7/24/13

The Great American Road Trip {Day 2}

Day 2 started E.A.R.L.Y.

Not by choice! Remember from the end of Day 1 when we had the discussion about the sleeping arrangements and P fell out of the bed? Well he was no more comfortable at 5:41 a.m. when he woke us all up complaining about his lack of space.

By 7:15 we were loaded up and headed for fuel, coffee, Dr. Pepper and donuts!!

Now, part of The Great American Road Trip involved getting off the beaten path when possible and seeing the country. Interstates are only our friends if we know we'll be making a visit to a hotel, or on the way home :)

By 9:00 am we had reached a sign that clearly was intended to warn us of the stretch we were embarking on...NEXT STOP 67 MILES! {oh and Jeremy doesn't slow down or stop for many photo ops during road trip, so you'll have to take my word for it!} Doesn't sound much different than where we live right? Well I will tell you that more than once Jeremy or I remarked how desolate and remote this area was. But it was probably some of the more beautiful scenery on our entire trip. Along this strip of highway...if you can call it that...parts were definitely not well maintained...we reached South Dakota.

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^The kids thought if we straddled the sign we were in both states at the same time...why not?^

More driving and driving and driving...until we finally reached the Badlands. We drove through the Badlands National Park. We took the Badlands Loop Road entering through Interior, SD and ending up in Wall, SD.

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{Photo credit: CJS}

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After we got into Wall we found a cafe to have lunch at...nothing special...overpriced...but we had full bellies when we left!

Then it was on to Wall Drug. "Established in 1931, this family business is known for its friendly service and for offering free drinking water to travelers."

We had to take a few tourist-y photos as we strolled along!

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Jeremy found an Indian Museum to keep himself busy while Westynn and I found a bathroom and did a little shopping. We found a "W" western belt buckle for him and he hasn't taken it off since...I really need to get a close up photo. You'll see him wearing it in later days.

I tortured Preston with a selfie!

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After our purchases it was back in the car and on to Rapid City, the second largest city in SD, to be our home base for the rest of our time in SD. More pool time for us...Jeremy even got in the water!! It must be vacation!

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We were good and worn out and our skin was wrinkled when we finally called it a day and headed to bed!



2 comments:

Jenna said...

Westynn's face in that last picture is PRICELESS!!

Melanie said...

I remember going on a similar vacation when I was a kid. .That is also on my bucket list of things I want to do with the kids. .head north and then over to yellowstone. .So far I can't get MY Jeremy to excited to ride with 4 kids for that long. .I will start hounding again, if by the end of your posts I see that YOUR Jeremy survived!!