The Bad Lands and Mt. Rushmore

Our second day of travels took us through the southern edge of South Dakota. We followed what we thought was a good road to see The Bad Lands. Unfortunately, it was washed out and we had to take a dusting, dirt road on the outside edge of The Bad Lands. Fortunately, there was one pull off spot that was totally worth it and we all got out to take in the view.

We made our way to Mt. Rushmore and that was really cool. We watched a video about the plans and making of the monument, so it was also educational and fascinating. It was a bit chilly - we had climbed quite a bit in altitude. The scenery had completely changed from the deserted Bad Lands to the rocky, tree covered "mountains" so that was interesting. 

Our first view once we parked the car.

I walked out of the bathroom and noticed my cute family,

all ready for a picture.

Harmonie wanted to hold a chipmunk.

We headed off to our campground, which was supposed to be just around the corner, but was a bit farther. We entered the Crazy Horse Monument, thinking it was getting us to our campground but we were wrong. We eventually made it to the campground, which wasn't quite what we expected. We made due and set up camp, had a wonderful dinner with a campfire and hot chocolate. 

Camdilyn woke me up in the middle of the night and I realized it was raining. Ugh. There was actually a lull in the rain so I got out of my tent and went to the kid's tent. I cuddled with her and realized that the tent was dripping inside. I was able to put Camdilyn in her port-a-crib long enough to get a couple towels and try to dry off the top and the floor. Two sleeping bags were soaking and I was at a loss. Camdilyn woke up again so I took her and the wet bags into the bathroom area to dry them in the driers. She fell asleep in my arms as I waited. Kemiah joined us because she was cold and wet. I let her have the two dry bags and she laid down on the floor. Emily joined us next - also cold and wet. We hung out in the bathroom and they watched sleeping Camdilyn while I tried to figure out how much wet stuff we had and what I should do. Unfortunately, many of the pillows were wet and a couple more bags were wet. I will say it was a bit of a taxing night but we made it through. Kevin checked the temperature for Yellowstone and we decided we would not be able to survive with all our wet gear (it was going to be 36 degrees the next night). We decided to pack up and head to Utah a day early. Sad but it was for the best.

We left camp as quickly as possible, and Kevin surprised us all by heading over to the Crazy Horse Monument. He figured we should at least try to see it since we paid for admission the day before. Fortunately, they let us in and we were able to watch a video about it's planning and progress. It was really interesting. We saw lots of Native American artifacts and information. It was a nice stop and then we moved westward.