On Sunday, day 3 we arrived at Emily's Sunday evening at around 5:30 Central Time (for those who do not know that is 2 hours ahead).
Monday was a rest day, we just sat around for the most part with the exception of some grocery shopping. for dinner we BBQ'd in the backyard. The temperature there on Monday was 90 degrees and it was for casted to be even hotter on Tuesday.
They are currently re-paving the road the sides my sister's house and there are large rollers and dump trucks parked there and working during the day. Toby absolutely loves tractors and dump trucks, he had so much fun looking at them and telling us all about them.
Tuesday It was supposed to be hot so we packed up the kids (Mariah, Thomas, and Toby) and headed to the Mall of America in Minneapolis. We could not all fit in one car so it was my mom, Toby, Mariah, and myself in one car and Thomas and Emily in the other. We were less than 2 miles from the mall when my sister was involved in a minor fender bender this needless to say started put a minor dent in our day. No one was injured and we continued on to the mall as planned.
Our main reason for going to the mall was that they have a full array of aquatic life in an exhibit called the Under Water Adventure. Toby absolutely loved this we went through it twice. they have many different tanks with several species of fish, sharks, and rays.
On Wednesday my mom, Thomas, Toby and I took a trip to the next town over to go to the outlet malls to scope it out. We found some good deals on Crock shoes and some other items.
Thursday mom and I decided that we were going to leave on Friday to make our way to Yellowstone National Park. I felt that a good meal was in order so I bought a good sized Chuck roast and did it up on the BBQ with some salad.
Friday we hit the road........YELLOWSTONE HERE WE COME!
our first stop on this leg of the trip was a set up town called 1880's town, this is a set that had been brought in for tourists to explore and see how things appeared in the old west.
The next stop was the Southern Badlands of South Dakota. This landscape is absolutely amazing, we arrived as a storm was brewing over the badlands, I will include a few pictures here but when I return home I will post a full post labeled SD Badlands. When the storm hit us at full strength we had to pull off of the road as we could not see the hood of the car it was raining so hard. Where we pulled off there was a suburban that was about 10 feet in front of us at time we could not even see it. The wind was blowing so hard it felt like the car was going to be turned on its side. After the storm passed it was as if it never happened sunny and bright.......AMAZING!
These pictures appear in order taken
After the amazing storm and the beautiful views of the southern Badlands we made our way to Sturgis, South Deckota. By the time we got in to the hotel it was 7:30 mountain time 1 hour ahead of Pacific, We had left Emily's at 7:30 Central total road time 13 hours.......Toby's awsome not one wimper.
Saturday.....Yesterday Day 9
We left Sturgis for a day of exploration and fun around 7:30 Mountian time. Our first stop Crazy Horse Monument, this was a really neat place they are working on the monument that began in the 1940's it is not even close to being finished at this point. I have included pictues of the monument and the model sculpture that it is suposed to look like upon completion. The Mount Rushmore National Monument can fit under the chin of the Crazy Horse Monument....Amazing!
After Crazy horse we whent to Mount Rushmore, I have never been here before so it was exciting to me to see it. This is truely an awe inspiring site and human accomplishment.
The last scenic stop on this day's journey was the Devil's Tower National Monument, this is an amaizing view at the wonder that nature can create.
We stayed in Gillette and arived around 6:30 PM anouther long day for Toby but he is still a trooper.
Sunday.....Today My Mom's B-Day
GToay we had a short day we started out around 8:00 Am or so and drove through a really pretty pass that had views that seemed as if we were on top of the world at the highest elevation marker I noticed it read 9,430 feet.....WOW that's high.
We arrived at our destination of Cody Wyoming at around 1:00 PM we did some needed shopping and sightseeing. We toured an old trail town that had many neat features and history about it. Afterwards I took my mom out for diner and then it was to the hotel for relaxation.
Tomorrow........ON TO YELLOWSTONE!
I will not update until we return home.
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