1 Down, 26 to Go!
We added a last minute road trip to Rocky Mountain National Park on to our trip to South Dakota for a wedding. Thankfully we had our 4th Grader and her Every Kid Outdoors Parks Pass with us!
Rocky Mountain NP was the farthest northeastern park we had planned to visit this summer and when we ended up just an hour and half away we had to make it happen. We now have only 26 National Parks to left to hit on our list.
For the wedding we were attending in South Dakota, we flew into Denver and stayed the night. The next morning I rode the shuttle to the airport and picked up the rental car while everyone else took a dip in the pool.
We then headed north and stopped at the store just outside the Rocky NP in Estes Park, CO. This is where I discovered that there is now this wonderful thing called “timed entry” into all the most popular national parks. The ladies behind us in the line at the store were commenting that they only had 15 minutes to get into the park. So I asked them about that. I was a little nervous because I couldn’t figure out how to even get a reservation on my phone so we decided to chance it and see if we could get in.
Thankfully we found a wonderful gate ranger that explained the timed entry to us and let us in. Our fourth grader got her official pass and we headed up to over 12,000 feet!
We took the Trail Ridge Road to Fairview Curve before we turned around and head back the way we came.
We live at sea level…no wonder I couldn’t breathe!
We went even higher, up past 12,000 feet, and I almost hyperventilated just walking across the parking lot!
The views were amazing, but the altitude really got to us. By the end of our time up at the top I felt like my brain was being compressed in my head. We were also very unprepared for the difference in the weather. We had packed for high 70’s and it was FREEZING and the wind didn’t help. But all in all it was well worth it to go see Rocky Mountain NP!
Once we left Rocky we headed North to Keystone South Dakota for the next night. For most of the drive it was pitch black and very few towns. To keep us entertained, we counted deer along the side of the road. We counted 53 from Cheyenne to Keystone, and those are only the ones we could see next to the road.
Being in Keystone, SD of course we had to pop in to say hello to George, Thom, Theo, and Abe the next day!
Our hotel was only 2 miles from Mt. Rushmore. Mt. Rushmore doesn’t actually accept the 4th grader park pass, because Mt. Rushmore is actually free, you just have to pay for the parking. Thankfully parking is only $10.
This was our family’s second trip to Rushmore, but the last time we were here it was closed just past the gift shop so we couldn’t get very close. It was a lot more fun this time.
