Grandma and I
On the 4th at the parade in Exira. It was rainy, but we stuck it out.
Mount Rushmore
Family picture
We took the kids to see my 91 and 93 year old grandparents in Iowa for the 4th of July. My family (parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents,etc.) are all doing our annual Family Reunion this Saturday, but Chris and I are going to be in Cancun so we decided that it would be fun to go the 4th instead.
We started off leaving home on Thursday the 2nd. We drove to Kansas City, KS, and stayed the night in Great Wolf Lodge. It's about a 9 hour drive to that point so it is a great stopping point and the kids love the water park. We let the kids swim on Friday morning again and then headed to Casey, IA. We did a detour through Corning, IA, and I showed the kids the cemetery where Gma and Gpa Talty are. We each left them a rose on their headstone. It's hard to believe that August will make it 9 years ago that we lost him and Gma will be 3 years in December. The drive from Kansas City to Corning still chokes me up. I still expect that Gma T will be waiting for us to open the front door and greet her and it's hard that she is gone.
We checked into our hotel in Adair, IA, and then headed out to the farm to see Gma and Gpa Williams. She was a little upset that we weren't staying with her, but I knew that they needed their space from all of us and I like a shower instead of the tub. She still cooked for us all of the staples for her - homemade mac and cheese, Iowa sweet corn, mashed potatoes, meatloaf, etc. It was delish. My grandma can cook!! We had a wonderful visit with them full of laughter, playing cards, and small town living. Loved it! We also loved the weather...62 degrees!!
When we left Casey/Adair on Sunday we drove to Hill City, South Dakota. We took a detour through The Badlands and then checked into our cabin. I found this cabin on the internet. Chris and I both thought that it would be more fun to stay in a cabin rather than a hotel. This little cabin had 3 rooms, two bathrooms, and was VERY rustic, but had a great deal of charm. It was a perfect place to go after a long day where the kids could run around and play
Hill City was 10 miles from Mount Rushmore. We spent Monday seeing the monument in the morning. They have a junior park ranger badge that the kids had to answer a bunch of questions to earn it. We learned a lot about U.S. history and the monument was beautiful. They were taking down a bunch of stuff down from the top of the monument that day so we decided to go back in the evening for the lighting ceremony they do and to get some pictures of the monument without all of the people on top of it :) So...to keep ourselves busy we went to Bear Country U.S.A and to the Reptile Gardens. Both were money pits, but we all had a great time.
Chris and the kids in front of the cabin
Bear Country here we come...
The bears were all over the place. Mostly looking for shade because it was really warm that day. This is my favorite pic of the bears. We stayed in our cars and they wouldn't let us put the windows down. We cheated here and there and I went out the sunroof to get some good pics.
At the end of the ride they have a "zoo" that you walk through and see all the cubs and different animals. Here's a cute one of one of the cubs.
1 comment:
what an awesome trip....I love bear country and the mt.rushmore...can't wait for the girls to be older!
what a great idea staying at a cabin and great wolf lodge.
you guys are one traveling/vacationing family...whew!
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