Trip Journal: Black Hills, SD
Sunday, June 12th: Today is a layover day in Rapid City, SD. The drive from Minneapolis to Gardiner, MT (the town outside Yellowstone where we're going to stay) is about 18 hours, which is either two reasonable days of driving or one really long day. We chose to do two short days with a one-day layover in Rapid City each way. That cuts the time in Yellowstone, but there's lots of cool stuff to see and do in the Black Hills, too.
Today we visited the Wind Cave, drove through Custer State Park, and saw Mount Rushmore. Despite a more-or-less constant threat of rain, the only actual precipitation we saw was while at Mt. Rushmore. Internet access has been surprisingly available, though not always of consistent quality. Also, my Treo has developed an annoying fault where even a slight tap will dislodge the SIM card enough to turn the phone (and GPRS modem) off. We're talking putting the phone down on a table, or putting it in my pocket. Ugh. I don't know if it is the phone, or the SIM.
Bedtimes are a problem, since the kids don't seem particularly inclined to not poke each other after the lights are turned off. Socks are also an issue, since we're going through more than one pair per child per day. We will buy more socks tomorrow before leaving for Gardiner, MT.
Wind Cave
We bought tickets for the shortest Wind Cave tour, but after riding the elevator down into the cave, both of the twins (3 years old) decided they'd had enough. I took them back up, while Scooter and She Who Puts Up With Me continued on the tour. Naturally, as soon as we reached the surface, the twins decided that they really wanted to go in the cave after all, but by then, the ranger was long gone. Scooter had a great time, while I sat with the twins in the auditorium watching the interpretive video. At least I've seen the cave before (when I was ten).
Custer State Park
We took the scenic route leaving the Wind Cave, driving through Custer State Park along the wildlife loop and the Needles highway. We saw bison from two or three feet (didn't get out of the van--they were sitting by the side of the road like giant furry toll-takers), prairie dogs, and mule deer. The National Guard was training at the airport inside the park, which led to the surprising sight of multiple military convoys winding their way along the scenic byways of the state park.
Mt. Rushmore
There's a completely new visitor center at Mt. Rushmore which was built since my last visit many years ago. You can now walk right up to the base of the talus slope under the sculptures. Mt. Rushmore isn't the sort of place you linger (how long can you stare at giant stone heads?), but we stayed for dinner when a thunderstorm rumbled through. We managed to stay dry until it was time to rush back to the van, and got treated to watching the stone make interesting patterns as it got wet in the rain.
Tomorrrow: Drive to Gardiner, MT, at the North edge of Yellowstone.