Well, we have had a very busy summer full of lots of fun. I am too lazy to document all of the things we have done this summer in one post so I am going to break it up into multiple installments. :)
First off, Mount Rushmore. We went to Mount Rushmore the beginning of June. Dustin and I have always wanted to go there and have had it on our family "to do" list for a long time. We found out it is only about 6 hours away from Colorado Springs. We planned for the things we wanted to do pretty well for us (this included a day by day schedule). We started out on a Wednesday and got almost all of the way there when our radiator blew up...IN OUR NEW CAR! We were pretty bummed but a very nice man happened by with some coolant and helped us back to a tiny town in South Dakota, I forget the name. The only mechanic shop was closed for the day (we missed him by about 5 minutes) We called the tow truck company to tow us into Custer, South Dakota which was where we were staying. We found one restaurant still open and had some dinner while waiting for our tow.
Finally, a nice guy came with a tow truck and pulled us into Custer. We all squished into his truck and talked about hockey...he was missing a game to come and get us. When we arrived he dropped the girls and I off at our campsite and took Dustin and the car to the mechanic shop. He then returned Dustin to our campsite. We had rented a pop up trailer and luckily the man had already set it up for us. The girls thought the pop up was awesome and we settled in for the night.
The next morning we ate bratwurst for breakfast...because that is what we had with us, as I had yet to make it to the grocery store, because we had no car. The girls didn't seemed to mind eating hot dogs for breakfast and were excited to be camping. Luckily the shop the car was parked at was very nearby our campsite and the next morning we walked the .75 of a mile to the mechanic's shop. When we got there, there was a sign on the door that said "At a VA appointment, will be back this afternoon." I will be honest, at this point I was a bit put out. We were stranded in Custer, South Dakota with no car. All of the things we wanted to see required a car.
We noticed on our way into town a Flintstones amusement park. We knew it was pretty close by....so we hitchhiked. :) Dustin asked a man in a beat up farm truck for a ride, he obliged. There wasn't enough room for all of us to fit in the cab of the truck so I sat in the back and Dustin sat in the front with the girls. I was a little nervous the whole way to the park, but the man was really nice. I took a picture...for memories. Now I can say I have hitchhiked...with children, don't report us.
We made it to the amusement park and walked around. I am not sure the girls have even seen the flintstones but they thought it was cool anyway. While we were there DJ from DJ's auto service called to say he had looked at our car and our radiator was blown. He said that there was a replacement part in Rapid City, South Dakota (about an hour away) and that if we wanted to go and get it he would knock some of the cost off. We told him we would but that we didn't have a car and in Custer, South Dakota finding a rental is not easy. He said he had a car he would let us borrow and he came to pick Dustin up. The girls and I stayed at the amusement park until Dustin came back with our sweet ride. It was an old beater car, full of dirt and man smell. The air conditioning didn't work and some of the windows wouldn't roll down, but we were just happy to have a car. DJ said he would let us use it for free, we were so impressed with how nice he was.
We got in the car and headed to Rapid City. We picked up the radiator from the Chevy dealer..(cha ching..money out the bank account). Then we headed to get some lunch. On our way home we went to Bear Country USA. It is a drive through wildlife park. We were instructed to roll up our windows because, after all, we were driving through herds of wild animals. Remember, we didn't have AC so we took our chances. Turns out there are a TON of bears in Bear Country USA. I have to be honest...I rolled my window up a bit when we drove through the bear exhibit, they were really close to our car.
We drove back to Custer, gave the radiator to DJ, hit up the grocery store and went back to our campsite. The next morning DJ called to say he still wasn't quite done with our car. He said he had a different loaner car he wanted to give us because he was afraid the one he had let us borrow the day before "wasn't very reliable, and we had kids and all." Once again we were impressed with how kind and generous he was. The other car he let us borrow wasn't any nicer than the first one...and perhaps smelled worse..once again we were grateful to have it.
That day we went to see Mt. Rushmore. The girls participated in the "junior ranger program" and each were sworn in after completing their coursework (Graycie's was really hard and actually took a few hours). Mt. Rushmore was really cool. We headed back to Custer and much to our delight...found out our car was finished. We also found out the man who we had been calling DJ, and who also fixed our car, wasn't actually named DJ at all. His name was Robert...he explained that DJ's auto service stood for "Doing Jesus' Service." He gave us a really good deal and single handedly saved our trip. Both Dustin and I were impressed with his goodness and determined that we wanted to be more generous in the future. We saw crazy horse monument and light show that evening and then hit the sack...we were exhausted.
The next day we went to Custer State Park. The girls went on pony rides and then we rented paddle boats and paddled around one of the lakes in the park. The girls went on an impromptu swim in the lake...in their undies. We had a picnic lunch and then we went on a drive around their wildlife loop where we feed some wild donkeys.
South Dakota was beautiful and we had a wonderful time there. The people were so kind and our girls love, love, LOVED, camping. Hooray for family vacations.
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