Week #2- South Dakota Trip

 Lyons Out West Trip- Week #2

Monday, June 26-  We drove to Spearfish Canyon.  We did the Bridal Veil Falls hike, Spearfish Falls hike and a 2 mile hike out and back to Roughlock Falls.  We saw amazing mountain goats on the cliffs, even in the road.  We drove to Devil's Tower in Wyoming and saw prairie dogs- lots of them.  We ate at Dairy Queen for dinner and dessert.

Tuesday, June 27-  We drove to Wind Cave National Park.  The boys took the Fairgrounds Cave Tour.  Lydia, Judah and I stayed above.  We saw bison and prairie dogs.  We drove through Custer State Park.  We saw burros and bison.  We enjoyed the drive through Needles Highway through all the rock spires.   We wanted to do the Cathedral Spires hike but didn't have enough time.  The boys loved climbing the rocks and we loved Sylvan Lake with all its beautiful rocks and outcroppings.  Dinner at Texas Roadhouse.

Wednesday, June 28-  We drove to Badlands National Park.  We went in the East entrance and enjoyed hiking the notch trail which was a neat trail with a ladder as well as some amazing views. We also did the door and window hike. The kids could have played on the rocks for hours. We stopped at a replica of a prairie homestead and took a picture quickly. We stopped at the visitor center and drove through the whole park and then ended with a stop at Wall Drug Store.  Dinner was leftovers and subs in our hotel and then swimming at night.

Thursday, June 29-  We drove from Rapid City to Walnut Grove, Minnesota and stopped at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum as well as saw the place where Plum Creek and their house was.  We got to Sartell, Minnesota around 5:30 and had dinner with Isaac and Christy Gould and spent the night with them.

Friday, June 30-  Drove from Sartell and saw Bethlehem Baptist Church and then Pepin, WI, Laura Ingalls Wilder place of birth.  We headed to Wisconsin Dells for the night and ate at MACS and walked downtown.  Stayed in Woodside Suites

Saturday, July 1- We had lunch in Hampshire, Il with my college friend Melissa and her family.  She even brought out her out west book to show the kids.  We headed to Chicago overnight at Embassy Suites.  We had a room on the 12th floor.  We walked to Navy Pier and had deep dish pizza at Dues.  Sadly we lost giraffe in the shuffle.  Poor Judah.  

Sunday, July 2-  We headed to Cincinnati