3rd Annual Labor Day Extreavaganza

 Get ready for the longest entry in the whole world.  For those uninterested in my journal of our trip I would just skip to the pictures. They pretty much sum everything up and then you can spare yourself the boredom of the details!

When Ethan started working for Overstock, one of the perks was getting your birthday off as a paid vacation. Because Ethan's birthday always lands near Labor Day every year, this meant that while working at Overstock, Ethan could get a 6 day vacation and only request 2 days off (time off, Saturday, Sunday, Labor Day, Birthday and then one more day off). It was a lot of fun and we made it a goal to always go somewhere new for this long weekend. Because we are now students again, Ethan doesn't get time off per say, but he did get Thursday- Tuesday off for Labor Day and so we decided to continue our tradition and go somewhere new. This year we went to South Dakota. At first we were just going there to visit the Petersens and to see Mt Rushmore. That's it. I mean a drive through Wyoming is less than ideal, and I knew nothing about South Dakota and so I thought Mt Rushmore was going to be THE activity of the vacation, but I quickly learned that I am SO NAIVE!!! South Dakota is the best kept secret in the U.S.!!! There is SO MUCH TO DO!!! Pardon all the caps but I seriously had no idea how awesome this vacation was going to be.

Thursday:

We left at 4 AM Thursday morning to head over. We wanted to keep Kelsey asleep as long as possible and so we thought that waking up early would help. Jokes on us. She was wide awake and stayed wide awake until about 7. She was happy though so no biggy. We drove about 13 hours because we got lost a few times. We had a map, Google written directions AND a GPS and still missed the turn to Rapid City. We are terrible navigators apparently. We ended up in Guernsey Wyoming and knew that our trip was going to be much longer than we anticipated. Luckily Guernsey is the pretty part of Wyoming and so the extra 3 hours weren't too bad :) Kelsey did great except for nap time. She couldn't understand that the nap was so just close her eyes. Once she screamed herself to sleep life was good and she stayed asleep but nap time was hard.

We got to South Dakota around 5 and were greeted by a very excited party. They showed us literally everything in the house. "This is my new pair of socks,"" these are my old pair of socks," "this is where I brush my teeth,""this is where my mom brushes her teeth." We got a great tour. Thursday evening was spent relaxing, Kelsey trying to keep up with her cousins and chatting. It was so nice to be out of the car.

 This is how dark it was when we left

 The sun rising

 This is when I started driving 

 This was taken at 8AM. Yes we let her have a bag of chips when she work up  but hey it was a road trip

 So this was when we entered Wyoming. Just not as pretty

Friday: 

I went to Cross Fit with Carolyn and got worked by my 8 month pregnant sister! That girl is an animal. Cross Fit is just as hard as everyone says, and Carolyn doesn't let anything stop her from being just as crazy as the rest of her class. It was so much fun. Yes I was sore for the rest of the trip but I LOVE IT!! I am so hooked and want to join my own class. It was an hour of pushing yourself past the point of where you thought you could go. I was super impressed with the trainers, the class members, the comradeship, and how fun it was. You could tell that no one cared what you lifted, just that you worked hard. I can say though, when we ran our half mile, I pretty much rocked the whole class. The trainer came up to me after to say how impressed she was with my speed. That made me feel way better about the 10 lbs I was lifting compared to everyone else's 75+ (yes including Carolyn!) To make this longer, Carolyn said that she would pay me 5$ if I could catch a girl 200 meters in front of me:blue shorts. I knew I could and so I took off. I didn't know that the run was a race and so I wasn't racing anyone. When I realized it was a race, it got really fun. I was passing some guy, he took off with me for about 10 steps and then he couldn't keep up. He was like, oh dang, this is fast. When I lost him for good I heard him throw a swear in my behalf as a compliment. It was fantastic. 

After class, we all got ready to go to Devils Tower. On our way out the door it started to look storm and then it started to hail. It started really slowly and so we thought we were fine to wait it out and then it started to HAIL!!! The hail pieces were as big as a watch face and they were coming hard and fast. Aaron's neighbor was out of town and so we were able to put our car in garage to protect it from the hail. We were all sitting in the garage watching this massive storm pass through and then tornado sirens went off! It was something that I had never heard in real life before and it was a little eire. Luckily the sirens were for the valley opposite of Rapid City and so we were safe but it was a crazy adventure. The hail storm may have been the most exciting part about the whole trip because it was so new to me. I loved it!

