This is apparently a popular stopping off point for travelers going to and from Yellowstone, and we enjoyed a nice night at a brand new Hampton Inn.
From Buffalo, we drove to the Black Hills of South Dakota to spend three days and nights in the Mount Rushmore area. There we explored Jewel Cave (well two of us did anyway), visited Mt. Rushmore, and took a ride on an 1880 train.
Here are pics up through the cave. Enjoy.
Stopped at a great rest area in Moorcroft, Wyoming (rest areas or exits with anything on them are few and far between) ... good playground, historic marker to show this area was part of the Texas Trail (read below), and a brisk, fresh wind blowing at least 35 mph steady. We stayed a good thirty minutes or so, had it to ourselves, and really liked it.
If Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call had been real (instead of fictional characters in Lonesome Dove) ... this is the path they would have driven their cattle. This was a real neat place.
Into the Black Hills of South Dakota.
A forest fire and pine beetles had left some devastating effects on parts of the forest.
Here you go Ronny K
Jewel Cave ... not my idea of fun, but these other two explorers were gung ho to go down the 2nd largest cave in the world.
This little contraption is meant to mimic what these spelunkers at Jewel Cave call "the miseries" ... there is a tour you can take where you have to be able to crawl through this opening in order to go on the tour ... I was pretty sure I could do it, but didn't want to show off. These cave explorers crawl through 700 feet (!) of space this size to get through the miseries ... then they have to crawl the other direction to get back. Crazy.
You knew who would give it a try. We got her out after twenty minutes or so.
Back at a nice Holiday Inn Express in historic Custer, SD.
Filling in the grandparents on a cold, rainy night.
Finishing a long day off with pizza on the balcony.Next up ... Mount Rushmore!
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