From Hot Springs, we headed up to the Black Hills area. Our campsite for the night was at the KOA next door to Mount Rushmore. It was a beautiful drive!! We didn't actually enter the Custer State Park, we drove past it and through some National Forest areas. We spotted several lone buffalo and then found a nice big herd of buffalo just grazing near the highway.
Leaving Hot Springs, we drove through the middle of town and found a beautiful waterfall! This is definitely a place to come back too, without the trailer. I'd love to stop and see closer up.
We saw the Crazy Horse Monument from the road - interesting to see, from the road, not worth the per person price they were going to charge.
We parked the RV at the KOA and then headed into Keystone, SD to visit the local history museum.
Here begins our Little House on the Prairie tour - Keystone is the village Carrie moved to to be a newspaper reporter. While her, she married a widow and helped raise his 2 children; her husband was the man who actually named the mountain Rushmore. The school house we visited was the one Carrie's step-children attended.
The museum in the school house also contains some of Carrie's possessions, including a porcelain shepherdess, the only one that has been found in the belongings of the Ingall's children and has a letter in which Laura states that Carrie had Ma's China Shepherdess, and bead work done by Mary.
While driving through Keystone, we found a chainsaw crafter. He had created a Harry from Harry and the Henderson's and Z thought it would be fun to see it close up. We also saw a deer just standing by the side of the road watching the traffic, it never ran off even when a big tour bus came by.
and then we came back to Mount Rushmore where we hiked the trails, saw the mountain from many different angles, and visited the sculpture's studio. We went back after dinner to view the lighting. Amazing sight! We didn't watch any of the videos because we'd already viewed the same content at home. I think having watched at home, before going, enhanced our experience and allowed us to enjoy what we saw more. And, the kids enjoyed the videos more since we could watch at their pace, not at the next tours pace.
From the parking area, you enter through the flags and come out on top of the visitors center. In the visitors center, you can see videos about the mountain and artifacts. You can even "blow up" the rock, just like the sculptures did.
Some bead work from the local Indians
To maintain the monument today, repellers climb down and clean/restore each face, as needed.
To "blow up" the mountain, you select a scene from the monitor and then push down on the trigger. It was hard to push down - N and H had to have help from C.
Next, we walked the trails around the visitors center and down to the sculpture's studio. It's well marked by a beautiful wooden platform and stairs - lots and lots of stairs. Unfortunately, in my old age, my knee has started twisting when I walk down stairs, so we invented a little hop going down all those stairs.
We found a tree growing out of a rock!
And found breathtaking views of the rest of the Black Hills
We also found interesting coloration and variations in the rocks. Much was quartz and others looked silver in coloring. Very interesting walk for our rock loving boy!
At the bottom of the president's trail, we visited the sculpture's studio where we found a 1/12 size model of the mountain. Very impression in itself! and a little scary according to the little people.
After hiking back up to the top, we visited the gift shop and found some color me postcards. So, while I fixed dinner at the trailer, N colored his and brought it back for the lighting ceremony so he could "see if I'm right" on how it would look.
Something we noticed in most of the "northern towns" that we visited - all the beautiful flowers in August! In TX, it's usually too hot for flowers in August. Here, they are overflowing and arranged so prettily!
I think he nailed it!
We ended the evening with a surprise visit from the tooth fairy! On our way out to the van, N suddenly stopped and yelled "My tooth!". He said he felt something in his mouth and spit it out and it was his FIRST tooth falling out!
Leaving Hot Springs, we drove through the middle of town and found a beautiful waterfall! This is definitely a place to come back too, without the trailer. I'd love to stop and see closer up.
We saw the Crazy Horse Monument from the road - interesting to see, from the road, not worth the per person price they were going to charge.
We parked the RV at the KOA and then headed into Keystone, SD to visit the local history museum.
Little House on the Prairie Sites Tour
Here begins our Little House on the Prairie tour - Keystone is the village Carrie moved to to be a newspaper reporter. While her, she married a widow and helped raise his 2 children; her husband was the man who actually named the mountain Rushmore. The school house we visited was the one Carrie's step-children attended.
The museum in the school house also contains some of Carrie's possessions, including a porcelain shepherdess, the only one that has been found in the belongings of the Ingall's children and has a letter in which Laura states that Carrie had Ma's China Shepherdess, and bead work done by Mary.
While driving through Keystone, we found a chainsaw crafter. He had created a Harry from Harry and the Henderson's and Z thought it would be fun to see it close up. We also saw a deer just standing by the side of the road watching the traffic, it never ran off even when a big tour bus came by.
and then we came back to Mount Rushmore where we hiked the trails, saw the mountain from many different angles, and visited the sculpture's studio. We went back after dinner to view the lighting. Amazing sight! We didn't watch any of the videos because we'd already viewed the same content at home. I think having watched at home, before going, enhanced our experience and allowed us to enjoy what we saw more. And, the kids enjoyed the videos more since we could watch at their pace, not at the next tours pace.
Some bead work from the local Indians
To maintain the monument today, repellers climb down and clean/restore each face, as needed.
To "blow up" the mountain, you select a scene from the monitor and then push down on the trigger. It was hard to push down - N and H had to have help from C.
Next, we walked the trails around the visitors center and down to the sculpture's studio. It's well marked by a beautiful wooden platform and stairs - lots and lots of stairs. Unfortunately, in my old age, my knee has started twisting when I walk down stairs, so we invented a little hop going down all those stairs.
We found a tree growing out of a rock!
And found breathtaking views of the rest of the Black Hills
We also found interesting coloration and variations in the rocks. Much was quartz and others looked silver in coloring. Very interesting walk for our rock loving boy!
After hiking back up to the top, we visited the gift shop and found some color me postcards. So, while I fixed dinner at the trailer, N colored his and brought it back for the lighting ceremony so he could "see if I'm right" on how it would look.
Something we noticed in most of the "northern towns" that we visited - all the beautiful flowers in August! In TX, it's usually too hot for flowers in August. Here, they are overflowing and arranged so prettily!
We ended the evening with a surprise visit from the tooth fairy! On our way out to the van, N suddenly stopped and yelled "My tooth!". He said he felt something in his mouth and spit it out and it was his FIRST tooth falling out!
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