Awesome time in South Dakota-who knew?

We loved visiting South Dakota.

We had no idea we would like it so much.

We stayed at The Best Western in Rapid City and it was awesome. The bar, the restaurant, and the pool (water park) all great.

The kids swam for two hours.

The room was clean and the people were so friendly.

We were in awe of Mt. Rushmore.  It is NOT the same as  you see in photos or in the movies.  It really took our breath away.

Gutzon Borglum (the sculpture) seriously rocked it out.  So inspiring.

We did the walk to the base and watched the movie on the history-all worth it and very interesting.

(You have to remember this is from someone who hated history in school.)

The next day, we spent an hour at a petting zoo-very cute.

Then, oh then, we went to Bear Country.

We hadn’t planned on it, but we decided to when we drove by.  It is a drive through safari-like park that has all sorts of cool animals to see.  They were all cool, but the bears were off the hook.

As we drove through, the bears (dozens of them) just walked up to our car and looked in.  They were everywhere.  You had to drive very slow or you would hit them.  The kids (ok it was me) were going crazy.  Such an awesome experience.

At the end of the drive, you get out and can see some of the baby animals by foot.  I loved seeing the Grizzly bear cooling off in the water and the baby bears playing.

I HIGHLY recommend you do this.  I could not stop smiling it was so fun!

After Rapid City, we drove 90-E across the middle of the state.  Cows, hay and flatness for about five hours.  And motorcycles-it is Sturgis right now.

We spent the night in Sioux Falls (such a beautiful park) before heading out to Iowa.