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We got to Custer State Park, in the Sylvan Campground, at dark and set up camp. The original plan was to camp here, then a night in a hotel in Rapid City, then another night of camping in Sioux Falls. Jeff said during the day that he was ready to stay in a hotel both of those last nights. After setting up camp, I felt the same way. Do you notice something not quite right about this camp setup? By the time I realized it, the stakes and poles were done and I was putting on the rain covering. We hadn’t had showers in days (since the hotel in Jackson, WY) since Yellowstone and Devil’s Tower had no shower buildings nearby. It was a nice campground here, though very loud campers around us. The showers were…interesting and not very secure, but the water was warm and it felt great to wash my hair. I felt human again and was ready for the next adventure.

Custer State Park is huge and very beautiful! This is Sylvan Lake, which was right down the road from our campsite.

We were planning to eat at the little cafe/gift shop near our campground, but they didn’t serve breakfast, so we went in to Custer. Suddenly Spencer started yelling and jumping up and down. He noticed this sign as we were walking to the restaurant.

Since we had a season long National Parks Pass, we drove down to Wind Cave National Park. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take one of the tours because it would have taken too long. We did go through the Visitor’s Center and learned all about this very large and intricate cave. This park will be added to our list for a future roadtrip for sure.

Next we headed to Mammoth Site, which looked really interesting, but also only had guided tours that would take too long. Many people had told us this was one of their favorite things to do while in the Badlands area, but since the boys were so underwhelmed with the Dinosaur fossils, we decided to pass. They did get to “dig” up a fossil in the Visitor Center while we were there. 

Next we drove to Crazy Horse, which was amazing. The scope of this project and the fact that one man and his family have been working on this for so many years is awe inspiring. The Lakota Indians came to the artist and asked him to design this monument to represent all Indian cultures. This project is completely privately funded and is not expected to be finished for years and years.

This Oglala Lakota Indian (I didn’t catch his name) had a great presentation. He taught about some of the dances that he performs for groups around the country. He was a great storyteller too. Spencer loved listening to him.

He performed a friendship dance so Carson and I joined in. 

This is the model of Crazy Horse as it will look when it is finished.

There was a place to take a rock that was blasted off the mountain, so we each took one. 

After leaving Crazy Horse, we went on the Needle Highway and Iron Mountain Road. Very beautiful with some great natural tunnels to drive (slowly) through. I feared for my life a couple times like usual, which the boys thought was really funny. Why, oh why am I always on the outside of the curves as we drive up and down all the mountains? 😉

There were also a couple of bridges called pigtail bridges that looped around so after you go over the bridge you drive around and drive underneath it. Fun!

Finally, we made it to Mount Rushmore. Spencer has been looking forward to coming here since before we left and he wasn’t disappointed.

We went to the Visitor’s Center and picked up their Junior Ranger booklets and got right to work. We learned that there is a beetle infestation of the Ponderosa Pines so the Forest Service is thinning out the forest to stop the beetles. One of the things they had to do for the bingo page was hug a tree.

At some point, I think I knew this, but rediscovered this interesting fact. Originally the Monument was going to be the entire front sides of the Presidents down to their waists, but they ran out of funds from the government to continue.

After hiking around in front of the Monument and learning all we could, the boys earned their last badge of the trip. 

We drove to our hotel only to discover that when we made the reservations, the hotel made them for that day! So there was no room at the inn for us, except for a suite that was way overpriced. Since they already charged us once for the room that we obviously never stayed in  (which we are contesting), we left there and headed over to the AmericInn Lodge and ended up with a suite for less than the room at the previous hotel. The kids thought this was the coolest room ever and climbed right into bed to watch a cartoon while Jeff and I caught up on email and uploading pictures. It was so nice to finally have decent wifi. I uploaded 549 pictures and started catching up on these blog posts. 

We took our time this morning since we only had a couple hours of driving to do. Jeff made spam and egg burritos that were delicious (especially if I didn’t think too hard about the fact that I am eating spam). We packed up and moved the truck to the parking lot so we could begin our hike.

This bird was hanging around near the prairie dogs too. If it moves, I will try to get a picture of it!

I could take pictures of these adorable creatures all day. They are so cute and since they sometimes built their burrows right next to the path, so we could get really close to them.

Once we passed the Prairie Dog town, we started climbing up to the base of the Tower. Here are some photos from the hike.

The kid saw their first cactus (cacti?)

People actually climb Devil’s Tower. There are 220 routes to the top. Native Americans consider the Tower a sacred place and many are not happy that the climbers use it, but the climbing stops in the month of June when the Native cultures celebrate their sacred traditions there.

Carson sure loves his granola bars. Here he is snacking again.

Spencer is a giant!

Ponderosa Pines are very common around here and are being thinned out and strategically burned in places in order to stop the spread of a beetle infestation.

The tree bark of these trees are really interesting.

Prayer cloths from the Native American ceremonies. 

And of course, we couldn’t forget to turn in the Junior Ranger booklet and take the badge oath. The boys have loved getting their badges.

This was a day mostly of driving. The drive was very beautiful as we got to go through the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. As always, we try to get off the Interstate and drive on the Scenic Byways or state highways so we can see the towns and drive the curvy roads. This time, we also got to drive through some tunnels, one that was pretty long and then a couple shorter ones. 

It was a gorgeous day and the view was spectacular.

We were able to see some trains hauling coal to the eastern states.

After a few hours of driving, we got our first “black and white” view of Devil’s Tower. Carson kept asking if we were going to see it in color or black and white until we finally figured out that he thought it was in black and white until we got closer. Interesting way to look at it, I guess.

This is our campsite, with a perfect view of the Tower in the background. Jeff is in heaven! This is his favorite Park, and he couldn’t wait to get ready to hike tomorrow. Spencer was excited to try to find the aliens tomorrow (Thank you Close Encounters of the Third Kind from Kline Family Movie Night).

Our campground is right at the edge of the Park and a ranch is right next to it on the other side of the Bell Fourche River. Cattle and buffalo were grazing together and posing for some pictures.

The boys worked on part of another lego kit. They are really thriving on this trip and they get along almost all of the time. It’s pretty awesome to watch them!