Before leaving Colorado, I spent a couple of days scouring all of the possible places we might have left the National Park pass Chris had bought when he went biking in Moab. We thought that maybe we could use it at some of the sites we visited. I looked everywhere I could think of. Some places twice and three times, but no such luck. We left home thinking it was just a lost cause. I was looking through my back pack at the hotel on Tuesday morning to make sure I had everything I needed when lo and behold, I found the National Park pass in one of the pockets. Miracle. Turns out we couldn't use it for much, but at least we found it.
Chris had us all up early so we could go to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Visitor Center in order to get tickets to be able to tour the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site at a different location later in the day. Tours are held all day long every half hour. Only 6 people are allowed on each tour and people begin lining up before 8 am in order to get tickets. The visitor center is a lone building in the middle of nowhere.
We left the hotel at 7:10 am after breakfast at the Hilton Garden Inn in Rapid City. Before leaving the house in Colorado, Kristen had printed off a license plate tracker form and every one got involved in seeking out the license plates of the United States. We noted the license plates from a few Canadian provinces as well. South Dakota was a perfect place to play this game because of all the visitors coming to see Mt. Rushmore.
We arrived at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Visitor Center shortly after 8 am. We missed out on the mad rush to get early tickets, but got a perfect time of 3 pm that allowed us to explore Badlands National Park, follow the loop through the park around to Wall Drug in Wall, SD for lunch, and end up close to the missile tour site. We watched a short video about the missiles before heading out. Kristen picked up the Junior Ranger packet and was able to get her Minuteman Missile badge before leaving.
Similar to Colorado, South Dakota has had a lot of rain this summer. It resulted in lush, green rolling hills in the middle of July and was so beautiful. We drove to Badlands National Park. We stopped first at viewing spot on the side of the road and climbed out of the van for our first good look at the Badlands.
The Badlands Wall was our second stop and offered more area to explore. It was rather hot, but the girls were anxious to climb around on the rocks. I had fun taking pictures of all of their adventures.
We quickly saw that the prairie dog was much more of an exciting spectacle than we consider it at home. They had prairie dog towns and figurines and magnets. Seriously, we are missing the boat at Pelican Shores. We could be making money off these little plague-carrying pests.
We continued to meander through the park and stopped at the visitor center close to the end of our trail. Kristen was quick to ask about their Junior Ranger program and got started. Their program was a little more involved and required that she sit through a presentation about the animals native to the area. The kids in the presentation participated in a guessing game about "What Animal Are You?" Can you guess what Kristen's animal was? Yep, the prairie dog. She scored not only her Badlands National Park pin but also an iron-on patch.
We stopped at Wall Drug. It was crazy busy. We looked around a few of the shops, but as it was lunch time and the peeps were hungry, we made our way through the craziness of the cafeteria. Of course, we all had the free Wall Drug ice water.
We stopped for some ice cream at Dairy Queen after perusing a few more shops.
Since we had a few minutes to spare, we stopped first at the D9 missile site which was a missile that was open to view. It wasn't too far to the D1 site where we would have our tour. I think I would not enjoy being a missileer and having to sit underground for 24 hr shifts.
D9 Missile Site
D1 Missile Site
After each shift, the missileers (those responsible for firing missiles) were given lighter fluid to burn their top secret codes and documents in that BBQ looking thing.
After the tour, we drove back to Rapid City. We stopped at Target for some snacks and bottled water and then at Scheels for a water pouch for the Camelback. The pouch we had in it had lost the mouth piece and would have been useless.
We toured around Rapid City and stopped at a park when the girls spied a cool play ground. Yes, it was designed for my older girls as well. Chris occupied himself reading about the Berlin wall pieces that were featured in the park along with tank traps used in the war.
I walked over the the playground with the girls. They had fun on the teeter totter, the merry go round, and spinny make-yourself-dizzy toys.
And then came the rain. It was pretty gentle at first, but we were quick to head back to the rental van and Chris. Except that when we got back to where both of them should have been, Chris and the van were gone. Chris had tried to find a spot closer to where we were on the playground.. We took refuge under a tree to get out of the rain and waited for him to come back.
On The Border was the restaurant of choice for the evening. We were all tired and thirsty from a long, hot day and kept the waitress busy filling our glasses. Once we returned to the hotel, Amy and Kristen donned swimming suits and headed to the pool. The rest of us vegged.