Only a 15 minute drive from our house we can swim, hike, bike and camp at Angostura State Park and Reservoir. It's a beautiful park! We've been swimming here and played at the beach. Jacob also participated in the summer nature programs once a month during the months of June, July and August. On those mornings I took the younger three to the beach while he had his program. We often had the whole beach to ourselves. It's beautiful sand and the water is pretty warm. Here are some pictures of our first visit to the Reservoir on the day they offered free admission to all South Dakota State Parks.
Pat made a whole family of sand ducks. And the kids all enjoyed playing in the sand. The water was a bit cold in May! We all waded in up to our knees.
We ended up picking up an annual pass when I started taking Jacob to his monthly nature program. We made a trip out to the reservoir while Lois was visiting over Labor Day weekend and the water level is down creating the world's largest beach to play on -- the kids loved that!
Angostura is also the location of the Southern Hills Triathlon which just took place earlier this month. I had my sights set on racing this year but didn't get in shape for the swimming portion. Hopefully next year I'll be able to compete!!
Coldbrook Reservoir
About three miles north of our house there is a lake that was built, and is maintained by the Army Corp of Engineers. It is a beautiful setting with red rocks and coniferous trees surrounding the lake.
We took the kids here several times towards the end of the summer. We had been a few times earlier in the summer to swim and fish and there was quite a bit of riff-raff that hung out at the lake and so we decided to avoid it most of the summer. 
Sophie had fun watching the ducks at the lake.
The times we swam at the end of the summer were beautiful -- more families were at the beach and the water was a bit chilly but still nice for swimming. We will definitely have to swim here more next summer!
Mammoth Site
One of the tourist attractions in Hot Springs is the Mammoth Site. 
Hannah chose to go to the Mammoth Site for her birthday activity. The whole family enjoyed it and we purchased a family membership so that we can go back a few more times before the end of this year. 
The kids were quiet and well behaved for the guided tour of the dig and they had fun exploring the artifacts in the museum after the tour. Their favorite was the house made out of mammoth skulls. Here they are exploring it.
Custer State Park & Wind Cave National Park
Another treasure close by to us is Custer State Park . We love taking a drive up to the park and driving the Game Loop. We regularly see
Buffalo,
Pronghorn, Prairie Dogs, and 
Burros (they are so friendly you can reach your hand out to pet them.) And the awesome thing about heading up to Custer is that we start our scenic drive very early on as we drive through Wind Cave National Park on the way to Custer State Park. We often see more buffalo and pronghorn in the national park than on the Game Loop in Custer. I hope to eventually take the kids to Wind Cave -- but it will have to be when they get older and I can handle them alone because Pat is weary of going underground in a cave.
Hot Springs itself has the beautiful Fall River, a warm water river which runs through town, Evans Plunge, an indoor water park and four fun, silly and sweet kids to enjoy.
So come visit us in the beautiful Southern Hills of South Dakota!
We're working hard on creating a comfortable place for our guests to stay.
Pat made a whole family of sand ducks. And the kids all enjoyed playing in the sand. The water was a bit cold in May! We all waded in up to our knees.
We ended up picking up an annual pass when I started taking Jacob to his monthly nature program. We made a trip out to the reservoir while Lois was visiting over Labor Day weekend and the water level is down creating the world's largest beach to play on -- the kids loved that!Angostura is also the location of the Southern Hills Triathlon which just took place earlier this month. I had my sights set on racing this year but didn't get in shape for the swimming portion. Hopefully next year I'll be able to compete!!
Coldbrook Reservoir
About three miles north of our house there is a lake that was built, and is maintained by the Army Corp of Engineers. It is a beautiful setting with red rocks and coniferous trees surrounding the lake.
We took the kids here several times towards the end of the summer. We had been a few times earlier in the summer to swim and fish and there was quite a bit of riff-raff that hung out at the lake and so we decided to avoid it most of the summer. 
Sophie had fun watching the ducks at the lake.The times we swam at the end of the summer were beautiful -- more families were at the beach and the water was a bit chilly but still nice for swimming. We will definitely have to swim here more next summer!
Mammoth Site
One of the tourist attractions in Hot Springs is the Mammoth Site. 
Hannah chose to go to the Mammoth Site for her birthday activity. The whole family enjoyed it and we purchased a family membership so that we can go back a few more times before the end of this year. 
The kids were quiet and well behaved for the guided tour of the dig and they had fun exploring the artifacts in the museum after the tour. Their favorite was the house made out of mammoth skulls. Here they are exploring it.
Custer State Park & Wind Cave National ParkAnother treasure close by to us is Custer State Park . We love taking a drive up to the park and driving the Game Loop. We regularly see
Buffalo,
Pronghorn, Prairie Dogs, and 
Burros (they are so friendly you can reach your hand out to pet them.) And the awesome thing about heading up to Custer is that we start our scenic drive very early on as we drive through Wind Cave National Park on the way to Custer State Park. We often see more buffalo and pronghorn in the national park than on the Game Loop in Custer. I hope to eventually take the kids to Wind Cave -- but it will have to be when they get older and I can handle them alone because Pat is weary of going underground in a cave.Hot Springs itself has the beautiful Fall River, a warm water river which runs through town, Evans Plunge, an indoor water park and four fun, silly and sweet kids to enjoy.
So come visit us in the beautiful Southern Hills of South Dakota!
We're working hard on creating a comfortable place for our guests to stay.
