Monday, August 6, 2012

RV'in at Rushmore



Jason's dream come true.  He has been wanting to rent an RV and take the family on the road, and the Mauger's invitation to see Mt. Rushmore was the perfect excuse.  

Never did we expect a trip to North Dakota would include alligators, a flood, bears and 100 stitches.











Gideon in his ride.



Papa Ed is the most patient person I know.  He is always willing to take a minute and let the kids ask tons of questions.  He just keeps answering and seems to enjoy the one-on-one time.  I could certainly take a lesson from him.


You just gotta kiss at Mt. Rushmore!


"The Eye of the Needle"


The evening program was informative and inspiring.  Yes, I cried......are you shocked?



I thought Bear County USA may be hokey, but I must say, it was fabulous...




 ....especially the baby bears.




Here is some of the gang, standing vertically, whilst in vertigo at the Cosmos.  This place trips you out.  Water runs uphill and you quickly loose your confidence in your understanding of physics.



Sugared-up Posterity.  



Another potential dud, was Reptile Garden.  It turned out to be one of the highlights.  The Garden's were unique and gorgeous.
The Crocodile show, however, stole the day!!!  This guy truly was in danger.  He just kept on educating us on how to wrestle and aligator, even though this giant Croc was inching closer and closer.  It finally did lunge and he got away by inches!!!  There is no way this guy makes enough money for what he does.






A quick stop to cool off turned into a major event.





Knowing that his State swim meet was the next week, Jaxen took a GIANT lap across the lake.




As if there was ever a doubt, Papa Ed once again confirmed himself as the coolest grandpa ever.  It truly was nail bitter watching him help Elijah up the rock.

After a pep-talk, Elijah took the plunge!






Next thing you knew, everyone (except Mom) was upping the anti.







 Due to a torrential rain storm, our tent camping compadres had a sleep over the last night.




On a sad note.  While we were gone, my poor mom fell.  She was reaching to turn on the hose to water my plants when she lost her balance and went head first into the bricks.  She needed 100 stitches, and due to her allergy to local anesthetic, she did it all by self hypnosis.  The ER doc gave her the "Animal Award" for the night.   Never a dull moment with this bunch.






2 comments:

maugers said...

Those cosmos pictures make it look so weird! And we did have the same cute alligator wrestler :) Good pictures, thanks for posting!

Tasha said...

What an amazing trip and beaitiful country! I would have cried too at the presentation, I am sure! That turtle was something else! So sad for your mom! There's no way I could have done that, they would have had to put me out!
Hope the rest of your summer was great!