We finally make it to the Black Hills

We have lived in South Dakota for almost 3 years and have never seen those things that every good South Dakotan is suppossed to see. Since Kristen's Mom and Stepdad were here with their camper for an extended visit, we decided to take a few days off and head out to the Black Hills. We stopped in Murdo to visit the Pioneer Auto Show, since there were a lot of gear heads with us. It was pretty cool, but very hot and some of the cars looked very sad. We wished they were better taken care of! Next stop was Wall Drug. We had been told it was a huge tourist trap, and that is exactly what it was! We took some fun pictures in the backyard and enjoyed our share of free ice water, too hot for the 5 cent coffee though.

We arrived at our final destination, Custer, very tired and not in the mood to do much of anything. After unloading the camper at the campsite, we went for dinner at a place in town. I forget what it is called, but the food was amazing! They had Buffalo ribs that were so tender and yummy, we should have asked if they sold their BBQ sauce as it was just perfect! Kristen and Kelly stayed in a hotel, so we parted ways to get some sleep. The next morning, we headed out to Crazy Horse. Kristen has always wanted to go and it was really amazing to see in person! Its sad that it won't be finished in our lifetimes, but maybe when we bring our kids back someday they will have made more progress!

Next stop was Mt. Rushmore, which was very crowded. It is certainly impressive to see something that is so famous. It is almost hard to believe what you are seeing in front of you. It was fascinating to learn about the history of the mountain and see how the carving was done. I only regret that we didn't see the evening lighting ceremony, which we hear is spectacular!

After Mt. Rushmore, we decided to just drive around a bit. We headed north to Lead and Deadwood and just drove through town. It would have been cool to walk around, but we were short on time, so we are saving that for another time. Next stop was Sturgis, which Kristen's mom really wanted to see. It honestly is kind of crappy without all the bikers. It was sooo hot and there was nothing to do except buy $3 tshirts from past ralleys. I am sure it is a whole different town during bike week, but I don't think any of us have any desire to ever go back there again. Once we got back to Custer, Kelly and Kristen headed out in her stepdad's hot rod to take a drive through Custer State Park. We expected it to be a short jaunt, just to check out the scenery and see some animals. We saw a sign for the 'Wildlife loop' and decided to check it out, even though Kelly insisted we would not see any animals. The sight we saw when rounding the corner was truly spectacular- there were buffalo everywhere! After taking about 30 minutes to move through the herd, we followed the rest of the trail through antelope, deer and even more buffalo! It was really amazing, and being in the hot rod with no top made us feel even more a part of it. We really reccommend checking this place out, it is really beautiful.

After we made it back to town (and vey late for dinner) we went back to Crazy Horse to see the 'Legends in Light", a light show projected on the side of the mountain. It was very hard to get good pictures of this, but it was pretty cool to see. The show lasted about 30 minutes, and the second it was over it started pouring, which ruined any more opportunities for pictures.

The next day, we headed back to Sioux Falls, since Kristen had to work! Kelly had the rest of the week off to relax before more weddings and work. It was a great vacation and we will definitely be back there someday. The rest of our photo gallery is here: http://picasaweb.google.com/kristen.cline/BlackHillsTrip?authkey=uLfqRAon348