This morning we woke up to another beautiful day.  Today we were packing up and going to the next tourist trap… Wall Drug. Before we left, Jonathan fried us up some delicious eggs and bacon.

Goodbye, beloved Badlands!   Hello, Wall Drug!

You always have to stop at Wall Drug when you’re visiting South Dakota.  The first reason would be the numerous billboards along the highway on the way there.  The second I just learned on this visit- the history-which describes the billboards and free ice water.   You also can’t pass up the photo opps., and last but definitely not least in our book, donuts. YUM!

Then we had a beautiful drive toward the Black Hills and passed Mount Rushmore on our way to the campsite in Hill City.  It was a very big campground, more like a resort.  It had a water slide and splash pad, which were both closed for the season.  They also had a huge dirt pile with some Tonka trucks-very cool!

We set up and there was a little stream behind our campsite, so the kids played in it for a bit.  Then we went for a little dip in the pool.  The kids also wore off some energy at the playground.

After dinner we headed over to Mount Rushmore.  We took a few pictures and went and watched a documentary about it.  We went and picked up some ice cream to cool down and then took a walk on the nature trail.  It was about time for the evening program, so we found some seats.  The park ranger did her little schpiel and then we watched another documentary.  Then we sang the national anthem as the presidents were illuminated against the starry, night sky.  The ranger called for all the current and previous military personnel to come forward.  Then several of them lowered and folded the flag.

We headed back to camp and got ready for bed.  Jonathan drudgingly went off to do some more math, while we all went to sleep.