Scenic Drives & Sylvan Lake

Custer State Park served as the gracious host for our last full day of vacation.

We had a very quick breakfast at the Legion Lodge restaurant. Even though it was 6 miles from our lodge it took about 20 minutes. These are definitely park roads, I don't think I ever got above 30 mph, and you know I tried! The big plus at Legion Lake is they serve Starbuck's Coffee. A rarity in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It tasted divine. So did the cinnamon rolls we got to-go. They were approximately the size of Maddie's head! The restaurant served a full breakfast menu too, but we were short on time to get to the Jr. Naturalist program at the Peter Norbeck Visitor's Center.

For reference, the State Game Lodge serves breakfast and a breakfast buffet, but no Starbuck's. I know the Blue Bell Lodge serves breakfast, but I don't know about a buffet or Starbuck's. Legion Lake – no buffet.

When we arrived at the Visitor's Center, Maddie ended up being the only kid at the Naturalist program. The topic of the day was “Archeology.” So we all got an archeology lesson. The focus was on the archeology of the Native Americans. We learned that using just plain “Sioux” to describe a tribe is not correct. They may be the Lakota Sioux or Dakota Sioux, but not Sioux. Sioux was a derogatory term when the tribes were prevalent. We also learned that each family's tipi had paintings on them. The paintings depicted the history and major events of that family. Maddie's activity was to draw a life story on her paper tipi. She drew about KitKat our trip to South Dakota.

Next was a drive on the Peter Norbeck Scenic By-way. Peter Norbeck was a South Dakota Governor and U.S. Senator who was a big conservationist that helped preserve the Black Hills region, including Custer State Park. The drive we took is called the Iron Mountain Road. It consists of three pig-tail bridges and three tunnels which perfectly frame Mount Rushmore in the distance. This road supposedly “couldn't be built” from an engineering perspective, but they managed to build it and it is beautiful. I drove this one and it was a fun drive. I was happy it was dry, sunny and a day with light traffic. The views of Mount Rushmore through the tunnels were very cool.

It took a little more time than I thought it would, (surprise!), but we made it back to the Visitor's Center to learn to and pan for gold. The same Ranger led this program attended by about 40 kids. She went through the different particles the kids might find and then showed them a small vial, (maybe 2 oz. of water), containing ALL the gold found in the last 8 years floating around in it. The kids were not deterred though, they all were certain they would find gold!

She led a short walk to a creek where each kid got a gold panning pan and access to dirt pulled out of the most gold producing area of the park. They each took a couple handfuls of dirt in their pan and went to the creek to make their fortunes. Alas, no gold, but a lot of quartz, granite and the exciting garnet. Garnet was the second most valuable material to be found. Maddie found a piece, pictured below and this gives you an idea of the volume available. It was a really fun activity though, I think they should have panning for the adults too.

Certain that our fortune would not be made in gold panning, we headed up to Sylvan Lake Lodge for lunch and to Sylvan Lake for a swim and a hike. John drove the oh so scenic Needles Highway to the lodge. This drive was also beautiful, but much more treacherous. Steep, curved. narrow and only the occasional striping of the center lane. John was not a happy camper, but I really enjoyed the scenery – Thanks Honey! We saw the actual “Needles” of Needles Highway. They are granite spires that stick up individually into the air. A historian originally wanted to carve the faces of wild west heroes onto the tops. This was the idea that started the ball rolling for Mount Rushmore. The Mount Rushmore sculptor, Bolgrum, said the surface wasn't fit to carve.

The Sylvan Lake Lodge was very, very nice. It was much newer than the State Game Lodge building and more lodge like. This lodge is about 20 minutes away from the Mount Rushmore entrance and I think would be an excellent place to stay for people who weren't hauling kids along with them.

The restaurant was good, we just had lunch fare before we were off to the lake. At this point, we have seen a lot of scenery, all kinds and much of it very unique, but we all agreed this was the prettiest place we had been. It's a small lake, but the lake combined with the rock formations, forests and blue sky were just stunning. Maddie did swim in the frigid water and we all hiked the loop around the lake.

Fun Fact: Sylvan Lake is the lake in National Treasure 2. The treasure hunters climb all over these rocks to find the Lost City of Gold. We looked for the City, but believe this could have been fiction.

On the hike we all did some rock climbing, but passed real climbers and saw how they did it with their equipment straight up a steep wall. They made it look so easy. We kept walking and saw a little waterfall and some cool tunnels through the formations. We made it around and Maddie swam again and got up the nerve to swim out to a rock to climb it. John and I still didn't even have the nerve to go swimming so she wins for biggest adventurer. (I'm sure you are all shocked.)

So, back to Legion Lake for a light dinner and back to the hotel to pack and get ready to begin our trek home.

Cave Crawlin' & Buffalo Baha-in'!

Friday we were up bright and early to load out and get to Jewel Cave by 10 a.m. for our Lantern Tour. The Lantern Tour is just that – each member of the tour has an old paraffin lantern and that is the only light on the tour. It is designed to be just like it was for the first tours in 1941. The Ranger even wears the same outfit from 1941. (Personally, I liked the 1941 uniforms better than today's.)

I was really looking forward to this tour when I booked it, but I have to confess as it got closer each day, I got a bit more apprehensive, (ok, ok, I actually was freaking out by Thursday.) The tour was billed as “strenuous” with no crawling but more than 750 steps – some “ladder-like”. 750 steps is the equivalent to 40 stories. I knew this when I booked it and thought it would be tough but doable. The problem was I had been struggling with a bit of altitude sickness all week and just could not picture making it.

I talked to the Ranger beforehand, who was originally from Toledo, OH and said she had struggled with the same thing when she got out there. She said with the strange barometric pressure in the cave, I'd do much better in there than above ground. The good news is she was right. I felt much better in the cave and was able to do the tour. Unfortunately, I was still a little freaked out by the whole cave thing so I'm going to have John do a guest blogger piece to describe the tour. He will be much more informative than me.

