Heather – Page 17

Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument {South Dakota}

Aug 142015

Mount-Rushmore-Mt-tour

While we stayed up in Spearfish, South Dakota, we took a day trip down into the Black Hills to check out Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial. The drive from Spearfish to Mount Rushmore is about 70 miles (through Rapid City) and took us a little more than an hour to drive.

Mount-Rushmore-Memorial

The Mount Rushmore National Memorial does not have an admission cost – but you do have to pay for parking, which was about $11 for a car, motorcycle or RV (more for commercial vehicles). We went on a Thursday in late July and was shocked at how easy it was to park our big truck and after a very short walk, we were there!

Mt-Rushmore-Entrance-Flags

The entrance in the Mount Rushmore Memorial area is impressive – with flags from all 50 states, displayed alphabetically, while the presidents line the horizon.

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Family-friendly things to do near Spearfish, South Dakota

Aug 122015

As I mentioned in my post about the Spearfish KOA, we had the pleasure of being in Spearfish, South Dakota for nearly five days, which is a long time for us to stay in one particular spot. Spearfish has a small town feel but was still large enough to offer us interesting things to explore without venturing too far.

Here are a few of the family-friendly things we did near Spearfish:

We spent a full afternoon at the Spearfish Rec & Aquatics Center, less than a 5-minute drive from the Spearfish KOA. We found admission into the water park to be super affordable – just $32 for our whole family for the entire day!

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Spearfish KOA campsite review {South Dakota}

Aug 92015

Spearfish-South-Dakota-review

After a frustrating couple days with the broken fresh water tank, we were looking forward to getting to South Dakota and spending a few days at the Spearfish South Dakota KOA. I knew the minute we pulled into the Spearfish, South Dakota KOA campground that it was going to be a treat! As soon as I entered the lobby of the office we were greeted by Kim, one of the owners, checked-in and taken to our spot.

Spearfish-KOA-spot

We had a back-in spot near the end of a row. Lots of space to back-in, green grass, a fire pit and picnic table. We had plenty of room to park our truck – which can sometimes be a tricky thing with back-in spots. We were really pleased with the spacing of the spots – we felt like we had plenty of privacy and room between the other campers.

Spearfish-KOA_green-space

This campground is beautiful – it’s like camping in a backyard. Lots of green space, mature trees and beautiful grass. I talked with the groundskeeper and he has taken care of this RV park for 20+ years and you can tell he takes great pride in making the grounds look nice.

Spearfish-KOA-reviews-spacious-spots

The pull-thru spots are nice and long and could easily accompany bigger rigs. The fire pits are made with stone pavers and the picnic tables in great shape.

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Boondocking at Cabela’s. . . then a broken fresh water tank . . .

Aug 72015

Cabelas-Boondocking-Billings

After we left the Indian Fort Fish Access site we headed east to Billings, Montana. We didn’t plan to spend more than a night so we opted to boondock (camp overnight without hook-ups) in the Cabela’s parking lot.

Cabela’s is awesome in that most locations have trailer parking (read: big, long spots) along the side or in the back of the parking lot. You can park overnight for FREE in Cabela’s parking lots as long as you’re just staying a night. You don’t put up the awnings, pull out the lawn chairs and set up shop, you just use it as a stop gap between locations. We don’t even feel comfortable unhitching the trailer – although some people do.

Due to limited space – it was a popular place – we ended up parking right next to the horse stalls (yes, they have “parking” for horses, too), which meant our spot was a bit more fragrant than most. It was hot and humid – and when you’re not plugged into electricity you can’t use your air conditioner.

Cabelas-Aquarium

We spent some time browsing in Cabelas (air conditioning and a cool aquarium!) and we bought some fudge. If you buy something inside Cabela’s you get a secret code to use the dump and water station – without the $5 fee. I’d rather buy fudge than pay the dumping fee. 🙂

Billings-park-near-Cabelas

At one point, we walked to a nearby neighborhood park to get some wiggles out. The kids loved this merry go round – I haven’t seen these on a playground in ages! We all hopped on and got the dizzy giggles.

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Dry camping at Indian Fort Fishing Access campground {Montana}

Aug 52015

Montana-Fish-Access-Camping

After leaving Bozeman we headed east toward Billings. We try to drive no more than 2.5 – 3 hours between stops – both for our sanity and our kids. The drive all the way between Bozeman and Billings was a bit long, so we knew we wanted to stop somewhere in between. We had spent so much on expensive campgrounds the first part of July that we really wanted to try more boondocking – or camping without water and electricity – in more primitive spots. This has the advantage of being much cheaper, but also, the atmosphere far surpasses being in a private RV campground.

Montana-Fish-Access-Sites-Locate

Montana has something called Fishing Access Sites – and many of them offer overnight camping for a nominal fee – like $8-$15/night! At Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park we found a copy of this Montana Fishing Access Field Guide and it was incredibly useful for finding locations that allow overnight camping.

About halfway between Bozeman and Billings there is a sweet little spot on the Yellowstone River called Indian Fort Fishing Access point, near Reed, Montana. It’s right off I-90 and had very easy access with our trailer. Cost was $12/night (without a fishing license) and it’s first-come, first-serve spots. I admit – I was nervous driving into the campground, thinking the place would either be abandoned in a creepy way or filled with creepy people. I didn’t know what to expect, but we agreed to drive through and evaluate it before making the decision on whether to stay or not.

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Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument {South Dakota}

Family-friendly things to do near Spearfish, South Dakota

Spearfish KOA campsite review {South Dakota}

Boondocking at Cabela’s. . . then a broken fresh water tank . . .

Dry camping at Indian Fort Fishing Access campground {Montana}

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