Day 1 - Trip to Utah

June 26th, 2009
Day 1 - Trip to Utah

We spent two weeks on vacation this summer!
We left at 5 am so we could get in a full day.
The kids were so excited!

This is the highway that takes us from our house
to Southern Minnesota. It is so beautiful here.
These pictures don't do it justice.

Leaving Minnesota...

Driving across South Dakota...
yep, it looks like this the whole way!

Passing the Badlands. Jez loves this place.
We didn't take the time to do the scenic loop, but
we got to see them a little bit from the interstate.

Driving into the Black Hills of South Dakota.
They are beautiful too. Both times I have been there
there were thunderstorms. There was a severe
thunderstorm alert as we were pulling in to Keystone.
It is crazy... the thunder is so loud and you can hear/feel it
as it crackles and ricochets through the rock.
Our family will remember when it did that while we were
there for the family reunion a few years ago.
It is amazing and makes you feel so small
against the power of the elements.

We stopped at the Cosmos Mystery Area on the way
to check in to our hotel even though it was pouring rain!
Jez and Josie waiting for the tour to start.

Watching a ball & water run uphill.

Talden standing straight...
while leaning about 45 degrees.
Jez hanging on to Josie.

Us falling over outside of the barn. :)
(Notice the tricky camera work... you can see
how straight the photograph is by looking at our feet)

Josie taking a break from all the crazy gravity.

Supposedly the left side makes you short and the
right makes you tall... what do you think?

After Cosmos we went to check in to our hotel.
We found this awesome one a few weeks before we left.
Everything was either booked or super expensive
($240 for 1 room at the Super 8)...
this hotel was a best kept secret for sure.
I came across it on a tourist site for the area and
they had a "Family Suite" which slept 8!! And it was
under $200 for the night. That is not easy to find,
especially there! We loved it and highly recommend it
if you are ever in the area. It is the Rushmore Express.

Note the dining table that seats 8! We ordered pizza!
I know it seems silly to be so excited over a hotel room,
but seriously it is so hard to travel with our family.

View of the President's Alpine slides & Helicopter Tours.

We walked over and took our kids down the slides.
They had a blast. Jez and the kids had never been so they
were nervous/excited, but it was fun. They all wanted to
go again, but it is too expensive to do more than once!

The helicopter pad for the tours was between our
hotel and the slides. Our hotel is the lodge in the
background. It was a perfect evening.

My attempt to get a photo of all my kids
together at Mount Rushmore.

Ha! This was the only picture I got of Josie's
face the entire time and it was because I
tricked her! Oh well, what can you do?

It was a really fun (and long) day.
After Mount Rushmore we went back to the hotel,
had pizza, got ready for bed and slept until 3 am...
then we got up and hit the road by 3:45.