Heeeere's John!

As Dee said, the tour is intended to re-create the tours offered in 1941, through the “historic entrance”. Which isn't the first entrance discovered in 1900. Jewel Cave is another “breathing” cave where the air rushes in and out as the atmospheric pressure changes outside, and equalizes through the miles of cave. So the discoverers found a small entrance, and dynamited a larger way in. In the 1970s the Park Service sank an elevator to another part of the cave and installed nice walkways, stairs and platforms, and most visitors see that part of the cave. Not us.

A little on the “miles of cave”: Jewel Cave is currently the 2^nd longest cave in the world, with more than 150 miles of known passages, all within just a few square miles of ground on the surface. The ranger said it takes about 19 hours to get to the farthest known points (yup, that means overnight expeditions) although there are unexplored (at least, unmapped) passages within a few hours' travel of the entrance. The approximate volume of air in the cave can be calculated by the volume the cave inhales or exhales as the pressure changes...and the 150 miles of known passages only account for about 2% of the estimated volume of the cave. That's not a misprint. Two per cent.

The current indication is that Jewel Cave is probably not connected to Wind Cave, which is almost 20 miles away as the crow flies, but the ranger said that recent research has indicated that a connection is more likely than was previously thought. Still not very likely, but...

Jewel Cave is in a limestone formation. Water seeps in from the surface, makes its way through cracks, and erodes the limestone. Because this area was part of an ancient seabed, the water had a great deal of calcite in it, which helped dissolve the limestone, and also built up on the cave surfaces as crystals. In some parts of the cave, the crystals are glittery—hence the name Jewel Cave. In the historic part of the cave, not so much. The early explorers used dynamite to open things up to allow public tours in the early 1900s, plus people weren't all that careful about touching things. The ranger said in the other cave tours they were very picky about telling people “don't touch the cave walls” because it would damage the cave over time. Here...not so much. The ranger said this part of the cave is pretty “impacted” and if we needed to put our hand on the wall to keep our balance as we went along, to feel free to do so. But to please not just wander around touching things for sport. Fair enough. But this part of the cave isn't particularly sparkly. Maybe the part with the less adventurous tours is more sparkly.

We met at a cabin at a completely different area of the park from the main visitor center, about 1 mile away. The cabin was built in the 1930s by the CCC and was used as a residence by the first ranger assigned to the park. It was also the park office. It's a sturdy little log cabin with a huge woodburning stove. It was also special in that it had running water indoors, at a time when only a fraction of houses in the United States could say the same thing.

The ranger passed out our lanterns—they looked like old railroad lanterns or from old western movies, rather than modern Coleman lanterns. They used wide, flat cotton wicks rather than mantles. Since Maddie was under 10 years old, she was typically supposed to use a LED light rather than a real lantern, but the ranger gave her a choice. Maddie wasn't sure, but accepted the LED with the assurance that Dee would switch with her if she wanted to try the real lantern.

I should mention that you can't bring anything on this tour, except a camera that can fit in your pocket. You need one hand to hold the lantern, and one hand to hold the railing as you navigate the steps, so that leaves zero hands to hold other things. Backpacks? Nope. Water bottle? Uh-uh. (That struck me as most odd, after a few days in the Badlands I didn't go anywhere without water.)

Then we hiked down a trail into a gulch (see how I worked that word in without calling attention to it...except for this?) Lots of stairs. It makes sense that a cave entrance isn't just on top of the flat ground, I suppose, and this one isn't. We passed the original entrance (maybe 16” across) and then came to an iron gate across a person-sized entrance. The ranger unlocked the gate and led us in about 50 feet, and probably down about 10', into the first room.

We hung out there for a while and she talked more about the cave and the tours that were offered in the old days. She didn't say so, but I think part of the reason for this stop was to let people kind of settle in to the concept and calm down—or decide that this wasn't what they bargained for and back out. After 5 minutes or so she said she had to go back up and lock the gate behind us and asked if that was OK with everyone. Nobody tackled her or ran out into the sunlight screaming, so she locked the gate and then in we went.

I should note that the cave is chilly, about 50 degrees. But you are moving around. I wore jeans, an undershirt, long-sleeved shirt (a little heavier than a dress shirt but not quite a flannel shirt), and a mid-weight fleece jacket and for me that was a little too much on my torso. (Since we'd been out in 90-100+ degree weather most of the time, I thought 50 would feel chillier to me than it did.) One of the other tour members wore a t-shirt and cut-off jeans; he didn't say anything but I wouldn't go that far. I'd say a fairly heavy flannel shirt would be fine, or better yet a light shirt and light fleece jacket to give you a little flexibility. Good shoes are important, we all wore Merrill or Keene hiking shoes that we loved. The tour says “no sandals of any sort”, and I have in my head that someone mentioned a reason why they considered even “technical” sandals like Keenes or Tevas unsuited to the cave (not just flip-flops) but that is escaping me at the moment. We love our Keene and Teva sandals but think genuine hiking shoes were better for this tour.

She said there were two choices for the tour: the “dungeon” or the “heavenly tour”. Dee asked which one was more strenuous; the ranger said the dungeon tour was more strenuous. (Dee here - strenuous - my eye! - you had to drop through a trap door on the dungeon tour! I'll do 40 flights of stairs any day over free falling in a cave!) We voted 4-1 for the heavenly tour (Maddie dissenting, unsurprisingly).

So, the tour said more than 700 steps. “Steps” is pretty generous. They were wooden structures, in fine repair, and mighty sturdy. Sometimes they approached what you would think of as “steps”, but most of them were akin to a ship's ladder. But not as large in any dimension: narrower side to side, less depth in the tread to stand on, and typically a pretty short step from one ledge to the next. And sometimes they scooted sideways in the middle of a run, and you had to figure out which foot needed to land on Step A so the other foot would be available to sidestep onto Step B.

