almost 3000 miles!

Over Easter break, we took a little road trip.  Okay, a big road trip.  Mike, the two big kids, and myself ventured across the country.  We visited South Dakota and then on to Colorado.

We left late on a Tuesday night and drove straight through to South Dakota (with a couple potty stops along the way!)

We made it to to Badlands JUST in time to see the sunrise!

There were "BEWARE! Rattlesnakes!" signs everywhere!  The kids were convinced we'd see one (we didn't).

climbing around

Then it was on to Mt. Rushmore!

Then we went "panning" for gold.

We took a ride through Custer State Park along the Wildlife Loop.  It took hours and it was a very frightening ride (for me!)  Lots of loops, drop-offs, switchbacks while driving...I do NOT do well with those heights!  But we did see buffalo.

On Thursday morning we headed to Colorado.  Our first stop was Red Rocks Amphitheater. It is SO beautiful there!

Friday morning we went on a dinosaur hike near Red Rocks.

Here's a view of Red Rocks amphitheater from a distance.

Then we were off to Colorado Springs.  We stopped at Seven Falls. It was beautiful, but we were disappointed the trails were still closed for the season.  There were FOUR hundred steps to climb.  Mike and Kaycey did them all.  I did the top half, but shouldn't have!  SCARY.  Cal didn't do them, he doesn't do well with heights either!

Then we took the drive up to the summit of Pikes Peak.

Unfortunately, I got really sick on the way down (my friend is figuring it was altitude sickness.  It was like I was drunk.  It was awful!  I went to bed at 7:45pm.

Saturday morning we dropped Mike off at the airport.  He had to be back for work.  We decided on a whim to go to the Denver Zoo.  We are glad we did!  The zoo was awesome!

Cal got chased by a duck.  It was rather amusing.

Yes, that's snow : (  While it was 80 in Wisconsin, it snowed in Colorado Saturday night!

We went to a Colorado Rockies game on Sunday.  It was SO cold.  

It ended up pouring rain during the game.  Good thing we were under cover!

Here are the kids saying good bye to "Coco", my friend's dog.

There's Helene with the kiddos!

Helene and I

We then met Sarah and her Mom for lunch and to say good bye before heading home.  We only made it to North Platte, Nebraska that first day.  But the next day, Tuesday, I drove all the rest of the way home.  I was worried about the drive, doing it alone, but it went pretty well.  The kids are asking when we are going back : )