I had the wonderful opportunity to get away for the weekend with Ricky! I can't tell you how much I needed it! We had not been on any vacation alone since Dylan was 7 months old! Thanks for the generosity of our parents in helping out with the kids and making this possible! It was so relaxing, almost like being at the beach! (Even though we had snow while we were visiting Mount Rushmore!) I had forgotten how peaceful nature can be!
We got to Rapid City, South Dakota at 10 in the morning, so we headed out for the day. The day started out nice with a free upgrade on our rental car! We got a small SUV instead of a compact car! It was a brand new Nissan Rouge with only 300 miles on it. (We more than doubled the miles!) We started out going to Mount Rushmore. It was amazing! I had never seen it before, and Ricky had only seen it when he was little. It was so incredible to see what they did with such little resources! The men hung down from the mountain on one cord to use a huge jackhammer to carve out the faces. Fascinating!
Even though it was snowing and we were freezing, we walked around the Presidential trail which takes you as close as you can get to Mount Rushmore. 
As we were leaving Mount Rushmore, we saw a mountain goat just chillin' and eating some grass! Crazy!
The rest of the day and Sunday were spent exploring the mountains in Custer State Park. It was beautiful! We took some lunch with us and had a picnic at the top of the mountain! We drove down Iron Mountain Road and up Needles Highway. They are both curvy roads that go straight through the mountains.
And we drove through some awesome tunnels! Part of the road was also a pig-tail, where you go around in a complete circle!
We saw the eye of a needle made from lava under the ground.
And some buffalo right next to the fence!
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at Bear Country USA. It is like a zoo, but much bigger and you drive though the 250 acres and see unique wildlife park from your car. It was so awesome! They had mountain lions, arctic wolves, elk, bobcats, buffalo, reindeer, big horned sheep, and bears! I loved seeing all the bears! They probably had about 30 or so! The bears were walking back and forth in front of the gate almost staring us down. They also came up to our car and were sniffing it. I'm glad it didn't smell too good! These bears started wrestling. It was so neat! They would get up on their hind legs and paw at each other. 
This one was scratching his neck on the tree. 
This one was just chillin'! So cool!
They had a small area where you could walk around and see some other animals. They had some Grizzly bears, some beavers, otters, red fox, black ducks, and baby bears. The baby bears were born in January or February of this year. They were precious! They have to take the babies away from their moms when the moms come out of hibernation so the other male bears won't kill the babies. 
Monday morning, we headed over to Spearfish where Ricky was staying for work. It is a nice little area, but with nothing around! I loved visiting there, but do not want to live out there! We drove through Spearfish Cannon and it was beautiful! Here is Bridal Veil Falls.
And then we saw Spearfish Falls, where we got to hike around on a little trail. We parked at the top of the falls and had to walk across a bridge to get to see the falls. 
We went before tourist season, so it was so peaceful! There were hardly any people around us!
For lunch, we went to Cheyenne Crossing Cafe and had some AMAZING Indian tacos. The manager at the store Ricky was working at recommended it and it was great! It was all the taco fixings on a piece of fry bread. So yummy! Then we had to get a fry bread with cinnamon and sugar on it. Well worth it! We drove back through Deadwood, which is a major gambling town and Lead. We stopped to see the grave sites of Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane. It was interesting and had some pretty views. We also stopped at a Gold Mine and it was huge! Ricky then took me to Belle Fouche, which is were his main location was. I met some of the people he worked with and then went to the Geographical Center of the Nation.
We took advantage of the hotel pool and had fun on the water slide. The water was freezing, so we had to warm up in the hot tub after. We had an amazing time and it was great to see where Ricky had been working for the past month and a half. Thanks for sharing this beautiful place with me!
We got to Rapid City, South Dakota at 10 in the morning, so we headed out for the day. The day started out nice with a free upgrade on our rental car! We got a small SUV instead of a compact car! It was a brand new Nissan Rouge with only 300 miles on it. (We more than doubled the miles!) We started out going to Mount Rushmore. It was amazing! I had never seen it before, and Ricky had only seen it when he was little. It was so incredible to see what they did with such little resources! The men hung down from the mountain on one cord to use a huge jackhammer to carve out the faces. Fascinating!
Even though it was snowing and we were freezing, we walked around the Presidential trail which takes you as close as you can get to Mount Rushmore. 
As we were leaving Mount Rushmore, we saw a mountain goat just chillin' and eating some grass! Crazy!
The rest of the day and Sunday were spent exploring the mountains in Custer State Park. It was beautiful! We took some lunch with us and had a picnic at the top of the mountain! We drove down Iron Mountain Road and up Needles Highway. They are both curvy roads that go straight through the mountains.
And we drove through some awesome tunnels! Part of the road was also a pig-tail, where you go around in a complete circle!
We saw the eye of a needle made from lava under the ground.
And some buffalo right next to the fence!
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at Bear Country USA. It is like a zoo, but much bigger and you drive though the 250 acres and see unique wildlife park from your car. It was so awesome! They had mountain lions, arctic wolves, elk, bobcats, buffalo, reindeer, big horned sheep, and bears! I loved seeing all the bears! They probably had about 30 or so! The bears were walking back and forth in front of the gate almost staring us down. They also came up to our car and were sniffing it. I'm glad it didn't smell too good! These bears started wrestling. It was so neat! They would get up on their hind legs and paw at each other. 
This one was scratching his neck on the tree. 
This one was just chillin'! So cool!
They had a small area where you could walk around and see some other animals. They had some Grizzly bears, some beavers, otters, red fox, black ducks, and baby bears. The baby bears were born in January or February of this year. They were precious! They have to take the babies away from their moms when the moms come out of hibernation so the other male bears won't kill the babies. 
Monday morning, we headed over to Spearfish where Ricky was staying for work. It is a nice little area, but with nothing around! I loved visiting there, but do not want to live out there! We drove through Spearfish Cannon and it was beautiful! Here is Bridal Veil Falls.
And then we saw Spearfish Falls, where we got to hike around on a little trail. We parked at the top of the falls and had to walk across a bridge to get to see the falls. 
We went before tourist season, so it was so peaceful! There were hardly any people around us!
For lunch, we went to Cheyenne Crossing Cafe and had some AMAZING Indian tacos. The manager at the store Ricky was working at recommended it and it was great! It was all the taco fixings on a piece of fry bread. So yummy! Then we had to get a fry bread with cinnamon and sugar on it. Well worth it! We drove back through Deadwood, which is a major gambling town and Lead. We stopped to see the grave sites of Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane. It was interesting and had some pretty views. We also stopped at a Gold Mine and it was huge! Ricky then took me to Belle Fouche, which is were his main location was. I met some of the people he worked with and then went to the Geographical Center of the Nation.
We took advantage of the hotel pool and had fun on the water slide. The water was freezing, so we had to warm up in the hot tub after. We had an amazing time and it was great to see where Ricky had been working for the past month and a half. Thanks for sharing this beautiful place with me!
3 comments:
That is so awesome! You packed a lot in just a few days and how covetous you have made me for a getaway with just my husband! Ricky is home, now, right?
Looks like you had a great time! It was great seeing you the other day! :)
Yea, Ricky is home for good now! It was so needed to get away with just us!
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