw a few buffalo.  We woke up Hudson so he could see them.  :)

We pulled into the campground and set up.

We were back in the trees.  It was a quiet and relaxing campground.

There was a small park with a "Jail" at the camp.

Aw, poor naughty kids.

We went into the town of Custer and ate at a restaurant.  I can't believe how many tourists there were.  On Monday morning, we left for Mount Rushmore.

Nebraska

So amazing!

So strong!

So crabby.  ha ha!

The Elsbury family takes on Mt. Rushmore.

I can tell baby that we took it on vacation!  :)  It was definitely warm and we walked a lot.  Phew!

On our walk there is a crevice in the rocks that you can get this view of George Washington.

Hud was not wanting his picture with the faces.  

Bad angle for someone that is 8 months preggo.  ha ha!

Lily is picking Abe's nose.

Walking the ampitheater.

I was amazed that this is what the workers sat on when they were carrying the heavy drills.

This was in the building.  We had to take a break for an ice-cream cone!  :)

We packed a lunch and ate before we left for our next Adventure.  Bear Country!!!!  Enjoy all the pics of animals.  The beginning is driving through and then we got out to see the baby animals.

They loved Bear Country!

My little sillies!

Huge Grizzly

We then walked through Scheels.  

$1 to play a mini bowling game.  How cool!

We got back to camp and saw that it had rained quite a bit.  Lily and I went for a walk and came back to Hud stacking rocks.  On one of our camping trips this summer, we were watching PBS. They had a special on a man that stacks rocks.  Check out some of his stackings.

Hud is working on it!

Lily is joining in!  This kept them entertained the 2 days we were there. :)

Supper!

We walked around the camp a little and we got to see some deer.  We had seen a deer right by a camper and the lady was feeding it.  Later, we took Matt and Hudson back.  There were more!

I believe there were 5.

I have a video of them getting super close to the deer.  I tried to upload it, but it wouldn't work.  They loved this experience.

One of the best parts of camping!

She wasn't too thrilled that hers caught on fire! :)

The next day, we set up an assembly line to make our sandwiches for the day!  What good helpers.

A tunnel on our way to town.

So neat

Visiting the mine.

We learned quite a bit about this mine and how they didn't get much gold at all. :(  The kids liked it but I think it was hard for them to understand.

We then went out to mine for gold.

We found a few flecks.  :)  How frustrating it would have been for the men back then.  You can go nuts doing this every day!  Geez!

It  started to rain, we ate our sandwiches in the pick-up, and were hoping to take Lily to the zip line.  She got all set up and then there was lightning, so we had to take a rain check.

Back to the camper. :)

Popcorn and a movie. :)  A nice ending to a fun day!

Breakfast burritos.  Daddy is such a good cook on the grill!

We were leaving this campground for another one.  They were a little bummed to leave their rocks.  It turned out pretty cool!

We were going to do the zip line that morning before we went to the KOA, but it was raining and lightning again.  :(  So, we set up and had lunch.  This campground was amazing!

She was so brave.

She loved it!!!!

Hud was bummed he couldn't do the zip line, but they were all going on the slides next.  I decided this big mama should stay on the ground!  Maybe next time.

They said it was a beautiful ride to the top.  They could even see Mt. Rushmore.  They loaded up the sleds and headed down.

So happy!

They both said the slides were one of their favorite parts. :)  We then went back to the campground for some fun they had there!

I got this picture from their website.  There was tons of things to do there and beautiful scenery.

The kids chose to go on the swimming slide first.  I opted out!  ha ah

We then went to one of the swimming pools.  I actually swam.  I had never swam being pregnant with the other two.  It definitely is a weird feeling.

See, there is so much to do!  Lily and Hud really wanted to rent one of the bikes.  They had all sorts.

Matt stood on top of the camper for this view.

That night we had another ice-cream date.  By the entrance there is an icecream parlor, pizza, horse stalls, and a store.

We had a wonderful vacation!  We packed up the next morning and headed out.  Before we left SD, we got fireworks.  :)  I think the Elsbury's will definitely be back to the Black Hills after baby is older.