Mt. Rushmore Trip

Hey I remember this form Close Encounters of the Third Kind and it is not made of mashed potatoes.   Picture stolen from the internet. 

1st night - Wildcat Den State Park Iowa.  This is a small rustic campground.  There are some amazing rock formations in the area with a hiking trail and an old grist mill.  It was a nice stop-over for one night.

2nd night - KOA in Mitchell South Dakota.  After the rustic campground it was lovely to have a bath house and a pool for the kids.  Very quiet campground and we enjoyed our stay here.  It's super windy here but they say that it is always windy in this area.

3rd - 6th nights - Custer State Park Game Lodge campground.  This was fantastic and we would definitely stay here again.  Our site was across the road from a stream and very peaceful.  A bison heard ended up right by the campground in the evening one night until the park rangers decided they needed to move along (they were blocking the road).  Also right by the campground, there is a Wildlife Loop road that you can drive and we saw bison, elk, pronghorn, prairie dogs, deer and lots of birds.  

While in South Dakota, we did Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, drove the Needles highway, hiked by Sylvan Lake, went horseback riding in a canyon and soaked in all the beauty of the area.  We didn't have time to drive to Devils Tower or to the caves (next time for sure!)

7th night - Myre-Big Island State Park Minnesota.  LOTS of mosquitos.  So many that we couldn't be outside even with bug spray.  They apparently have had a lot of rain lately so maybe that is why.  If it wasn't so buggy, I could see this place would be nice.  

After leaving here we took the kids to the Mall of America in Minnesota where they got to ride roller coasters.  It was a spur of the moment decision and I could see how we could have made a day of it for sure.  I had never put much thought into this place before so didn't know what to expect. We stayed only a couple of hours as we were in route to our next destination.  It was a fun couple of hours though!

8th -9th nights - Lake Gogebic State Park Michigan.  This is in the upper West corner of Michigan's Upper Peninsula by the Porcupine Mountains.  There are numerous waterfalls in this area and we hiked to three before the kids got tired.  We then drove around the mountains and ended up at Lake Superior where we dipped our toes.  Lake Superior is always very cold and after just a few minutes my legs were tingly.  In the summer you can get black flies that bite but we didn't have a problem.  There were some small ones that would try to get you sometimes but not the big black ones people talk about.  

10th night - Hartwick Pines State Park Michigan.  I spend many days and nights here as a child as it was a favorite camping spot of my parents.  It has changed since then as they have installed concrete camping pads but we actually prefer that with the pod.  We had a wonderful time here and wish we had more days.  There were no mosquitoes, which is a big deal for Michigan in the summer.  There is a old growth forest trail that you can hike, some old logging things, etc.  Since we've done that many times we decided to just chill out at camp and relax on our last day.  

We had a great trip and made wonderful memories with our girls.  We can't wait to get West again.  I had never been West of Chicago until this trip.  I think that I live in the wrong state, the West is calling my name