Mount Rushmore, Badlands NP, Crazy Horse, Black Hills, SD

Day #19 (August 19, 2022): There is so much to see and do in the Black Hills of South Dakota. We hope we can come back and spend more time here. There is so much natural beauty and wildlife and so many things to do and places to visit. We easily could have spent 2 weeks here, but sadly, we could only secure 4 nights when we were making our reservations several months ago. We were thankful for our 3 full days, and therefore we were determined to make the most of them! First stop for the day, Mount Rushmore! However, the drive there was our first tourist experience of the day on our list. We drove the long, narrow, winding Iron Mountain Road, also known as 16A, though the Black Hills National Forest and experienced the 17 miles, 314 curves, 14 switchbacks, 3 wooden pigtail bridges, 2 splits, and…most memorably…3 narrow, one-way tunnels in our big-hipped dualie truck, while we snapped tunnel-framed pictures of Mt Rushmore! Iron Mountain Road is an engineering feat in and of itself and a spectacular way to approach Mt Rushmore. The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is an iconic must-see. The visitor’s center film of how the monument came to be and its exhibits of pictures, tools, and memorabilia were neat to see. We grabbed an ice cream snack on the way out at the memorial’s cafe, hoping to experience Thomas Jefferson’s personal recipe for vanilla ice cream (how cool is that!!!), but disappointingly, they were out, so we had to settle for other, nonpresidential-inspired flavors. Next, we drove through Buffalo Gap National Grasslands to Badlands National Park, a fossil mecca and geology wonder! We were surprised at how “soft” the rock formations are. To us, non-geology experts, they were like huge colorful pastel sand-art-inspired sand dunes made from fine, dried clay. Because they erode an average of 1-inch per year (because of how “soft” they are), fossils are continually being found within the park as rain and snow melts naturally uncover them. Had we had more time, we would have liked to have walked out and explored more of the “dunes,” keeping an eye out for an undiscovered fossil. Next time! We made it to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site right before it closed and quickly walked around. We just missed its last movie-viewing of the day, which the kids were thankful for. LOL! Next, we pulled into a trading post/gas station near the interstate where we spotted a large prairie dog “town.” To us, prairie dogs remind us of our past-pet guinea pigs plus with a lot of meerkat tendencies. The kids had fun picking nearby grass to hold out to feed the somewhat timid prairie dogs. They had a few takers and were thrilled to get so close to them. Then, out comes Chris from the trading post, snacking on a pack of peanut butter crackers. Instantly, the prairie dogs were on high alert, wanted nothing to do with the kids’ grass, and headed straight to Chris, the source of an evidently beloved sound of crinkling plastic! Realizing what was happening, Chris gave each kid a PB cracker, which they carefully broke into smaller pieces and had the time of their lives kneeling or sitting on the ground as prairie dogs were seeking them out, crawling on their laps or shoes, standing on hind legs, holding their hands, letting them pet them…it was the best 30 minutes of the entire trip so far! As tired as we were, we still had more on our list of what we wanted to see for the day, so we loaded back up into our truck, saying good-bye to our new friends, and drove to the Crazy Horse Memorial. The Crazy Horse Memorial is not government-sponsored. Rather, it is a privately funded monument of the Lakota warrior, Crazy Horse. It is the world’s largest mountain carving. Although incomplete, it is an impressive site to behold and to learn about its history and the lifetime, multigenerational dedication of the Ziolkowski family to this ongoing project. I don’t know if it will be finished in any of our lifetimes, but complete or incomplete, it is a magnificent sight to behold! A definite must-see!

