This year for our big summer vacation road trip we headed to Mount Rushmore! I have always wanted to see the faces of the four Presidents (Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln) carved in the side a mountain. Maybe it is seeing them backlit during those massive fireworks displays on the Fourth of July, the feat of having carved a mountain or that they remain as the only major monument on the walls of the US Customs’ hall that I have not seen yet. Whatever the reason, this was the year to make the great trek to South Dakota, 3478km in total, some amazing sights and many memories.
We began the trip with the “Great Drive Day” ten hours, home to Billings, Mt. On the way, we stopped in Great Falls to eat at “Applebee’s”, which for the record, does not suck in Montana. The highlight of this pit stop was that there was an Air Show going on that weekend and we were able to see the Blue Angels in action! It was a double bonus, a yummy pit stop and some in air entertainment.
By the time we reached Billings, we had all had far more than enough time in the car and we were happy to arrive at the Marriott Fairfield Inn and Suites. We had a very pleasant one night stay here; the staff was friendly, the breakfast buffet well stocked and the rooms clean. We would definitely stay here again if we were in the area again.
In the morning we were off and rolling on a much shorter day, five and one half hours to Custer, South Dakota. On our drive we were amused by the tiny “Grasshopper/ 57” pump jacks and pink roads! The heat really ricocheted up as we saw the temperature hit 38˚C.
We arrived at our KOA Custer, which was quite clean, full of friendly staff and had a fantastic jumping pillow that the kids loved. Think of a jumping pillow as an in ground trampoline that puffs up into a big dome. This was a great location for scouting out Crazy Horse, Mount Rushmore and Custer State park.
Our first major attraction was Crazy Horse, which was incredibly moving. One can learn a great deal about the Sioux, the role of the First Nations in North America and about the carver of the monument.
Mount Rushmore, it was fantastic. We viewed it near dark, watched the lighting up ceremony and even returned during the day to take a short walk to the carver’s cabin which allows one to view the mountain much closer up. It was a very memorable experience to see such a popular monument in person!
While in the area, we toured Jewel Cave, the second longest cave in the world and Custer State Park. Both were wonderful in completely different ways. It was a nice way to take in some of the other less busy sights.
At Jewel Cave, we took the “Scenic Tour” which is ranger guided over a half-mile loop of 723 stairs. On this tour, you are able to see many of the massive calcite formations which are why the cave is aptly named Jewel Cave and begin to get a sense of just how massive a cave this is. One of my favourite calcite crystal formations was “Cave Bacon”which really did look like a massive slab of hanging bacon complete with marbled fat! 
Custer State Park found us feeding the burros, which are wild donkeys! While I am not normally a fan of feeding the wild life, only the burros can be fed in the park and their feeding is encouraged. Needless to say, it was a hilarious experience as these burros come right up to and nearly inside of your car in the hopes of being fed with their awkward teeth bearing smiles! We will all remember this one for many years to come with a hardy laugh.
After we had taken in the sights of the Mount Rushmore area, we were off to Cody, Wyoming. Enroute to Cody we stopped at Bear Lodge aka Devils Tower. This is the first designated a National Monument, which is a massive rock formation which is sacred to over twenty different First Nations tribes. While the geologists still disagree on how this rock formation came to be, my thoughts are go and see it, it is breath taking! The walk around the base of the formation allows you to see the sharp edges of the six sided columns as you ponder if you think that this formation erupted, was eroded or is the remains of an extinct volcano.
While in Cody, we stayed a lovely KOA that had a super high, single, sailor style bunk bed which just screamed SparkJ’s name! They had fantastic amenities like giant chess and checkers, a jumping pillow, two great pools and a playground. Had we known what a great place this was, we would have spent more nights in Cody, however we only had one on our way to Yellowstone.
In Cody, we visited the Cody Museum, which was outstanding. The website for this museum does not even begin to do it justice. All four of us were pleasantly surprised by the quality of presentations, volume of materials on display about and the massive variety. It was well worth the stop! Our favourites were learning about the Wild West /Buffalo Bill and the enormous gun display they have tracking the history of gun manufactures in USA. I am not a huge gun fan, I have a healthy respect for them and feel that they have very useful place in specific situations. However, this was very educational in the sense of learning about how manufactures had changed their designs over the years, how they had supported the troops in the World Wars and how critical they were to the development of USA as the country expended west. For CubJ, this was best museum display he had ever seen.
After Cody, we were off to traverse the Sheep Mountains into Yellowstone National Park. SparkJ had so enjoyed her visit the year before that she wanted to have another chance to go. Truth be told, once you are on your way back from South Dakota, a stop in Yellowstone is really not that far out of the way! We enjoyed a lovely trip through the park, stopping at the Paint Pots, Yellowstone Lake and for a wonderful lunch. I must say, it was just as “ohh and ahhh” inspiring the second time around as it was the first time.
We enjoyed a great night in at the KOA we had stayed at the previous year in West Yellowstone. The kids got in two rounds of swimming, giant sized group bike riding and many laughs! I can see that this is a place that we would enjoy coming back to for many years to come.
After Yellowstone, we were off to Great Falls to visit the Marriott Fairfield Inn. I have stayed at this particular hotel a few times. It was an oasis of having our own private bathroom and not sleeping in a sleeping bag! While I love camping, love the wonderful KOA’s we have stayed at, this was a nice way to end the trip feeling clean and refreshed.
As always, while in Great Falls, there is shopping to be had a Target and Super Wal-Mart, meals to be eaten at the Macaroni Grill and a visit to the Wheat Montana Farm and Deli! We enjoyed ourselves greatly, spent time swimming in the hotel pool and talked about all that we had enjoyed on our 2011 road trip before we headed home.
Hilariously, we stopped for a very windy picnic on the drive home. We all enjoyed the sunshine, the view of the river and had a pleasant lunch.... that was until DaddyJ noticed the sign we had all failed to see on our way up to the picnic tables....
