Day 2: New City, New Hotel, Same Room Number

We have completed our trek across the great state of South Dakota and arrived at the gateway of the Black Hills, better known as Rapid City. To get here, we stopped at the Badlands and that mecca of tourist traps, Wall Drug. Here are today’s highlights:

9:55 AM – We get a later than expected start due to an slow iPod application update. We did have a great breakfast at the Oasis Inn including make-your-own waffles - more accurately, Mom makes the waffles. Even after yesterday’s frustration with the GPS, we decide to trust it again. It is, afterall, a new toy. We are a bit skeptical after it estimates we will arrive at the Badlands in about 35 minutes. Jon calculates we would need to drive around 400 mph’s in order to accomplish this.

11:00 AM (10:00 AM Mt Time) – We pass into a new time zone. Our trust is re-established in our GPS and its estimated arrival time.

10:45 AM – Gas/pit stop. Sticker shock at the gas price. And who knew gas stations could have prairie dog colonies? After giggles and pictures of the prairie dogs, we continue on the Badlands

10:55 AM – Badlands ROCK!!!! The kids enjoy the amazing view and unique geography. Connor makes it his mission to climb out to every point possible, giving his Mom a bit of a heart attack. He also discovers the only mud for miles. Both Jon and I climb up to some points to see the view. Mother Nature makes some amazing scenery. The kids rave about the awesomeness of the Badlands.

11:20 AM – Katrina tires of the scenery. She begins to review the pictures on her digital camera. Soon, the rest of the family begins to loss interest as well. It’s still pretty spectacular and everyone agrees – very worth the trip.

1:00 PM – Wall Drug! Our trusty GPS leads us on a very backroads route, but we find a parking spot right outside entrance #3. We see the cowboy band and other mannequins performing songs. Katrina decides they are creepy. Connor finds a rattle snake ocharina and South Dakota themed rubik’s cube. Score for him. Katrina wants a cowgirl holster/gun set. I say we can find that anywhere. She settles for a bike license plate with Wall Drug. We see the back alley including the dancing water, jack-alope, and the T-Rex. Connor and Jon decide the T-Rex is lame; Katrina wants stay another 12 minutes to see it again. She’s out voted. Since we haven’t had lunch, I request (OK, demand) something to eat. Lunch today is homemade ice cream at Wall Drug. YUMMO!!! I tell the kids that’s one of the coolest parts of vacations – we can have ice cream for lunch. Wall Drug gets eight thumbs up.

2:00 PM – We set off for Rapid City. We are pleasantly surprised to see it’s not a long trek. Man, there are a lot of RV’s towing cars and cows. The terrain is changing. I point out the Black Hills to the kids. They are unimpressed and continue watching their electronics.

2:40 PM – We check into our hotel. They give us the same room number as the hotel last night – 209. I’m sure this has some significance in numerology, but we all think it’s just a cool coincidence. The kids think the hotel is awesome, mostly because the pool is bigger. We unload and relax a bit. Katrina is so excited to be here she can hardly contain herself. In other words, she is literally bouncing around the room.

4:00 PM – No lunch – we’ll all hungry. We jump into the van to make a quick stop at Target to pick up some toiletries and snacks. Jon discovers he has left his wallet in the hotel, so we stop back there before heading to an early dinner (which to us, feel pretty much on-time). Our trusty GPS (I’ll call her Betty) leads us to a great, local Chinese buffet. Yummy.

5:45 PM – We get back to the hotel. Swimming is on the minds of the children. I change into my suit as well. The pool is FIGID. After about 15 minutes, most of which is spent in the hot tub, Connor announces he is done swimming. Trina and I swim for about another 40 minutes before moving to the hot tub. Katrina notes a weird yellow-looking film on the top of some of the bubbles. She concocts a story about a baby who peed in the hot tub. I tell her that’s really gross. We head back to the room. After showers and the discovery of fresh cookies in the lobby, we veg in the room.

Tomorrow, we hope to visit Reptile Gardens and Mt Rushmore before moving to Hill City, which will be our headquarters for the rest of our stay.