We were a little concerned about overcrowding today. See, school around here started on Monday (three days ago) but this morning the main story on the news was that most of the schools in South Dakota were closed for the day due to the weather. Weather as in the weatherman said it was going to be 90 degrees today. It appears that when the thermometer gets about 89 degrees, it’s pretty much a “state of emergency” around here. Lucky for us, nobody dares to go outside either. There was hardly anyone anywhere we went.
We started this morning at Crazy Horse. Oh my gosh (or as Scott would say “holy smoke”) this place was huge.
The visitor center/information building literally has eight wings. You could spend an entire day here and not possibly see everything. Unfortunately we had a lot on our list of things to see so we only spent about an hour.
Out of all the things to see and do, I think Scott was most excited about this park. We compromised and took a picture, but no way were we going to pay to go in!
Next stop was the Jewel Cave National Monument.
We got here just in time for the morning scenic tour. The tour starts at the visitor center where you board the tallest elevator in South Dakota. The one catch is that the tallest elevator in South Dakota doesn’t go up, it goes down; equivalent to 26 stories down into the cave. Yes, it does eventually come back up.
Wind Cave National Park was also on the list of things to see. After talking with people over the past couple of days, we had even more that we wanted to see. This meant that we did not actually go on a cave tour at Wind Cave.
One interesting fact about the above picture is that there was a national park employee hand painting the sign when we got there. He was nice enough to let us take a picture, but wasn’t too keen about standing in the photo pretending to be painting.
Back to the agenda for the day. Several people told us that we had to find time to drive through Custer State Park. This was not something we had even researched and were not convinced we really wanted to do. Then this morning at breakfast, the restaurant had a basket on the cashier counter that had what looked like biscuits wall wrapped up in fancy packages. The packages were labeled “Donkey Donuts”. I asked the cashier what “Donkey Donuts” were and she said they were to feed to the burrows at Custer State Park. What, you can feed burrows?! Well, that changes everything.
Custer State Park is basically a 20 mile driving loop through beautiful landscape. In the first part of the park, there is a large bison herd.
We got stuck for about 15 minutes in a bison jam, not because of the bison being on the road so much as the cars blocking the road.
The next section of the park is where the “wild” burrows live. We skipped the Donkey Donuts and went with a cheap bag of carrots from the local grocery store.
Feeding burrows is fun; but once they figure out you have food, they come out of the woodwork. It kinda reminded me of when you see one hitchhiker on the side of the road and then when you pull over, a half dozen more come out of the trees.
We drove a little further to where you can pull over and actually get out of your car.
These burrows are so cute! I wouldn’t put my small child on their back, but they do let you pet them. They also follow you everywhere.
Sometimes they don’t let you get back to your car until you give them something good to eat!
Leaving Custer State Park, we drove the Iron Mountain Road to our next, and final destination. This road is known as one of the most scenic drives in America. In several places, the road separates and you feel like you are driving on a bike path.
Our final stop for today was Mt. Rushmore.
We no sooner parked then it started to rain. Not just rain, thunder and lightening directly behind the faces. We have had lightening storms almost every day of this trip so far.
It made for a beautiful sunset. Every night after sunset, the park conducts a lighting ceremony. Directly below the faces is a stage where a park ranger gives a 10 minute talk about American history. They then play a 20 minute movie about the four presidents chosen to be part of the monument. By this time, it is completely dark. The music starts and the faces slowly light up until they are fully lighted.
The crowd is invited to sing the National Anthem and then all the veteran’s in the audience are asked to come down to the stage for the retiring of the flag for the day. It’s a pretty moving ceremony to be a part of.
Wow, what a way to end the day! I can’t wait to see what is to come tomorrow!
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