Mt. RushMORE!

Carl has been mentioning that he wants to go see Mt. Rushmore ever since we've been in Colorado. Last week he decided that it was our last chance if we were going to go camping at all this year and begged me to check into it. I looked around at the KOAs there and they actually looked promising. I say this because I don't camp. Want me to say it more clearly? I. Don't. Camp. My family was never an outdoorsy one and I am a city girl because of it. I gave in though and agreed since the KOA had a lot to do along with real bathrooms and showers. I'm okay with tents, just not tents while you are covered in filth for days at a time.

We took off early on Saturday, excited to go somewhere completely new to both of us. We told Carson about it a few days before so he talked about sleeping in a tent constantly. Luckily he loves car rides too so we just set off without worrying about time or anything. 

To start I will say.......how in the world does anyone live in the state of Wyoming??????

We decided that you could basically keep Jackson Hole, Yellowstone and mayyyyyyybe Cheyenne and give the rest to the aliens. I'm sorry to say it, but that is mostly a useless state. We stopped at this rest stop at a main turning point and saw a playground which we thought would be great. But it was so stinky and dirty with a broken playground. We couldn't wait to get out of there.

See the beautiful Wyoming backdrop? By the way, Carson is in love with his "Stoy Story" pajamas. I bought him Toy Story which he has watched once and wasn't even interested in, but he loves the PJ's for whatever reason. He wanted to keep them on for the trip; at least he was comfortable, but it looks funny!

Next we stopped in Torrington to eat lunch at a real park. Carson was thrilled to see real playground equipment. This was the kind of place where you can feel that everyone is watching everyone. You know, in that creepy small town kind of way.

Amazingly, about 20 miles into South Dakota it turned absolutely beautiful! It was interesting to be in the mountains, but it was different than the mountains we are used to. The rock, trees and overall look was just different. It was pretty funny going into the lobby of the KOA. We had to "check in" like at a hotel and it was nicer than some actual hotel lobbies we've been to! They had coffee shops, a wine and chocolate store, a pizza and ice cream shop, two swimming pools, water slides, miniature golf, a theater and on and on. It was about the most spoiled camping we could have possibly done.

The boys went to work right away on our tent and camp site. We were up on the top of a hill and pretty secluded (except for the obnoxious jerks in that cabin you see behind us that were up being so loud until 2am...). Carson loved every minute of it!

After it was all set up we went down to find all the fun stuff to do. We were hoping to swim, but it was 5:00 by this time and the clouds were rolling in. Carl wanted to cook hot dogs, but Carson and I were starving and I wasn't going to wait for it to get dark to start a fire. We went to the pizza shop instead, then headed over to the playground area.

They seriously had all their bases covered and couldn't have been more family friendly. This was an entire hill of sand covered in Tonka trucks. Carson=happy.

The playground was enormous. Carson goes straight for the slides right now. He's getting to be pretty fearless!

Next he wanted to get on this huge balloon that was buried underground for you to jump on. I was terrified that my little baby was going to get trampled. Nope. He totally held his own and squealed as he bounced back and forth. 

My guys after a round of mini-golf.

It was getting late so we headed back to our site. Just as Carl got the fire going it started to rain. And then started to rain really hard. While we were down at the gift shop we found a Thomas watercolor book. Carson has been painting a lot at daycare and I didn't have any for home so I wanted to get it. Luckily we did because I was able to grab the crayons and we colored in the tent while it was raining. I think this was my favorite time of the trip. It was so peaceful and fun to be out exploring with my family. I can't get enough of seeing Carson discover new things and just be a kid having fun. I was able to really take it all in while sitting there watching him in this moment.

The rain eventually let up and we all sat by the fire. Carl made us smores and Carson discovered his new love for marshmallows.

The next morning came way too early, but that was only because Carson slept great and was bright eyed at 6am. I hardly slept at all because of the aforementioned jerks in the spot above us. Well, that and the 30lb. sack of potatoes I had attached to my side all night. :) Luckily I had a hot shower and we went to have $2 all you can eat pancakes. 

We were only a few miles down the hill from the actual Mt. Rushmore monument. The way it's positioned is up at the peak of the mountain facing the backside so you actually have to go up there to see it. We both thought it was really surreal to see it in person since it's an image you grow up with and know, but it was really neat in person. You were able to get a lot closer than I thought you would be able to. They have a large area in front to look right up at it and then you can take a walkway down and get even closer. Carson kept telling us he could see the faces. 

I was FREEZING when we left camp so I stayed in my warm camping clothes. Luckily the sun is 100 degrees hotter up top so I was dying of heat. When we left I had to do an impromptu wardrobe change on the side of the road. Oops!

It wasn't anything new or unexpected, but I'm really glad to say that we have seen it in person. It would have been cool to see a real person up there for some scale because it is even bigger than you think it is going to be.

On our way down we stopped at a small lake (you know, where I had to change clothes...haha). There were quite a few fish in this area that you could easily see so Carson parked here for a while.

The amazingly great put-the-camera-on-a-bench-at-an-angle and set the timer shot. I really need some more timer practice. :)

The last stop on the way out was to see Crazy Horse. It was $10 to park at Mt. Rushmore which was worth it so we figured this would be the same. Umm, no, it was $28 just to drive in! No thanks. We pulled into the information lot way at the bottom and I grabbed this picture. I had to crop it way down to see it even like this, but it's pretty cool too. Apparently it isn't even close to being done and the rock under him will be his horse and much more of his body.

So.......that was our quick 2-day trip! I'd highly recommend going if you are thinking about it!