Vacation -- Finally!

Now that I'm finally getting around to making a vacation post, I think I'll just let the pictures do most of the talking...

Loved the airplane ride as long as he could look out the window.

Beautiful scenery in the Black Hills.

Custer State Park had a great wildlife drive...

...and the largest bison herd in the U.S.

These guys can stop traffic for quite some time.

We were amazed at how the landscape changes.

There were tons of prairie dog towns all along the loop.

Jacob was brave and checked out nearby Wind Cave, while mommy chickened out and stayed above ground.

Needles Highway in South Dakota has a few tight tunnels.  Somehow, this bus made it through.

Mt. Rushmore.  Pretty impressive to see up close.

We made sure we spent some time goofing around.

The Badlands in South Dakota -- dry, sparse, and not much happening.

Jacob LOVED the motorcycles he saw on this trip.  And he saw quite a few!

More wildlife -- bighorn sheep in the Badlands

We rode the steam train in Hill City, SD.  Jacob wasn't a huge fan of the train's whistle, but he loved the ride.

Rocky Mountain National Park also gave us some amazing sights.

It was cold and windy up there in the "alpine tundra" of the mountains.

We made a stop at the Alpine Visitor's Center in the park.

The elk weren't shy -- this one was right outside the back door of our cabin.

We took a few hikes in RMNP -- this was the Alberta Falls hike.

Jacob was most content when he was walking on his own.  He was a good little hiker!

At Alleuvian Fan in RMNP.  Jacob loved climbing on the rocks.

The Alleuvian Fan in RMNP



Yes, we have chipmunks back home, but none nearly this large and in charge.

Our last day -- we stopped in Golden, CO for the Coors Brewery tour.

 I'd call our trip a success.  Jacob did really well, considering we were so far from home, and two hours off his normal schedule.  We only had a few issues with him sleeping -- namely, he was up super early every morning.  But he was usually in a good mood; probably because he was spending so much time outside.  We had Erik's parents with us, which was also a huge help.  Now we need to start thinking about next year's trip...