My mom always said little can teach a person more than a vacation. It’s true. Whether if you stay in a tent or at the Waldorf, eat lobster or hot dogs, sometimes it’s not about the money you spend, but the memories you make. 

We try to take a couple every year. One with the kids and one without. This year we took MiMi, Ben’s mom, with us and chose the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Keep in mind, I don’t know anything about anything. But, I have done a few vacations on a one-income, shoestring budget, so I’ll share what I do.

Whether it’s garden’s or trips to the store, I always have a plan. The planning starts right after you Pick a family friendly destination. We are into the great outdoors, so we picked a place where you could do lots of stuff outside.

We drive instead of fly. It saves money and sometimes the drive is as good as the stay if you stop and smell the roses along the way.

We drove through the Badlands loop, you can’t see THAT from a plane or from I-90, for that matter.

Do some area history recon.We researched the area pretty well and knew Dances With Wolves was filmed in the area, as was National Treasure II. So we were able to see some of the areas that were actually in the movie and talk about the Native Americans that were in the area prior to America being settled. We even drove through the Rosebud Indian Reservation.

Barney was a little nervous and on the lookout for wild Indians living in tipis. He was worried about getting scalped at every turn or at least eaten by a mountain lion. It’s fun drama like this that makes road trips fun.

In the end…the only Native Americans we saw was this one…cross-eyed just like some of the old pictures you see.

Some how, I don’t think she’s real. 

But, the laughs and fun were real at Wall Drug. A drug store that offered weary travelers free ice water in the 30’s.

It’s the best stop between Rapid City and Chicago. They still serve free water, five cent coffee and I hear they have the best pancake syrup around too.

Road trips are tiring. When you are thinking of a place to crash…

choose housing that fits your needs and budget.

Now that we are debt free, we have moved up from tenting to cabins. Keep in mind there is nothing wrong with a tent, budget motel rooms, RVs or camping cabins. You just have to do what fits your budget and style.

 We saved money by cooking in the kitchenette or on the grill.

We chose breakfast in everyday. It was relaxing to drink coffee on the porch every morning. To save even more you could pack a lunch or trail mix and grill out for supper while the kids swim in the pool.

Our cabin was wonderful, quiet and centrally located.

 In the mornings we could hear Elk bugling. At night there was s’mores and a hot tub, if we weren’t too exhausted.

$$$We saved 30% by offering to pay in cash and asking for a DEAL. This works good for mom and pop operations, saving them the cost of credit card fees. CHA-Ching.$$$

After a good nights sleep we were ready for some rock climbing along Needles Highway in Custer State Park.

This is a picture of the Needles Eye. Wonder why they call it that?

It was a little foggy that first day of rock climbing, but not a deal killer.

Sylvan Lake, also in Custer State Park, was breath taking.

National Treasure Book Of Secrets was filmed there. We looked for that white eagle on the rock, but couldn’t find it so we went on a hike.

This is one of many natural waterfalls in the area. Or was it a giant crack behind Mount Rushmore? Shucks, I can’t remember.

Speaking of Mount Rushmore, what a cool place.

There’s a couple places you need to go, as an American. Rushmore is one of them. Washington D.C. is another. (But that’s another story.)

At Rushmore you get schooled in the wonderful works of these fine men. Like Abe was the 16th President.

You can even pick a famous person’s nose…

After you get all learned up and intelligent, you can pick the part of the mountain you want to blow up, poke the button, and push down on the plunger detonator thingy and watch it blow. The kids loved it (so did their parents.) A fun way to learn history.

Another great money saving tip is take your own bike, canoe, fishing poles, snorkels, or whatever other useful items that are expensive to rent.

On this trip we bought gold pans, instead of paying ten bucks a person to do it for 30 minutes. With our gold pans in hand, we stopped at every stream and fished, panned, and climbed on rocks.

The kids were all giddy and excited about how RICH we were going to be when we struck gold.

I hated to ruin the fun and tell them that we are already rich.

We’re just lacking GOLD..or not.

Speaking of gold…find coupons for the area.We had the opportunity to buy a coupon book for the Black Hills, but didn’t. There are plenty of coupon resources online, and chamber of commerce offices where you are going love to give away that kind of stuff. If all else fails ask for a discount. You would be surprised how often then will let a kid in free or for half price, if you just ask.

We had to go to Reptile Gardens (because we found an awesome coupon online) and to see the snake show. It was a litte intense. (Sorry, I was scared and didn’t take any pictures except at the end.)

The gator show was funny and exciting too. That was my favorite part of Reptile Gardens.

Fluffy, the baby gator, was so cute.

And even though I’m not much of a bird fan, the bird show was cool too.

When you fly the coop…Don’t forget your camera. We found lots of wild animals to shoot while in Custer State Park. Anything from elk grazing…

to molting buffalo roaming…

yellow bellied marmots acting like little trolls under a bridge…

a million pronghorns grazing…

and of course, the ass.

Wild burro, actually, but the kids used it as an opportunity to say wild ass. Over and over and over and over and over again.

Ben finally had to put his foot down and say, “If you don’t stop saying a$$… I’m going to beat yours… and if you don’t believe me just a$$ your mother.”

I just don’t know where they get it.

Look for special events in the area. If you are into scrap booking, music, art, wildlife or whatever you may be surprised what you will find. As you know, we are into bluegrass music.

Needless to say, when we saw this, we took the corner on two wheels, and stopped for a little pickin’,

and some sarsaparilla and dinner.

Barney chugged two, got a belly ache and passed out. When I carried him into the cabin he said, “I’m GIG-hausted.”

One last thing.

Keep a journal.  Write down the date, weather, the roads you drove, what you did, animals you saw, everyone’s favorite for the day, and the funny things that made you laugh. I’m not much of a scrapbooker, but in ten years when I read it again, I’m bound to find out we actually did strike gold on that trip.

Only it came in the form of a family.

Now that’s rich.

Simply,

Sis