On our way up, we stopped at the Mammoth Dig Site in Hot Springs, SD. About 100,000 at this site, there was a small lake heated by a hot spring. Numerous mammoths must have fallen into the lake and were preserved. There were at least a dozen well-preserved mammoths. Kara thought it was awesome, but Emily started getting a little tired about this time. She said it smelled inside (it smelled fairly musty) and was just generally cranky for the whole tour.
After that, we headed into Custer and checked into our cabin at Shady Rest Motel, which is actually a collection of small cabins just outside of town. We stayed in the bunkhouse, which had a loft in half the cabin. The girls quickly claimed their spots in the loft while we got everything unpacked. Once everything was unpacked, we headed into town and grabbed some dinner at a place called Pizza Works in town. No one slept too well the first night (Kara thought it was too dark up in the loft, so she didn't want to sleep up there), but we survived.
Our first full day up there was very busy. We got up in the morning and headed straight to Bear Country USA, which was about 30 minutes away. It was actually a lot of fun. It's basically a driving safari in your own car. You drive through several different enclosures, each with a different kind of animal. They had elk, reindeer, wolves, bighorn sheep, mountain lions, and bears (or course). We were there early in the morning, and all the animals were quite active (except for the wolves who were sleeping in the middle of the road).
Just down the road from Bear Country USA is the Reptile Gardens. They have giant tortoises, all kinds of lizards, birds, but the highlight is the alligator exhibit. Several times a day, one of the staff comes out to feed the alligators and give a speech. The guy they had doing the presentation was awesome! He wrestles the alligators (mostly he just pins the alligator and shows how poor of peripheral vision they have). Check out the video we have! After that, everything else paled in comparison.
We wrapped up our first day with a Hayride and Chuck Wagon Cookout. It was a good time. It starts with a hayride drive through Custer State Park (which is home to quite a few bison, though we didn't see any on the hayride) followed by a steak and hamburger grill-out in the park while Cowboy Keith sang country songs for us. The girls were particularly fond of Cowboy Keith and had him sign their hats. The second night, unfortunately, was not good for sleep, either.
Our third day started with a visited to Mount Rushmore, which is the main attraction near Custer. The girls thought it was pretty awesome. There's a trail that you can walk and get down to the base of the hill, but it was closed down for repairs. The coolest part, though, was that they had an ice cream shop that sold Thomas Jefferson's Vanilla Ice Cream. Dad thought it was pretty awesome, but the girls thought it was a little rich.
On our way back to the motel, we decided to take Needles Highway, which is a scenic highway through the Black Hills. There are several very narrow tunnels along the highway (only one car can pass at a time) and quite a few stops to enjoy the views. Somewhere along the way Kara decided she loved bouldering and started climbing all the rocks, giving Mom a couple little heart attacks along the way. We also saw a mountain goat and enjoyed the scenery.
For dinner that night we went to Black Hills Burger and Bun, which was quite an experience. It was named one of the best burger places in country and the best in South Dakota (funny enough, Mom and Dad at at Back Door Grill in Steamboat Springs a couple weeks later, which was voted the best burger in Colorado). We had tried to go there the first night but showed up at 5:15 to find there was already a 45 minute wait. This time, we got there about 30 minutes before they opened and got in line. It was a good thing we did, too, because there are only about 12 tables inside, and we were 6th in line. I will say the burger lived up to the hype. If you're ever in Custer, you should check it out.
For our last full day, we headed to Jewel Cave. Jewel Cave is apparently the 3rd largest cave system in the world (after Mammoth Cave, of course), but there is only one small natural entrance. We took the tour, which starts with an elevator ride down into the heart of the cave. From there we hiked about half mile around the cave and end up in the same spot except 50 feet lower (so you take the same elevator back up). It was pretty awesome.
We wrapped up our last day with a drive through Custer State Park to see the bison herd they have there. They have somewhere around 1500 head of bison. It was quite amazing to see the herd walking across the hills. The girls were quite entertained watching the huge animals from the safety of our car.
For our last night, the motel owner let us trade units (since no one was sleeping too well in the Bunkhouse) to Unit #8. That one had three beds, so the girls didn't have to share a bed. Plus, Mom and Dad got their own room, which was much appreciated!
On the way back home, we made a stop at Fort Robinson in Nebraska, which is the home of the "Clash of the Mammoths" exhibit. Basically, they found bones of two mammoths who both died during a fight. The exhibit was really cool, and they had a lot of detail about how they thought the fight went down. After checking that out, we grabbed lunch at the fort and then headed home. The drive home was uneventful for the most part. We hit some heavy rain and traffic around Cheyenne, but it was smooth sailing otherwise.
Overall, the trip was a blast! The girls are already scouting out where we're going for our next road trip!
Link to Pictures
