Family Vacation 2013

In the early morning hours of Friday, June 28^th, we packed up our family for our first real family vacation. We had a week of traveling ahead of us, a cooler full of food and drinks, and an adventurous spirit. Out itinerary was loose, but featured plenty of action to keep us all busy for the next week.  We began by driving to Aurora, NE where we would cross off one of our GPP 2013 stops. After a fun break there, we drove to North Platte, where we visited Lake Maloney and hit another GPP stop. The girls cooled off with a dip in the lake before we headed to our final destination on the first day of our trip, Lake McConaughy.

After spending our first night in a tent at Lake McConaughy, we drove to Chimney Rock.  We enjoyed this piece of both Nebraska and America’s history before following the road to Scottsbluff/Gering (another GPP) and enjoying some more of Nebraska’s natural beauty. After a brief visit there, we headed north to Fort Robinson (GPP) where we camped for a second night.

The next morning brought another early rise as we packed up our campsite, did a little fishing, then headed for Rapid City, SD. There we met Papa’s family for a stay in a cabin near Lead after a quick trip to Dinosaur Park.

The following day, we began with a trip to Mount Rushmore, the Cosmos Mystery Area, and Thunderhead Falls. Papa’s siblings enjoyed a night of gambling in Deadwood, but we were all so tired that everyone was in bed with lights out by 10. The next morning a few of our party went to Sturgis to check out the Full Throttle Saloon before we met back up at Storybook Island, followed by Reptile Gardens. Some of the group went to check out Crystal Caverns before heading back to the cabin. Our last night at the cabin was fairly uneventful.

When we woke on July 3^rd, we cleaned up the cabin and headed back to Papa’s hometown of Atkinson. It was a 6 hour drive and we lost an hour (time-zones), so the trip took most of the day, but we still arrived in time for Family Fun Night in neighboring Stuart. We stayed the last night of our vacation at Grandma and Grandpa’s home.

The next morning we went to the Stuart 4th ofJuly parade where the girls enjoyed getting candy, Popsicles, and other goodies. We ate a picnic lunch in the park with Grandma’s extended family before heading back to home sweet home. In all our trip took us over 1,380 miles, over 25 hours in the car, and across 2 states. We had an incredible time and hope that the memories that we made will live with us for years, or at least that this entry will help us to remember.