Little Road Trip Part 2

It's official we are on to Mt. Rushmore!

When you get there, this is the first view you have.  All the state flags are flying with the year each state was created, and the order each became a state. 

 Walk through all the state flags, and this view opens up...

It's worth stopping and taking a long look!

We then took the Presidential tour to get a closer look.  Finally we visited the Sculptor's Studio, which was information on the architect that developed this National Monument.  After a couple of hours, we were on our way for our one night layover in Rapid City, SD.  With a little pool time at the hotel, we were ready for bed!

Next day on to Devil's Tower in Wyoming, with a brief drive through Sturgis, just because you can! :)

 There is a trail that takes you around the whole monument, and I was surprised how different all the sides of it looked!

Perfect shot with the flag.

Of course you can't go to a national monument without holding it up.

One of the best road trips in recent memory.  Any ideas where our next road trip should be?

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Little Road Trip Part 1

This is the summer of the road trip!  With no major vacations planned this summer, the short trips are what we are doing.  We just finished up a trip to visit Mt. Rushmore, and with a brief layover in Rapid City, SD, we headed up to take a tour of Devil's Tower in Wyoming.  We had a great time, and enjoyed our short two day road trip, with a final stop at our place in Wyoming for the weekend.
We chose to go through Custer State Park, and take the Needles highway, which is a scenic route that boasts beautiful views, great wildlife viewing, and at times a one lane road through the rocks.

One of the many wildlife spottings we had. 

 View of one of the one lane tunnels we went through.

 View of the "needles" in the background,  plus hubby and the kids!

One of the smallest and most narrow tunnels to travel through, our car barely fit.

We also stopped at Sylvan Lake after we passed through the needles cause we needed to get out of the car.

Great view of the lake with the kids and I. 

 Another little wildlife siting.

 After we walked around a small portion of the lake, we took a hop, skip, and jump on these stones to view this...

Hard to argue with the beauty of this break from the car!
Finally we had our fill with our exploration at Sylvan Lake, and on we were to Mt. Rushmore.
With part 2 on the way, where are places you like to take a quick road trip to?

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Happy 4th of July

We have started a tradition for the last several years of spending the 4th of July in Wyoming at our place at the Flying X Ranch, which is just outside of Wheatland, WY.  We have been partners to the ranch for many years, but it has only been within the last four or five years that we started going to the fireworks show in Wheatland.  Because fireworks are legal in Wyoming, we are able to buy some and set them off near the Platte County Fairgrounds, and then you sit back and watch the fireworks show at dusk.  It's the closest we've ever been to the main fireworks display, and the experience in next to none.

 

We'll call this the sparkler dance! :)

We just park on the side of the road right next to the Platte County Fairgrounds, and light off sparklers and other fireworks.

The best experience and 4th of July tradition.  Where are some of the places you go to have the best 4th of July experience?

Happy Summer

-K-

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Adventure Mondays

My kids and I needed a little bit more structure entering into this summer.  It was apparent last summer that this was the case with fights, screaming, and boredom all mixed it, it was not fun.  Very opposite of what summer is supposed to be like.  So we created a rough schedule of weekly activities and planned weekends that we could count on for a better and fun filled summer. The first day of the week is adventure Mondays. This was the first adventure Monday of the summer season as they were in camp the first two weeks of summer break (We have clearly been busy, and needed a couple of weeks to get this posted).  We decided to bike in the mountains.  We left our house bright and early at 8 am, and left for beautiful Frisco, CO. There is a trail that goes from Frisco to Copper Mountain, and is about 6.2 miles in length.  I have done a 10k race, Run the Rockies, that takes you down that trail which is frequented by bikers, runners, and hikers a like.

We decided that the up hill portion of our bike tour should be first, after a long, fun filled day, the downhill portion would be fun to finish up with.  

The uphill portion was tough, but my 11 and 9 year old kiddos both made it up, and were pretty proud they did.  The first thing we did when we got to Copper Mountain was go to the zip line.  This was to be our first zip line experience, while not huge, it was just perfect for us newbies to try.

 Clearly one was more excited than the other!

Right next to the zip line was a donut shop that the kids begged me to go into.  Sugar Lips Mini Donuts was a great little place to stop into for a quick sugar lift.  

We had the fun fancy schmancy toppings like smores, peanut caramel and chocolate, plus so many more to choose from.  It was definitely worth the stop.

Next on to the chair lift.  We took the American Eagle lift up, which was fun to see in the summer without most of the snow.  If you spend $10 anywhere in the Copper Village you get a free lift ride up and down the American Eagle chair lift.  

A little hiking at the top of the lift.

Hard to beat that view!

 

"Who needs chairs this big" quote from the little people!

Last, but certainly not least was a little rock climbing.
All and all we had the best day, the bike back down to Frisco was certainly faster and more fun than the uphill.  Definitely a trek worth taking.  Not too expensive, with each adventure costing $10, and we got some exercise in as well.

Happy Adventuring
-K- 

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