The size of the hail that was falling 

Devils tower was only about 75 mins away from Rapid City and totally worth it. It was a beautiful drive through Sturgis and then through Wyoming. The drive was especially fun because you can see Devil's tower for about 30 min before you actually get there and it is a spectacular view. Oh my gosh it took my breathe away. It was so fun to see it that first time around the bend. Once we got there, we hiked around for about 2 hours and then headed back. On the way back to stopped at a little Mexican restaurant. We got home that evening around 10, watched Pitch Perfect and went to bed at 1:30. I haven't stayed up that late in a long time and it was actually really fun.

We didn't get to stop but this is the best picture of Sturgis that we could get

The sky on the way to Devil's Tower

 The drive up to Devil's Tower. You can see it WAY in the distance

A little closer..

 A little closer...

 THERE! The drive was so much fun. It is a very windy drive and so we could only see it some times and every time we could see it again we were closer and closer. It was a fun game to see who could see it first. That game replaced the 5 round of the ABC game so it was a very fun game!

 The view with my back to Devil's Tower

 

The backside and hiking trail

  

The view from the very back

View from the parking lot as the sun was setting

 

 Driving away

Saturday:

We got up and got ready to go to Jewel Cave. On the way we passed Crazy Horse, which will be awesome and GINORMOUS some day when it is finished. The drive to Jewel Cave was just as pretty as the drive to Devil's Tower. We passed the Wood Carvers Museum, the train station that is still in use, Custer: a tiny little town that is adorable and had the Pink and Purple Pie House (fantastic pies!!), an awesome buffalo on every corner, the Flintstones camp ground, a place where they make Kuchen (50 state meals),  and so many other fun spots. I kept wanting to stop but there just wasn't enough time. Once we got to Jewel Cave, we bought our tickets and then had to kill some time and we Aaron and Sydney took us to Mt Rushmore. It is as cool and as amazing as everyone says. It it however surprisingly tiny compared to what I imagined, but it is amazing. Walking up to the viewing area, they have a state flag for all 50 states and it just made the actual mountain itself more patriotic and amazing. Aaron took us on a the walk around Mt Rushmore and that was by far the coolest part. You get like right under there noses and it us made for cool pictures. That was probably Kelsey's favorite part because we had to carry her stroller down the stairs and she thought that that was hilarious. 

Jewel Cave was amazing, but I learned a few things. Don't take a toddler into a cave for an hour and I am completely afraid of the dark and slightly claustrophobic. It was fun being in the cave and we saw some amazing things, but the whole time I was a little shaky. I hated knowing how far under ground we were and I hated thinking about slipping through a dark tunnel not knowing what was on the other side. Luckily they only turned off the lights completely once and so that wasn't too bad, but man. I am way whimpy than I thought. Some of the coolest rocks were the jellyfish rocks, the bacon rock, the scrambled egg rock, the popcorn rock, and the caramel rock. It was  neat experience but I was happy to get out and back on top of the surface when we were done.

On the way home we stopped in Custer for some pictures and grabbed some pies for Ethan's birthday. We also saw a heard of buffalo and of course I took a picture! The evening was spent watching the BYU game on tape delay, eating pizza, getting new music, and eating Aaron's "secret" caramel corn recipe. It is "secret" I learned because no one makes it except Aaron, as in Carolyn will not make it and so she calls it Dad's secret recipe so that kids will bug dad and not her. I thought that that was hilarious.

Crazy Horse from the road

Mt Rushmore!!!

The walk around Mt Rushmore

Kelsey loved us carrying her down the stairs

This was the museum at the bottom of the stairs. This is what Mt Rushmore should've looked like if they had more time

Driving away from Mt Rushmore

Jewel Cave

This is called a squeeze box. 

The cave lets groups of volunteers explore new parts of the cave to learn more about the cave. They are down in the cave for 4 days and 3 nights and there are some parts of their exploring that are as small as this squeeze box and for about 6 feet in length. You have to be able to fit through this box in order to explore the cave. In the lobby there is this box for people to see if they could fit through the box. Kelsey fit very easily and the rest of us really had to work on it. This is where I learned that I was super claustrophobic. This box was only like 1 ft in length AND the lid could open if you got stuck. I made it through, but freaked out the whole way. There is no amount of money that you could pay me to go through a space this small for 6 feet in length. It was horrible!!! You have to go through with your face totally side wise, flat on your tummy, one arm in the front and one arm in back and like shake your way through. Even talking about it makes me sick! It was fun watching Kelsey crawl through and then run to the other side to do it again. That was super cute.Almost as cute as watching Aaron try to fit through the box. Sorry Aaron... you are just a really really big guy! 