An annoying characteristic of these lanterns is that they don't really throw light up or down—you know, in the area where your feet are going. Especially on a ladder! If any of our Gentle Readers should find themselves schlepping along in a cave, carrying lanterns, keep an eye out for your buddy: you might not be able to see where your own feet are going, but you can probably light the way for the person behind you so at least they don't fall on you. If your compadres are alert, they may note this and do the same for you. They'll probably be preoccupied with fears that the cave is going to pick this hour, of the last 60 million years, to collapse or suddenly fill with water, or that the stories about giant bloodsucking bats or even CHUDs are true. If nothing else, it gives you something productive and socially responsible to do while you're trying not to fall down the ladder, and you'll feel better for it.

Bats? Yup. But not many. We saw three or four bats roosting, individually. They were Little Brown Bats (seriously) or Townsend's Big-eared Bats (which have ears about 1/3 of their body length...they really do look like little Batman masks). Tiny bats, just a few inches long, way smaller than the ones that occasionally infiltrate our family room. We also saw three or four flying bats. Conveniently, we'd just bought (and read) a book on animal myths. Most of you probably know that bats don't fly into your hair. If they are fluttering around your area, it's probably because mosquitoes or other insect beasties are attracted to you, and the bats are munching away. The bats know darned well where they are and what they're doing, and have no interest in crashing into you. (And really, it's a wonderful thing if they are making a meal of the mosquitoes that would otherwise be dining on you!)

There were four or five serious sets of “steps”, usually mixed sets going both up and down. We stopped in a few of the larger chambers on the way for the ranger to tell us more tidbits (and catch our breath). Some of the chambers were “large bedroom” sized, the largest was “McDonald's dining room” size (although that's misleading because only a little of the floor was flat, most of it was rocks sloping up to the far end of the room.) I could stand up in most of the passages, although several short sections (up to 10' long) were only about 4 ½' tall and required stooping or ducking. Some of the stairs passed through holes that felt quite small but when you're basically on a ladder you can go through a pretty small hole. Just be alert to duck if the ranger tells you it will be necessary.

We finally reached “the heavenly room”, so named because the early explorers saw a rock formation that reminded them of the Madonna and child. After more chatting, the ranger asked if folks would be comfortable putting out the lights. Sure, I was comfortable—although alert for the sound of ranger boots scampering off. (Even then, I knew I would be fine, having had the foresight to toss a headlamp and multi-tool in my pocket....just in case.) So the lights went out...

The ranger said that if we were waiting for our eyes to adjust to the darkness, we'd be waiting a long time. We were far enough into the cave that we were in the “dark zone”. There simply is no light. You could put your hand right in front of your face and see...nothing. If I'd known about this in advance, ideally I'd have arranged with a companion to wear obviously different shirts and to quietly swap them in the dark and then pretend nothing had happened. We stayed in the dark three or four minutes (no longer, no matter what others may tell you) and then re-lit the lanterns and started out.

At the farthest, we were about 160' below ground. Coming out was easier than going in, at least for me. I found it was much more physically stressing to slowly lower myself than to climb the ladders. We stopped two or three times to catch our breath, chat a little, and close up the column (even 6 people can get strung out), and then we were back to the beginning. The ranger unlocked the gate, and we went out and extinguished our lanterns. The whole thing took about 2 hours, maybe 90 minutes actually in the cave.

Maddie loved it. And why shouldn't she? She's maybe 60 pounds soaking wet, has tiny muscles of steel, the vigor of youth, and the steps were her size. She traded lanterns with Dee about halfway through and was fine with the “real” lantern—even said she preferred it. Dee preferred the electric lantern: she said on the way back out the lantern somehow kept hitting things and at least she didn't have to worry about starting a fire.

Then we went to the visitor center and Maddie worked on her Junior Ranger program. We found a map on the wall of the known cave system. The map was, say, 4' x 8' (maybe bigger) and the part we'd explored was about the size of a Reader's Digest (not the large-print version).

Now that we're back in the sunlight, I'll return you to your regularly scheduled blogger—Dee!

Hi again! The lanter tour is a tough cave tour, but to do the hardest "Spelunking" tour, you had to be able to fit through the space below. The space Maddie is crawling through is the smallest space on the tour. Aw Shucks! John and I didn't quite fit - no spelunking for us.

Personally, if I were to go again I'd go on the happy scenic walk where no one locks you in and there is an elevator to take you out. Also, if you've never been in a cave, I would start out a little milder. I'm not claustrophobic, but I did not enjoy this like Maddie and John did. Who knows why!

Happily, after the cave we were off to the wide open spaces of Custer State Park!

I had never heard of this place before I started planning this trip, but the reviewers on tripadvisor.com all loved it, so I booked us there for two days. I'm so happy I took their advice. It is a phenomenal park. One, it's huge! There are four separate resorts within the park, all with a different feel. And two, there is tons of wild life and they have their own 1500 head bison herd. Maddie had been anxiously awaiting a wild bison sighting the whole trip. The several at Bear Country USA were cool, but she wanted to “spot” one on her own. Sure enough we spotted a big bull on our drive into the park. Those things are really huge when they pop out from around a corner!

We stayed at the Creekside Lodge in the State Game Lodge area of the park. Booking lodging is very confusing. They have lodges and cabins and sleeping cabins and campgrounds and they all come up at once on the reservation page. After diligent research I booked the Creekside Lodge. I got a winner! This lodge was just down the hill from the main lodge which was originally built for Calvin Coolidge to stay at when he was out west. They even called it the “Summer White House” he stayed for 3 months because he loved it so much. He especially loved learning to fish – which he learned in a well stocked creek, unbeknownst to him.

