Blue hair for #3
This girl likes color! We dyed the ends of her hair dark blue today. It’s so dark it looks purple (like the last time we dyed it.) but trust me, it’s blue. And so are my hands – just a bit.
This girl likes color! We dyed the ends of her hair dark blue today. It’s so dark it looks purple (like the last time we dyed it.) but trust me, it’s blue. And so are my hands – just a bit.
Part two of the drive home. We left Mitchell and went to Sioux Falls to check out the Butterfly Gardens and Aquarium.
We grabbed a quick lunch and then drove to Marion to visit some of my extended family. It had been four years since our last trip to see them – Shecklet #4 was only a few months old and my cousin Josh was getting ready for his deployment. It was really good to spend time catching up with family. Hopefully it won’t be another four years until we can do it again.
Gassed up in Sioux Falls and heading home!
Loaded up and ready to make the two day trip back home!
Since we weren’t rushing to get to Mitchell, we drove back through the Badlands. This time we stopped and hiked on a different trail. Shecklets 1, 2, & 3 went with me on over half of the Notch Trail. We went as far as climbing the ladder before turning around. They’re not joking when they recommend hiking boots, which is part of the reason we turned back after reaching the top of the ladder.
On to Mitchell where we had dinner at The Depot, checked in to our hotel, watched the last half of Shrek, and went to bed.
Bear County was the first stop of many today. As we drove through the park we saw elk, mountain goats, bison, bobcats, wolves, and of course, bears.
After driving through the park, we walked the 1/4 mile trail and got to see badgers, a porcupine, lynx, skunk, groundhog, beavers and bear cubs. The cubs were my favorite – so mischievous and playful.
Lunch was at the Firehouse Brewery in downtown Rapid City.
We picked up a few bottles of Mythical Beast wine at the Firehouse Winery nextdoor before heading to our next tourist stop…Dinosaur Park.
And then a longer stop at Storybook Island. The Shecklets enjoyed running around and checking out all of the character statues and posing for pictures with many of them.
The rest of the day was spent at the water park connected to our hotel. Four and a half + hours of running around, climbing steps and flying down water slides makes for one tired bunch of Shecklets. (Each of then went down the red and blue toilet bowl at least one time with Jake – it was pretty amusing to watch!) Goodnight!