We didn't have to get up too early this morning to be to any sites, much to our daughters' delight. We had a complementary breakfast at the hotel before setting off for the day.
We drove to Custer State Park and stopped at the Peter Norbeck Visitor Center.
Kristen, again, asked for the Junior Ranger packet. Sadly, we didn't stick around long enough for her to finish. We spotted the first group of Camaros that we would see on this trip. Apparently there was a Camaro Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota and we saw dozens and dozens of them. That’s Amy’s dream car so she loved seeing them all but wished even more that she could drive one. If you look closely, you'll see the words "Move Over" printed backwards on the top of the windshield. These Camaros were the first six that we saw over the next few days.
We drove through the park and the wilderness area along the Wildlife Loop Road, spotting many buffalo.
We came upon a group of donkeys on the road surrounding the cars that had stopped to check them out. Amy was not at all pleased with the donkeys who came right up to our car windows looking for a snack of some kind. A ranger was among the donkeys and brought some carrots over to our car to feed the donkeys. Amy would have nothing to do with it, but Kristen enjoyed feeding the white donkey as it tried to stick his head in our car. Amy was in the driver seat and after awhile, just rolled up the windows. Kristen wasn't pleased.
Hmmmmm.
Misha got it in her mind to "high five" a tree on the side of the road as we drove by. She tried a few times as the trees zipped past us, but none were close enough to reach. Finally she spied the perfect reaching tree and stuck her hand out the window. That might be the last time she does that. Within minutes, she had a small raised rash on her wrist. We put some benadryl spray on it and the itching stopped, but the rash stuck around for awhile.
Our next stop was for a hike at Stockade Lake Trail. The sign warned of poison ivy so we were careful not to veer off the path or reach out to touch the vegetation. We didn't want any of what Misha might have touched (though I'm not sure that it was poison ivy).
After our hike, we headed in to Custer for lunch. It was after 1 pm and we figured the lunch-hour rush would be over. We forgot to account for the boy scout factor. They were every where. Fortunately, we got in line before them.
We wanted to visit the Jewel Cave, but all of the tours were full. Again, the boy scout factor was in play. Chris asked about the Wind Cave, 35 minutes away, and learned that their tours were still available. Our ranger, Melissa, was a little socially awkward, but the cave was pretty cool nonetheless.
After leaving the cave, we took a wrong turn and ended up back at the Peter Norbeck Visitor Center instead of headed toward Mt. Rushmore. We got on this winding, twisty road toward Mt. Rushmore and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. It was later in the evening now and the deer had come out in abundance in the park and along the sides of the roads.
Chris had found out that there was a light show every evening at Mt. Rushmore. We tried to plan our day to arrive later in the evening to see the light show. It was raining as we parked and climbed out of the van. We hoped also to be able to find some dinner at the cafeteria. We arrived at the cafeteria, and every one was sitting inside to get out of the rain. It was totally packed.
Dinner was so-so on the yumminess scale, but it was food, and not a meal of power bars. We met some workers from Thailand and tried out some of the few words we knew. By the time we finished eating, the cafeteria was mostly empty and the rain had stopped. However, the staff had made the decision not to hold the light show and instead had a shortened program which honored the veterans and military in the audience. Not a bad program, but we were disappointed not to see the light show after coming so far.
Our drive back to the hotel was about 45 minutes. I think the girls finished watching the second movie of "National Treasure".