Anyway, the State Game Lodge is beautiful, but I think the rooms in the Creekside are better suited for families. It is only 2 years old and our room had a king bed and pull out couch, refrigerator, microwave and desk area. Maddie liked that the furniture had elk on the upholstery. The room was almost identical to our room at The Lodge at Deadwood; a staff member told us the same company had the state hotel contract. Same rooms, but no pool and no slot machines.

We had a late lunch at the State Game Lodge, (no restaurant or even coffee bar at the Creekside), and it was very good. This was the highest end restaurant we ate at on our trip. It was very good, but we were happy to be there for lunch. The dinner menu looked very good but was elk and pheasant and each meal gave wine pairing suggestions. Great when eating without a kid. However, they did have a breakfast and lunch buffets.

We got unpacked just in time to make our 3:45 Jeep Buffalo Safari and Chuckwagon Cookout tour. This was a lot of fun. We loaded into a 1984 open air Jeep with Ken as our driver and tour guide. We were with another family who had boys about Maddie's age and they were all in heaven in the very back of the Jeep. Ken is a retiree who has been coming to do these tours every summer season for 15 years. His wife works in the Grace Coolidge Gift Shop and they stay in their RV in the park. I think all the Jeep guides were in similar situations. They obviously love what they do.

He took us all through the park, down dirt roads and up rocky hills that normal cars were not allowed. We had just beautiful views of the park from all angles. The guides were back and forth on the radios pinpointing where the majority of the bison herd was grazing. That was definitely the highlight of the tour. The kids were so excited – as were the adults, just not as boisterous. We saw them in two different large groups with a couple hundred in each. They do a buffalo round-up every October and it's a big event at the Park. (For the record, the correct term is Bison, but buffalo is used a lot. Ken said buffalo's are only in Africa and they are water buffalo.)

On our tour we spotted a couple plumes of smoke that looked like the beginnings of pretty big forest fires. It turned out they were. They had four in the area that evening which Ken said was rare, but forest fire warning had run from High to Extreme since we've been out here. We learned the next morning no one was hurt and they didn't have to evacuate anyone, but the one we'd watched the longest had burned 65 acres about 2 miles outside the park.

On our tour we saw, deer, turkeys, antelope, prairie dogs, bison and hawks – even one owl! We then went down into a canyon for our chuck-wagon dinner. We met two wagons of people (pulled by trucks, not horses), who had signed up for the chuck wagon dinner but not the jeep safari. Dinner was very good. You got your choice of steak or hamburger and they had all the fixins. Cowboy beans, potato salad, coleslaw, corn bread and cookies. It was all homemade and plentiful. They had singing cowboys and the chefs and guides were all telling jokes. It had cooled down and was a perfect night for a cookout.

Ken then loaded us back up, showed us some more Bison and took us home. The tour was about 3 hours of driving and 1 hour of eating. As I mentioned this is a huge park and we were very happy to have an expert show us through. It really helped us make the most of our time. Ken was great, but I suspect they all would be excellent guides.

We prepared for our last day of vacation and went to bed whipped.

Our Prehistoric Day

Today's events are quite opposite from Mount Rushmore. We are going to the Flintstones Bedrock Adventure and the Mammoth Site it Hot Springs, SD.

Possibly the most exciting thing for me today was the laundry drop-off. Before we left Michigan I found a laundromat, (thank you Google), where they will do your laundry and you can pick it up at the end of the day. This allowed me to pack much lighter than normal. And, with all the hot dirty days we have had, Maddie and I are out of clothes. So, for $16, the nice lady at the “The Lost Sock” laundromat in Custer, SD did what would have been 4 loads of laundry for me and had it ready by 3p.m. Even John saw this was a much better idea than the coin operated nonsense at the campground – no matter how close to the pool it was. Definitely a “highly recommend” in my book.

But I digress – laundry dropped off, and we were off to see “The Flintstones.” This little park was very well done for what it was. We took a train ride around the park and stopped in the “Old West” for photo ops and then toured downtow Bedrock. All the buildings were set up like a neighborhood. They were furnished, but you could only look in them. We did get to sit in Fred's car though – big fun. They had a theater with Fred, Wilma and Dino animatrons doing a sing-a-long and a movie theater playing a continuous loop of Flintstones cartoons. The big ending was a chauffeured ride around a track in Barney Rubble's car. It took a little under an hour for us to go through. It was cute, definitely not a must-see, but Maddie may beg to differ. For us though, it was between the hotel and the Mammoth Site which was next on the agenda.

It was about an hour drive down to Hot Springs, SD where the Mammoth Site is located. The Mammoth Site is a large museum type building that houses the remains of 59 Wooly Mammoths and Colombian Elephants that met their demise in a large sinkhole thousands of years ago. The site is “in-situ”, Latin for “in place.” This means instead of being excavated and sent to museums all the remains stay as is and are studied at the site. It was very interesting. They estimate there are many more to find. They had also found a “short-nosed bear” in the site. Apparently this was very rare prehistoric fossil find. Only 12 others exist in the world. This was a very scary bear too! It is way bigger than a grizzly and when standing on it's back feet it could peer into a second story window. One exhibit showed how big the claw marks would be compared to the grizzly. These babies are best left extinct!

The main exhibit is set up so you walk around the whole site with the guide pointing out bones and skulls and tusks. A couple paleontologists work in the site and it is easy to see them working on the tour. It was so well done that I kind of thought it looked fake. I'm so used to seeing the fancy Field Museum fossils that these looked like something they laid out. If you go earlier in the season and have kids, you can call ahead and sign up for a Jr. Paleontologist Program where the kids can go on a supervised dig. I think it's only for fake bones in a specially designed area, but it looked like it would be fun. If you have older kids (in college), they can apply for summer internships in the actual dig.

