The Flintstone's Theme Park & Campground

Location: Custer, South Dakota
Handicap Accessible: Yes
Kid-Friendly: Yes
Website: www.flintstonesbedrockcity.com

I have no idea why, but I didn't hear about this place until a couple of days before we left for our trip, so we weren't able to experience their camping facilities, however, we drove around the campground and it was very clean and the grounds were well-kept. This theme park is attached to the campground, and if you are staying at the campground, I believe admission is free.

 

Experience the delights of Mt. Rockmore, the lesser-known carving in a "mountain."

 

Walk around in Bedrock, and see the homes of all the beloved characters.

 

There are many opportunities to pose with characters...nerdy? Yes. Awesome? Yes.

 

So the next time you are in Custer, South Dakota, stop by!

The Corn Palace

Location: Mitchell, South Dakota
Handicap Accessible: Yes
Kid-Friendly: Yes
Website: www.cornpalace.org

 

This place was just as awesome as I thought it would be. The entire building is covered in murals made from cobs of corn. I was completely amazed. It takes A LOT of work and time to do these murals and they change the murals every year to reflect a new theme.

 

It is free to go inside the corn palace, and you can learn all about the thousands of ways we use corn in the world. You can even grind corn into cornmeal, which my husband thought was super cool, so here he is doing that, lol. It truly is crazy how many things we use corn for.

 

Also, if you don't have time to visit Mt. Rushmore, come see the Mt. Rushmore mural made from corn...it's almost as impressive :)

 

And then, of course, you always have a chance to act corny (pun intended).

Franconia Sculpture Park

Location: Shafer, MN
Handicap Accessibility: Yes, however, you will be off-roading it most of the time
Kid-Friendly: Definitely!
Website:www.franconia.org

Okay, folks, here it is. My family had their first daytrip for this summer today and we went with my sister and her family to the Franconia Sculpture Park. It was super fun! Even if you're not a big abstract art fan, it is still really cool. The best part for me: the kids could climb on almost every sculpture, so by the time we were done, they were pooped. Score! Anyway, this park is full of amazing behemoth sculptures made by local (and probably some non-local) artists. So below are some pics...enjoy!

My niece, nephew and oldest son posing and looking like some sort of band.

Why, yes, this is a giant wall of stereos...who wouldn't want to see that?

As usual, all four of the kids would not look at the camera when I wanted them to. Notice my son in the wheelchair (a sculpture that is wheelchair-accessible=awesome!!)

Here I am pretending to shoot that tall statue of a deer...

Who WOULDN"T want to play on that? I totally went up there with my kids!

Yes, this is a shed held up by cables on a frame.

 

So, as you can see, much awesomeness is here. So you should go there too!

Free Bowling for Kids All Summer Long!!

Yes, it's true. There are amazing programs all over the United States that have free bowling for kids all summer! Just go to this website: www.kidsbowlfree.com and find the bowling alley near you that participates in this program. You need to register your kids and print something out and bring it with you, but it is so nice! I also think some places don't cover cost of shoe rental, but still, that's a great deal if you don't have to pay for two games!

Old Jail Bed & Breakfast

Location: Taylors Falls, MN
Handicap Accessibility: One of the suites is handicap accessible
Kid-friendly: Not really (but good for adult getaways)
Website: www.oldjail.com

 

One of our most recent trips was to the Old Jail Bed & Breakfast in Taylors Falls. The hubster and I went for our 7th anniversary, so we did not bring kids (yay!). This bed and breakfast is very cool and supposedly haunted...Johnny said he thought he heard someone trying to get out from behind a locked door in our suite (creepy). The suite we stayed in was the cave suite, and it is freakin' awesome! The building was built on the side of a hill and our suite was built into a small cave and it used to be a saloon/brewery way back when. There's also a jail suite which is separate from the main building, but used to be the Taylors Falls jail. We almost stayed in that suite, but the cave suite seemed more appealing to us at the time.

 

If you ignore all of our junk in the picture, it's a beautiful room!

A large jacuzzi tub and a shower is now in the cave part of the suite.

Here's a photo of the bed & breakfast. It's so beautiful! Our room was behind that wreath.

 

Also, we went to Chisago House, which is a block away from the B&B, for dinner, and it was so good! I had the best burger ever, and Johnny had their buffet and loved it! There are also a couple of cute little stores on the main drag that would be fun to check out if you stay there...



Boring!

Location: Boring, Oregon

 

So for those of you who have caught on what a weirdo nerd I am, you can see why I'm amused by this town... I grew up in Oregon, and always knew that there was a town called Boring, but I never actually visited until last summer. So let me tell you that there is absolutely nothing interesting in that town, hence the name, I suppose. The thing that I found hilarious were the business names: Boring Fire Station, Boring Elementary, etc.

 

 

Celebration at the Boring Grade school - bwahahahahaha!

Boring Fire - classic

 

So there's also a town in Oregon called Needy, which I didn't visit, but probably will someday...lol



The Thing?!

Location: Dragoon, Arizona
Admission: not sure anymore
Handicap Accessibility: Yes

 

So one time I was visiting my dad in Arizona, and we were driving to a ghost town (which I will talk about in another post), and we kept seeing billboard for The Thing? Well, curiosity got the best of me and I had him stop in Dragoon, Arizona to see The Thing? I can't say what it is for sure, but I can say that there's a nice souvenir shop attached...mysterious enough for you? You should go see it, I dare you...