I'm a firm believer that not all vacations need to be long, far from home or expensive in order to recharge and feel like you really had a great time. Some people travel the world and Have never even travelled their own state. Destination #1 is one of those places. We set out with our 6 year old Alexis and 3 year old grand daughter Emma. The destination.... 4 hours from home is Aberdeen, South Dakota! On our way we stopped in the small town of ortonville, mn where they had the neatest little museum and one of the best duck displays I've ever seen. It's a small little tourist information place coming into the town and even has a guide, an old school house, chapel and an old steamer boat. (picture below)
After eventually arriving in Aberdeen (now 7 hours later), hearing "Rio" repeatedly play on my sons DVD player in his mini van, 100 requests for food, snacks and bathroom breaks we make the vital mistake to stop at ihop. Despite the fact the kids have already been asking "are we there yet" for well over 100 miles, their obviously too excited and and well lost their patience to wait one more minute. After checking into The holiday inn express which is absolutely perfect for this age of kids, we headed to storybook land which is a mile down the road. Not only is it absolutely free but one of the most amazing theme parks I've ever encountered. It's well kept, well run, and with all the volunteers we spoke to you can immediately tell there city is very proud of it and should be! By the way it has the wizard of oz inside of it which is unreal. Ah, i almost forgot to mention the petting zoo! Theres also a zoo thats free there too and a really neat "mini train". Love this place and I've told absolutely everyone about it. We will go back!!! We stayed until closing. Back at our motel the kids suited up for their very own waterpark built just for small kids. The pool at it's deepest was 3 foot or less and had plenty of slides, toys and cute characters and frog pads to cross. (see pool pic)They also serve a wonderful hot breakfast in the morning which was plentiful and even served hot waffles that were to die for. After breakfast we went back in the waterpark before heading back to storybook land and whily park for most of the day before deciding to head to Sioux falls.
Sioux falls was another 3 hours south of where we were I will post that blog separate as there is so much waiting to be discovered there.
Total trip cost at this point roughly $20.00 in gas at nearly 4.00 per gallon. $120.00 for motel. $30.00 ihop.
Total $175.00.
I also want to let you know we could have stayed in a sleeping cabin for $30.00 per night had we had our own bedding with.
See adorable pics of storybook land. Note I took hundreds here. You'd have to see it to believe it!
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