Day 22-24: Driving and Mt. Rushmore/Badlands

We packed up in Tetonia, ID and had to drive out of the way to return the rental car.  We spent the rest of the day on the road.  My sweet husband is so good to do all the driving and I really enjoy it when the baby is sleeping and the kids are occupied, so I can do a little reading.

These moments never last too long, so I enjoy them while I can.  (I think I made it through one chapter this day).  Drew and I also listened to podcasts and audio books on the long driving days.

We made it to Gillette, WY rather late, but I was grateful that my cousin, Emily was able to come and meet us at the campground.  She has been in WY for 2 years now and I haven't seen her in about 3 1/2!  It was good to see her!

 The next morning we got back on the road, headed to Mt. Rushmore by way of Deadwood, South Dakota.  Much like Dodge City, KS, Deadwood is another really cute western town!  We parked at the visitor's center and walked down main street.  (just ignore those bugs on the windshield.). Apparently I only got a shot of downtown from the RV.

 You know I had to check the fire hydrant! #albertvilleiseverywhere

 Someone was rather comfy on our stroll.

 We had lunch at Buffalo's, the oldest saloon in Deadwood.

 Aubrey took some pics while we waited on our food.

 Here's the history of the saloon.  

 Wanna see where Wild Bill was shot?  Here ya go!

 From Deadwood, we drove about an hour through the Black Hills to get to Mt. Rushmore.  *Now, military gets free parking, but for civilians, if you didn't want to pay $10 to park AND you aren't interested in doing the hike or getting any other "official" information, then you can save your money and just pull off on the side of the road.  You can see the monument outside the parking area. *
We all had to take a picture by our own states!

Alabama

Mississippi

Hawaii

Florida 

 Missouri

The kids decided we needed a family photo in front of our soon-to-be new state: Virginia!

The monument is pretty impressive.  

 If we hadn't been on the road all day, we probably would've done the hike.  But we felt really rushed.  We spent the night at the KOA campground.  This one was insane! It's the second largest in the country!  Since we were only staying one night, we decided to get there as soon as we could so the kids could FINALLY swim!  (We haven't had a pool at a campground since Glacier.).

This little girl LOVES to help Daddy setup the RV! Pretty sure she could do it by herself!

 Once we got set up, we went to the pool while Daddy did some laundry.  

This guy loves the water. 

 Andrew hung out on the slide for a while.

 The kids didn't want to leave, but our trip is pretty much over at this point and we're racing against the clock to make it to Alabama in time to finalize party details for the baby!...with a couple of extra stops along the way!  So, we packed up and headed through the Badlands National Park, on our way "home."  Literally, we just drove through and took pictures out the window except for the pic in front of the sign and a selfie stick photo at the first pull off!

 I tried to catch a prairie dog driving down the road...but....
They were everywhere, especially at the park entrance.  You could hear their cute little "chirping."

 The Badlands are very interesting.  One minute you're driving through these prairie grasslands and then BAM.....crazy canyon like rock formations!

After our short drive through the Badlands, it was back on the road!  We're making a stop in Nebraska tonight!