South Dakota

This was our family vacation spot this year. I have always wanted to see this area. We left early Thursday morning. It is a beautiful drive, but a long one as well. On the way to Rapid City we went to Devil's Tower. The mountain is different than all the other mountains that surround it. The rock is formed verticaly rather than sideways. We got to the Hotel and checked in. Then we went to Chuck-E-Cheese's for dinner. We woke up early the next morning to go gold panning and to see Mount Rushmore. On the way to the gold mine we would stop if we saw any interesting shops. We came across several of them, one was a cute Christmas store. We drove under lots of bridges and went through several tunnels to get there. The kids loved the mine and panning for gold. Both kids did find some gold and kept it in their vials. You were able to see George Washington's face at the mine cave. First my impression was it was smaller then expected. Then as we got closer the faces got bigger. After the mining experience we left for Mount Rushmore. It is a beautiful site to see. We then went to the Black Hills to explore some of the beauty there. It came time to start heading back to the hotel after realizing we never had lunch (just snack food) and it was getting late. We went to Perkins because it was the only restaurant opened at 10:30 at night. Yes we went that long with out a somewhat of a decent meal.