Welcome to South Dakota! Great Faces! Great Places!
Our South Dakota adventure started in Sioux Falls. We stayed with Diane, a college friend of ours. A really neat thing that happened while we were there, is that another college friend of ours, Kurt, and his family were passing through Sioux Falls at the same time. They were moving back to MN from CA, where they had lived for the past 2 years.
Diane had an awesome supper ready for all of us when we arrived within 5 minutes of each other.
Kurt & Kim Linn, Diane Drefs, & us
~~~
The next morning we went to the motel where Kurt & Kim were staying and the kids had a blast swimming in the pool and hanging out together.
Kurt & Kim headed out for MN and we met up with another college friend, Nyla, and her family, for lunch and some time at a local park.
Dave & Nyla and their four girls
~~~
Later that afternoon, the Cooley Clan & Diane headed for a water park.
This great water park is out in the middle of nowhere near Sioux Falls.
Check out the drop on those two slides in the background. A person can catch air when they go down them. I stayed with the tube slide next to it, but Dennis & 3 of the kids went down at least one of the "scary" slides.
There were lots of fun things to do at the water park.
Walking the lily pads was a fun challenge.
We had a wonderful time in Sioux Falls with Diane and seeing a lot of great folks.
Karen & Diane at Falls Park.
~~~
After a day filled with fun, we hit the road on July 1st to head to the other side of the State.
A person really shouldn't travel across I 90 without stopping by the Corn Palace in Mitchell. The Corn Palace is an amazing building when you look at all the murals that are created using corn, flax, and other grains.
After a quick stop in Mitchell, we scooted on our way.
All Kimball descendants need to have their picture taken near Kimball, SD.
~~~
The Badlands National Park was our next adventure.
What an incredible place! We loved the unique land formations and beautiful colors that surrounded us in that National Park.
Signs like this one kept us all on the designated paths.
It was amazing to see this beauty. It was also nice and hot. We had been having cooler temps in previous visiting places. This place was in the 90's, but it was very dry. It was weird to have it that hot, but not really sweat--it was too dry, no humidity.
As soon as we were out of the Badlands, we headed for Wall Drug to get our free water. They have improved that place a great deal in recent years. There is now a "Backyard" that has lots of fun things for kids to do. These are all free and makes it much more worth your stopping time.
Here we are drinking our free water. Dennis even got a couple cups of 5 cent coffee.
We couldn't resist this "White Rabbit" picture ~ especially since it was July 1st when we were at Wall Drug.
~~~
We arrived in Keystone, SD that evening. We stayed with my houseparents from boarding school, Vic & Barbara Reffey. It was so much fun to see them again.
We headed up to Mt. Rushmore that evening to take in the lighting ceremony. We were really glad we did because the next day was rainy and cold and when we did go up to see the Presidents, they were wet and foggy.
This was the best picture we got of the Presidents. The next day it looked like Washington was crying and had a runny nose and it looked like Lincoln had a bloody nose. Granite doesn't look nice when wet.
However, despite the cold temps (55-60 degrees), we enjoyed a beautiful drive through the Black Hills National Forest and through Custer State Park.
Here is one of the many narrow tunnels that we went through in the Black Hills. I'm glad we weren't driving anything bigger than our van on those steep, curvy, mountain roads. As it was, I thought I'd need blood pressure meds before the drive was through.
This is Needle's Eye Formation. It is one of the thousands of unique rock formations in the Black Hills. Fascinating!!
Custer State Park was filled with tons of wild animals ~ bison, elk, pronghorns, whitetail deer, and donkeys, to name a few. It was a fun drive. I'll share some animal pictures in a later post.
~~~
South Dakota is a widely varied State. From the flat lands to the mountains; it is all beautiful!
Diane had an awesome supper ready for all of us when we arrived within 5 minutes of each other.
Kurt & Kim Linn, Diane Drefs, & us~~~
The next morning we went to the motel where Kurt & Kim were staying and the kids had a blast swimming in the pool and hanging out together.
Kurt & Kim headed out for MN and we met up with another college friend, Nyla, and her family, for lunch and some time at a local park.
Dave & Nyla and their four girls~~~
Later that afternoon, the Cooley Clan & Diane headed for a water park.
This great water park is out in the middle of nowhere near Sioux Falls.Check out the drop on those two slides in the background. A person can catch air when they go down them. I stayed with the tube slide next to it, but Dennis & 3 of the kids went down at least one of the "scary" slides.
There were lots of fun things to do at the water park.Walking the lily pads was a fun challenge.
We had a wonderful time in Sioux Falls with Diane and seeing a lot of great folks.
Karen & Diane at Falls Park.~~~
After a day filled with fun, we hit the road on July 1st to head to the other side of the State.
A person really shouldn't travel across I 90 without stopping by the Corn Palace in Mitchell. The Corn Palace is an amazing building when you look at all the murals that are created using corn, flax, and other grains. After a quick stop in Mitchell, we scooted on our way.
All Kimball descendants need to have their picture taken near Kimball, SD.~~~
The Badlands National Park was our next adventure.
What an incredible place! We loved the unique land formations and beautiful colors that surrounded us in that National Park.
Signs like this one kept us all on the designated paths.
It was amazing to see this beauty. It was also nice and hot. We had been having cooler temps in previous visiting places. This place was in the 90's, but it was very dry. It was weird to have it that hot, but not really sweat--it was too dry, no humidity.
As soon as we were out of the Badlands, we headed for Wall Drug to get our free water. They have improved that place a great deal in recent years. There is now a "Backyard" that has lots of fun things for kids to do. These are all free and makes it much more worth your stopping time.
Here we are drinking our free water. Dennis even got a couple cups of 5 cent coffee.
We couldn't resist this "White Rabbit" picture ~ especially since it was July 1st when we were at Wall Drug.~~~
We arrived in Keystone, SD that evening. We stayed with my houseparents from boarding school, Vic & Barbara Reffey. It was so much fun to see them again.
We headed up to Mt. Rushmore that evening to take in the lighting ceremony. We were really glad we did because the next day was rainy and cold and when we did go up to see the Presidents, they were wet and foggy.
This was the best picture we got of the Presidents. The next day it looked like Washington was crying and had a runny nose and it looked like Lincoln had a bloody nose. Granite doesn't look nice when wet.
However, despite the cold temps (55-60 degrees), we enjoyed a beautiful drive through the Black Hills National Forest and through Custer State Park.
Here is one of the many narrow tunnels that we went through in the Black Hills. I'm glad we weren't driving anything bigger than our van on those steep, curvy, mountain roads. As it was, I thought I'd need blood pressure meds before the drive was through.
This is Needle's Eye Formation. It is one of the thousands of unique rock formations in the Black Hills. Fascinating!!
Custer State Park was filled with tons of wild animals ~ bison, elk, pronghorns, whitetail deer, and donkeys, to name a few. It was a fun drive. I'll share some animal pictures in a later post.~~~
South Dakota is a widely varied State. From the flat lands to the mountains; it is all beautiful!
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