We live in southwest MI and have to travel to Omaha for our oldest son's baseball tournament in June. The tourney is June 19-21 and we have some flexibility as far as if we can go before or after the tourney. Do you think earlier is better as far as finding lodging/being able to get into the parks (I know I'm late to the game)?
Also, my brother has a motorhome we can rent but Im not sure if that will cause more stress. My dh is willing to drive the motorhome but has never driven one before, so I'm afraid that will stress him out. We have 5 kids age 15 down to 6 and we are used to squeezing into normal size hotel rooms. Dh is also one that feels like we have to see and do everything on vacation and wants to go, go, go. I thought maybe the motorhome would give us more flexibility but my mom (who has done out West in a motorhome) thinks it will stress him out more. Thoughts on motorhome vs.hotel/cabin lodging?
Also, if we leave June 11 (earliest we can leave), that gives us 8 days to travel from Michigan, see our sights, and get back to omaha. I plan on doing the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer State Park, and Jewel Cave for sure. I would love to get to Yellowstone too but honestly that part of it is stressing me out because I'm so late in planning and lodging around there was so expensive. And I'm trying to keep the vacation simple so that dh doesn't get his pants in a bind feeling like we have to do and see everything. Will we have enough to do in just SD? Are there any other must see's? skip yellowstone? Any other places we should do without going all the way to yellostone? We are on a budget and I am trying to not stress myself out planning and not stress my husband out on the trip.
So, basically i'm wondering:
dates
rv or no
what to see and do in about 8 days?