Black Hills

My husband and I did a little trial membership for RCI which we had to use by the end of May, so we are packing in a few short trips this month. This weekend we did a little marathon trip to the Black Hills. I really loved it and wish we had more time

This is the view from our little condo. I thought RCI was a little overpriced, but it was really nice to stay in a place with bedrooms and a living room and kitchen. And, where we stayed at the top of a hill by a ski resort was pretty.



We went to see cool things, like carved up mountains, etc., but all the kids kept asking to do was go swimming.



These pictures are from Crazy Horse, pretty near Mt. Rushmore. the statue shows what it should look like when done, but so far it's just the face. It's really huge. I didn't know about it until my Dad told me about it, but it was pretty impressive, and big. I didn't think it was that big till we went to Rushmore, and it is a lot bigger, I'm sure it will be incredible when it's done.





There is a museum at Crazy Horse and I had to take a picture of these real Indians at the museum. I thought it was a little silly ironic, but Ted just roles his eyes at me. You can't see it from behind, but the lady even had the dot, so I know they were Indian ( I didn't ask them to pose, I'm not that insensitive). Please feel free to correct me if you know what the "dot" is called and refer me to a museum about Hinduism so I can be more sensitive :).






Here are a couple of pictures of the family on a scenic overlook a couple of miles from Mt. Rushmore. We originally stopped here looking for a potty, but it turned out to be a nice hike (with only "nature's potty").




I made my husband take a little scenic route full of tunnels to Mt. Rushmore...like when I went with my family, and after some initial complaining (because we started in Custer State Park that charged $15 for an entrance fee) we decided the tunnels were pretty cool.



This is at Dinosaur Park in Rapid City..it was a really cool park and the kids liked it. We also liked Rapid City, it was really nice, clean and friendly. I could live there. The kids liked the dinosaurs that were life sized and it was on top of a hill above the city and you can see the "long neck" driving up.





On our way home Monday, we went to Devils Tower in the North East corner of Wyo. We read it was cool and my husband remembers it from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, so we had to see it. It was rainy and very cold, but ultimately I think it made it look cooler. It's already tall and windy and mysterious and even a little creepy, and the clouds really added to the effect.











There were deer and antelope everywhere, fairly close to the trail. The trail was wet and cold, but we bundled up.



Lastly, Devil's Tower is surrounded within an hour only of super tiny towns, only one with a gas station...and our car wouldn't start. We had to sit in the cold car for 3 hours while my husband stood in the rain trying to figure it out. After a while I went into the ranger station and shop to try and call tow trucks, just to be turned down essentially. That was when the nice ranger lady offered to take us to her house for a little while-bless her beautiful heart. Just when I started to cry my husband figured out it was a faulty wire leading to the starter and shook it just right to get it started. We went the whole way home (7 hours) without stopping the car :)...we even got gas that way (thanks Lord for not letting us blow up) and although it was irritating, I have never been so happy to here that car start, we were just so happy to leave!
I still recommend seeing Devil's Tower though, it was really cool.