*This post is part of my “passion project” travel series where I’m slowly going back to recap our family trips from pre-blog days.*
Day 4- Monday, June 19, 2017: Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore
On Monday we had a big day ahead of us- both Crazy Horse AND Mount Rushmore, two of the Black Hills’ most iconic sights.
We started with the very nearby Crazy Horse Memorial.
This is a carving in the mountain dedicated to Lakota warrior Crazy Horse which has been worked on very slowly since its initiation in 1948. I think I remember reading something that indicated it probably won’t be fully complete in my lifetime?! (I can’t really remember WHY this is taking so long, I guess besides that it’s really hard to carve intricately into rock? Maybe a funding thing? I am not sure.)
So far only the face is really done.
To me the best part of the Crazy Horse Memorial was the adjacent museum. I thought this was so well done, and we learned so much about the Native Americans who lived in the Black Hills.
Tons of hands-on things for kids to explore!
A whole section talking about how the rock carving is done.
This is what the full carving is supposed to look like when it’s done. The carving on the rock, IF it ever gets finished, will be the world’s largest mountain carving- significantly larger than Mount Rushmore.
LOTS about the buffalo who roam the Black Hills and their role in the region.
We spent the whole morning there! I really liked it.
After that, we headed toward Keystone- one of the main towns in the Black Hills which is basically at the foot of Mount Rushmore.
Keystone is known for being SUPER touristy and crowded, so I wasn’t that whipped up about spending a ton of time there (or staying there). We decided to just have lunch there to get a brief taste.
We did not have a plan but just parked and found someplace to eat. Ended up on the front deck at the Ruby House Restaurant, a cool place all decorated in 1900s Old West theme.
After a leisurely lunch, ice cream, and a little poking around town, we headed for Mount Rushmore.
Here’s our first glimpse of the famous faces!
There is a ~1 mile (I think) walking loop around the base with various viewing points. We took our time doing this. It’s just a really pretty area, too, though most of my pictures were of the mountain carvings.
Here’s a sample of what the surrounding area looked like:
While at Mount Rushmore we also went to the Visitor Center and watched the movie there about its history and creation.
By this point, it was late afternoon. I honestly cannot remember what we did from here! We might have stopped somewhere for a refreshment- I vaguely remember us standing by the exit discussing what to do next- but I have no photo evidence.
I’m also not sure what we had for dinner! Ha.
I do remember that later that night, after dark, we drove back to Crazy Horse (very close to our cabin) to catch the night time show.
For this, we actually just parked in the lot and pulled blankets out of our car and watched/ listened from there. (You can also walk back up to the Memorial and see it closer from there.) It’s a light show that illuminates what the “complete” Crazy Horse would look like, along with other laser light projected images and a narration/ song track about the Lakota people and history of the Black Hills.
I remember thinking that we enjoyed it- it was unique and a beautiful evening- but also not a “must do” that I’d go way out of my way to get to. For us, it was free entertainment and memorable.
Day 5 Tuesday, June 20, 2017: Custer State Park + picnic + Deadwood!
Here’s a glimpse of the boys’ loft on Tuesday morning. They loved climbing the ladder to their beds!
From our cabin:
Our morning plan was the very popular Custer State Park. On our way in, we stopped off at a visitor center.
The main highlight in Custer State Park is Wildlife Loop Road. This is AWESOME and a must do.
You drive, slowly, through the whole park which is absolutely teeming with wildlife. The herds of buffalo are the stars of the show, along with the donkeys who live there!
Because we were going so slow, we let the boys sit on laps to get better views.
Here we are at our first donkey sighting! These guys are so cute and pretty hilarious. Obviously, they are very used to people coming through… we had read in advance that you can bring carrots to feed them. They were definitely happy to receive said carrots.
The park itself is beautiful, even without animals in view.
I got out to take these pics of our van… haha.
The boys thought this was AMAZING. I have the cutest videos of them, in their little squeaky voices, saying, “This is so cool! This is awesome!”
This picture always makes me laugh!
They are basically everywhere. We got out a few times to say hello.
This stretch had dozens of bison. So cool!!
We definitely did not get out to pet them, however. lol.
After completing the Wildlife Loop, we had a picnic. I remember just looking at the map and finding a picnic area just outside the State Park, on a lake.
This ended up being a lucky perfect spot. No other people, and it was beautiful!
The below pic is SO SWEET! Back when they used to really love each other…. ha.
After lunch, we drove to Deadwood. This was going to be a pretty long, full day; Deadwood was over an hour away.
We arrived by mid-afternoon, in time for one of the scheduled “Wild Bill shoot-out re-enactments”. These definitely draw a crowd and are lots of fun. Deadwood itself is the quintessential Old West town, too.
Saloon 10 is the original location where Wild Bill Hickock was shot in 1876 while playing poker.
This obviously actually happened inside the saloon, but they set it up outside for larger crowds.
It’s very exciting, with live actors and shouting and costumes and even “real” shooting.
After this, we popped into a couple shops and had a lemonade/ beer break to cool off in a different old town saloon while listening to some old-time traditional music. Fun!
Up next, we headed just down the street to do a short gold mine tour.
This area was a big part of the whole gold rush history so we spontaneously decided to add-on to our plans to get a taste of this.
It’s maybe a bit of a tourist trap- I’m not even sure if they found much gold in this mine!- but the boys got a kick out of wearing helmets and the dark, cold mine by flashlights. I don’t regret doing it.
The guide told us about the mining history and conditions of the times.
From there, we drove just up into the hills to Mount Moriah Cemetery. This was sort of an “extra” stop that I think many people don’t do, but I’m glad we did! It was very serene and the views looking down over Deadwood were gorgeous.
This is the cemetery where Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane are buried, among some other outlaws. 😉
Beautiful.
By this point it was solidly EVENING time, though in June it stays light out so late. We discussed next steps, and decided we’d go back into downtown Deadwood to try and catch the actual, smaller shoot-out re-enactment inside Saloon No. 10, and to get some dinner.
Fortunately the timing worked out, and we had great seats right by the poker table.
Afterwards, Wild Bill was kind enough to resurrect from the dead to pose for some pictures with the boys! lol.
Super cute Western saloon:
We ended up just down the street for dinner, at a pizza place upstairs. I guess I didn’t take any pics there.
We didn’t leave Deadwood until almost 10 p.m.!!
We hadn’t really planned SO much time in Deadwood, but we had a great time there! Probably helped the weather was gorgeous which added to the appeal.
I do remember NOT loving the late drive back to Custer because the roads were dark and rather winding and I was terrified we would hit a deer at any moment! Ha. But we made it.
What a FUN DAY this was!! 🙂
More South Dakota days to come in the next post.
GRATEFUL KAE 