Once again we relied on gift shop personnel for meal recommendations. The lady recommended
“Wooly's” next door – I was a bit suspicious but there were few options in Hot Springs so we tried it. This place was interesting. It was clean and spacious, but it looked like they had just called everyone they knew and asked for tables and chairs. There was even some lawn furniture – no card tables but that was about it. However, the food was excellent. Complete junk food, but that's ok. Maddie discovered Mac n Cheese wedges – basically deep fried mac n cheese, John had the beef burrito which was way to big to finish and I had possibly the best nachos I've ever had, which is really saying something, They were way to big to finish too, but I sure tried. Wooly's is a keeper.

On the drive down we kept passing in and out of Wind Cave National Park. The park is mostly undisturbed prairie with the fourth largest cave system under it. Our plan is to go to Jewel Cave Friday, but we figured as long as we were there we should check it out. Poor Maddie did another Jr. Ranger workbook. I have to give her credit for doing all of these. They are not easy and the Rangers check all the work and if anything is wrong, you'll be going back looking for the right answers. It would be one thing if we were only going to one or two sites, but we had a lot of them in this trip.

We went through the exhibits. This cave is known for it's “boxwork” formations along the ceiling of the caves. Boxwork looks like giant brown tissue paper spiderwebs along the ceiling. Boxwork is very rare, and 90 percent of the boxwork in the world in in Wind Cave. You aren't allowed to touch anything during these cave tours because of it's fragility.

We didn't take a tour but hiked out to the original entrance the miners found into the cave. They were able to find this entrance, and the cave is called Wind Cave because the cave's entrance, (an approximately three foot hole in the ground), blows out cold air from the cave all the time. Today it was just about 100 degrees so finding it was a real treat. It blows your hair from 10 feet away and feels just great. The air temperature in the cave is steady at 49 degrees. John said it is fortunate for the world that these nice miner's found the cave because he would have just built his house over the hole and never told a soul. I believe him!

Maddie got her badge and we were off – national park number 5 this week, under our belts. We headed back to Custer to pick up our laundry, (did I mention how awesome this is). The lady asked us what we had done all day. I mentioned we went to the Flintstones park and she smiled and said, “I have a true story for you.”

She said, “I am the original Pebbles.” Apparently, her aunt was building the original Bedrock theme park and Hanna and Barberra, (sp), came out to approve the design. She was a little red-headed girl and the asked if they could sketch her and use her image for Fred and Wilma's new baby daughter. They did and it is her baby image that is Pebbles. She said as long as she wore a bone in her pigtail, she got free ice cream at the park until she was about 8 years old. Go figure!

For a late afternoon treat we stopped at the “Purple Pie House” - still hoping for the elusive huckleberry pie. Once again they had huckleberry ice cream, but no pie. That's probably ok though, I didn't need much more after the nachos, even though Maddie was “starving” again.

In the evening we packed up and got ready for Jewel Cave and Custer State Park on Friday.

Mount Rushmore!

The Lodge at Palmer Gulch was just 6 miles away from Mount Rushmore which was a great treat. It seems like we haven't been less than a half hour away from anything on this trip! It was a pretty drive up to the monument. Poor Maddie has had enough of the, “Ooh Maddie, look at that (fill in the lovely bit of scenery).” But I really wanted to make sure she saw Mount Rushmore as we approached it. So I bet her a dollar I would see it before her. Not surprisingly, my kid will scan scenery like Ansel Adams an a Yellowstone photo shoot for a buck. (I'm sure she gets it from her Dad!) Unfortunately for Maddie and being the bad Mom I am – I saw it first and blurted it out, because I was so surprised to see it full-sized. No dollar for Maddie, but oh the scenery she enjoyed – priceless!

Parking at the Monument was very easy. A $10 parking fee, is required but it is good for a calendar year. You'll want to come back for the night program so this fee makes a little sense Plus other options are limited unless you come by bus or shuttle. The shuttle from our Lodge was $6 per person and I have no idea what a bus tour would cost.

The park built around the monument is beautiful and very easy to get around. The National Parks office where Maddie picked up her Junior Ranger booklet was just inside the entrance. Across from this office/shop was a place to get an audio tour. We didn't choose this option but did the Ranger led tour instead.

The monument itself it just incredible. This was the first time any of us had seen it so that was neat. At first glance it doesn't look as big as it should, but then you realize how far away from it you are and that humans were actually up there creating it. And doing all this back in the 30's – unbelievable.

The Ranger and the exhibits focused a lot on the sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, who designed and created, (supervised the creating of), the faces. He had almost completed the Stone Mountain, Georgia sculpture of the Confederate Generals when he had a falling out with the Daughters of the Confederacy. They fired him, blew up the work he'd completed and started again. His work was ruined, but he had a lot of experience to bring to Mount Rushmore. Most of the “sculpting” was done with dynamite charges. They blew of big and little chunks until they got to granite they could carve. 400 men worked on the monument for 14 years.

The trail around the base of the monument leads to Borglum's sculpture studio which is worth the walk. The studio itself is beautiful and offers a unique view of the mountain.

We had lunch at the cafe, which was typical cafeteria food but convenient. Maddie finished her Jr. Ranger material and got her official badge. There is a huge gift shop in the park, but I would recommend buying anything you can through the National Parks office. Hopefully the park will get more of the proceeds.

In Washington DC, and now on this trip, we purchase a pin at each place we visit. Maddie puts them on a lanyard and later, does a nice job going through them and telling people the highlights. She then has a nice keepsake and we don't have to say, “no” to a favorite stuffed animal at every park we visit.

In our attempt to balance national park majesty with cheesy touristy family fun, next we proceeded to the Mt. Rushmore Tram and Alpine Slide. For $20 Maddie and I took a chair lift that promised views of Mt. Rushmore, (lie), up to the beginning of a slide cut into the hill that you went down in a little sled. It was a relaxing ride up but since neither of us knew what we were doing on the way down, it was fun, but a little boring. We would have been smarter and more daring the next trip, but that wasn't going to happen.