Waiting for our tour to start

The main mouth of the cave. The cave was really hard to get pictures of, but it was really cool.

Jellyfish rocks

Right after they turned out all the lights. Kelsey and I did not like this part

Popcorn rocks

Herd of buffalo on the way home

City of Custer

Woodcarving museum 

I so wanted to stop and try some Kuchen but we didn't have time so I took a picture

Flintstones park

Purple Pie Place

Sunday:

Ethan turned 27!!! Holy old! Sunday was a great day even for being on vacation on a fast Sunday. After Sunday naps and the like, we all went on a Rapid City tour. I am seriously convinced that I could live there. Downtown was small but adorable. Every corner of the city has a statue of some president. We didn't have time to see them all, but they are all replicas of their size, weight, and height. It was so cool. We walked down Art Alley which is an Alley way where anything goes. ANYTHING!! I thought it was a great idea, but it keeps the graffiti off the streets since there is a place to go. Everything had paint on it. Fire hydrants, walls, windows, doors, stairs, floor, everything. It was awesome. After seeing the splash pad and the granite carvings, we went to Dinosaur Park. It was hill where you can see all of the city, East and West. The Petersen's live on the edge of the Black hills and their side of the city was significantly prettier than the other side of the state that boarders Wyoming. I'm sorry Wyoming, you are just really really boring. We drove past Storybook Island on the way home (a cute little park dedicated to story book stories) and then got ready for the party! We made steak and a potato bar, had some Pink and Purple pie, the kids made Ethan a GIANT happy birthday sign and Ethan unwrapped his knife belt from Carolyn and Aaron. It is a belt that holds a knife in secret! It is awesome. I am so grateful for the kids because I pulled a big no no and forgot about Ethan's birthday. I felt terrible but with the move and the start of  school, it completely slipped my mind. Luckily Ethan is so easy going, but I still felt terrible. I am so grateful the Petersen's know how to make a birthday really special.

 Downtown Rapid City

Art Alley

The president corners

His favorite My favorite. We don't talk about politics much in our house ;)

One we can agree on!

Dinosaur Park

Ethan's birthday dinner! 

Opening his knife belt

Aaron showing Ethan how to use it

The kids AMAZING giant sign and home made cards

                                       

Birthday pies from the Pink and Purple Pie Shoppe. Chocolate and Strawberry Rhubarb 

Monday:

We left at 6 Am Monday morning. On our way out of Rapid City we took a 30 min detour and drove through Iron Mt Highway. It was the prettiest drive I have been on in a long time. Complete with pigtail turns, tunnels, many views of Mt Rushmore, and just a beautiful landscape, it was  a great way to end a great vacation. Don't worry. We took a long time to get home but we did not get lost this time!

First tunnel

Second tunnel

Third tunnel. This was the coolest because when you drive out of it, you are facing Mt Rushmore. Pretty awesome

And she missed the whole thing

We had an amazing time. The Petersen's are wonderful hosts and even better tour guides. They had been to all these places before but they still act like its the coolest thing they have ever done. They didn't rush us at all and let us take as many pictures as we wanted. It was so much fun to see their home and house, and be with them for such a long weekend. Aaron didn't have to work at all and so we literally got to be with the whole family the whole time. We had such a great trip. It was a perfect way to continue our now 3 years tradition.

So what is there to do in Rapid City South Dakota? Well I made a list of all the awesome things you can do. I'm sure this is not complete. Everything we got to do is highlighted. I seriously want to go back so we can enjoy some more of such a beautiful area.

South Dakota

Reptile Garden

Water Park

Custer National Park

Devils tower

Bear Country

Mt Rushmore

Storybook Island

Dinosaur Park

Sturgis

Crazy Horse

Custer City

Mt Rushmore City

Jewel Cave

Wind Cave

Needles Highway

Railroad Museum

Flintstones Park

Iron Mt. Hwy

Downtown

Zooms Candy shop

Art Alley

Woodcarving Museum

Mt Rushmore Water slides
Badlands National Park

Kelsey was so excited to be home! She ran around and smiled for like 2 hours. It was so cute to watch her