Day #20 (August 20, 2022): Third and final day. The kids are still begging to go back on the Wildlife Loop, disappointed that it was after dark when we drove back to our campground the night before, after a jam-packed day. So, we loaded back into our truck and immediately started on the Wildlife Loop. The park ranger at the Wildlife Visitor Center recommended we take some side roads this time. Sure enough, that’s where the buffalo were that morning! So many buffalo walking and running along the road beside our truck, crossing the road directly in front of us! We had buffalo on both sides of us. We were in the middle of a huge herd! It was so cut to spy the many babies. Seeing so many buffalo at one time, we could easily spot the difference between the small chocolate-colored calves and the even smaller and younger cinnamon-colored calves! So fun! Hungry, we went back to the Wildlife Visitor Center and ordered bison burgers from the food truck in its parking lot. De.li.cious! So good! While we were eating at a nearby picnic table, the friendly park ranger we had talked to earlier in the morning came and sat at a nearby table to eat his lunch. We thanked him for that morning’s tips and advice. He gave us a few more tips about seeing the park’s beloved friendly burros. We had only spotted them from afar the other day. So, we loaded back up, hoping to get a better, more up-close encounter with the donkeys. Sure enough, we drove just up the road a bit and saw lots of cars parked, as people were out of their cars feeding the burros carrots, celery, apples, and other treats. Man! I didn’t know we could feed them! We didn’t pack any donkey treats for our day’s drive. Neil hopped out of the truck, picking grass from along the road and passing a bundle to each of the girls. We had grass bundles out of all 4 windows, but evidently grass is too abundant and not enticing to these well-fed burros. Thankfully, up drives a truck behind us. A lady and man get out with gallon-size bags of…horse-feed! What?!? How prepared are they! We watched from across the road as the burros ate the horse-feed from their hands. They saw us watching and invited us over. The kids each took turns petting the burros and feeding them from their hands. How exciting! We thanked the couple for their kindness and generosity and headed north on the loop toward our next item on our agenda: Needles Highway! As we continued to drive and finish the wildlife loop, we saw more prairie dogs and pronghorns. So cool! We had gotten our confidence up after conquering Iron Mountain Road the previous day, so on to Needles Highway and its even-narrower 2 tunnels! Will our dualie fit?!? Today is Saturday, and we weren’t anticipating the crowds on this 14-mile tourist draw that narrowly winds you through the granite needle spires of the Black Hills. These Cathedral Spires are absolutely stunning. Had we not been in a huge truck on such a crowded day, we could have stopped and parked and enjoyed a trail to admire the spires even more, but no way, not today! Slow drive and go! Chris would say this was the most nerve-wrecking drive yet! Holy cow! So scary! And the tunnels, well, they were definitely more narrow than the three on Iron Mountain Road. We had kids looking out each window as we crawled through the tunnels ensuring we were in fact going to fit and make it through! We did…barely…with about 4 inches to spare on either side! We were shocked to see even tour buses winding this narrow road and squeezing through these tunnels. Needles Highway takes you to the most-picturesque lake, Sylvan Lake. It’s hard to describe its beauty. The girls especially loved how the ground and rocks looked like there was glitter everywhere! It was something else! Truly a spectacular place! We walked around the perimeter of the lake taking in its beauty and snapping lots of photos, as we continued to marvel at the tour buses on our same route, shaking our heads in disbelief. There was no way Chris was going to drive back down the same path as we had come, so we took the longer round-about route to Custer, as we headed back to camp. We stopped at Dakota Broasted, which serves delicious broasted chicken, a healthy-alternative “fried” chicken. It was SO good!

Day #21 (August 21, 2022): We all agreed we would have enjoyed more time in Custer State Park and that we weren’t ready to leave, but we were thankful we were at least able to stay 4 nights in such a highly desired state park. (Note to self: schedule reservations for CSP 1 year in advance.) That said, we were exhausted after cramming so much into such a short amount of time, but man, how we loved South Dakota! South Dakota is going to be a hard state to beat for our family. Thank you, South Dakota, for such an amazing week! Our next destination: Glacier National Park. We drove toward Glacier via Wyoming’s flat golden-brown Great Plains and stopped for the night in Billings, MT, staying at the “World’s First KOA.” The spaces were super tight, so we were thankful to only be there one night. They offered a very nice complementary mini golf, which Chris and the kids enjoyed before settling in for the night.