We went back to the lodge for a break before the night program. We swam and napped, but thought we'd get dinner after the program. Big mistake, the restaurants all closed at 9p.m. They may stay open longer during the high season but check that out before you go. We got back around 9:15.

The night program was awesome. We arrived around 7:15. The actual program starts at 8p.m. With the lighting of the monument at 8:30. Patriotic music is played as everyone takes their seats in an enormous outdoor amphitheater located at the base of the monument. The Ranger gives a short talk and presents a movie about the monument.

At the end of the movie all veterans in attendance are invited to come on the stage and be recognized. I estimate more than 100 veterans gathered on stage. It was very moving. They performed the flag lowering led andthe audience in “The Star Spangled Banner” as the monument was lit and the amphitheater went dark. It was awesome with not a dry eye in the house.

John took some beautiful photos, If you have the opportunity to ever see this, I highly recommend it.

Reptile Gardens and Moving Day

Following Bear Country USA we went just up the road to Reptile Gardens. This is another heavily advertised attraction in the Black Hills area. I was a little suspicious that it might be just a bunch of algae covered tanks with some snakes and frogs stashed in them, but was pleasantly surprised. It was a very nice place. The “Gardens” part of Reptile Garden was very appropriate. There were flower beds and hanging flowers everywhere and somehow they were all in bloom even in mid-August. The three popular shows are scheduled so you can easily do the park in 2-2 ½ hours. The shows are Birds of Prey, Snakes and Alligators and Crocodiles. They were cute shows and very informative. John liked the Birds of Prey, especially the vultures, best. Maddie, of course, loved the snakes because she's such an expert from all her time spent with Tom at Sarett and Curious Kids. I liked the gator show. I'm sure the presenter was just very good at what he did, but I was really nervous for him that one of those gators was going to get him. He was in there with more than 40 of them and several would walk around, looking very sneaky. The sea turtles were neat too. The one Maddie is petting is 129 years old and named Methusela. I bet he wasn't born with that name. This ended up being a very nice place and thus far, the highlight of Maddie's trip.

Next - Off to find our new hotel. We are planning on staying 3 nights at The Lodge at Palmer Gulch. The lodge is affiliated with a KOA campground and I booked it because it looked like it was centrally located to the places we are planning on visiting and the amenities looked very family friendly.

*Just a note on booking places to stay out here. It's really tough. Few places have great websites and even those that have them are really uninformative. I used tripadvisor.com a lot to try to get a feel of how good or bad they would be, but we never really knew until we walked in the door. Plus lodging is not cheap out here. Our average was about $150 a night. Camping is probably much cheaper, but that is not my specialty. Also they all had strict cancellation policies – many were 15 day cancellations or you were charged the full fee. Not good when you aren't really sure how long you would like to stay at each place. There were cheaper places to stay and I do like comfortable hotel rooms, but be very careful booking the cheap ones, because some were really cheap – like bring your own bedding cheap. Not this girl – but enough of that -

Palmer Gulch turned out to be great. The room was spartan but large with a king sized bed, roll-away bed and a balcony. The amenities were awesome, especially for Maddie. 2 pools, an enormous jumping pillow, water fountain splash pad, water slide, putt-putt golf, evening movies, (Madagscar and Ernest Goes to Camp while we were there), riding stables, giant chess and checkers, etc. For grown-ups there was an adult pool, indoor sauna and whirlpool, coffee shop with wine tastings at night a couple restaurants and camp stores. A very nice place to spend the national park heavy portion of our trip.

They also offer all you can eat pancake breakfasts, (which we did a couple days – yum!), chuckwagon dinners and a trail ride to a chuckwagon breakfast too. The trail ride would have been fun if we had had a little more time. Fees were associated with each of these activities but were reasonable.

For dinner we went into Hill City to poke around and try a restaurant heartily recommended by the Clapp's. The Alpine Inn serves your choice of a 9oz. or 6oz. bacon-wrapped filet mignon. That is all. Each meal comes with a wedge of iceburg letuce with homemade ranch dressing and a baked potato. It was delicious and very reasonable, ($10.95 for the 9 oz.). This was John's happiest meal of the trip. The Inn also had a huge selection of homemade desserts that are worth trying too. John, Maddie and I split the crème brulee and apple and cream cheese strudel – we didn't send anything back.

So, to re-cap, we are in a nice hotel, we have swum and hot-tubbed and had a great meal. We are ready and looking forward to Mount Rushmore tomorrow.

Bears, Bears and Alligators!

Today, we left Deadwood and made our way through Rapid City and on to Hill City where we are staying at The Lodge at Palmer Gulch. But before we got there we went to Bear Country, USA and Reptile Gardens. These two attractions are very close to each other and both very well done. John and I both enjoyed them, but Maddie LOVED them.

We did Bear Country first. This is basically a drive-thru zoo, (my new favorite kind of zoo!). Each section was marked with it's featured animal and the path took us through it's habitat and the animals were free to roam wherever they liked. It was very cool because the animals were used to the cars and most were close to where the cars passed and more than a few were right in the road as we waited for them to pass. (See the arctic wolf on right - he was in no hurry to get off the road.)

They had elk, reindeer, wolves, deer, antelope, bears - lots of bears, and a tiny herd of bison. Once you drove through the park they had a walking area called "Babyland" where we saw some baby bear cubs and smaller animals it they're collection. The most interesting was the badger. He was very active when saw him.

My connection is slowing down because of the pictures. I'll post this one and talk about Reptile World a little later. Ciao for now!

Devil's Tower and Deadwood

We got a bit of a late start Monday - this Griswold method of vacationing is exhausting! We drove up to Wyoming to see Devil's Tower, a national monument just over the border. It was a beautiful drive out of the Black Hills and into Wyoming. The landscape just kept expanding. Apparently this is a big ranching area, not many houses but lots of rolling land.

