Everyone was tired. We didn't have a terribly early morning, but it was earlier than our girls wanted to wake up. After breakfast, packing up, and checking out, we headed to "Bear Country USA - A Unique Drive-Thru Wildlife Park”, 8 miles south of Rapid City. We enjoyed all of the animals in the sanctuary and Babyland, especially the bear with the itchy back who liked to stand on his hind legs and rub against a pole.
Chris let Kristen steer while driving through Bear Country. She definitely needs more practice. Chris made her pretty mad as she was driving in to a parking spot at Babyland. She was driving in to her parking space when he suddenly stomped on the gas peddle and then the brake. Freaked her out royally. Probably wasn't very nice.
Misha liked the backpacks in the gift shop. "Misha is a Russian nick-name for Mikhail. It also means little bear or a teddy bear. " Urbandictionary.com
Speaking of the name Misha, Misha searched for her name on a Coke bottle. As you can imagine, she was never successful. After looking at Mt. Rushmore and not finding it, but finding this name, she quipped, "Just call me Yolanda."
While at Mt. Rushmore in the day time, we engaged in a little more sightseeing, hiking, and souvenir shopping. Kristen started working on her Junior Ranger packet. She had to buy her own pencil since it must have been too much of a treasure for the site to just give away like all the other places. She had to pony up .53 cents of the $25 Chris gave each of the girls for souvenirs and stuff.
We watched a short movie about the creation of Mt. Rushmore, learned more about the artist Gutzon Borglum, and hiked at the base of the mountain. Kristen was pleased to earn another Junior Ranger shield.
By the fourth day of our trip and the license plate challenge, we had found all but South Carolina, Mississippi, Delaware, Vermont, and Hawaii. I spotted Mississippi in the Mt. Rushmore parking garage.
Our lunch was in Custer again, but this time we opted for a little more local flavor than Subway. We stopped at Baker's Cafe. My girls drooled over the donuts and desserts display as we walked in the door. We enjoyed our lunch and two donuts to share, and then checked out a few of the shops along the main street.
Eye of the Needle was a cool stop. The girls loved scrambling on the rocks.
Deadwood was our next stop. We arrived just in time to see the Deadwood Alive Gunslingers show on Main Street, There were other activities and plays throughout the evening, but I think our girls were just on vacation overload. They opted to head to the Hampton Inn in Spearfish, have dinner there, and swim. The pool had a cool twisty slide and Kristen and Amy were excited to go play. They even convinced Misha to join them. Since Amy is now a certified lifeguard, I didn't mind leaving her to watch her sisters.
Chris and I headed out to tour the town, get groceries, and find some dinner. Spearfish was so neat and tidy. We were impressed with the look of the town. Little Caesars was the choice (not my favorite), but it was a great offering for everyone else.