Rapid City, Stomach Flu & Mother's Day

When we got to Rapid City we spent a night at Lake Park Campground. We arrived at night so we just had time to set everything up and get to bed. The next morning I finished setting up camp (since we planned to stay another night) and cooked an elaborate breakfast of pancakes, eggs & bacon. As I was cooking Ella started to not feel well. Within an hour she was throwing up repeatedly! I couldn't imagine dealing with a pukey kid in a hot rv all day. The campground so kindly refunded our second night and we headed to a motel. Ella spent most of the day sleeping and getting sick several times an hour. The room reeked of stale cigarette smoke so Ryan, Ruby and I spent most of the day just outside of the door journaling and blogging. 

The next day we moved to a much nicer hotel, The Rushmore. Downtown Rapid City has awesome statues of the first 43 presidents. Over the couple of days that we were there we managed to find each one and take a picture with them!

My sister Kristi was in cahoots with the kids to have this lovely surprise delivered to our room for Mother's Day! It was MUCH appreciated! 

Ruby LOVES hotel beds ;)

The Rushmore has several beautiful mosaics and cast paper sculptures. 

We were looking for somewhere to eat near our hotel when a local man directed us to the coolest arcade pizza bar ever! I wish Folsom had a place like this. 

On Mother's Day morning I was spoiled with these treasures from the kids. They had spent hours the day before crafting with what they could find in the hotel room. I LOVE their unique #1 Mom Trophy and handwritten notes. 

After eating a Starbucks breakfast and tracking down the remaining presidents we went to Bear Country USA. It was a neat drive thru safari and small zoo. 

Ruby didn't know what to think of the wolves. 

We could have spent all day watching the twenty or so bear cubs play in their yard!!

We found a nice restaurant for Mother's Day dinner. Poor Ella was still recovering so she suffered through plain noodles while Ryan enjoyed the wild game sampler. 

With Ella feeling better we headed into the Black Hills! After wimping out at finding a place to boondock in the rain in the middle of nowhere, we ended up at the White House Hotel in Keystone. 

Badlands National Park

We arrived in Badlands at the perfect time of evening to see lots of wildlife. We were dissapointed by the first campground in the park (basically an RV lot) so we headed for the more remote Sage Creek Campground.

Unfortunately, we found the road to the campground was closed for some reason, so we had to take along route around the park to get to it. 

As a finally set up camp a large moon was rising over the bison wandering through the campground!

The next morning, Ryan Ruby and I hiked the hill behind our campsite. 

Then we all hiked around Sage Creek until a large rattle snake scared the bejeezus out of us! 

Prairie dogs are so dang cute. We all love watching them run around, especially the babies. 

We are getting good at spotting wildlife among the amazing views! 

The unpaved roads are especially beautiful and fun to drive. 

The kids worked on their Junior Ranger Packets and we hiked the door trail. 

Since we had to beg the ranger to give the kids their badges right at closing they helped her fold the flag. 

We couldn't resist stopping at Wall Drug on our way to The Black Hills. The kids have been collecting medallions during our trip, and they used gift cards from Grandpa to buy walking sticks to put them on. I bought some ceramic peacock coasters that have nothing to do with our trip, but I loved them!