This way into Wyoming - off I-90 has a great welcome center. I know it sounds odd, but this welcome center was state of the art. Flat screen video panels with special video presentations, interactive displays, photo ops, coffee, a very friendly and informative staff, a and I believe, every brochure ever produced in the great state of Wyoming.

We asked where to go to lunch and they sent us to "Cindy's" in the fine town of Aladdin, population 15. Apparently, their population is their claim to fame. The town consisted of Cindy's, a motel, (owned by Cindy), and the General Store and Post Office which are more than 120 years old. Maddie even got a pin for her lanyard with the town and its population proudly proclaimed.

Our lunches were delicious. BLT's, potato soup and peach pie were on our menus. I even had some huckleberry ice cream, (alas, no huckleberry pie). The lunch "crowd" was interesting. Half seemed local, and half must have gone to the same welcome center as we did. The best was when some German tourists asked the men in cowboy hats if they could take their pictures because they thought they were cowboys. The old guys didn't quite know what to do, but they finally said yes and smiled for their picture. We went through the General Store after lunch and it was just a hodge podge of stuff but a fun stop. Definitely a great lunch stop all the way around.

Devil's Tower was very cool. It is a huge rock formation that was formed by a volcano million's of years ago. It is a sacred site to many Native American tribes, (most people out here use the term Indian instead of Native American, I don't know if that's ok or not.) But it's now part of

the National Park system, so it was packed and Maddie got to do another Jr. Ranger program.

We heard a talk on "Climbing Devil's Tower." The fastest it had ever been climbed was 18 minutes. In contrast, we met some climbers just coming, "off the rock" during our hike at about 2 p.m. and they had started at 6 a.m. It was their first time climbing it and they had "summited." We saw several groups of climbers at different points of their climb as we walked around the base. It was a 1.3 mile loop, just around the base! We were very happy we added this to our trip.

We came back to Deadwood through Spearfish Canyon. Alpine Coffee in downtown Spearfish provided an afternoon treat for us and the frappes and scones were delicious, (beware the late day coffee though.) I was really looking forward to Spearfish Canyon. I had just read that Frank Lloyd Wright said it rivaled the Grand Canyon in it's majesty. Mr. Wright may have had a better tour guide than my guide book but it wasn't even close to the Grand Canyon. It was a very

scenic drive through the canyon, with lookout stops along the way. The one place I thought we would take a hike was closed to hikers and I wasn't up to figuring out a new place. So, we enjoyed the drive, John took some incredible pictures and we made it to Deadwood in time for a little dastardly deed and dinner.

The dastardly deed was, of course, the reenactment of Jack McCall shooting Wild Bill Hickok in the #10 Saloon. For a death scene it was very cute. "Wild Bill" was an actor from California who had been playing various western characters for years and knew all about the history of Bill Hickok, Deadwood and the other characters of the town. He explained it all before the play and then he, with a group of audience members acted out the last fatal moments of Wild Bill's life. He sat, for the first time, with his back to the door and in walked the drifter Jack McCall and shot him in the back. Wild Bill was holding 2 black aces and 2 black 8's when he died, thus known as The Dead Man's Hand. Maddie asked exactly what kind of pistols he liked to use. John was so proud. "Wild Bill" went through what kind they were, how they were loaded and how to shoot them. Maddie or John can tell you all about it, I don't have a clue, but I liked the show.

After we went upstairs to the #10 Social Club and had dinner. It was a little nicer place than most of Deadwood. I had a chicken and tortellini pasta and John had a pork dish that he really liked. We ate outside and it was a perfect night.

Wednesday we check out of The Lodge at Deadwood and head for The Lodge at Palmer Gulch in Hill City, SD close to Mount Rushmore.

A HOT! Time in the Badlands

Sunday was our big day in the Badlands. Saturday at the night program the Ranger shared that Saturday had been the warmest day of the year, but fear not, Sunday was going to be warmer. Oh, and it was. It was 92 by our 8:30 a.m. Geology Walk and over 100 for the 10:30 a.m. Jr. Ranger Program. By the time we left the park after the 1:30 p.m. Fossil Walk it was 106 and the word "hot" just didn't seem to capture the inferno that was the Badlands. This is a family blog, but I developed all kinds of colorful adjective combinations to describe the words "hot" and "degrees."

That bit of grousing out of the way - the Badlands really are an incredible place. Once in the large formations, every where you turn is a new and spectacular scene. These were all formed after the dinosaurs by erosion left over from the big inland ocean that covered the middle of the united states. There are many, many fossils here, but not dinosaur fossils, because the dinos didn't swim out that far. Much to Maddie's dismay, any fossils she may have found, (no she did not find any), had to be left behind and reported to a Ranger. They have paleontologists on call 24/7 just in case a fossil is found. This fact was mentioned a couple times and I couldn't help but laugh picturing random paleontologists just waiting to spring into action after getting "the call." But apparently it's a big deal in certain circles.

The Jr. Ranger program lasted 45 minutes in a dried out creek bed and focused on features of a prairie. Since I promised no more grousing let me just tell you about the Jr. Ranger programs in the National Parks. The national sites we have been to over the past two years have each had they're own Jr. Ranger programs. They have different formats at each one and different ways to earn badges or patches. Usually they are workbooks that a kid can fill out and complete by checking out the highlights of the park. The Rangers are usually excited to help, but they do correct the whole thing before you get your badge. The kids also are issued an oath by the Ranger to enjoy and protect the parks. It's a great way to keep them interested as we grown-ups enjoy the scenery and information.

In the Badlands, the kids completed a bingo card with things they saw or learned about in the prairie. The Ranger Allison did an excellent job keeping the kids interested by making prairies really interesting. We've yet to come across a Ranger that wasn't just top notch. Maddie earned a badge AND a patch during this program.

