By Jody Kerzman

It’s been two weeks since my last family vacation.

Before that, it had been about six years.

I think I might finally be recovered from this last vacation.

I’d forgotten how exhausting it is spending time with the ones you love, enjoying the great outdoors.

It was a vacation that was pretty much doomed from the very first time we thought about taking a vacation, so I should have known recovery would take awhile. My husband and I decided to take the kids to the Black Hills this summer for a few reasons: it’s been awhile since we all vacationed together (our now six-year-old was a baby), the oldest is leaving for college next year, so we figured this was probably our last chance, and it’s pretty rare that all six of us are together—we kind of missed each other.

So I booked a fancy cabin (Big step up for us—usually we sleep in a tent. This cabin had air conditioning!) at our favorite campground in the Black Hills. We figured we only go every six years, we’re going to go all out. I even scheduled a college visit for the oldest, sort of an excuse to spend an extra day in the Hills.

Enter problem number one: work. I am so proud of my teenagers for having such a great work ethic. They always show up to work on time, work hard, and are happy to pick up someone else’s shift. Their bank accounts show this (I’m a little jealous of their savings account balances). When I told them the dates I booked the cabin for, I was greeted by eye rolls and schedule conflicts. Neither could get off work. Seriously? This trip is for YOU! You guys have to be there.

After threats to cancel entirely, we found another week that worked better for everyone, except for my husband. He got summoned to jury duty and his contractor decided to start paving. So, he was out. No big deal. He works road construction; we are used to doing fun summer stuff without him. It’s not ideal, but we’ve been doing it for years. Of course the air conditioned cabin was no longer available, but sometimes you just have to sacrifice.

We broke the drive into two parts; we left late Monday evening and spent the night at my parent’s house, which was fun because my sister, her daughters, and their friends were there too. The next morning Lexi and I got up early to head to her college visit in Spearfish and my dad brought the rest down a few hours later.

Those two drives were non-eventful and actually kind of fun. While three of the kids zoned out with headphones and iPods, Lexi sat in the passenger seat and visited with me the entire three-hour drive to my parent’s house. Priceless. The next morning, she wasn’t quite as talkative, as she opted for a nap instead of more conversation with her mom. That was ok, because for me, driving from my parent’s to the Hills is literally a trip down memory lane. I remembered all the times I’d made this drive in high school, all the friends I haven’t seen since high school, how I wished I lived in Newell instead of Bison, and how fun it would be to see everyone again.

The college visit was amazing. Of course I knew our tour guide’s brother-in-law, which naturally prompted an eye roll from my daughter and a comment that South Dakota is just like North Dakota and a “Mom! Do you seriously know everyone?” Sure seems that way, kid. It’s a small world.

After the college visit and lunch with my dad, the vacation officially began. We hit the waterpark, stocked up on groceries, and headed to our cabin near Mt. Rushmore. A wrong turn took us to Wyoming instead (Morgan was happy to cross that state off the “states I’ve visited” list, despite her brother’s argument that you have to actually DO something in the state for it to count). The kids are still making Wyoming jokes.

The rest of the trip was filled with tourist-y things: old time photos, shopping, mini-golf, hiking, Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore (we drove by at least a dozen times and every time I adapted the line from National Lampoon’s European Vacation: “Look kids. Mt. Rushmore.” I thought it was funny every time. The kids didn’t see the humor. They probably need to watch the movie, or at least the You Tube clip:

We swam. We had campfires and s’mores and hotdogs. We made bacon at midnight. We burned popcorn. We laughed ourselves to sleep. We had a great time, even though the wifi signal was weak and the cell signal nonexistent at our campground (that’s a blessing… kept the teenagers and me present!) And you know what? My kids actually enjoyed each other’s company. Miracles do happen.

I have so many childhood memories of my own that revolve around camping in the Black Hills with my parents and siblings. Somehow, my parents always found time to take us camping (somewhere between planting and harvesting). It makes me smile when I realize my kids will have similar memories.

So, will we do another family vacation?

Absolutely.

And we won’t wait six years to do it.

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