The Fossil Walk turned out to be a Fossil "Talk" under the shade of a gazebo next to a fossil trail. Maddie said the most interesting thing she learned was that some of the species found in the area are the ancestors of today's domestic cats. I opted out of that one and did a little "planning" for the next few days in the AC.

Probably the biggest downfall of the heat was that we weren't able to do any of the hikes or climb on the formations. The Badlands is what is called an "open park" so you can go and do whatever you would like. Maddie would have loved to practice her mountain goat techniques and I'm sure the hikes would have been well worth it. I guess someday we'll just have to get back and do it.

Next, we were off to Deadwood. An old western town developed during the gold rush and known now for low stakes gambling. The entire town is on the historic register and it is the final resting place for Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane. It was about a 3 hour drive from the Badland's and we stayed at The Lodge at Deadwood.

The Lodge at Deadwood is a brand new hotel/casino/restaurant. They opened Dec. 2009. Our room was huge with 2 Queen beds and a roll-away couch. The pool was very nice for the 8 and under set. It was set up like the toddler area of a water park. Little slides, mushroom fountains and lily pads. The deepest spot was 3'6". Maddie had fun with the lily pads. The hot tub was huge but out of service. They seem to be working out some of the kinks in the hotel - including their alleged wi-fi. But for us, it was a good location and a wonderful treat after my version of roughing it in the Badlands.

We missed the gunfights on the streets downtown but had dinner at Diamond Lil's. It was kind of a shrine to Kevin Costner. They had many of his costumes from all his movies. Dances with Wolves was filmed in the area and he is still fond of the area. The food was very average, buffalo burgers and a regular burger. We probably wouldn't recommend it unless you are a huge Kevin Costner fan.

Monday we'll go a little farther west and travel to Wyoming - Yee Ha!

The Corn Palace and Beyond!

(Not surprisingly, internet service is a little sketchy out here, so my posts may be a little less than timely. My apologies. Anyway...)

We're off to the Corn Palace! Definitely stop-worthy. Not the Taj Majal, but they sure tried. We met Cornelius the mascot and saw the movie on why it is there – they were in a battle with the nearby town of Plankinton who were erecting a Grain Palace in the late 1800's and the Mitchell-ite's were not going to be outdone. And apparently they weren't - because 100 years later there's a big shiny Cabela's at the Mitchell exit and bupkis at the Plankinton exit. Take that Palace O'Grain!

We spent about an hour at the Palace and had a great lunch at Teresa's Cafe. Teresa's was quite a hip oasis in this cowboy/western town and the frozen lemonade and chicken salad was delicious. We highly recommend it and it's on Facebook.

We did stop by the Cabela's because the were hosting a Quick-Draw Pistol competition, (and also because it was Cabela's). It appeared to be a national competition and they were indeed quick. I honestly couldn't tell if the shooters were in costume or they just always dressed like old west gunslingers. The women were dressed a little less flamboyantly except for one who looked like Mae West with a gun – not a good look in 100 degree heat.

Next, about a 3 hour trip to the Badlands area. First, we made a trip to the Minuteman Missile Launch Site. It is one of the newest National Historic Sites and was semi-interesting. They had a good movie for kids which explained the Cold War and why we had these missiles placed all over the West and a Jr. Ranger Program. Maddie got her picture taken with both Rangers - apparently a first, very exciting. We then made the short drive over to the actual Missile Silo. There wasn't a lot there, but there was an actual missile in the ground - viewed through a lovely skylight. They were not able to do a tour that day or else we would have been able to take the elevator down. That would have been cool, but it was still neat to see.

We decided to stop at Wall Drug before going into the Badlands Park. That turned out to be a good idea, because Wall Drug was as kitschy and commercial as promised but it was a fun stop. However, it really would have looked silly in comparison the the Badlands, so we're happy we did it first. Maddie got a cowboy hat, (green of course), and we picked up some homemade doughnuts for Sunday's breakfast – they were quite good. Maddie is still searchin for a real-live Jack-a-Lope.

Then we were off to the Badlands where we were staying for the night. Right past both Main Entrances to the park are scenic overlooks and they are both just spectacular. Driving in you see some of the formations in the distance but it's a very boring drive overall, so to pull in and see this incredible panorama of shape and color as far as the eye can see is overwhelming. The first sight of it doesn't even look real. We stopped at some more outlooks on the way to Cedar Lodge. We saw the prairie dog town and a big horn sheep and her baby. Half of the Badlands are prairie so we were going through a lot of that too. It was a fun loop.

We got to our cabin which was tiny, but had a bathroom and as they say, location, location, location. There are not many lodging options in or around the Badlands. Cedar Pass has these cabins and a campground. It's worth it to stay, because anything else would be a really long drive and not much better unless you drove over from Rapid City, which is about a 2 hour drive. Book these cabins early. There are only about 30. As tiny and as old as these cabins are, (at least 50 years old by my guess), they were immaculately clean. There was not a speck of dust or grime. John thought he'd lost his wedding ring and we searched the room high and low. Even around the beds and chairs were spotless. (John found his ring in his wallet, so we're still married.)

The lodge has a restaurant which was fine. Nice servers and simple food and frankly, no other options. By our third meal we were ready for a change, but grateful it was available. After dinner we were off to the Ranger led Night Sky Program. Now, I was very excited for this and went on and on to Maddie about all the stars and galaxies she was going to get to see. She's a city girl who is out like a light by 9p.m. most nights – she's only rarely seen fireworks, so this was going to be awesome. Well....it was a beautiful night, with just a few clouds and a big, brilliantly white moon to light up the entire sky. I think the Ranger was more disappointed than I was. All we could see was the big dipper and Mercury – and a beautiful moon! Oh well, we were definitely ready for bed. Sunday – more Badlands!